Black-throated diver, Crosby marina

This juvenile black-throated diver has been at Crosby marina for a couple of weeks and is only the second that I have ever seen in Merseyside. The first was in 1996 and spent most of its time on Prescot Reservoirs, but also visited Eccleston Mere and Taylor Park.

Little egrets, Mossley Hall farm

Seven little egrets at Mossley Hall farm this morning were an impressive sight and my biggest count ever at Pennington Flash. Also this morning, four wigeon, 14 pochard and 27 goldeneye. Merry Christmas everybody!

Barolo shearwater and some dolphin photos, Madeira

My only new species from this holiday turned up towards the end of what had so far proven to be a slightly disappointing whale watching trip out of Calheta. To be fair, we had started off with fabulous views of a pod of about 30 bottlenose dolphins, probably showing better than I'd ever experienced previously with the species, but we had seen none of the hoped for whales. 

We had reached the furthest point from land, about 4 miles out from Jardim do Mar and stopped the boat for a final look at a more distant pod of dolphins when I noticed a shearwater on the opposite side of the boat, unfortunately about to fly into the glaring sunlight. This was exciting because by mid December virtually all seabirds have left this area and I didn't expect to see anything avian at sea. However, there was perhaps one possibility....

The bird had an odd fluttering flight low over the water, followed by more typical shearwater glides, but then it was frustratingly lost in the glare. Fortunately a few moments later it flew back out of the sunlight briefly and allowed me a better look. It was clearly a small bird of the Manx shearwater variety, and not one of the larger shearwaters such as Cory's which also breed around these islands. 

My excitement levels went up a notch, because before we travelled to Madeira, I'd done quite a bit of research into which species of seabird, if any, I had a chance of seeing in December. There was really only one, Barolo shearwater, and if I was lucky enough to see one, I didn't want to tick it based on just an assumption, I wanted to know exactly why it was a Barolo. So for weeks I'd studied the finer details of identifying this particular species because it was the only lifer I was likely to get on the holiday and if I did see one, I wanted to be able to eliminate the doubt of an extremely out of season Manxie.

Barolo shearwater © madeirabirds.com.
Click here to open their website in a new window.

Little egret, Jardim do Mar

This little egret was at Jardim do Mar today and was the only egret we saw during the whole holiday. I learnt something about little egrets today.......

......who knew that they had red orbital rings?

Spotted sandpiper still, Calheta

The spotted sandpiper was still showing well at Calheta today.

Atlantic canaries

Atlantic canary is a species of finch which is very similar to serin, in fact it's scientific name is Serinus canaria. It's easily the commonest town bird on Madeira and occurs almost everywhere. It's the ancestor of the birds which are kept as pets, though it's more streaky and less bright than those birds.

They're lovely little birds with a nice song. They can be quite approachable but they are small, active and often in dense vegetation, so difficult to photograph. Often they will sit on wires but then then are just silhouettes. These are the best photos that I've ever managed of the species.

Spotted sandpiper, Calheta

This morning I found a 1st winter spotted sandpiper at Calheta, Madeira. This North American bird  averages about one every two years on Madeira. When we arrived on the island 10 days ago, I was hoping that there might be a chance of finding a bird from across the Atlantic, after all the relatively nearby Azores does pretty well, and though this might not be the rarest, I'm made up with it. It was catching crabs on the rocky groynes adjacent to Calhau Beach Club.

I love this photo. Note that the white wing bar doesn't reach the body, immediately ruling out common sandpiper.

Posto florestal fanal

Today we headed for Posto Florestal Fanal, with it's ancient, twisted laurel trees. One of the most amazing places in Madeira. Madeira chaffinches are common here and will show very well, I guess that they're used to the visitors and today I had them almost walking over my feet! Really lovely birds.

Ponta do Pargo lighthouse, Madeira

Ponta do Pargo lighthouse is at the extreme south west point of Madeira and only about 7km from our accommodation at Faja do Ovelha. It's a good place to find the Madeiran race of spectacled warbler, Curruca conspicilatta orbitalis which is said to have a darker plumage than those found in mainland Europe. I've seen spectacled warbler in several places previously, including once in the UK, but I've not seen very many and it's always a nice bird to see. Three in the same bush just next to the lighthouse car park were the first that I have seen on the island.

Berthelot's pipit are common in the right habitat and often very approachable. This is a species endemic to the Canary Isles and Madeira, with the subspecies Anthus berthelotii maderensis present on Madeira  Great little birds.

Paul do Mar and vereda dos zimbreiros

Madeira firecrest.

Vereda dos zimbreiros is a footpath which starts just 100m down the road from our accommodation. It starts out as a relatively flat cobbled path, around 2 or 3m wide, but don't be fooled, it quickly turns into a steep, narrow descent into the fishing village of Paul do Mar. 

Canarian kestrels and their prey, Fajã da Ovelha

Canarian kestrels Falco tinnunculus canariensis, are a race of common kestrel and are everywhere on Madeira, from the highest mountain tops to the centre of Funchal. Their favoured prey is Madeiran wall lizards which like the kestrels are numerous across the whole of the island, indeed they are the only lizard on the island.

Short-finned pilot whales, Madeira

Today I took a whale watching trip out of Canical in the east of Madeira, run by Sea Emotions.  Really enjoyable, they found us around 15 each of short-finned pilot whale and bottlenose dolphin. The pilot whales came very close to the boat and had at least a couple of calves with them.

This was my first encounter with this species. I have seen long-finned pilot whales previously off southern Australia, and I have to take the word of todays guides and the Australian guides that they are the species they claim, because separating them is virtually impossible in the field. However, on range short-finned are by far the most likely off Madeira and long-finned most likely off southern Australia. These pilot whales are resident around Madeira and have been well studied.

A few endemics on a tour of eastern Madeira

We're currently on Madeira for a couple of weeks and started off today with a drive around the eastern part of the island, with our first stop at the magnificent Pico do Arieiro. At 1818m (6000ft) this place is often above the clouds and it's a bit of a hair raising drive to get here with hairpin bends, steep drops and in places toboggans coming down the road at high speed towards us! It's worth it though, because often when low level Madeira is covered in cloud, it's glorious sunshine up here and the views are just spectacular. 

A few endemic birds today as well, but obviously not the star species which is the endemic Zino's petrel for which this is the only breeding site in the world. A seabird breeding at 1818m above sea level! I saw them on a previous visit to the island in May 2016 (opens in a new window), but they only return to their nests at night and in any case they're not here in December.

This Berthelot's pipit showed really well, and on the drive up we also saw a couple of Trocaz pigeons fly across the road. Hopefully I'll see more of these in the coming days. A few Madeiran race kestrels were also seen, in fact they're pretty much everywhere, from the highest mountains to the heart of Funchal.