S'Albufera es Grau and Algendar Gorge

Two sites that we visited whilst on holiday in Menorca were the large marsh called S'Albufera es Grau near the village of Es Grau in the north east of the island and the Algendar Gorge in the south west of the island.

Harbour at Es Grau

 

S'Albufera es Grau is the only official nature reserve on the island. It is nearly 2000 hectares in size, 67 hectares of which are a large, freshwater lake. We visited one afternoon, when it was very, very hot! It wasn't the best time to visit, but we did still manage to find a few birds; Little Grebe (several pairs nesting), Moorhen, Coot, Black-headed Gulls (2 juveniles- quite a rarity here), a single male Pochard, Red Kite, Kestrel and several juvenile Red-crested Pochard.

View from the hide at S'Albufera es Grau

Another good spot for any visiting birder is the Algendar Gorge.

Algendar Gorge

 

The main reason for visiting this site was to catch up with Egyptian Vultures. We arrived at about 11am and managed to see 2 birds; an adult and a juvenile bird, already high up in the sky. As well as the vultures we also saw and heard the following; Blackcap (singing male), Kestrel, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Rock Dove, Red Kite and Raven. Woodchat Shrike and Hoopoe were seen on the drive over.

A typical Menorcan gate

Menorcan Insects

As well as enjoying some nice birds in Menorca I also managed to spot a few insects too, including a very impressive adult male Scarlet Darter dragonfly.  The first few pictures were seen on the flowers in front of our apartment.

Brimstone

Common Blue Butterfly (female)

Painted Lady

We also spotted a few insects around Son Bou, some of which I can't identify.

Long-tailed Blue (I think!)

Scarlet Dater (male)

 

Shieldbug species; Graphosoma lineatum italicum!

 

These two photos were taken at Algendar Gorge, near Cala Galdana in the west of the island. Any ideas about the grasshopper?

Grasshopper species

Clouded Yellow (not too sharp)

 

The last photo shows a dragonfly species, that decided to spend a minute on my foot one day, whilst I was on the beach. I think it's a female  Red-veined Darter, due to the black line down its abdomen and the pale pterostigma with a black border. Unfortunately I can't see any yellow on the base of the hind wing though, so I can't be 100% sure. Any thoughts?

 

Red-veined Darter?

Year List update and 2 "Lifers"

Yesterday I blogged about my recent trip to Menorca and promised to update the Year List, so here goes:

149- Zitting Cisticola (Fan-tailed Warbler)
150 – Turtle Dove
151 – European Bee-Eater
152 – Yellow-legged Gull
153 – Audouin’s Gull
154 – Scops Owl
155 – EGYPTIAN VULTURE (lifer)
156 – Blue Rock Thrush
157 – Booted Eagle
158 – Hoopoe
159 – THEKLA’S LARK (lifer)
160 – Cattle Egret
161 – Purple Heron
162 – Purple Gallinule
163 – Little Stint
164 – Green Sandpiper
165 – Sardinian Warbler
166 – Red-crested Pochard
167 – Night Heron
168 -Woodchat Shrike
169 - Rock Dove
170 – Stonechat
171 - Whinchat

Numbers 149 - 170 were all recorded in Menorca and the Whinchat was added following a trip to Big Moor yesterday.

As you can see, the two "lifers" were  Egyptian Vulture and Thekla's Lark. The vultures were seen on several days, mainly in the western end of the island around a place called Algendar Gorge, but we did get one flying over the swimming pool in Son Bou. Here's a link for a bit of information about this bird. Thekla's Larks were seen briefly at an area called Punta Nati. Here's some more information about the Thekla Lark.I'll blog more about these two sites later.

I didn't manage to get any photos of either of the lifers, so here are a couple of photos of a Scops Owl that fed around our apartment every night and a Turtle Dove that also came and fed on some bread crumbs outside the apartment!

Scops Owl

Turtle Dove