Tuesday 18th- Sunday 23rd April 2017
Flights, accommodation and car were booked through Lastminute.com flying out on the afternoon of the 18th with Ryanair from
Manchester-Palma. We arrived late evening after sunset and picked up our brand new Skoda
Fabia from RecordGo rental cars at the airport. In the past, my friends and I
have struggled to rental cars abroad due to only having debit cards and most
companies require (or at least used to) credit cards for the allowance of the
excess insurance. This was not a problem with RecordGo and it all went smoothly. They
take out c£55 worth of Euros to cover a tank of fuel which you can choose to
fill up or leave it and they will give you back the difference. As it proved,
we only used half a tank which cost £30, so we’d advise leaving the fuel for
them to fill up. The total holiday package came to £260 each with an extra £150 on food and fuel etc.
Books and information used:
Finding Birds in
Mallorca by Dave Gosney. I’ve used his books in the past and due to their
compact size and weight, they’re very useful. This is also as recent as 2012
and gives a British birder’s perspective on birding abroad. For the two main
sites we visited, it essentially couldn’t have been more accurate. Very much
worth the money.
The Birdwatching Guide to Mallorca by John King – This also proved very useful, albeit
somewhat out of date being 22 years old. The list of birds at the back as well
as tourist information, other wildlife information and most importantly, the
advice to drive up to the mountains before 8am to avoid the cyclists proved
invaluable.
Itinerary:
Tuesday 18th April – Flights from Manchester with
Ryan Air 17:05 and landing at Palma c20:45. Picked up hire car and drove along
the Ma-13 (the main motorway) to Alcudia which took about 40 minutes. For the
duration of the trip we stayed at BelleVue club resort in Alcudia in the
self-catering building blocks which proved to be a useful location with some
nice restaurants, but the room itself left a lot to the imagination. If you’re
intending on long days with early starts, this probably isn’t the place for you
as the walls are thin and we were kept awake until 04:30 one night.
Wednesday 19th April – We arrived at s’Albufera
nature reserve car park (next to English bridge) at 07:30, headed along the
access track to the visitor centre and then turned north, heading over the
canal bridges along the northern track to the power station. We then came back
to the visitor centre and did the track loop to the south viewing the Sa Roca
pools. Following this, we moved to the Es Cibollar pools north of the canal
where we spent most of our time and finally walked west to the raptor observation
tower. After a quick stop back in
Alcudia for some lunch and a rest, we headed to the old salt pans of Ses
Salinetes just north of C’an Picafort and walked along the track to the top of
Depuradora de S’Illot.
Thursday 20th April – Our focus for the day was
the Formentor peninsular with the first stop being the Boquer Valley. We spent
most of the morning here arriving just after 07:45 (an Irishman was coming out
of the valley as we arrived having seen nothing at all, so maybe wait for the
sun to come up). The winds on the 20th were really strong North
Easterlies, so the SW-NE running Boquer Valley proved hard work, as did the
peninsular. We walked all the way to the northern end of the valley for the
main target – Balearic Warbler – and then came back, spending some time at the
Casada Boquer (the castle like building by the car park) looking for migrants.
Next we headed up the single road to the Formentor peninsular and stopped at
the first obvious Mirador with a car park. At this point, the cyclists were
already out in force, so driving was slow. Strong winds made birding and even
standing very difficult, but we persevered and carried on, whilst dodging
cyclists and buses. We got as far as the Mirador at Km 16.8 (page 18/19 in the
Gosney book) and did a quick sea watch before giving up on the cyclists and
heading back to Port de Pollenca. Having some lunch here next to Hotel Pollenca
park, we checked the beach for Audouin’s Gulls and then called it a day.
Friday 21st April – We set off at 07:00 and arrived
at Cuber Reservoir (in very cold conditions) just after 08:00. We walked
anticlockwise around the reservoir because the cold temperature and very much
shaded southern side of the reservoir made us believe the sunnier patches to
the north would attract more migrants earlier on. The wind had dropped
significantly, but there was still a chill in the air. We spent almost all
morning here stopping off on the way home at mirador overlooking the Torrent de
Pareis (Gosney page 24, note 5). Late afternoon we checked the C’an Cuarassa
tracks to the south of Port de Pollenca and finally had a good look just after
dusk at the Hotel Pollenca and the park by the Guardia Civil building unsuccessfully looking
for Scops Owl.
Saturday 22nd April – Our three main site targets were
out the way, so we arrived at s’Albufera again, though slightly earlier. The
wind had dramatically dropped and the heat was noticeable, even earlier on. We
spent more time around our favourite areas from the first visit, namely the Es
Ciboller pools, Sa Roca pools and the northern end of Ses Puntes track. We then
headed to Depuradora de S’Illot taking the first exit at both roundabouts at
C’an Picafort and turning right at the bus depot. We ended the birding at Tucan
marsh at the northern end of Alcudia.
Sunday 23rd April – We had to leave for the
airport at 06:30 meaning no birding was done, but the drop off of the rental
car was very easy and check in to the Easyjet flight home was very smooth.
Sites
S’Albufera: This is a real gem of a site and reminds me a
lot of Aiguamolls de l’Emporda in Costa Brava. The gates and in fact reserve
are open from 8am-6pm in April-October. There is however a gap in the wall to
the left of the gate which can be used and we ran into a few staff before 8am
and we had no problems, so I guess it’s quite well known us Brits love a dawn.
Do stop in at the Visitor Centre though for a free permit. This helps them
gauge numbers and presumably helps the conservation through funding of the site. The site
itself holds 800 pairs of Moustached Warbler and is supposed to be one of the
most reliable sites in Europe for them. On the first morning, it was quite
windy and we didn’t have a single sight or sound of Moustached Warbler with
just one Sedge Warbler heard. Walking along the access track, you’ll come
across the sound of Fan-tailed Warbler ‘zitting’ to the left and the
‘underwater trumping’ of Little Egrets, Cattle Egrets and Night Herons in the
colony across the channel as viewed from the left bend in the track going over
the bridge. As you go over the bridge, you’ll see the Ses Puntes track running
south. On the first visit, it was windy here, but this was the only time we saw
Osprey. On the second visit, we spent a while at the first platform, with the
first Moustached Warblers (lifer for me) being seen and heard from here. We had at least 4
from here. There were several singing Great Reed Warbler from here as well as a
Grasshopper Warbler. We also had
an adult Hobby over from this platform. The Sa Roca pools has two hides and
provides excellent views of Stilts and Plovers, with particularly good numbers of
Kentish Plovers. Here we had two Collared Pratincole (a well overdue lifer for
me), Snipe, Purple Swamphen and good numbers of Red-crested Pochard. In
addition, on the first day, a Temminck’s Stint was with the plovers. Following
the track round from the hides, you’ll come across a small pool (noted to have
tame Red-knobbed Coot in Gosney, but we didn’t have any). Here we had
phenomenal views of two Great Reed Warblers singing and a Balearic ‘badius’ Woodchat Shrike. The three bridges across the channels provides you with good
opportunity to see Red-knobbed Coot (lifer for both) with two neck-collared birds being seen
over the two visits as well as Western Swamphen and Eurasian Coot. Matthew
Meehan saw a female Little Bittern from the first bridge on the 22nd
April. Straight on from the bridges is a track running north to a Power Station
and Es Colombars pools. A couple of raised platforms along here provide good
views of herons, in particular Purple Heron flying low over the marsh. It’s
also suggested this is a good spot for Moustached Warbler, but we had a single
Sedge Warbler and that was it. The star for me was Es Cibollar pools to the
north of the channel. Here there are two hides that provide phenomenal viewing
of waders including Wood Sandpiper, Kentish Plover, Avocet, Common Sandpiper
and even the Temminck’s Stint. Also on the pool were a flock of 30 black Spotted
Redshank, 5 Little Stint, Ruff, Snipe, adult Curlew Sandpiper, Ringed and
Little Ringed Plover and stilts. There was also a Marbled Teal (lifer), a pair
of Garganey and Shoveler. Over the marsh, we were treated to five minutes of
excellent birding, with a Gull-billed Tern and a Caspian Tern moving east over
the site and a male Red-footed Falcon drifting north showing the dark falcon
with silvery primaries on the upper wing. Finally, the
track to the west had a well-known viewing platform for raptors. We had good
numbers of crag martin from here as well as a pair of Red-knobbed Coot just
below us and the male proved very bold and walked on the path and even stood on
Danni’s foot! Amazing! This track was the host to the only snake on the trip
with an in-shed Viperine Snake (Natrix maura) which was a lifer and was seen
under the most bizarre of circumstances! Several Iberian Water Frogs were heard
calling all over the reserve early on.
Ses Salinetes – We just visited these salt pans once, which
is a shame as they seemed excellent, but we three Marbled Teal here as well as
badius Balearic Woodchat Shrike and just beyond the pools, at the Son Bosc
area, an amazing Nightingale, a flyover Hoopoe and singing Thekla Lark (lifer
for Danni). In addition to birds, we had Bug Orchid, Black-tailed Skimmer and
Clouded Yellow here.
Depuradora de S’Illot – The road leading up to the water
treatment works from the bus station was a real gem. Here we had at least 3
Tawny Pipit about a third of the way down the track. The fields just south west
of the cross road held two Stone Curlew and several Hoopoe in the area. The open area at Son Bosc
also held a Tawny Pipit and two Stone Curlews were flushed by horse riders. The
actual water treatment pools were a tad disappointing, but Tufted Duck was
added to the trip list as well as a pair of White-cheeked Pintail which are
obviously escapes but were interesting to see how aggressive they were. We also
saw the only other reptiles of the trip. A European Pond Terrapin and a large
Wall Lizard sp we assume was Ibiza Wall Lizard.
Boquer Valley – I almost don’t need to give a run down of
this site as it essentially is exactly the same as page 12 and 13 in the Gosney
book. The fields and fig trees around the Casada Boquer held Wryneck, Pied Flycatcher,
Redstart, Whinchat, Wheatear and Spotted Flycatcher. One thing I will say about the Casada Boquer,
is you have to pass through two metal gates. It wasn’t obvious you can pass
through here as it looks private, but it’s fine. There is just a sign saying
‘no dogs’. Past here you come across some large boulders. We had Blue Rock
Thrush and Crag Martin here. There were loads of Serin the valley and half way
down, we picked up the first Booted Eagle over the eastern valley sides. Once
you can see the sea, you should come into low lying vegetation. This is the
best area for Balearic Warbler (Lifer for both). Once you get away from the endless calls and
song of Sardinian Warbler, you may be lucky to hear a gentle tack of this
endemic Sylvia. We found a pair in a clearing with lots of pale grey rocks on
the ground. They were feeding chicks, so we kept our distance and allowed them
to come to us rather than the other way around. The male gave one song flight
which was as delicate as they were in appearance. If you go looking for them,
please don’t use tape lure. You really don’t need it. If you suspect breeding
too, please be respectful. Over the water in the high winds, lots of Scopoli’s
Shearwater were passing east. We also
had a small patch of Bertolini's bee orchid.
Formentor Peninsular – The first mirador you come across has
a decent car park and an impressive viewpoint. We had a single pass of an
Eleanora’s Falcon (lifer for Danni) as well as a Peregrine from here. There’s good numbers of
Raven and a few Blue Rock Thrush and just below the viewing point, there’s a
colony of Crag Martin. On our much calmer second visit, we had a flock of c40
Balearic Shearwaters (lifer for Danni) on the flat calm sea, but nothing else. We only really
then tried to get to the lighthouse at the end and with so few stopping points
and so many cyclists, we sort of gave up. We had a quick seawatch from km 16.8 picking up Bealearic Sheawater for the
trip .
Cuber Reservoir – walking round the reservoir anticlockwise,
we views the groves to the north east of the reservoir which held Firecrest,
Wood Warbler, Wryneck, balearicus Blue Tit, loads of Chaffinch, hundreds of
Pied Flycatcher (literally!) and most bizarrely a calling Scops Owl. There were
also two Water Pipits on the edge of the reservoir. Above the reservoir we
enjoyed views of 2 Black Vulture, 5 Griffon Vulture, 3 Booted Eagle and a Red
Kite. As you walk round the reservoir onto the southern side, you’ll come
across some low lying pines. Here we had a pair of Moltoni’s Subalpine
Warblers (lifer for both), which proved hideously elusive and we failed to get photos of either.
Just round from the dam wall, there appeared to be a Crag Martin colony with a
couple of Cirl Bunting here too. Apart from that, the reservoir proved quiet,
but after we had got to the dam wall, we were inundated with tourists.
Tucan Marsh – This looks like a great little place with
Night Heron, Purple Heron and Great Crested Grebe (the only one we saw) being
highlights. I can easily imagine good numbers of terns and maybe even
White-headed Duck on here, but we only managed to fit in one visit.
C’an Cuarassa – This site proved to be slightly disappointing,
but maybe that was because we went in late afternoon. We didn’t see any
starlings at all, which was a shame, but we had Woodchat Shrike, Whinchat,
Yellow Wagtail (iberiae), Corn Bunting, Nightingale and a few showy Sardinian
Warbler here (though they were pretty much everywhere!)
The hotel – as a little extra, we had an almost constantly
calling owl from outside our hotel every evening which proved to be a
Long-eared Owl (I had written it off as immature Tawny until we got back and
had a good look at the pics). Really cool to have just outside!
A really enjoyable few days in Mallorca and visiting some
excellent places. I’d highly recommend it and I’d consider going back maybe in
early May next time when the Eleanora’s Falcons and Honey Buzzards are properly
in. The length of time we spent was about right too. If we’d had longer, we’d
have explored the salt pans to the south and maybe spent a bit more time in the
mountains, but it did the job for us. I hope this has been useful.
Purple Heron - s'Albufera
Black-winged Stilt - s'Albufera
Kentish Plover - s'Albufera
Wood Sandpiper - s'Albufera
Viperine Snake - s'Albufera
Serin - s'Albufera
Red-knobbed Coot - s'Albufera
Western Swamphen - s'Albufera
badius Woodchat Shrike - Ses Salinetes
Marbled Teal - Ses Salinetes
Red-crested Pochard - Ses Salinetes
Marbled Teal - Ses Salinetes
Bug Orchid - Ses Salinetes
Clouded Yellow - Ses Salinetes
Marbled Teals, Eurasian Coot and Black-winged Stilts - Ses Salinetes
Wryneck - Boquer Valley
Bertolini's bee orchid - Boquer Valley
Sardinian Warbler - Boquer Valley
Balearic Warbler - Boquer Valley
Balearic Warbler - Boquer Valley
Balearic Warbler - Boquer Valley
Booted Eagle- Boquer Valley
Audouin's Gull - Port de Pollenca
Audouin's Gull - Port de Pollenca
Audouin's Gull - Port de Pollenca
Audouin's Gull - Port de Pollenca
Audouin's Gull - Port de Pollenca
Audouin's Gull - Port de Pollenca
Audouin's Gull - Port de Pollenca
Wood Warbler - Cuber Reservoir
Wood Warbler - Cuber Reservoir
Black Vulture - Cuber Reservoir
Night Heron - s'Albufera
Cattle Egret - s'Albufera
Great Reed Warbler - s'Albufera
Red-knobbed Coot - s'Albufera
Temminck's Stint and Kentish Plover - s'Albufera
Avocet - s'Albufera
iberiae Yellow Wagtail -s'Albufera
Tawny Pipit - Depuradora de S’Illot
Tawny Pipit - Depuradora de S’Illot
Hoopoe - Depuradora de S’Illot
Collared Pratincoles and Black-winged Stilt - s'Albufera
Trip List 116
Shag
Cormorant
Balearic Shearwater
Scopoli's Shearwater
Great Crested Grebe
Little Grebe
Western Swamphen
Moorhen
Coot
Red-knobbed Coot
Water Rail
Cattle Egret
Little Egret
Great White Egret
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
Night Heron
Shelduck
Gadwall
Mallard
Marbled Teal
Shoveler
Tufted Duck
Pochard
Red-crested Pochard
Red-legged Partridge
Griffon Vulture
Black Vulture
Osprey
Red Kite
Marsh Harrier
Booted Eagle
Stone Curlew
Avocet
Black-winged Stilt
Spotted Redshank
Collared Pratincole
Greenshank
Wood Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
Dunlin
Temminck's Stint
Little Stint
Curlew Sandpiper
Ringed Plover
Little Ringed Plover
Kentish Plover
Gull-billed Tern
Caspian Tern
Common Tern
Black-headed Gull
Audouin's Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Collared Dove
Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon
Woodpigeon
Kestrel
Peregrine
Hobby
Eleanora's Falcon
Scops Owl
Long-eared Owl
Wryneck
Crag Martin
Sand Martin
House Martin
Swallow
Thekla Lark
Pallid Swift
Swift
Tawny Pipit
Water Pipit
Yellow Wagtail (iberiae and a probably cinereocapilla or hybrid)
Starling
Hoopoe
Wren
Robin
Nightingale
Redstart
Song Thrush
Blackbird
Stonechat
Whinchat
Wheatear
Woodchat Shrike
Cetti's Warbler
Fan-tailed Warbler
Great Reed Warbler
Sedge Warbler
Moustached Warbler
Grasshopper Warbler
Blackcap
Sardinian Warbler
Moltoni's Warbler
Balearic Warbler
Willow Warbler
Wood Warbler
Firecrest
Pied Flycatcher
Spotted Flycatcher
Great Tit
Blue Tit (balearicus)
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Linnet
Serin
Raven
Reed Bunting
Corn Bunting
Cirl Bunting.
