Awesome saker

So the saker that has been about for the past few days at Vale Santo is an escape. It has jesses. It was inevitable really, there's only ever been one wild record of Saker in Iberia, or so I'm told. It's an awesome bird though, today I was watching a ringtail hen harrier through the scope when the saker suddenly appeared and attacked the harrier, but then swerved away to pluck a kestrel out of the air which it carried off to some rocks, where it perched and ate the smaller falcon. Later a peregrine flew over and the larger saker launched a full scale attack. It was an amazing sight, but now it needs to go. There are endangered species in this area such as little bustard. It's bad enough if they get taken by a wild bird, but being taken by an escape would be really bad news.

Long-tailed blue.

Mastic tree.

A day at Cabronosa

I'm told by local birders that raptor migration is painfully slow so far this year which is typical of my luck, I'm not asking for much, just a normal autumn migration will do. However, I have to take what I'm given and there was still plenty to see at Carbonosa today, with about eight honey buzzards, six booted eagles, Eleanora's falcon (photo above), peregrine, goshawk, sparrowhawk and kestrels, plus a nice selection of passerines including pied flycatchers, spotted flycatchers, western subalpine warblers, whinchats and woodchat shrike. Also of course the usual resident Thekla larks, spotless starlings and Iberian (azure-winged) magpies.

Eleanora's falcon.

Dotterel again at Vale Santo

The dotterel were still at Vale Santo this morning, though I couldn't find them on a return visit this afternoon.

Dotterel, saker and pallid harrier at Vale Santo

While I was at Cabranosa I got some advice from local birder Simon Wates on where too look for dotterel nearby and was delighted to find five birds. Then when I was heading back to my apartment I bumped into my informant again at the side of the road only to find that he was watching a putative saker which has been in the area for a few days. It looks really good to me, but falcons are as bad as ducks when it comes to escapees and hybridisation, so who knows? When the falcon finally flew it flushed a pallid harrier which was a very surreal moment to have the two flying together.

The dotterel all looked like adults to me. I don't think that I've ever actually seen adults at the time of year before, in the UK it's usually juveniles that I see in autumn.

Cabranosa migration watch point

Cabranosa migration watch point is a small wooded hill a few miles north of Cape St Vincent at the south west extremity of Europe. Raptors in particular can be seen here in decent numbers, mainly juveniles which have overshot Gibraltar and which are then are forced to reorientate when they reach the Atlantic Ocean. 

Today I arrived at about 14:30 which was a little late in day, yet even so I managed to see a few booted eagles, marsh harriers and a single honey buzzard. Hopefully things will pick up during the rest of the week.   

There were also a few passerines around today including ortolan, redstart, northern wheatears, garden warbler and western supalpine warbler.

Honey buzzard.

Striped dolphins on an impressive palagic from Sagres

It's not very often that I get a new species of cetacean anywhere these days, so I was delighted when we unexpectedly came across a pod of about 40 striped dolphins on a Ocean Safari cruise out of Sagres with marilimitado today. We were over the continental shelf and the ocean floor was 1000m (1km!) beneath us when these fabulous animals appeared. What gorgeous dolphins they are!

Also today, bottlenose dolphins and a great selection of seabirds, including hundreds of Cory's shearwaters, a few each if great and sooty shearwater, Wilson's and European storm petrels and a great skua.

Striped dolphins

Audouin's gull bonanza at Ria de Alvor

On my way from Ria Formosa to Sagres I called in at Ria de Alvor, an area that I've not really been to all that many times. I was staggered today to find around 1000 Audouin's gulls on the saltmarsh. In recent years the species has increased dramatically in southern Portugal and the World's largest breeding colony of 7000 pairs is at Ria Formosa.

Ria Formosa

I touched down at Faro airport in Portugal at 09:20 and by 10:15 I was through passport control, retrieved my hold luggage, picked up the hire car and was birding at Ria Formosa. 

Plenty of great birds to whet my appetite for the trip ahead including white storks, spoonbills, flamingos, osprey, slender-billed gulls and a host of waders.

Three late terns at Pennington Flash

I arrived at the flash today full of the hope and anticipation that perhaps only a birder can feel when he sees light winds and heavy drizzle in the forecast on a dull, late September morning. The weather didn't let me down and once again produced the goods. Not only were yesterdays black tern and the long-staying common tern both still present, but as I watched them from the sailing club I suddenly heard the unmistakable screech of a Sandwich tern and saw two fly past west at close range. After a  brief circle around the western end they headed off north west over the ruck.

I know it's not much of a photo and you will have to take my word for it that they are Sandwich terns, but at least it goes someway to conveying the murk and the difficult viewing conditions.

This is the latest date I have for Sandwich tern at the flash, six days later than the previous record set in 2023, while the black tern is now also a week later than my previous latest at the flash and the common tern is my second latest ever here.

Other birds today included a drake common scoter, three great white egrets and five little egrets.

End of the season at Bickershaw

A lovely afternoon at Bickershaw produced just two species of dragonflies around New Water, maybe 15 migrant hawkers and 20 common darters. No doubt I could have added willow emerald and one or two other species had I gone to the northern section but it really feels like the season is coming to an end now. Not sure how many more visits I'll manage this year, but it's been a great year with 23 species recorded on site. 

I was delighted though to end the year with another four clouded yellows, bringing my total to at least 18 individuals in 2026, in a season that stretched from the first sighting on 15th July to today.

Black tern, Pennington Flash

I thought that I was going to miss out on black tern this year, but right at the death this juvenile appeared yesterday and was still present this afternoon. It spent most of it's time out in the middle but did occasionally come into the bay off the car park.

It really was last minute, this bird is my latest ever at the flash by five days and my fourth latest ever in the UK.