LAGOA DOS SALGADOS – ALBUFEIRA – GILAO RIVER VALLEY
WEATHER: cloudy to start with rain showers, then bright sunshine, breezy. Top temp 21C
Our last full day had arrived, and we intended to use every minute of it to see as many new species as we could find, which turns out to be not too many!
Our 6:15 excursion was along the Gilâo River Valley inland from Tavira, we drove along this wide valley of small agricultural land with patches of scrub and woodland. A couple of stops produced a Little Owl sighting but not much else. About 5km along the road we pulled over onto a track and walked for while. This stop was much more interesting, we found an Iberian Green Woodpecker in a dead tree, Guy found a fly-over Hawfinch, we saw Cetti’s Warbler and watched a Common Nightingale sitting on a telephone wire?
record shot of the Iberian Green Woodpecker
Other species seen included Woodchat Shrike, Serin, Greenfinch, Zitting Cisticola and lots of Doves and Magpies.
Commoin Nightingale - on a wire, in full view??
For the rest of the day we visited the large lagoon at Salgados, it took nearly an hour to get there and we arrived in bright sunshine with a light breeze, perfect. We made a stop just north of the main lagoon near a golf course. On one of the ponds in the golf complex Vanda found a Little Bittern!
Vanda's Little Bittern find
We also saw Northern Shoveler, Coot, Moorhen, Common Pochard and Gadwall. Out in the fields behind us we saw many hirundines, Bee-eaters, a Hoopoe, a couple of Common Kestrels and then the Guru found his most wanted species, a Black-winged Kite. Although this was the third sighting of this species, Guy the Guru, had missed those previous encounters.
it was distant and moving - the Black-winged Kite
At the coastal car park a boardwalk extends for about a kilometer or two along a reedbed overlooking the main lagoon, we spent a good couple of hours walking along that. We all had good views of Reed Warbler and Cetti’s Warbler, also Zitting Cisticola, Stonechats and some common species. On the beach there was a small Gull roost with Audouin’s Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull and yellow-legged Gulls.
the view to the beach from the car park
On the water there were many Common Pochard, with more Shovelers, gadwall, Mallards, Little and Great crested Grebes, with a few waders along the margins. Black-winged Stilts and Avocets were breeding there, gull sat out in the middle, but other than that it wasn’t brimming with birds.
Audouin's Gulls in the lagoon
We walked around to the west side of the lagoon and followed a pathway to another viewing point with benches. There we sat and ate our lunch. We watched Butterflies and dragonflies and later during a further walk we found a snake and some Marsh Frogs with a Common Toad in a disused well. A distant Short-toed Eagle was found, we also saw Common Buzzard in the distance and Lesser Kestrels feeding on the wing above the scrubland.
Toady and a Marsh Frog
Black-tailed Skimmer
Dark Spreadwing
Back at the car park at 3pm we drove towards Albufeira and made a coffee and ice-cream stop, then we drove to the marina in Albufeira to have a bit of a sea-watch.
our lunch-time picnic spot!
We saw nothing but Gulls out at sea, so we decided to make a move back to the hotel. We make a second visit to the Gilâo River Valley but nothing new appeared and it was quite windy by then.