Tarifa - 15th to 21st September

Pam and I returned to Tarifa in September, flying to Gibraltar for a change and a shorter drive. All was going to plan until an announcement that heavy cloud over Gibraltar might be a problem. As we flew down the Spanish Mediterranean coast the Captain announced that we would have to land at Malaga from where a bus would be arranged for the transfer to Gib. We landed and taxied to some far off part of the airport, waited for 20 mins then the Captain announced we were now cleared to land at Gibraltar so up we went again and finally landed at our intended destination, 3 hrs late including take-off delays at Manchester. Still it was only a short drive to Tarifa from here. We hired a car from Espacar at La Linea so we left Gibraltar on foot and soon found the man with our car in the designated underground car park.
Arriving in the town we saw a few Honey Buzzards heading out over the Straits, our first Spotless Starlings and a couple of Turnstone down by the Castle.
Los Lances the following morning produced 25 Kentish Plover, 7 Knot, 3 Whimbrel and 40 Calandra Larks with a few distant Audouin's Gull in the distance on the beach. Moving on to Cazalla there were a few raptors on the move in a light SW wind ; 35 Short-toed and 31 Booted with 30 Black Stork and 23 Pallid Swifts, not a bad start.
The following morning I started again at Los Lances and was just negotiating the collapsing footbridge when a Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin flew from the side of the bridge and landed in some scrub by the side of the river. The first I have seen in Spain, I walked back along the bridge and found a track close to the river and had brief views again as it flew out a landed on the top of a bush before diving in. Brief but reasonable views but no chance of a photo.
The wind was picking up a blowing a decent force 4 or 5 easterly so I headed up to Trafico where the birds appeared to be following the valley and heading just inland of the coastal watch point so I moved to the dirt track crossroads about 1km inland. Here birds were passing very close, mainly Booted Eagles (120) with a few Short-Toed Eagles and Black Kites. It provided a good opportunity to get photos of the variation in underparts colour in the Booted.

Colour variation in juvenile Booted Eagle

Moving back to the coast at La Pena had had the chance to have a good look at some of the larks on the hillside most were definitely Thekla but there also appeared to be 1 or 2 Crested. Having taken some photos I went back down to the beach near Los Lances where I had seen Crested earlier in the day to get some comparison photos. 

Thekla (left) v Crested Lark

Not the best comparison with a rather tatty Crested Lark but it shows the long curved culmen of Crested v the straight and shorter culmen of Thekla. I think it's sometimes easier to compare the shape of the culmen rather than the straight lower mandible of Crested with the slightly convex lower mandible of Thekla often quoted in books but this is more apparent in the photo below.. The breast and flank streaking of Thekla is also very obvious in this photo and is more restricted to the upper chest in Crested (see photo below).
In the afternoon I went up to La Pena and counted 12 Thekla and 2 Crested Larks allowing further comparison.

Thekla (left) v Crested Lark

In a reasonable flight view the orangey underwing of Crested Lark is usually fairly apparent compared with the greyish underwing of Thekla.

Thekla (left) v Crested Lark underwing

In the strong winds I went down to the beach to have a look at the Yellow-legged Gulls flying around the causeway to Tarifa Island. The birds were coming close and providing some good photo opportunities.

Yellow-legged Gull - moulting to 1st winter

The following day we went to La Janda which was very disappointing. Cotton appears to have been planted in many of the areas that used to be rice and the whole area is very dry, consequently there were very few herons, egrets or water birds. I did manage a single but distant Black-winged Kite, a distant juvenile Bonelli's Eagle, just two Montagu's Harriers and a more obliging juvenile Woodchat Shrike.

Woodchat Shrike juvenile

I made a few visits to the wooded valley by the Castle in Tarifa which leads up to El Olivar. It held a few common migrants such as Garden Warbler, Whitethroat and Blackcap and I also heard one of the few remaining Common Bulbul calling but failed to get any photos.

On the 19th we met our good friends Richard and Janet Hart, he and I went up to Cazalla which produced an amazing flock of 300 Alpine Swift, 62 Short-toed and 26 Booted Eagles plus singles of Spanish and Bonelli's Eagles.

Alpine Swifts

Spanish Eagle juvenile

The following day we went to Barbate, not an area I have visited too often but it proved to be a good choice, we went up the southern edge of the lagoons and soon found at least 6 Stone Curlew and a decent group of Calandra and Short-toed Larks in the neighbouring fields probably 40 or 50 Calandra and a dozen Short-toed. Audouin's and Yellow-legged Gulls were preening on the islands with at least 19 Audouin's. Several juvenile Woodchat Shrikes were sat along the fence posts and in the final patch of trees there appeared to be something of a fall of migrants with 2 Pied Flycatcher, male and female Redstart, Willow Warbler and at least 3 strikingly yellow Iberian Chiffchaff.

 

Iberian Chiffchaff - juv/1st winter

I came back the following morning when there were over 250 Calandra and 75 Short-toed Larks but only single Iberian Chiffchaff and Pied Flycatcher remained in the wood but a Tawny Pipit was an addition to the trip list.
Returning to Tarifa we drove the Santuario Road stopping for an hour at the high point. Several Griffon Vultures appeared in the distance drifting towards us and as they came closer one turned out to be an immature Ruppell's.

Ruppell's Vulture

It circled at some distance drifting north with the Griffon's but was soon lost to sight.
On my final morning I returned to Los Lances, crossing the listing wooden bridge and whilst looking at a Stonechat was surprised to see a small trip of 7 Dotterel sat in the field.

Dotterel

Our light back from Gibraltar was uneventful and it was certainly a much shorter drive then flying from Malaga so worth considering.

Croatia 28th May - 9th June

We crossed the impressive toll bridge on to the island of Krk on the afternoon of 28th June and drove down to Krk town where we booked accommodation at Ana Rooms via Booking.com for 65€ (~£58) for 2 nights. The property was within easy walking distance of the centre and close to open countryside in a modern elegant property. I took a walk along a track into a maze of walled olive groves. A Cirl Bunting was singing from the top of a bush and I soon heard several Eastern Subalpine Warblers. I returned to the same area the following morning with a light rain still falling and added Red-backed Shrike plus a distant Lesser Grey Shrike. The latter was rather frustrating as it was sat in the open on top of a bush but the maze of deep drystone walls made it impossible to get closer. Sardinian Warblers were also present with the Eastern Subalpines. 

Cirl Bunting - male in song

The following morning I returned to the Krk Airport area where I had searched in vane for Rock Partridge in 2016.

Krk dry stone walls- the ground was covered in rocks and I concluded they just piled them up to clear the ground?

The signs were not good with heavy rain showers and almost gale force wind. Pam and I trudged up and down the area east of the quarry but it felt hopeless. We disturbed at least 6 Red-backed Shrikes which were sheltering close to the ground out of the wind but couldn't find the partridge. A single Eastern Black-eared Wheatear flew towards the quarry but in the weather conditions there seemed little point in pursuing it so we left the area heading south again hoping for more luck on the island of Pag.
We decided to stay at Nin for four nights at Apartments Ventura which were opposite the small island town of Nin and 
right on the coast. The weather finally started to improve and we enjoyed glorious sunshine here.
On Nin itself there was a large colony of Spanish Sparrow by the church and a pair of Woodchat Shrike.

Woodchat Shrike - female

Nin was badly flooded in 2017 and they were still repairing some of the access roads including that which ran parallel to the salt pans which made access to that area difficult although other than Little Terns and Black-winged Stilts there did not appear to be much bird activity.

Aerial view of the 2017 flooding at Nin on a poster at the town entrance

As we drove in to Nin Pam saw a Pygmy Cormorant sat on a rock close to the old town and subsequently we saw 2 or 3 everyday sat on posts or this same rock.

Pygmy Cormorant

A short walk from the apartment was some open ground with scattered trees, Turtle Doves and Nightingales could be heard with the occasional flutey whistle from Golden Oriole. Several pairs of Red-backed Shrike were courting and I came across a pair of Eastern Subalpine Warblers feeding young in a nest. The female was very elusive but the male came along the tops of the bushes to the nest giving some excellent views. He brought a range of different sizes of spiders, small butterflies and quite a large grasshopper of some kind.

Eastern Subalpine Warbler - male with a cricket

Eastern Subalpine Warbler - male

The male Red-backed Shrikes were very vocal giving a short croaking call that I can't recall hearing before and were clearly in courting mode as they were regularly chasing the females.

Red-backed Shrikes - male and female

From Nin we drove down the coast through Zadar to Lake Vrana. There is a conservation area on its northern edge with a decent boardwalk which gave good views of the lake and the reed bed. Pygmy Cormorants were flying past in ones and twos and there were marsh terns feeding over the lake including both White-winged and Whiskered Terns but they were always distant. Purple Herons kept appearing over the reed beds then disappearing in to them again. From the reeds Great Reed Warblers were calling incessantly with the occasional Cetti's Warbler. A couple of male Montagu's Harriers drifted northwards high over the lake and we also saw singles closer to Nin.

Montagu's Harrier - male

The following morning I got up early and drove round to the island of Pag. There are two linked wetlands on what is otherwise a very barren island so I headed for Veliko Blato which has open water and reed beds.

Sign at Veliko Blato

The edge of the lake is easily accessible and this held several Squacco Herons feeding amongst the sheep. 

Squacco Heron

There were also Crested Larks here and a few waders with singles of Wood Sandpiper and Little-ringed Plover I also saw several Lapwing in a wet area by the main road as I turned off to Veliko Blato. The only raptor was a rather tatty female Marsh Harrier and it was clear that I was at the tail end of migration here although small parties of Bee-eater were still moving. I stopped at various spots for Rock Partridge but without success.
The following morning I had another look around Nin, close to the salt pans I came across a hippolais warbler in song. It was sat out in the open but frustratingly, due to dense vegetation, I couldn't get very close. The song lacked the wheezy nasal elements of Icterine, not sure why its named Melodious though as it was still fast and scratchy. The primary projection was short, pale wing panel very narrow and buffy yellow underparts with yellow restricted to throat so all good for Melodious.

Melodious Warbler

Later that day we drove to Starigrad with a view to driving up to Veliko Rujno but the narrow road had suffered a landslip in the village and was impassable. I tried to find an alternate road to link up above the landslip but nothing connected so we entered the main Paklenica Park entrance. There were many climbers and few birds. Having walked fairly well up the gorge I tried in the low wooded area near the park entrance and soon found a singing Icterine Warbler. Croatia is one of the few countries where their breeding ranges overlap and seeing both species the same day was a real treat. The Icterine had a striking wing panel (although I've recently seen photos of Melodious with a distinct wing panel in the Netherlands so this is not a diagnostic feature). Primary projection was very long, equal to the exposed tertials and the underparts were a more uniform yellow and it looks like a short 1st primary is just visible. The song contained the characteristic repeated wheezy nasal elements.

Icterine Warbler

After leaving the park I had another look for a road up to Veliko Rujno and finally found an alternate route. Stops on the way up produced more Eastern Subalpine and where the paved road ends I had rather poor views of two Eastern Orphean Warblers, calling tack tack which to my ears was the same as Blackcap but no song.
We had a last day at Nin on 2nd June and made another trip to Pag. At a small supermarket at the entrance to Povljana there were both House and Spanish Sparrows together and I saw mating House and mating Spanish but no interspecies mating and no sign of any hybrid birds.

House and Spanish Sparrows

Spanish Sparrows courting with House Sparrow looking on, note the blackish throat on this female

I Left Pam by the beach at Povljana and drove over to Veliko Malo, just as I left the shoreline a Rock Partridge flew over the road in front of me and appeared to land in a rocky field.
I parked up and scanned the field, no sign. I waited and after several minutes it appeared below a bush, stood still for 30 seconds then moved out of view.

Rock Partridge

I waited another 15 minutes with no further sign then I heard a second bird calling some distance away and picked it up on top of a wall. It was distant but stood out in the open, Rock Partridge at last.

Rock Partridge

Whilst they may not be guaranteed on Pag or Krk the chances of seeing them and getting decent views appear a lot higher than on the hills of Paklenica or for that matter the French or Swiss Alps.

Rock Partridge habitat on Pag

The following day we moved to Camp Igor on the coastal southern edge of Starigrad. Early the next morning I walked up a paved road just south of the campsite and almost immediately heard the flutey song of Eastern Orphean Warbler, then another and within half an hour I counted at least six singing males. They appeared to choose the tops of the tallest trees as song post but after an hour or so I managed some reasonable photos.

Eastern Orphean Warbler - males

All the males I saw had irises that were only a slightly lighter blue grey than the pupil. The dark blotches on the under tail coverts are just visible on the lower bird as well as the extensive bluish bill base which help to distinguish Eastern from Western Orphean.

From Starigrad we started to head back north stopping at a large but empty campsite by the pretty fishing village of Klenovica and then continuing on to Pula in Istria where we stayed in Apartment T&S off Booking.com €124 (~£111) for 4 nights. A couple of km from Pula centre but walkable.

Pula amphitheatre

The amphitheatre at Pula is certainly spectacular and its a decent town centre. Nearby a promontory sticks out in to the Adriatic which forms the southern tip of Istria and is a protected area called Kamenjak. At times in the spring it must be alive with birds but Pam and I had the usual Eastern Subalpine Warblers, Red-backed Shrikes plus Woodlark and Tawny Pipit with lots of Shag off shore and a couple of orchids but apparently there are 30 species to be found here.

Tawny Pipit

 About 30km to the north of Pula there is another reserve, a coastal swamp called Palud. There were very few birds and lots of mosquitos when we visited but I could imagine it pulling birds in when the weather is right.

Palud reserve from the small hide

We saw Shelducks, Eastern Subalpine Warblers this time feeding fledged young and a few Little Egrets.
After Pula we headed north back in to Slovenia but we stopped a couple of times on the way to look at wooded and scrub areas. One bird I hadn't seen this trip was Sombre Tit although we'd looked in many areas that looked suitable but had no luck, are there Sombre Tit in Istria? Stopping near Pazin we came across a lovely group of flowering Lizard Orchids before finally leaving Croatia.

Lizard Orchid

Shetland Road Trip 25th Sept - 3rd Oct

Despite having spent more than 4 decades birdwatching in the UK I have never been to the Shetland Isles. So when Roger Barnes, a birding friend from Leeds, suggested a trip in late September I jumped at the chance. Roger already had a reservation on Fair Isle for 1st to 5th October where he was due to meet some friends so the timing of the visit was set around these dates.
There are a variety of ways to travel to Shetland and in the end we decided to drive in the camper and catch the ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick. This gave us flexibility on the journey up and for our time on Shetland. We set off on 25th September with our first planned stop at Barns Ness, just over the Scottish border, where a 1st winter Woodchat Shrike had been showing well for several days.

Roger and I arriving at the aptly named Barns Ness

We arrived at Barns Ness in strong winds and overcast skies but there were a couple of other bird watchers in view and it turned out that they were watching the shrike and so were we within a few minutes of our arrival.

Woodchat Shrike 1st winter

A first winter Rose-coloured Starling had also been reported a few days earlier and in speaking to the locals we soon established that it was still present, feeding on the beach with Common Starlings. In the strong winds Starlings were flying in all directions but we persisted and eventually located the bird with about 30 Common Starling on the beach. Unfortunately the birds were flushed by another birder so we only managed rather distant views. 

Rose-coloured Starling with Common Starlings

The weather was forecast to improve later in the afternoon so we were keen to get to Musselburgh, our next stop.

Roger and I spent a week in Iceland in 2016 where we failed to find a regular summering White-winged Scoter so the opportunity to see a male that had been found in Spring this year was too good to miss.

Velvet Scoter - males

From the sea wall there were several groups of Velvet Scoter plus ones and two's spread over a kilometre or so. It looked like it might be a long task to search through them all but luck was with us again when we came across some local birders who had located the White-winged Scoter.

Once found, the pink rather than yellow, bill along with the swollen bill shape at the nostrils and large white tick behind the eye made it relatively easy to pick up, at least in good light.

White-winged and Velvet Scoter

White-winged Scoter

An adult Red-throated Diver moulting from summer plumage was feeding close to the seawall and provided a good photo opportunity.

Red-throated Diver - adult moulting from summer plumage

A Pectoral Sandpiper was also present on the nearby lagoons and we managed to locate this bird before dark and again the following morning where there were also two juvenile Curlew Sandpipers but all were distant telescope views.
From Musselburgh it was none stop to Aberdeen for our 7pm ferry to Lerwick. The wind was still blowing so the prospect of 12 hours on a rough sea was a little daunting but in the end the crossing was OK and we arrived on time in Lerwick.

Fulmar

The wind was still blowing westerly and there were few birds reported on Shetland so we did an initial tour of the southern part of Mainland calling at Sumburgh where we watched the Fulmars still occupying their nesting cliffs, Scatness where a Sabine's Gull was reported, Quendale and finally Levenwick.

Quendale Mill - scene of many rarities in the past

Here we had good views of a striking male Northern Wheatear which must have been of the Greenland race leucorhoa with rufous chest and tail with broad black band.

Northern Wheatear of the Greenland race leucorhoa

We stayed overnight at the Sumburgh Boating Club for £10 with electric, which would have been a great location at the mouth of the Pool of Virkie, had it not been for the gale force westerly which rocked the van all night.
The following morning we returned to Quendale which held a single Blackcap, then on to Levenwick where we added Chiffchaff and a Whinchat. News of a Common Rosefinch at nearby North Voxter took us slightly further north and after some great views of Twite the Common Rosefinch finally made an appearance.

Twite

Common Rosefinch - first winter North Voxter

We moved further down the coast to Sandwick for another Common Rosefinch and the coastal village of Leebitten became our base for the rest of our stay.

Leebitten in the foreground with the houses of Sandwick on the horizon

Common Rosefinch - first winter Leebitten

We were watching the weather closely but there appeared to be no sign of a let up in the west or north westerly winds. Our strategy was to find something scarce under our own steam. News of a White-crowned Sparrow on Foula joining the White-throated Sparrow found earlier in September was tempting but then came news of a River Warbler and Buff-bellied Pipit on Unst which already had American Golden Plover and Citrine Wagtail. In the end we decided to carry on covering the south Mainland area which, in hindsight, was probably a mistake and Unst would have been a better bet. Especially when a Pechora Pipit and Eastern Yellow Wagtail were found on 3rd October. We saw plenty of Wren of the darker, long-billed race zetlandica and had a good look at the Rock Doves which are probably as pure as any I'm likely to see in the UK.

Wren Troglodytes troglodytes zetlandicus (or borealis as classified by some)

Rock Dove

The wind continued to blow and we finally decided to give Fair Isle a miss, many of the planes from Lerwick were being cancelled and there was the prospect of being stuck for several days with no birds.
A pair of Snow Bunting at Grutness gave superb views as did a winter male Lapland Bunting nearby but we found nothing new. 

Snow Bunting

Lapland Bunting - ad male winter

A Marsh Warbler in Sumburgh quarry give brief views and we made a foray to Lunna at the north of Mainland where a Melodious Warbler had been found but the wind was so strong we struggled to stay upright and never located the bird which stayed for several more days.
On our final day we had decent views of Barred Warbler at Southpunds, made a final friutless search for a Blyth's Reed Warbler in Lerwick before having a look at the Black Guillemots in Lerwick harbour and heading for home.

Black Guillemot - adult winter

Overall we had a thoroughly enjoyable trip, and it was interesting to see so many famous places that have held major rarities in the past. It certainly felt like we could have encountered a rarity almost anywhere, but sadly we didn't!