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Visit your favourite destinations |
| A Report from birdtours.co.uk |
Lanzarote,
My family consists of myself David, my wife Anita, my
son Benjamin and my daughter Alexandra. During our two week stay in Lanzarote
we were based near the old town of Puerto del Carmen. The weather during our
holiday was very unsettled, winds mainly from the south west with rain on twelve
days out of a possible fourteen accompanied by thunder and lightning on four
days!
All my birding was done early in the morning between 07.45-11.30 hours. The
following is a concise report on the sites visited and the maximum number of
birds seen at any one visit in order of appearance.
Salinas de Janubio 5 Visits (My personal favourite)
2 Common Kestrel
26 Yellow Legged Gull
2 Grey Heron
15 Black Winged Stilt (Including 6 juveniles)
12 Greenshank
10 Common Sandpiper
14 Turnstone
16 Common Redshank
4 Ringed Plover
9 Grey Plover (Mainly on the small lagoon between the lake and the sea at the
southern end of the salt pans)
3 Black Tailed Godwit (Usually on the inlet nearest the cliff-face at the southern
end of the lake)
2 Whimbrel
1 Greater Flamingo (This particular individual has apparently been there for
around two months upto press though I personally did not see it feed once!)
2 Raven (Flying over heading north)
4 Black Headed Gull
3 Teal
2 Hoopoe
12 Berthelot's Pipit
2 Little Egret
1 Eleonora's Falcon (Fantastic close up views of a light morph hunting around
the south eastern end of the salinas and on one occasion being mobbed by a common
kestrel!)
2 Kentish Plover
1 Spotted Redshank
46 Sanderling
1 Knot (Feeding on the lagoon with the grey plovers)
14 Trumpeter Finch (Feeding on the cliffs above the inlet at the south eastern
end of the salinas)
1 Sparrowhawk
2 Little Ringed Plover
1 Spotted Sandpiper (Along the shoreline at the south western end of the salinas.
This particular individual has been at the salinas since the previous month)
9 Dunlin (Usually along the south western shoreline)
2 Little Stint (Amongst the small party of Dunlins)
On a general note, having visited the salinas two years ago, at the same time
of year, it was very noticeable how scarce Little Ringed Plover and Kentish
Plover were compared to December 2000. Presumably they either breed in fewer
numbers or no longer breed there at all.
El Jable Plain Near Teguise 2 Visits
4 Houbara Bustard (Including one displaying male). On my second visit I found
three. Generally I found them relatively easy to see. Once you had located the
first one inevitably another would follow shortly! The best areas were at the
northern end of the plain just south of the Teguise/Yaiza road near the cement
factory.
14 Great Grey Shrike (Had a great view of a juvenile being fed by it's parent)
30+ Lesser Short Toed Lark
50+ Berthelot's Pipit
1 Hoopoe
2 Stone Curlew
2 Raven
On a general note I was particularly disappointed not to locate any Cream Coloured
Coursers. A fellow birder that I bumped into on both occasions that I visited
the area also suffered from the curse of the dearth of coursers. Has anyone
seen any in this area or indeed any part of Lanzarote recently?
On a very serious note do not visit the area without a mobile phone or money,
particularly in a hired Renault Clio! I had the unfortunate experience to have
a car-breakdown followed quickly by a mini nervous-breakdown in the middle of
the plain appproximately 2 miles from the nearest settlement. I will be forever
in debt to the Lanzarotean bloke in his mid-fifties who despite his total lack
of the English spoken language and my modest appreciation of his spoken language
somehow or other managed to rescue me in my hour of need!
Arreciffe Harbour 1 Visit
6 Sandwich Tern
1 Bar Tailed Godwit
1 Little Ringed Plover
1 Whimbrel
3 Dunlin
2 Ringed Plover
8 Turnstone
2 Common Sandpiper
2 White Wagtail
On a general note, the best day to visit would be a Sunday due to traffic congestion
at any other time of the week!
Los Cocoteras 1 Visit
4 Common Redshank
2 Spotted Redshank
2 Greenshank
2 Lesser Short Toed Lark
1 Lesser Black Backed Gull
2 Common Sandpiper
6 Yellow Legged Gull
10 Berthelot's Pipit
2 White Wagtail
2 Kestrel
3 Dunlin
2 Great Grey Shrike
1 Sandwich Tern (Just offshore south of the saltpans)
On a general note, although the saltpans are well worth a visit, I personally
found the site a little tricky to obtain close views of the birds without causing
some disturbance to them.
La Santa 1 Visit
2 Little Egret
3 Common Sandpiper
9 Sandwich Tern
2 Turnstone
5 Grey Plover
2 Whimbrel
1 Kestrel
On a general note there were certainly greater numbers of athletes and cyclists
from the nearby complex, of which one or two female specimens were definitely
worth a second look!
Teguise Golf Course 1 Visit
1 White Wagtail
1 Chiffchaff
1 Robin
11 Collared Dove
On a general note, on my arrival at the course I went to the reception and asked
for permission to enter the course. I was refused entry as I could not prove
that I have a golf handicap. I replied that I just wanted to walk around the
course to observe the birdlife but to no avail as the rather aloof young lady
said it would be too dangerous. I found her final comment rather amusing as
the weather had taken a turn for the worse at this point, once more, and I would
have been the only person daft enough to be out there!
All in all, a complete waste of time and what's more not one Barbary Partridge
to be had!
Villa Mimosa Los Mojones Puerto del Carmen The Tattersley Residence
For The Fortnight
18 Spanish Sparrow
9 Collared Dove
3 Linnet
4 Greenfinch
1 Great Gey Shrike
2 Blackcap (One male and one female)
2 Common Starling (Very fortunate as the pair were nesting in a palm tree nearby)
6 Chiffchaff
1 Sardinian Warbler (Female)
1 Barn Swallow (Winging its merry way southwards, observed lying on my back
in the heated villa pool (29 degrees celsius), one of many special moments of
a great family holiday, despite the lousy weather more typical of an English
summer!)
48 species observed in total, probably a little unfortunate not to see barbary
partridge and as for the coursers who knows?, the fellow birder from the Scilly
Isles tried a lot harder than me, visiting the El Jable plain five times in
eleven days, unfortunately for him with the same result!
Ah well it may have to be Fuerteventura next time, the coursers are supposed
to be guaranteed there aren't they?
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