Trip Report for Algarve, Portugal

3^rd – 16^th August 2005

by Graham Watson

The first thing to say is that August is not the ideal time to go bird watching in the Eastern Algarve!  Us poor teachers sometimes have little choice!  Carrying all the kit, and fighting the desire to be in the pool or laid out with a beer or two is almost too much for a mere mortal – don’t ask my wife what she thought! 

The Algarve, like the rest of Portugal, has been suffering drought conditions so the landscape was pretty arid with the result that many of the birds had moved on quite quickly.  The shallower saltpans actually dried up completely in the two weeks we were present leaving hard baked mud.  Many of the roads are lined with Eucalyptus trees; a lot of these were in a poor state with an increasing number obviously dead.  Pine trees too, were dropping branches and looking stressed.  In the countryside birds tended to occur where there was some form of irrigation, otherwise you could travel for miles without seeing any.

We arrived at Casa Rosa, near Olhao, at about 1 pm not having seen anything of note on the way as we were too busy getting lost and trying to remember how to drive a car with the steering wheel on the wrong side!

The apartment has far reaching views to the sea and in spring should enable many species to be seen.  We could see Red-rumped and Barn Swallows, House Martins, Crested Larks, three fly over Bee-eaters, House Sparrows, two distant Hoopoes on an irrigated lawn and the ubiquitous Collared Doves everywhere.  The usual trip to the supermarket followed for essentials (wine and beer really!)  which added Feral Pigeon – always good to tick that one off!

Back at Casa Rosa we walked down the donkey track but could only add Blackbird, Sardinian Warbler and Stock Dove, which surprisingly no one seems to have on their lists.  We visited all the sites mentioned in previous reports and Gosney except Ludo Farm – sometimes the heat gets to you and you think ‘Why am I doing this?’  As previous reports have stated directions have changed and a fair amount of guesswork can be involved.  No-where is too far away though –one hour thirty minutes, unless you make the mistake of going to Castro Verde via Sao Bras de Alportel along the hairpin route – it took three hours.  The motorways are great, empty even at this time of year.

The Ria Formosa is a fifteen minutes drive but you need the tide to be in to push the waders up into the lagoon otherwise everything except Dunlin, Ringed and Kentish Plover are miles away. Kentish are very common.  White Storks, Black and Bar-tailed Godwits, Grey Plover, Redshank, Greenshank, plenty of Black-winged Stilts, lots of Little Egrets. Cattle Egrets, Grey Heron, Little Grebe, Turnstone, Common Sandpiper, Little Terns (very common), Sandwich Terns, Yellow-legged, Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed Gulls.  On the fresh water pool we had good views of Purple Gallinule, Waxbills, Gadwall, Mallard, Moorhen, Kingfisher, more Egrets, Sardinian Warbler and could hear Cetti's Warbler.  A Southern Grey Shrike was nearby as was a Woodchat Shrike.  There were plenty of Sparrows too but not other small birds – a few Sardinian Warblers, Blackbirds, Crested Larks, Linnets and Greenfinches. Several Terrapins were hauled out on the mud to bake.  

Olhao seafront is quite good for passing an hour.  All the usual birds plus several fly over Mediterranean Gulls.  We counted over forty White Storks here but several times saw flocks of more than a hundred soaring.   

Fuseta is the same as Olhao but packed at the tourist end.  You can drive round the other side, which is much better for birding.  There were Spoonbills here.  

Pinheiro is excellent for close up views of waders provided the tide is out – it comes in very fast; be warned!  Good Curlew Sandpipers in the remains of breeding plumage, Greenshank, Kingfishers and an Iberian race Yellow Wagtail.  

Castro Marim we visited once and called in on a couple of times whilst passing through. The visitor centre is a strange experience compared to an RSPB centre!  The reserve would be excellent in the Spring I should think.  It was very hot and the pools were drying out quickly.  The heat haze made ‘scope work difficult. There was no sign of any Bustards. New here were Little Stint, Marsh Harrier, Avocet, Stonechat, Curlew, a Little Owl on a telegraph pole and exceptionally, good, but distant, views, of four Caspian Terns.  We found our way to the other saltpans via the Gosney instructions where it seemed even hotter.  There were plenty of Flamingos and some Spoonbills and Spotted Redshanks plus more Bee-eaters.  The whole area was very dried out.  

Quinta de Lago   When we eventually found it, via the world’s smallest signpost, it turned out we were back in England!  Loads of English voices, green lawns and golf courses – water shortage, what water shortage!   

The estuary looks to be promising at a different time of year but there were all the common waders including Whimbrel. There were large numbers of Lesser Black-backed and Yellow-legged Gulls. We had excellent close up views of Little Terns fishing.  We found the fabled tower hide – scarily flimsy – and had the promised good views of Purple Gallinule, at least two young were seen.  A Great Crested Grebe was new as were, at last, Azure-winged Magpies (they had all disappeared from Casa Rosa). Greenfinch and Goldfinch made a belated appearance, as did Serin.  Many Coot, Moorhen, Gadwall, Mallard, Little Egrets, Little Grebe, Common Sandpipers, a Yellow Wagtail, Woodchat Shrike, Crested Larks and a Fan-tailed Warbler.  This area would certainly be worth exploring further and you can, apparently, walk to Ludo Farm.  

Castro Verde   This whole area is undergoing a severe drought.  The landscape was arid, dusty, coloured yellow by the sun and dried by a strong wind.  Vegetation was minimal and many plants and trees were dying.  Goodness knows what the few cattle we saw were eating!  We made two trips, one the wrong way as mentioned, seeing Jay and Tawny Owl and plenty of Cork Oaks!  We were, of course, looking for Bustards, which, reports say, have had a good breeding season – but did we see any – NO!  We did, however, see three Griffon Vultures on both trips.  An eagle species, probably Booted, a Red Kite, Spotless Starlings, Azure-winged Magpies, many Bee-eaters and Southern Grey Shrikes, Ravens, Little Ringed Plover (at a pool), White Wagtails and definitely identifiable Pallid Swifts.  Mertola had Crag Martins and Rock Doves.  A small flock of Spanish Sparrows were incredibly jumpy.  In fact, this was a feature of the whole trip; it was very difficult to get anywhere near the birds, they were off at the first sign of movement.  The worst bit for me was my wife calling me back from photographing Magpies.  She had been watching a Rufous Bush Robin, obligingly perched on the road until a car put it up, never to be seen again!  

Casa Rosa   The main feature here were the Little Owls calling during the day and night.  Again difficult to nail down but I did see four together one afternoon.  A Red-necked Nightjar was perfectly silhouetted one night at dinner over the pine tops – very atmospheric.  A small covey of Red-legged Partridges was feeding in the dried up Almond orchards.  A Golden Oriole ‘fluted’ briefly one day and was gone and a Melodious Warbler paused long enough to be identified. A Kestrel, Linnets and Serin passed, as did the Bee-eaters every day – very high!  

We made several trips ‘round about’ but birds were few and far between - lots of fly over Bee-eaters but none at short range.   

We certainly would go again, but to sample a different time of year - when it isn’t such hard work chasing the birds and, hopefully, there are more of them!