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Showing posts from June 23, 2019

A Whale of a time, Madeira 2019

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Its been a while since my last blog, time flies. Just returned from a trip to the island of Madeira, where the sun shone and the heat built, very different to the weather left behind in the UK. Although not a birding/wildlife holiday there were a few highlights worthy of mention, all except one of the sightings are from the hotel room balcony! Plain Swift, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, (all subspecies) Blackcap, Blackbird, Y L Gull, Manx, Cory's and Bulwer's Shearwater, Common tern, Goldfinch and Feral Pigeon! Bulwers Shearwater ( photo Madeiriabirds) I found the Blackbirds interesting as they appear larger and more robust than the birds I'm used to in the UK with a noticeably larger bill, I also watched a female actively hunting the abundant supply of Madeiran Wall Lizards. The bird highlight came in the originally misidentified House Martin, (seen from a gondola car on the way down a mountain) which just looked wrong, and it was as it turned out to be a LIT