This Monday we repeated a trip we also did last Monday with fellow birders, Jim and Yvonne.
As we left Gran Alacant a Booted Eagle flew overhead and a Kestrel was seen from the N332. Our first stop was at the Salinas where we saw all the usual suspects, such as, Greater Flamingo, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Slender billed Gull and Sandwich Tern. Sadly we didn’t see the Kingfisher that we had seen last week diving for fish .
We headed along the Palm Farm Track (PFT) and Green Sandpiper Alley (GSA) where we saw Southern Grey Shrike, Marsh Harrier, Cattle Egret, Stonechat, Crested Lark, White Wagtail, Buzzard, Little Egret and Hoopoe. We repeated last year’s coffee stop at San Felipe where a large flock of noisy Jackdaws flew overhead.
We walked around the San Felipe reserve where we saw Chiffchaff, Fan tailed Warbler, Coot, Crested Coot, Red Crested Pochard, Little Grebe, Buzzard, Black Redstart, Robin, Crag Martin and lots of Purple Swamphens. Most of the Swallows we had seen last week seemed to have gone. Last week there were loads of ducks in front of the first hide, possible because the lagoon in front of the second hide was almost completely dry. This week there were not so many ducks in view as most of them seemed to be sheltering from the wind. We ate our lunch at the picnic area before we headed home.
A short stop at El Pinet gave us Redshank, Black winged Stilt and Shelduck.
Species list for 30th October and 6th November – Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Cormorant, Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Grey Heron, Greater Flamingo, Shelduck, Mallard, Marbled Duck, Red Crested Pochard, Marsh Harrier, Buzzard, Booted Eagle, Kestrel, Coot, Purple Swamphen, Moorhen, Black winged Stilt, Redshank, Slender billed Gull, Yellow legged Gull, Sandwich Tern, Collared Dove, Hoopoe, Crested Lark, Crag Martin, Kingfisher, Swallow, White Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Robin, Black Redstart, Stonechat, Chiffchaff, Sardinian Warbler, Fan tailed Warbler, Southern Grey Shrike, Spotless Starling, Jackdaw, House Sparrow, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet.