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Family holiday to the resort of Alvor for a week with a bit of birding/wildlife watching thrown in.
Didn't have a hire car but we did use a bird tour guide for a day trip to the Monchique mountain area (through A Rocha tours) and also a tourist coach day trip to the Sagres Peninsula. Bird list for trip 94 species.
The Alvor estuary area itself (20mins walk from hotel) was very fruitful with flamingo, booted eagle, Kentish plover, black-winged stilt, black-shouldered kite, white stork, waxbill, woodchat shrike, hoopoe, serin, melodious warbler, glossy ibis, pallid swift, spoonbill, purple heron and two very lucky sightings of purple swamphen and great spotted cuckoo. The latter species was the only one recorded in that area during the year apparently. Fan-tailed warblers, azure-winged magpies, crested larks, bee-eaters, red-rumped swallows and Sardinian warblers were very frequent there.
The trip to the Monchique area produiced my only lifer of the trip, rock bunting (12 in total seen), plus blue rock thrush, Dartford warbler, firecrest, nightingale, Iberian chiffchaff and Iberian form of green woodpecker.
The Sagres peninsula trip was not great for birds due to being a whistle-stop coach tour but we did see Balearic shearwaters, gannets and shag.
Butterflies, although not that abundant, were very good quality wise with a single sighting of the stunning two-tailed pasha (a very photogenic individual coming down to a stream) plus several monarchs and swallowtails. Others included African grass blue, false mallow skipper, Lang's short-tailed blue, sage skipper, bath white and southern gatekeeper. Similarly with dragonflies the diversity was not great but included some real gems such as copper demoiselle, epaulet skimmer, scarlet darter, pronged club-tail and Iberian bluetail.
A few moths were noted, with some attracted to the outside balcony lamp which I 'accidently' left on overnight. The most common species were hummingbird hawk, vestal and Palpita vitrealis with various small emeralds and waves. The best moth was a crimson speckled found whilst walking around the Alvor estuary. Other insects noted included fire bug, violet carpenter bee, locust and lots and lots of very loud cicadas.
Six reptiles and amphibians were noted, all new to me, and included ladder snake, Spanish terrapin, Moorish gecko and Bosca's newt.
A very, very hot trip with temps in the 30s most days (max 35). A mosquito net for the bedroom is highly recommended !
Cheers
Brian
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