Continuing the Portuguese theme, here are some notes on our family trip to the Algarve, Portugal from 19 May to 2 June .....with 2 weeks of excellent weather.
My wife, Inga, and I thought we would try 'self-catering' for once and we stayed at the centrally situated Olympus Vilamoura Suites, less than a minute's walk from the Marina. The apartment for just the two of us was surprisingly spacious, including a private wrap-round corner terrace just 100 feet long ( I paced it !) - we normally get one 8-10 feet wide/long on most holidays. Saga even provided a taxi for the Faro Airport - Vilamoura transfer : either their service is improving or they are desperate.
For birders (accompanied by family members) who, for whatever reason, decide not to hire a car, Vilamoura is the answer to one's dream. There are 3 main birding hotspots in the area - all within c 30 minutes' leisurely walk of our apartment.
1. A Central Park area, about 1 kilometre square, was 10 minutes' walk away. It was always very quiet and peaceful there and I never saw more than 3 or 4 people around - usually holidaymakers crossing it en route from accommodation to the beach. Any daily visit would usually include :
Zitting Cisticola
Red-rumped Swallow
Pallid Swift
Azure- winged Magpie (up to 15)
Crested Lark (readily approachable - unlike the recent twitcherati-traumatised Dunge bird)
Sardinian Warbler
Finches spp
Waxbill - an exotic (up to 10)
with overflying
Purple Heron
White Stork ( 2 pairs nesting near the Park entrance)
Yellow-legged Herring Gull
plus the occasional
Golden Oriole
Great-spotted Woodpecker
Mistle Thrush
Hoopoe
Turtle Dove
2. Falesia Beach Bridge area/Falesia Lagoon - about 20 minutes walk away.
Extensive marshes begin a hundred yards or so from the Western side of the Marina and could be reached within a 10 minutes' walk of our apartment. Falesia Lagoon lived up to its reputation as a hotspot for :
Purple Heron - Usually 3 or 4 sightings per hour
Purple Gallinule
Little Bittern
plus
Grey Heron
Little Tern
Little Grebe
Bee Eater
Cetti's Warbler
Reed Warbler
Great Reed Warbler
Marsh Harrier - 2 pairs
Quail
Serin
Little Egret
together with most of the Central Park's species and
Black-headed Weaver - an attractive exotic.
3. Parque Ambiental
A vast stretch of several square kilometers of marshland, scrub and wooded areas within a 30 minute walk of our apartment. It had been set aside about 10 years ago as an area free from building development and has been largely neglected by the authorities ever since. The entrance to the Parque which I used (from the Oasis Village area) doesn't even have a sign - I went down a track and hit lucky - and the signposted hide ( observatorio ) is unusable as 10 foot high reeds totally block any views! However, the Parque itself is a great birding area and, as one contented birder stated on the web, it could keep one happy for at least a week or so of daily visits.
Additional birds here included :
Nightingale - up to 4 in song
Red-crested Pochard
Jay
Black-winged Stilt
Woodchat Shrike
Cattle Egret
Spotless Starling.
Olympus Vilamora Suites have a large garden with snack-bar, swimming pool, etc. and we spent a lot of time there enjoying the sunshine (plus a few sightseeing trips out by bus) but it was important to know that one could slip away for the occasional walk to one of the local birding hotspots and not be disappointed.
A modest list of about 60 species was recorded for the trip.
Regards,
Freddy
