Parking off road just outside the observatory we go round the back & join a few other birders & soon see loads of Willow Warbler & chiffchaff plus many Linnet, then we see 2 Short-eared Owls come in off the sea & fly right past us to give us great views, you never tire of seeing Owls in flight.Unfortunately we are told that there had been no sight of either the Subalpine or the Bluethroat.
Walking round the back of the observatory we find a Little Owl sitting in a bush in the middle of a small canyon.
As we are walking back we hear that the Warbler had been found down by the beach, that's not to far to walk & we don't have to long to wait before Jimmy & myself had great views of the Subalpine Warbler to give us both a lifer the first lifer of the year.
Over the road we walk up the grass hill to search for the reported Hoopoe, on the way up plenty of Common Redstart are seen to give us a year tick & then 2 Shorties are seen sitting in a bush not to far from the track so good views of them. The pager tells us that the Bluethroat had shown in the same bramble that it was seen in last night & we are no more than a couple of hundred yards away from it .
A large group had gathered back down the hill & we have high hopes of getting an easy tick, as it turns out we have to wait for over an hour to get at first a quick view as the bird popped out of the bush & then back again.
After a long wait we get a much better view as it flies out onto the ploughed field & sits on a clump of mud for a good few seconds, a short view but a very good one being able to see the White spot on the blue throat as it pops up & down off the clump of mud. Time to head home after a nice day in a lovely place on a warm day, only 3 ticks but one being a lifer makes the long trip well worth it.
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| Brian was the only one to get a photo |
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| Subalpine Warbler ( a lifer ) |
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| The Little Owl |
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| One of the many many Linnets |
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| My effort to get a photo of the Short-earred Owls |
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