Island Tour - Part 3- Morro Jable

 Our last stop on 30th March was the seaside resort of Morro Jable, on the south coast of the island. We parked on the outskirts of the resort, by the old abandoned zoo, where we were able to see a couple of the island's more exotic species; Hadada Ibis and Monk Parakeet.

Morro Jable lighthouse and boardwalk

Hadada Ibis

Monk Parakeets (waiting to be hand fed!)

Other birds seen on a walk around the beach and lighthouse were: Cattle Egret (adult and juveniles), Plain Swift (2 over), Spectacled Warbler (our only sighting!), House Martin (2 over), Yellow-legged Gull, Goldfinch and our first Great Grey Shrike (ssp koenigi). 

Great Grey Shrike

Barbary Ground Squirrels were also seen here.

Year List Update - 14th January 2024

This weekend, I managed to add another 4 species to my "Year List" for 2024, taking my total so far this year to 101.

The first new addition was Barn Owl (98), when I was spotted whilst driving across to Center Parcs for some gull ringing. The second bird was Great Grey Shrike (99) that Jayne and I saw up at Ramsley Reservoir in the afternoon. It was quite distant, and the sky was grey, but I managed a record shot.

Great Grey Shrike

Late this morning, Jayne and I drove across to Ogston Reservoir, where we added two new species. The first, and my 100th of the year, was Brambling (100) - a stunning male. I love this shot, a bit different!

Brambling

The final bird was a Water Rail (101), that came out of the reeds to feed under the feeders briefly.

Water Rail

Year List Update - 4th March 2019

The "Year List" has moved on again, with several new species added at Carsington Water last weekend (numbers 119 - 121), Red-legged Partridge at Linacre, Iceland Gull at Ogston Reservoir (1 adult and 1 1st winter) on Saturday, and Peregrine Falcon (Hardwick Wood fly over during a ringing session) and Great Grey Shrike at Clumber Park on Sunday.

Great Grey Shrike

Whilst at Ogston there were also a 1st winter and a near adult  "Viking" Gull a.k.a. a Herring x Glaucous Gull hybrid in the roost. The 1st winter looked very Glaucous-like, but had dark primaries, but I didn't manage to see the adult bird. Nice to see, even if it's not a  full species!

Year List update:
119 – Barnacle Goose (F)
120 – Tree Sparrow
121 – Snipe
122 – Red-legged Partridge
123 – Iceland Gull
124 – Peregrine Falcon
125 – Great Grey Shrike

Great Grey Shrike

I spent a couple of hours at Greave's Piece, near Owler Bar on Sunday morning looking for a Great Grey Shrike. Unfortunately, I didn't see it, but Jayne and I popped back up this evening and got lucky. It was quite distant, but we managed a quick photo.

Great Grey Shrike

Also present were a couple of Meadow Pipits, a Snipe, a couple of Crows and a singing Song Thrush.

Year List update:
107 – Meadow Pipit
108 – Great Grey Shrike
109 - Snipe

Great Grey Shrike - Beeley Moor

Great Grey Shrikes appear in Derbyshire most winters, and one has been reported on the Birdguides website since December, so I decided to go up to Beeley Moor this afternoon with Jayne to see if we could catch up with it.

As you can most likely tell from the blog title, we dropped lucky and managed to watch the bird hunting around fields by Sitches Plantation. It was a little too distant for any great photos, but I did manage to get a half decent record shot.

Great Grey Shrike

Whilst in the area I also managed to add another 2 species to the "year list"; Lapwing and Golden Plover, both of which were present in the area in good numbers (approx.200+).

Year List update:

57 – Great Grey Shrike

58 – Lapwing

59 – Golden Plover

Avenue Ringing and Year List update

I managed to get out for a few hours this morning with the ringing group to The Avenue, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's reserve on the outskirts of Chesterfield. We spent 4 hours and managed a very respectable 35 birds of 10 different species (Blackbird, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Yellowhammer, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, Willow, Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tit).

My personal totals were (new.retrap): Long-tailed Tit 1/1, Blue Tit 1/0, Great Tit 1/1, Robin 0/1, Blackbird 1/0, Reed Bunting 1/0, Yellowhammer 1/0, and Dunnock 1/1.

In between net rounds we recorded other birds including three ,"year ticks"; Skylark, Yellowhammer and Green Woodpecker.

After the session I went out for a spot of lunch with my family and then dropped into Wraggs Quarry on Beeley Moor to have a look for the over-wintering Great Grey Shrike. Luckily it was sat up on the fence posts when we arrived and we managed to get brilliant views at it flew around hunting. Another Year tick!

Year List:
80 - Skylark
81 - Yellowhammer
82 - Green Woodpecker
83 - Great Grey Shrike

Great Grey Shrike!!

After a couple of failed attempts earlier in the year I managed to catch up with the Great Grey Shrike at Wragg's Quarry on Beeley Moor this afternoon.

At first it was quite distant, but then it flew to within 10m and perched nicely on the top of a Birch tree.

Great Grey Shrike

As well as the Shrike I was also very lucky to see some evidence of its hunting technique. This lizard had been caught, killed and impaled on a Hawthorn bush by the "butcher bird". Amazing!

Common Lizard

The Year List moved on 1 more species:

105: Great Grey Shrike