The festival is organised by SPEA (BirdLife in Portugal) along with Almargem  and is part of the rural development project ‘Um Outro Algrave’ (Another Algarve).

The boat
trip I went on was highly enjoyable – after the initial disconcertion of going on a pelagic in what looked like a
banana boat! It was a little windy when we were out so the bird watching didn’t
go all that well, but views of Common Dolphin, Hammerhead Shark, Balearic and
Cory’s Shearwater, lots of gulls and a Gannet diving near us made up for it!

Not
only was the festival a great way for adults and children to interact with nature, but it’s also promoted the work of
conservation organisations like SPEA.

A trip to Monte de Cabranosa provided superb views of soaring birds. But is also a bird monitoring session that the public can get involved in.

The
soaring birds spot provided great views of raptors such as Short-toed Eagle,
Booted Eagle, Black Kite, Hobby, Sparrowhawk plus lots of other birds including
storks, a scorpion and a Swallow-tailed Butterfly that had me running along the
ridge trying to get a picture…

This
butterfly had me running past birdwatchers looking up to try and get a picture
– not the best of pictures but I’m happy!

It
would have been great to explore the reserve fully but from our short walk we
still saw Glossy Ibis, a melanistic Montagu’s Harrier and a really interesting looking locust.

Black-necked
Grebe, Red-crested Pochard, and Black-winged Kite were my favourite sightings.

All in
all I had a wonderful visit to the Algarve. It’s a nice place to visit. The
people are wonderful, the food is great and the birding is easy.

For more information on the Algarve visit: www.visitalgarve.pt
and www.algarvepromotion.pt

I’m Louise,
part of The Urban Birder Team, and one day in September I got a phone call from
David Lindo, The Urban Birder, about the possibility of me being sent to the
Algarve. I jumped at the chance.  But to
be honest with you, I didn’t know much about Portugal before I went – other
than there’s good beaches and golfing!

It was
a big change from the UK autumn. Part of my brain was thinking it would be
similar weather to back home, but not quite. Autumn and winter in the Algarve
is usually 18-20 degrees C which is why it’s great to visit at this time of
year. Wandering around in t-shirt and shorts in October did feel a little
bizarre.

The
reserve is located in the Guadiana River Estuary, near Villa Real de Santo
Antonio on the eastern side of the Algarve – just a small way from the border with
Spain. Made up of salt marshes, salt-pans and creeks the reserve is home to a
large range of wildlife. In fact, it’s so good that the site is internationally
recognised for its importance as a wetland site under the Ramsar Convention.
Over 150 different species of birds, over 400 plant species and a variety of
reptiles, amphibians and mammals can be found on the reserve.

The headquarters
of the Castro Marim Nature Reserve is a strange brick building in the middle of
this very odd landscape, but it works and I loved the White Stork nesting on
the roof.

The Ring Ouzel has always held a very special place in my heart since I was a little boy swatting up the aves featured within the Birds of Britain and Europe. When I cam across the plate that featured this wild montane species that was illustrated cheek-to-jowl with its far commoner urban congenor, the Blackbird, I knew that it was love at first sight.

Years later I saw my first one flash past whilst I was partying on Corfu, Greece back in 1987 followed by the three I found in spring 1989 in ‘The Desert’ at Dungeness. Both venues along with a sighting on the Scilly Isles also in 1989 were the typical places that I expected to see this wary species. Under hypnosis I might also recall the time I saw a solitary ‘blackbird’ swoop through a glen, whilst wandering around the Cairngorms, Scotland in 1976. On reflection, that bird was almost certainly my first Rouzel but I allowed our group leader – a non-birding stamp collector – to convince me that it was a Blackbird.

In April 2004 I found a Rouzel at The Scrubs after having a premonition that I would discover one that morning. It was the first that I had seen one in an urban environment and certainly the first to be recorded at The Scrubs. It also made me appreciate that these birds stop off in urban areas despite their wild mountain-loving personas. Ring Ouzels have occurred on my patch every year since that first one and although it is usually a case of being in the right place at the right time when it comes to witnessing their brief visits, on occasion birds have hung around for up to three weeks!

Our chase to reach 100 species in a year at The Scrubs gathered momentum after today’s Rouzel was discovered. We have now equalled the most seen ever, a record set in 2010 and we are now on the way to greatness. I missed this morning’s Rouzel due to football but I will be all over The Scrubs tomorrow. Given today’s heavy passage of this gorgeous thrush (205 seen in Hastings, Sussex today, for instance) I got a feeling that you will be reading more about Rouzels on this blog in the coming days.

It depresses me to think that my patch of over 20 years may shortly have its very soul destroyed if the Mayor’s Office, Transport for London and HS2 have their way. They would like to see the northern edge of my favourite birding spot in the whole world demolished to make way for a flyover and high-rise apartments. They would like to see the rest of The Scrubs become a ‘metropolitan area’ replete with walkways to get people from the proposed new train terminus to the north of the site to East Acton station in the west and Wood Lane to the east.

Urban oases under threat of development is not a unique problem. Many other people have had to fight to try to save their patches from the hands of developers looking to coin in on the latest property boom. The Friends of The Scrubs are currently recruiting supporters to help fight off the threat to The Scrubs. We are are not against the redevelopment of the downtrodden area to the north of The Scrubs, but we are against any direct encroachment onto the site itself.

Please sign our petition to try and save our Scrubs www.saveourscrubs.org.uk/

But whilst we fret, natural life goes on. This morning we discovered our 9th ever Short-eared Owl in the grassland. It was our 96th species for the year. Only four more for the holy grail 100 in a year!

The winter is coming…..

I noticed two finches fly into a bush on Lester’s Embankment at 0740. One was a male Greenfinch the other was unbelievably a juvenile Common Rosefinch perched in a bush along the
northwest end of the embankment. It showed well at the edge of a bush
for around 30 seconds before heading west with the accompanying male Greenfinch.

Conor Jameson is a name that will be well known to the many RSPB members who read ‘Birds’ the society’s membership magazine, for which he writes a very popular column in every issue. I enjoy his columns so when I saw that he had penned a book on Goshawks I just had to delve in. The Goshawk is a species that I have a very patchy relationship with. It’s certainly not a bird I see every day, every week or even every month. I’m lucky if I see a couple a year. When I do see one it’s normally a very fleeting flyby and rarely in the UK as indeed, I see most of my birds in eastern Europe.

Reading Conor’s book immediately struck a chord with me. I registered with his deep seated affection for this supreme predator and totally identified with his brilliantly told journey that leads the reader right up to and beyond the moment he saw his first bird. In fact, I didn’t care that he took a long time to see one as I was loving the ride. Incidently, I was delighted that the magical moment occurred in an urban area – not wishing to spoil it for those who didn’t want to know that!

Whilst reading Conor’s book two thoughts sprung to mind; the fact that the book was written so well and also that his research into the Goshawk left absolutely no stone unturned. I learnt so much about this majestic bird and not only just about its private life but a multitude of stuff like how they have been perceived throughout history and even how they were trained for falconery.

‘Looking for the Goshawk’ is partly a personal quest, partly monographic, partly scientific and totally enjoyable. Looking for the Goshawk will certainly be looking for a place on your Christmas list!