A hearty welcome back to Trevor Ashley, who joined Bryan and myself for a trip round the local area – the aim was to get Trevor as many species as possible, and we did really well! We started off at the Santa Pola salinas, with Little Tern, Great White Egret, Yellow Wagtails and Greenshank among the usual suspects, and moved on to El Pinet where we scored Mediterranean Gull, Slender-billed Gull, Common and Sandwich Terns, Avocet, Kentish Plover and a solitary Curlew Sandpiper.
We tried the Pallet Road, and noted Common Cuckoo, Woodchat Shrike, Red-legged Partridge sitting in a tree (not a pear tree unfortunately) and a single Monk Parakeet. We visited our newly-discovered track at El Molar, and were rewarded with a super flying display from a Great-spotted Cuckoo. Onwards to the monastery area, where there were several Bee-eaters and we counted no less than 14 Turtle Doves in total, trying to make themselves inconspicuous among the Collared Doves. The only no-show for the area was one again the Roller, which seems to have forgotten to sign our Model Release Form…
