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Portugal -The Algarve, 2-9 November 2002,

Contents

1.        A brief introduction.
2.        A day-by-day account of the sites visited with birding highlights.
3.        A consolidated species trip list.
4.        Summary.

1.  Introduction

I saw a total of 113 species, not a bad total for this time of the year, but bolstered by the arrival of some winter visitors.  This was not a "total birding" holiday; it was a lastminute.com holiday with First Choice just to get away from the rain.  Time was split between my wife's passion - shopping and birding.  I did however negotiate one day in order to travel to the Castro Verde area.

Birding in Portugal is well documented so I will not give site directions, however I will make reference and give thanks to all those people who have previously contributed trip reports to various trip report Web pages - thank you all; the trip would not have been so enjoyable without your valuable information.

Car hire cost Î138 for 5 days (1.2 VW Polo) pre booked over the Internet with Europcar, petrol is not surprisingly cheaper than the U.K. and the standard of driving is very good.  If you compare it with somewhere like Cyprus it is positively fantastic.  The standard of road is excellent and all the sites I visited were within one and a half hours of my hotel.  We stayed at the Rocomar Hotel in the old part of Albufeira - towards the Western extremity.

2. Daily Itineries

Day One

The flight from Stansted to Faro took about two and a half hours, from the airport to Albufeira, where we were staying took about an hour, as we had to drop off other travellers on route. I noted 4 Cormorant, House Sparrows and 3 Cattle Egret from the bus and a Little Owl perched on a telegraph wire.

Day Two

Today was a Sunday.  We decided to have a lazy day and familiarise ourselves with the local town and do a bit of "vegging out".  As such I did not hire the car until day three, which worked out OK.  The weather was about 24 degrees C on average throughout the week - and no rain, just a bit of cloud at times.  Anyway birds - a colony of Crag Martins had taken up their wintering quarters next to the hotel on the sea cliffs, Gannets, Shags and Yellow-legged Gulls were noted over the sea and Sardinian Warbler and Chiffchaff were seen in the scrub by the hotel.

It got dark about 6pm and first light was at about 7am.  I went for a walk away from the hotel to the West at about 4.30pm, to an area of scrub overlooking the new marina -  this proved to be very productive.  Black Redstart, 2 Little Owl, 2 Grey Wagtail and a Serin along with a surprise Spectacled Warbler and some more Sardinians were also seen from here.

Day Three

I picked up the car at about 9am, and after that we planned a visit to Portimao market and then onwards to the Sagres and Cape St Vincent areas.  The market, well, was a market but behind the stall area was an area of scrub that I walked around whilst my wife was shopping.  Nothing spectacular here but a few "trip ticks" including Fan-tailed Warbler (Zitting Cisticola), Crested Lark and Stonechat.

The shopping over, onward to Sagres and Cape St Vincent.  On route, 5 Booted Eagle were seen including one superb light phase bird and then a real surprise a short view of an Eleonora's Falcon (dark phase) over the scrub, before disappearing below the cliffs.  I was familiar with this bird from living in Cyprus, but was surprised to see one here!

A little sea watching from the Cape produced Cory's and Balearic Shearwater in good numbers along with more Gannet. The scrub area produced Spectacled Warbler and Black Redstart.  4 Chough were also noted here giving fantastic close flight views as they performed aerobatics above the cliffs. I began to travel the documented track to the North.  I scoped larks along this track and eventually secured assuring views of a Thekla Lark, further along, two Spotless Starling were noted and another Booted Eagle sat in a field.

A Peregrine Falcon chased hundreds of Corn Bunting, whilst Golden Plover and Lapwing were also noted.

Day Four

I rose early today in order to reach Quinta do Lago at first light.  I was a little early at 6.30am, but could hear Curlew calling.  The area produced many waders as expected and the area by the tower hide gave fantastic views of at least 10 Purple Gallinule and 12 Azure-winged Magpie.  2 White Stork were seen on a nest and the only 2 Kingfisher of the trip were also seen here.  The grassy area to the right of the hide allowed good views of 2 wintering Water Pipit and a group of Common Waxbill "zipped" by.

The rest of the morning at Albufeira market and an afternoon of sunbathing and boredom ensued, however life is all about compromise!

Day Five

Off to Quarteira market to begin with (same sketch - different place).  After this onward to the east and Castro Marim.  This is an excellent area and the 3 hours I spent here wasn't really enough to explore the area thoroughly.  Of interest here were 15 White Stork, a male and female Marsh Harrier, numerous Black-winged Stilt, 3 Southern Grey Shrike, the only Little Stints of the trip, a Bluethroat and an Osprey.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Quinta do Lago for another look at the Azure-winged Magpies and then home for an early bath.

Day Six

I had previously negotiated this day as a "birding" day.  Consequently, I set out alone at 5.30am in order to reach the Castro Verde area for first light - this I achieved.

I spent the whole day driving around the area and stopping to scan likely areas for the likely species.  In any event I had close flight views of 2 Great Bustard on the track signposted to Monte Cumeada Nova and another view of a bird on the track to Monte de Hortinha stood on a hill, before flying toward me at about 100m distance giving superb flight views.  27 Little Bustard were seen at the bridge on the N123 just before the turning to Santa Barbara de Padroes (see Massie & Massie 2001) in the fields to the south of the road.  These were flushed by one of the numerous Red Kite, before settling in a depression, which was out of view.  An obliging farmer allowed me to wander over his land and eventually I secured close views of the Little Bustards feeding for about 20 minutes.  Several Azure-winged Magpie were seen at the end of the track signed Monte Cumeada Nova (see Dodd 1999) and along the N123 to Mertola.  A ringtail Hen Harrier was also seen quartering at the bridge on the road between Guerriero and Alcarias.  Red Kite and Spotless Starling were numerous as were Calandra Lark along the track to the left from the white farmhouse near the turning for Alcarias (see Massie & Massie 2001)

Day Seven

We visited Monchique and Foia today via some ceramic and pottery shops and then ended up birding the wooded areas near Casais.  A number of species seen in these areas were not seen anywhere else during the week.  The radar station and restaurant area at Foia produced 4 Woodlark, a male Blue Rock Thrush, and a Wren down the track to the East of the restaurant.  The woods just beyond Casais with its "brown armchair" (which remains in place - see Massie & Massie 2001) produced Jay, Crested Tit, Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blue Tit and as I was leaving a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

We returned to the hotel via Silves and the Cork Museum, booking ourselves into the theme night that evening, which proved to be very enjoyable.

On arrival at the hotel I had a spare two hours before we had to depart for the theme night.  I had read about Pera (signposted Parra) Marsh (see Massie & Massie 2001), so decided to visit here, as it was only ten minutes from the hotel.  Although not well documented, this location proved to be a fantastic winter location.  Many species were seen here (see consolidated species list) that were not seen elsewhere.  Highlights included the following:  14+ Purple Gallinule, 3 Spoonbill, 2 Knot, a first winter Mediterranean Gull and 2 Greylag Goose.

Day Eight

Due to the success of the previous evening and because I had to give the car back at 9am, I decided to re-visit Pera Marsh for first light and this proved to be a good decision.  Several new birds were added to the trip list including the accidental male White-headed Duck, 2 Avocet and a surprise Canada Goose consorting with the 2 Greylag from the previous evening.  I am not sure of the status of Canada Goose in Portugal as it is not mentioned in the Birdwatchers' Guide to Portugal and Madeira.

3. Consolidated Systematic Species List

5. Summary

Portugal is a friendly country with excellent facilities.  The weather was great at this time of year, although this is not always the case!  Getting around is very easy and the chance of finding a rarity is always a possibility.  The main sites are well documented and there is little to add to the excellent directions and descriptions that have already been written.  A week is enough to catch up with the target species, although further exploration would be worthy of a two-week trip at least.

References:

A Birdwatchers' Guide to Portugal & Madeira CC Moore, G Elias & H Costa.

Collins Guide to the Birds of Britain & Europe with N. Africa & The Mddle East.

Trip reports posted on the Web.

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