Peter Jones, "Hampshire Diary"

• Friday, July 31, 2009 - Madeira 2009

Just returned from a super family holiday in Calheta, a quiet, sunny corner of Madeira. Saw just about all of my target birds for the trip, plus some other nice wildlife sightings. Highlights below: Thursday 23rd July: Stopped off at Lugar de Baixo which is a tiny freshwater pool. There was something different at this pool on each visit I made, but the best I could manage during the week were my first Common Waxbills. Other sightings were Common Tern, Yellow Legged Gull, Moorhen, Coot and Common Teal. Friday 24th July 2009: A trip to the Desertas Islands in fairly rough seas was very memorable with many Cory's Shearwaters passing close by and also a few Bulwers Petrels. Best of the photos are below. We did see a small number of Fea's / Zino's Petrels, but the views were usually very brief. On the Desertas Islands I got a photo of Berthelots Pipit, and also saw many Atlantic Canaries. On the return sailing back to Funchal, I was lucky enough to see a succession of Whale Blows, but they were too far to investigate further. We did encounter a group of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins at extreme close range. Cory's Shearwater from the Venturas Boat: Bulwer's Petrel: Berthelot's Pipit on the Desertas Island: 26th July: An afternoon drive into the highlands of Madeira between Calheta and Porto Moniz. Madeiran Firecrests were calling everywhere, but it took about 30 minutes trekking along a fairly spectacular Levada walk through dense woodland before I got reasonable views of 2. I could also hear Trocaz Pigeons, and frustratingly even heard their wingbeats as they flew, but was unable to see any here. Back in the open, Swifts were quite numerous overhead, and I eventually confirmed a small number of Plain Swifts, their deeply forked tail the most obvious feature. A probable Pallid swift also zoomed overhead. With daylight fading fast, and low cloud making visibility into the valleys almost impossible, I decided to stake out the only wooded valley that seemed to be cloud free. After about 20 minutes, I was very fortunate to see two Trocaz Pigeons fly up from the valley and land in trees across the valley. Got superb views through the scope of these extremely shy birds. Despite the fact I was a good 500 yards away, they didn't seem to take their eyes off me, before eventually moving on. 27th July, I took the Madeira Wind Birds night trip to the breeding colony of the Zino's Petrels. Heard the birds calling thorughout the evening, and saw a couple fly past, but the views were not great. Nevertheless, it was a memorable experience. Around the hotel in Calheta, a couple of Monarch Butterflies made regular appearances, and an afternoon seawatch from the beach had a few Cory's passing by plus a couple of Bulwer's Petrels. Cory's were nesting above the hotel and every night, their eery calls could be heard above the hotel. A batwatch on the last evening got me two of the three Bat Species present on Madeira: Madeiran Pipistrelle and Leisler's Bat.

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