Just an hours drive from the busy Algarve coast is the fabulous walled town of Mertola on the Guadiana river, with its medieval castle and former mosque . It's a very scenic place and there are many good reasons for visiting, but from a birding point of view the highlight is undoubtedly it's lesser kestrels. These beautiful falcons breed in colonies in the town and when I first visited Mertola around 25 years ago, the main colony was apparently in the Convento de São Francisco on the outskirts of the town, but looking over the river in that direction from our wonderful accommodation, I couldn't see any falcons in the vicinity. Of course it was only February so perhaps there were birds yet to return, but there was certainly plenty of lesser kestrel activity around another building right on the edge of the cliff. with at least five birds present.
Female (left) and male lesser kestrels.
There was lots of interaction between the lesser kestrels, though nothing seemed particularly aggressive.
I'm not sure which building this is, a museum I think, but you can see lesser kestrel nest boxes high up on the top ledge.
The view from our hotel balcony.
This blue rock thrush was singing from high up on the castle ramparts.
Black redstarts are a common site around the town.
About 50 crag martins were flying around this old building on the opposite side of the river to the town.
Mertola is equally impressive at night. This is the view from our balcony.
After Mertola we headed back to Praia de Faro and spent some more time there before heading back to the airport. A fine end to a great holiday.
I'm always happy to lead informal and relaxed trips to southern Iberia, or I can provide itineraries if you prefer to do it yourself. Contact me for more details or have a look at this link Tours.
You can read a trip report from another recent trip by clicking on this link Southern Iberia including Doñana, rice harvest spectacular - December 2017.
No comments:
Post a Comment