Wednesday 11 March 2015

The party's over!

Well, that's it. Back in blighty (Bury to be precise) once again after some winter sun and great birds.

Before I bombard you with accounts, opinions and photos I thought I'd say a few words about my overall impressions of the island.

How about...WONDERFUL!!

A couple of world class wetlands in the form of s' Albufera and Salobrar de Campos. Fabulous mountain habitat and copious amounts of garrigue and pine woods and you have a recipe for some quality birding.

I chose early March deliberately as it fitted in with my work rota allowing me a "long week". Also I wanted cool temperatures but hopefully plenty of SUNSHINE. We got lucky as we managed 6 perfect days with one day of rain and another with (very) strong wind.

I was also interested to see if I could manage any early migrants as well as looking forward to "the specials".

Mallorca is definitely a place I would visit again...in March.

Monday 2nd March

Our first day was spent in the Tramuntana mountains as the weather was kind reaching 23c by lunchtime with no wind. We tried Mortitx first but we couldn't find a parking place so we moved on to Lluc monastery for lunch. The main target was Wryneck but I couldn't find any. I had better luck with Firecrest although as usual they were pretty nifty...

...a few pics below to illustrate this...




We then moved on to Torrent de Pareis viewpoint. A top spot for Raptors and Vultures. It was a beautiful day and hopes were high. After 2 hours of nothing hope was waning! We were about to move on when I picked something up in the distance. Closer and closer they came, eventually drifting right by us...

Griffon Vulture
5 birds altogether. Fantastic!

More to come...

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