July 31, 2005
Moult, Hot Weather and Tourists make for hard birding in July.
Birds.It really was hard work this month getting a reasonable list of birds with the combination of Moulting birds, hot weather (see weather report) and tourists.
However,dispite these factors I did see a total of 54 species.
I even managed to get two new additions to the Alcossebre Bird List – Cory’s Shearwater and Common Shelduck. Which brings the list of species seen here to 162.
Seabirds and other birds passing along the sea.
Pride of place goes to the Cory’s Shearwater flying east past the fish farm on the 27th July (thanks to Roy for taking me out on his yacht for this one).
A single Gannet seen flying west on the 17th.
One to three Shags were seen throught out the month and one to two Cormorants.
Two Grey Heron flew east on the 10th and four Purple Heron flew west on the 4th.
12 Common Shelduck flew West on the 29th, my first record here.
One Little Egret flying east on the 3rd was the only one seen all month.
Two Curlew flew east on the 26th, the first this autumn.
29 Black Headed Gulls flying west on the 15th were out numbered by 374 Audouin’s Gulls flying east per hour on the 8th! Heading no doubt for the Ebro Delta to moult.
Herons and Egrets. Grey and Purple Herons were only seen on passage, as was Little Egret. 1 to 12 Cattle Egrets were seen in the fields up to the 12th of the month.
Birds of Prey
Another quiet month for these birds. A Black Kite flew north east on the 29th and a Kestrel was seen on the 9th.
The Moorhens at the sewage pond were bringing up their third brood of the season. I can’t remember seeing first brood birds feeding second brood birds before? See photo.
A single Mallard turned up at the sewage pond on the 15th.
Wading BirdsThree species seen this month. The Curlew passing through. A single Whimbrel at Capycorp Lagoon on 28th– see photo – and 2 Common Sandpipers on the beach on the 14th.
Gulls and TernsQuite a lot of activity this month.One adult Mediterranean Gull flying along the beach on the 27th. See photo.
Apart from the birds seen on passage there were usually 2 to 6 Black Headed Gulls seen at Las Fuentes Port and along the beaches.
Like wise Audoiun’s and Yellow Legged Gulls were seen daily on the beaches before the tourists took over.
Sandwich Terns started to build up numbers from the 13th until there were 80+ feeding off shore.Common Terns first appeared from the 17th onwards in smaller numbers 10+. See photo.
Pigeons and Doves.
Usual 3 species seen, with one to three Wood Pigeons, up to 52 Collared Doves seen feeding in the fields, while only one or two Turtle Doves were seen.
Great Spotted Cuckoo: unlike last month only single birds seen.
Little Owl. Only one or two birds seen.
Red Necked Nightjar. Singles seen and heard throughout, in fact I got quite used to one flying over my head as I swam in the pool at dusk!
Swifts, Swallows and Martins.
Common and Pallid Swifts were becoming scarcer by the day as their young got stronger on the wing. No more than 30 of each seen, maximum.
In contrast Swallows and House Martins were increasing in numbers daily as the third brood of young fledged. Both species now seen in their hundreds.
Hoopoe. Still keeping a low profile with a maximum of 5 birds seen.
Bee-eater. There appears to be mixed success with the four breeding pairs. One pair at Rio San Miquel have raised 2 young.
Two pairs in the farmland are still feeding young.
The pair near the sewage works have deserted because the farmer got lorry loads of top soil dumped on his field and it covered their nesting hole.
Larks, Pipits and Wagtails.A maximum of 10 Crested Larks were seen, usually in family groups of 3 or 4.
The only other member of this group seen was one or two juvenile White Wagtails seen at the sewage pond.
Thrushes. Only one species seen this month the Blackbird, and like most of the smaller birds keeping a low profile due to moult.Only the odd bird seen.
Warblers. Moult to blame again for the lack of sightings. Three species seen. Up to 6 Fan Tail Warblers see photo, one to two Melodious Warblers and up to 8 Sardinian Warblers seen.
Spotted Flycatcher. Family groups of 3 and 4 birds seen daily now.
Great Tit. Family groups of 3 and 4 birds seen daily now.
Shrikes. The Southern Grey Shrike that appeared last month is still here see photo and single Woodchat Shrikes seen, all adults so far.
So I don’t know if they bred successfully this year.
Golden Oriole.One ot two birds still making their presence heard.
Magpie. Noisy family groups heard daily. Maximum of 16 birds seen.
Finches and Buntings.
Family groups of Finches starting to join together. Maximum numbers this month : Greenfinch 23 birds; Goldfinch 16 birds and Serin 10 birds.
The only Bunting seen this month was Corn Bunting, 2 on the 30th.
Weather. A hot month! The first ten days had an average daily maximum of 29c (85F), then from the 13th to the 30th it averaged 32c (90f) with some days reaching 34c (94f).
In the first ten days of the month there was some cloudy spells but it didn’t last long. There was a little overnight rain on the 9th and the 30th.
So most days were hot and sunny with a gentle east or south east wind.
Farming Scene. Hard work this month toiling in the fields.
The Tomato crops were ripening daily and fallen tomatoes were providing food for insects and birds.
The Artichoke fiields were being systematically scythed- see photo – leaving the fields looking like parched deserts. The Crested Larks were finding them good feeding grounds.
A variety of Marrows and Melons were also ripening.
Sugar canes were also maturing.
Not much ploughing going on so that explains the scarcity of Cattle Egrets and Wagtails.
Butterflies. The hot dry weather brought out a lot of Butterflies.
We have around 20 species in the Acossebre area.
See photos of two that fly in July. The Scarce Swallowtail and the Ilex Hairstreak. The latter feeds on the blue Scabious flower.
Finally, I couldn’t resist showing a photo of the flower called Morning Glory (Ipomoea purpurea) found along all our roadsides and wild scrubby areas. I know I would have loved it growing in my garden when I lived in Glasgow!
