Nick Derry travelled to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands in November 2000 and captured these lovely watercolour images. Contact Nick at nickderry@yahoo.co.uk
Fuerteventura Stonechat is quite an easy bird to see on Fuerteventura. This one came to inspect me while was feeding some Barbary Ground-squirrels in a car park. They are also quite obliging and a pleasure to draw, unless of course your sketchbook is being invaded by hungry squirrels!
As if an attack of squirrels wasn't bad enough for the would-be artist, I had to sketch this Houbara Bustard from the claustraphobic environment of a hired Ford Ka. Searching for Houbaras is always uncomfortable as the best roads from which to see them have little resemblance to roads as we know them, (best not to tell the car-hire where you've been!)
Curlew Sandpipers are not common on the Canaries, so I was very pleased to find this one resting on saltpan wall with several Kentish Plovers. Unfortunately the area of saltpans was very small, and the sandpiper was quick to depart when a group of children came by to throw sticks in the water!
