Last year I (Andy Firth), two other Sandbach Flashes regulars (Ian Barber and Mark Stubbs) and a vagrant to Sandbach Flashes (Lee Greenhough) decided to spend a spring week birding in Majorca.

Ian had birded abroad several times, including Majorca, and arranged for an apartment in Puerto de Alcudia in the North of the Island.  I arranged flights through Thomas Cook and arranged car hire through Europa Goldcar.  The apartment was ideal and flights and car hire went to plan.

After checking in at our apartment we immediately headed for an afternoon visit to the Albufera.  In five hours birding this site we saw 60 species, highlights being introduced Red Knobbed Coot and Purple Swamp Hen, a brief Little Bittern, pair of Slender Billed Gulls and two Whiskered Terns.  An array of Herons, Egrets and Waders were also seen.  Access to Albufura is from the C712 road where parking is limited but we always found a space and extra parking is available across the main road.

Day 2 produced the first of many sightings of Audouin's Gull on the coast by the road connecting Alcudia and Port De Pollenca.  We then parked at Postage Stamp Wood and spent an hour birding, seeing only Pied, Spotted Flycatchers, Wood and Sardinian Warblers.  A kilometre or so from here is the start of the Boquer Valley.  On the walk up the valley we saw Wryneck, Stone Curlew and the first of many Blue Rock Thrushes.  A Melodious Warbler was found in some scrub further up the valley.  On the return journey down the valley, whilst searching through an apparent fall of Wheatears, Whinchat and Flycatchers, two  Mamora's Warblers were located.

At the bottom of the valley a birder pointed out a distant perched Black Vulture which took to the air and was immediately joined by two Egyptian Vultures.  The first of many Booted Eagles followed.

We then called at the Albafureta Marsh which is accessed from the Port de Pollenca, Puerto de Alcudia road.  A two hour visit produced two Collared Pratincoles with many Zitting Cisticola, Osprey, Marsh Harrier and another Stone Curlew.

Another visit to the Albufera followed producing the first Alpine Swift and the first of the surprisingly elusive Moustached Warblers.

On day 3 we drove to the Cuber Reservoir a site well documented in the books available on Majorca.  The hoped for Spectacled Warbler and Rock Thrush defied us (is this site still good for these species ?).  However Black and Egyptian Vultures, Red Kite, Osprey and Tawny Pipit were seen well.

An afternoon visit to Casas Vevas (access off the Cap de Formentor road) was excellent, highlights including Turtle Dove, Ortolan Bunting, Crossbill, Black Redstart and the first sighting of Eleonoras Falcon.

An elusive Scops Owl in Port de Pollenca brought the holiday list to 101 after two and a half days birding.

The morning of day 4 was spent at the Albufera where four more species were added including 2 or 3 obliging Squacco Herons.  A party of six Eleonoras Falcons hunted above us at the site which was very impressive.

The afternoon was spent at the Arta Peninsula where Thekla Larks were seen feeding young.  This drive is quite arduous and Thekla Lark can be found easily elsewhere as we found later in the week.

Formenter was the venue for the morning of day 5.  Corys Shearwater, Blue Rock Thrushes, Eleonoras Flacons and an escaped Bateleur were recorded.  A brief visit to the Boquer Valley produced another Blue Rock Thrush.  The day ended on a high with a party of 6 Bee Eaters back at the East end of Albufera.

On day 6 we drove about an hour and a half to the Ses Salines, the salt pan on the Southern tip of the island.  Here we were greeted with Short Toed Lark and also Thekla Lark (one birder insisted these birds at the lower levels were in fact Crested Larks).

The next two hours produced 3 Gull Billed Terns, 5 Collared Pratincoles, a flock of Greater Flamingos and an impressive array of Waders, including the fist Termmincks Stints of the trip.  Spoonbill and Ruddy Shelduck were also recorded.

A drive to the Cap Salines produced Corys and Balearic Shearwaters and more Audouins Gulls.  On the drive back from the coast we stopped at the road side to "scope" a Black Vulture seen from the car and the next hour was brilliant.  The fields here were alive with Larks, Chats and Buntings, while Wryneck, Woodchat Shrike, Hoopoe, Bee Eater and Eleonoras Falcon were seen in one magical hour.

Porto Colom failed to produce the hoped for Pallid Swift and this species eluded us all week, although other birders claimed many sightings.  Back to the field guides !  Two more Blue Rock Thrushes were seen and hundreds of Shearwaters, some very close.

On the final day the copious amounts of beer and Jack Daniels drunk each night caught up with Mark (the youngest of us !!) and we retired from the field early so Mark could sleep it off with a White Headed Duck, the only notable species seen (Albufera).

The trip list finished on 123 with "lifers" for all of us.  For a first birding trip abroad it was excellent and between us we identified almost everything we saw. Anyone who can stay off the drink and be out at first light could probably see more species but to us the night time is part of the holiday.

Anyone who wants any information on our visit or can enlighten me to any aspect of birding on the island ie:-sites we didn't visit,birds we missed, please feel free to contact me on firth@v21mail.co.uk.

The species we saw were as follows.

1	Little Grebe	Albufera
2	Great Crested Grebe	Albufera
3	Cory's Shearwater	Formentor, Cap Salines, Porto Colom
4	Balearic Shearwater	Cap Salines, Porto Colom
5	Shag	Most Coastal Areas
6	Little Bittern	Albufera
7	Night Heron	Albufera
8	Cattle Egret	Albufera
9	Squacco Heron	Albufera
10	Little Egret	Albufera
11	Grey Heron	Albufera
12	Purple Heron	Albufera, Albufereta
13	Spoonbill	Ses Salines
14	Greater Flamingo	Ses Salines
15	Shelduck	Albufera,  Ses Salines
16	Ruddy Shelduck	Ses Salines
17	Mallard	Albufera,  Ses Salines
18	Gadwall	Albufera
19	Shoveler	Albufera
20	Teal	Albufera
21	Pochard	Albufera
22	White Headed Duck	Albufera
23	Red Crested Pochard	Albufera
24	Black Vulture	Boquer, Cuber, Ses Salines
25	Egyptian Vulture	Boquer, Cuber
26	Osprey	Albufera, Cuber, Albufereta
27	Booted Eagle	Boquer, Cuber, Casas Vevas
28	Red Kite	Cuber
29	Marsh Harrier	Albufera,  Albufereta
30	Kestrel	Albufera,  Boquer,  Albufereta
31	Eleonoras Falcon	Albufera, Formentor, Ses Salines
32	Peregrine Falcon	Boquer, Formentor
33	Red-Legged Partridge	Ses Salines
34	Pheasant	Boquer
35	Moorhen	Albufera,  Albufereta
36	Coot	Albufera
37	Red-Knobbed Coot	Albufera
38	Purple Swamp Hen	Albufera
39	Avocet	Ses Salines
40	Black Winged Stilt	Albufera,  Albufereta, Ses Salines
41	Stone Curlew	Boquer, Albufereta, Ses Salines
42	Collared Pratincole	Albufereta, Ses Salines
43	Little Ringed Plover	Albufera,  Albufereta
44	Ringed Plover	Albufera,  Albufereta
45	Kentish Plover	Albufera,  Albufereta, Ses Salines
46	Lapwing	Albufera
47	Sanderling	Albufera,  Ses Salines
48	Dunlin	Albufera,  Ses Salines
49	Curlew Sandpiper	Albufera,  Ses Salines
50	Temmincks Stint	Ses Salinas
51	Little Stint	Albufera,  Ses Salines
52	Wood Sandpiper	Albufera,  Ses Salines
53	Green Sandpiper	Albufera
54	Common Sandpiper	Albufera
55	Redshank	Albufera,  Ses Salines
56	Spotted Redshank	Albufera
57	Greenshank	Albufera,  Ses Salines
58	Whimbrel	Ses Salines
59	Ruff	Albufera,  Ses Salines
60	Black Headed Gull	Albufera
61	Slender Billed Gull	Albufera
62	Yellow Legged Gull	Many Locations
63	Audouins Gull	Port De Pollensa, Cap Salines
64	Gull Billed Tern	Ses Salines
65	Common Tern	Albufera
66	Whiskered Tern	Albufera
67	Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon	Many Locations
68	Wood Pigeon	Many Locations
69	Collared Dove	Many Locations
70	Turtle Dove	Casas Vevas
71	Scops Owl	Port De Pollenca
72	Swift	Many Locations
73	Alpine Swift	Albufera
74	Hoopoe	Many Locations
75	Bee Eater	Albufera, Ses Salines
76	Wryneck	Boquer, Ses Salines
77	Thekla Lark	Arta, Ses Salines
78	Short Toed Lark	Ses Salines
79	Sand Martin	Albufera
80	Crag Martin	Boquer, Arta, Formentor
81	Barn Swallow	Many Locations
82	House Martin	Many Locations
83	Tawny Pipit	Cuber
84	Yellow Wagtail	Many Locations
85	Wren	Several Locations
86	Nightingale	Many Locations
87	Redstart	Boquer, Casas Vevas
88	Black Redstart	Casas Vevas
89	Wheatear	Boquer, Casas Vevas
90	Whinchat	Many Locations
91	Stonechat	Many Locations
92	Blue Rock Thrush	Formentor, Boquer, Porto Colom
93	Blackbird	Many Locations
94	Sardinian Warbler	Many Locations
95	Blackcap	Many Locations
96	Whitethroat	Several Locations
97	Mamoras Warbler	Boquer
98	Moustached Warbler	Albufereta
99	Zitting Cisticola	Albufera, Albufereta
100	Cettis Warbler	Albufera, Albufereta
101	Reed Warbler	Albufera
102	Great Red Warbler	Albufera
103	Melodious Warbler	Boquer
104	Willow Warbler	Boquer, Casas Vevas
105	Wood Warbler	Postage Stamp Wood
106	Chiffchaff	Many Locations
107	Firecrest	Cuber
108	Spotted Flycatcher	Casas Vevas, Boquer
109	Pied Flycatcher	Many Locations
110	Great Tit	Cuber
111	Blue Tit	Cuber
112	Woodchat Shrike	Many Locations
113	Raven	Cuber, Boquer, Formentor
114	House Sprarrow	Many Locations
115	Chaffinch	Many Locations
116	Linnet	Many Locations
117	Goldfinch	Many Locations
118	Serin	Many Locations
119	Greenfinch	Many Locations
120	Crossbill	Casas Vevas
121	Ortolan Bunting	Casas Vevas
122	Cirl Bunting	Many Locations
123	Corn Bunting	Many Locations

Andy Firth, Crewe, Cheshire.