San Pedro del Pinatar, Cabo de Palos and Calblanque

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Spotted Redshank by Bryan Thomas©
Spotted Redshank by Bryan Thomas©

‘The Three Amigos’ were reunited today for a trip to the Mar Menor. Our first stop was at San Pedro Del Pinatar where the pools contained plenty of Shelduck, along with a few Flamingos, Avocets and Black winged Stilts. Some waders were at the edge of the pool by the main car park including Dunlin, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Little Stint and a single Spotted Redshank. We walked along to the beach seeing Stonechat and Crested Lark on the way and finding a group of Turnstone feeding in the sea grass washed up on the shoreline. As we drove back along the road Bryan spotted a distant group of Black necked Grebe on the far side of the pool to our left.

We headed further South to Cabo de Palos and John pointed out a Sparrowhawk as it flew over the road. We enjoyed our usual coffee stop by the port and were listening out for Parakeets which appeared as we returned to the car, a group of six flew from the other side of the port, over our heads and away. We moved on to the Cabo and took a walk round the area under the lighthouse. Many small birds were in the area including, Black Redstart, Blackbird, Sardinian Warbler, Chiffchaff, Southern Grey Shrike and Crested Lark. We had a nice but short view of a Dartford Warbler as it perched on top of a bush. A scan of the sea produced the hoped for Gannet and a Sandwich Tern was also seen.

Our next stop was at the Palos Salinas which were unusually disappointing as a lot of the water had been drained. There were a few Avocets, Black winged Stilts, Shelducks and Flamingos in the first pools and a few waders were hiding round the corner. After eating our lunch here we moved on to the nature reserve at Calblanque. As we drove along the track there were Crested Larks, Linnets and Meadow Pipits moving around on the ground and the odd Stonechat perched on top of bushes. We drove down the right hand track to look at the coastline but added no more birds to the list. From here we set off home having enjoyed a warm and sunny day out with my bird of the day being the Spotted Redshank.

Ringed Plover by Bryan Thomas©
Ringed Plover by Bryan Thomas©

Species list – Black necked Grebe, Gannet, Cormorant, Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Grey Heron, Flamingo, Shelduck, Mallard, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Kestrel, Black winged Stilt, Avocet, Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Little Stint, Dunlin, Turnstone, Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Black tailed Godwit, Black headed Gull, Slender billed Gull, Yellow legged Gull, Sandwich Tern, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Crested Lark, Crag Martin, Meadow Pipit, White Wagtail, Black Redstart, Stonechat, Blackbird, Chiffchaff, Sardinian Warbler, Dartford Warbler, Southern Grey Shrike, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Linnet, Monk Parakeet.