Santa Pola area – Mark Etheridge

An excellent morning out with Bryan Thomas and John Edwards! We started off at the new hide in the Clot, two Snipe, Kingfisher, Marsh Harrier, the usual ducks plus up to eight Gadwall which are slightly unusual for the Clot, unfortunately too far away for decent photos. The scrape area is still being worked on, with the sides done but the central reedbeds still intact. On to Santa Pola Salinas, where Bryan found a really excellent bird – a Caspian Tern among the Slender-billed Gull flock. A lifer for me! Also a very close encounter with a Cetti’s Warbler, too close to focus on (which is not usually the case!)At the renovated salt tower, we found Turnstone, Spoonbill and the sight of not one but two overflying Osprey, presumably on migration. El Pinet was fairly quiet, but good views of a Greenshank and there were two juvenile Collared Pratincoles on the nesting banks. Finished up for coffee at the beachfront bar at El Pinet, watching the Sandwich Terns diving out at sea, and more tits than you could shake a stick at.