November 2, 2007
A nice variety of birds seen this month including Blue Rock Thrush.
77 species were seen in October in the Alcossebre area.
I added one new species to the Alcossebre list – Grey Plover. This brings the total of birds recorded to 201.
I also got the first October records for Marsh Harrier; Eleonora´s Falcon; Common Greenshank; Green Sandpiper and Firecrest.
The Firecrest was only my third record here.
The Monthly summary was as follows.
The 1st October started with a nice variety of overnight arrivals :- one each of Common Redstart; Northern Wheatear; Pied Flycatcher and Willow Warbler and four Subalpine Warblers.
I also got the highest count of the month for Collared Doves (103), Little Owls(6) and Hoopoes (12).
The 2nd of October provided me with my first record of Grey Plover, one bird flying along the coast calling as it flew.
Two separate Southern Great Grey Shrikes were feeding in the local farmland.
Things were quiet until the 6th October, when 5 Grey Herons and 8 Little Egrets flew East, heading for the Ebro Delta.
A female Eurasian Teal arrived at the Sewage Pond.
Five Turtle Doves were the highest count for the month.
4 Sand Martins, 21 Barn Swallows and 6 House Martins headed South.
The only Blue-headed Wagtail of the month was seen.
The first Blue Rock Thrush (a female) of the autumn arrived at her usual disused farm building to winter.
The first Dartford Warbler of the autumn was seen in the coastal scrubland.
More Grey Herons (15) were moving East on the 7th October. A Eleonora´s Falcon flew in from the sea and headed North.
Overnight arrivals included the first Skylarks (2) of the autumn and four Pied Flycatchers, were the most seen this month.
The usual male Blue Rock Thrush returned to the lower disused tower building to winter.
The first Grey Wagtail of the autumn was seen on the 8th October, as were Robins (3) and one Black Redstart .8 Fan-tail Warblers were the most counted this month.
Seven Shags fishing off shore on the 9th October, were the most seen all month. As were a count of 65 Sandwich Terns.
31 Cattle Egrets counted on the local farmland were a peak count for the month.
Six Northern Lapwing flying North West were the first of autumn, as was a Meadow Pipit in the local farmland.
Two Reed Warblers and a Pied Flycatcher at the Sewage Pond were the last of the Autumn.
The second Eleonora´s Falcon for the month again flew in from the sea on the 10th October.
The next three days were unsettled weather, so no bird counts.
On the 13th October there was still some South moving birds, Barn Swallows –40+ and Sand Martins.–5.
Wintering birds were increasing day by day – Robins up to 10; Stonechats up to 8; Meadow Pipits up to 6, plus 4 new Corn Buntings.
The first Hobby of the autumn was seen on the 15th October, and 18 Sardinian Warblers counted were peak numbers for the month.
The first Crag Martins (3) and Chiffchaff (1) of the autumn were seen on the 16th October.
Cloudy overnight conditions brought in some birds on the 18th October. 34+ Song Thrushes: 10+ Blackcaps: 13 Stonechats: : 7 Black Redstarts. Two Kingfishers at the Sewage Pond were the most I´ve seen there.
On the 20th October eight Wood Pigeons seen were a high count for this area, as with Song Thrushes they are high on the local Hunters shooting list!
The first Green Sandpiper and Reed Bunting of the autumn were seen. The Sandpiper at the Sewage pond and the Bunting in the farmland.
37 Robins counted were peak numbers for the month.
On the 21st October I had the company of my friend from Essex, Sam Shippey. He brought a bit of luck with him as it was about the best day of the month for birds here!
Passage birds included a total of 465 Cormorants heading South West; 7 Northern Gannets headed East,An Arctic Skua chasing Sandwich Terns, the first of Autumn, Sam incidently,saw another that day close in to shore.
A Marsh Harrier headed South, another first for Autumn.
A Booted Eagle soaring in the distance.
The first Common Buzzard of autumn.
A Northern Greenshank flying over calling.
A total of 25 Northern Lapwings flew east.
Add to that overnight arrivals:- 35 Song Thush; 13 Blackcap; 5 Chiffchaff; 1 Willow Warbler; 14 Black Redstarts; 13 Stonechats; 14 Meadow Pipits; 47+ Skylarks; 9 White Wagtails and 4 Reed Buntings.
Although things were quiet on the 23rd October, I did get the first Sparrowhawk of the month, a male chasing Chaffinches.
The Green Sandpiper was still finding food at the Sewage Pond.
The 26th October saw a small westerly passage of Audoin´s Gulls (60+) and Black-headed Gulls (45+)
Overnight arrivals included:-17 Black Redstarts: 17 White Wagtails: 28 Meadow Pipits: 8 Corn Buntings: 2 Reed Bunting and 1 Cirl Bunting.
Two Great White Egrets flying East along the coast on the 28th October, were no doubt Ebro Delta bound.
They were the first of the month.
Another male Sparrowhawk four Common Kestrels and a Kingfisher were the only other highlights of the day.
The 29th October had a couple of surprises for me.
As well as 3 Grey Herons heading east – expected,
Thre was a total of 90+ Chaffinches heading east – not expected, they normally head south or south west at this time of the year? The mysteries of bird migration eh?
Stonechats peaked at 17 birds today.
I got the best bird of the day in the centre of Alcossebre town – a Firecrest feeding in some Pine Trees across from the local shops.
This was the first this year and only my third ever record here.
The last two days of October proved to windy to birdwatch, with strong gusting Northerly winds.
Alcossebre Weather in October, 2007.
Overall a poor month for weather. Apart from the 2nd – which turned out to be the warmest day of the month –the only other spell of fine sunny weather was the 6th to the 10th October.
For most of the rest it was a mixture of cloudy and sunny spells (12 days), or overcast conditions with rain (9 days). We had more than the average rainfall for October, with a total rainfall for the month of 219mm or 8.5 inches.
Most of the rain fell on the 11th October with 76mm or 3 inches and the 4th October with 64mm or 2.5 inches.
The average day temperature was 22C or 72F, with the warmest day being the 2nd October at 28C or 82F.
The average night temperature was 14C or 58F, with the coolest nights being the 22nd and 28th October, at 10C or 52F.
Winds were mainly light and gentle throughout the month, with only two days Strong and gusting – 30th and 31st October.
Wind directions were mainly from the North and North West in the mornings and East to South East in the afternoons.