 |
| Peterborough Bird Club |
 |
| Home | Latest
Sightings | Peterbirder | Send Records | Annual Reports Events | PBC Map | Sites | PBC trip Reports | Articles | Lists | Links About | Join |
| With targets of Marmora’s Warbler, Corsican Citril Finch and Corsican Nuthatch, 9 Greater Peterborough Ornithological Group members went for a six day break in Sardinia and Corsica during the May/June half term. The days were split with three nights on Sardinia and two on Corsica, with the need for success on Corsica being particularly great since Corsican Nuthatch can only be found on Corsica (Corsican Citril Finch is also found on Sardinia in good numbers). Using other trip reports as our guide, we visited many hotspots and used as much time as possible birding to maximise our success. |
| 30th May - 4th June 2006 |
| Corsica & Sardinia Trip Report 06 |
| Participants: Richard Allison, Mac Bell, William Bowell, Eunice Parker, Neil Parker, Roger Teasdale, Jake Williams, Jane Williams and Trevor Williams |
| © Will Bowell |
| Daily Itinerary Tuesday 30th May 2006 An early start saw us departing from Stansted Airport at 06.25, arriving at Alghero in Sardinia a couple of hours later. The first species seen from the tarmac included a single Common Kestrel, a few Hooded Crows as well as the many pairs of House Martins nesting under the roof we were queuing under. We were fortunate to land a few minutes before the anticipated arrival time, but this time was quickly lost in queuing for the Hertz hire car. By 10.35 we were on the road to our first destination of the day; Capo Caccio. According to other trip reports this is a favoured area for seeing Barbary Partridge which we planned to get up early for on the last morning, before our flight. The journey to Capo Caccio produced very little of note other than a cream capped Marsh Harrier and our first couple of Alpine Swifts of the trip. Conditions at Capo Caccia, were clear but rather on the windy side which meant looking for any hoped for Marmora’s Warblers was near impossible with all of the 3 Sardinian Warblers being seen only briefly. Aerial species included two Ravens and a couple of stunning Alpine Swifts which performed really well for the car load that hadn’t seen them on the journey to the site. A few Crag Martins also did some impressive fly pasts by the lighthouse but unfortunately the car park was full so we didn’t get out the car. |
|
| Above left: Capo Caccia. Above right: Crag Martin. © Will Bowell |
| GPOG Corsica & Sardinia |
 |
 |
 |
| Back at Alghero, we headed south to Bosa, taking the mountainous road, with a slight hiccup when we took a wrong turning and ended up on the coast earlier than expected. This de-tour actually got us some excellent birds, with Red-backed Shrike, male Blue Rock Thrush and Cirl Bunting giving good views. Several stops in the mountains got us some good quality birds, highlights being, 2 Lesser Kestrels, Hawfinch, 1 Little Owl, 2+ Nightingales, Crag Martins and 2 Griffon Vultures, but no hoped for Eleanora’s Falcon. |
 |
 |
| Above left: Nr Bosa. © Trevor Williams. Above right: Lesser Kestrel. © Will Bowell |
| The
long drive to our accommodation, Hotel Su Pallosu, at Su Pallosu, gave
us just enough time to explore the nearby, largely dried up, saltpans.
We found a single Greater Flamingo, to our
surprise, but little else of note. Several Bee-eaters were feeding
on the wires and one field produced a number of displaying Calandra Larks, the first of
8 lifers for Will. Back at the Hotel, whilst enjoying our beers in the sun, the owner told us about some Bee-eaters nesting nearby. These just had to be investigated and amazingly we found a whole colony (eventually!) nesting in the road verge itself, which could only have been 30cm off the road at it’s highest! The nearby houses held Spanish Sparrows and Spotless Starlings in good numbers. A couple of Gull-billed Terns battled the increasing winds offshore, along with several Shags (desmarestii). |
|
