The second day of the New Year dawned overcast and cool but very calm and I picked up Bryan Thomas, who had returned from the UK the previous day, to be my expert guide in this mountainous terrain. The narrow, steep, winding roads were negotiated without major difficulty as we met very few other vehicles thankfully. But birds were also very few and at times there seemed to be absolute nothing in flight apart from ubiquitous Crag Martins. But with patience we did locate a couple of Blue Rock Thrush (a bit of a bogie bird for me) in the Monnegre area, along with a Black Wheatear that showed well for a few minutes. Fleeting glimpses of Sardinian and Dartford Warblers were had as well as the occasional Blackbird, Robin and Serin but little else until a brief stop for a bite coincided with a couple of Griffon Vultures taking off from a high mountain ledge where another eight or so remained perched.
Moving on to Maigmo we could only find Coal, Crested and Great Tits along with a pair of Treecreeper species ascending a trunk, which in the absence of any calls, would have to be considered more likely to be Short-toed Treecreeper. The day had warmed up a little with occasional hazy sun and we decided to finish off back at the coast with an hour at the Clot de Galvany. Here we scanned the lakes and quickly picked out Little and Black-necked Grebe, Marbled, White-headed and Feruginous Duck, Pochard, Red-crested Pochard, Shoveler, Teal, Mallard, Grey Wagtail, Black-headed and Lesser Black Backed Gulls with yet more Crag Martins swooping low. A nice way to finish an interesting day which had added a few good birds to my trip list.
