The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Just spent a very relaxing week in Madeira on a family holiday. There are only 39 breeding species on the island, many of them sea birds and it is apparent when walking round there are very species birds about. The undoubted highlight was good views of the endemic Madeiran Firecrest (regulus madeirensis).

Stuart,

I have just returned from a 3 week family holiday in Madeira and would agree with you that the island's bird list is limited. Frequent birding in a variety of habitats would probably achieve 40+ species, but we settled for occasional trips and achieved 30+. Most noteworthy were the endemic Madeiran Firecrest, Canary, Plain Swift, Cattle Egret, Berthelot's Pipit, Rock Sparrow and Cory's Shearwater.
Butterflies included the Monarch, Long-tailed Blue, Indian Red Admiral and the Madeiran Speckled Wood.

Regards,

Freddy