Wednesday 3rd July saw us heading off to Heathrow for an overnight stay before flying out to Madeira the following morning for an 8 night holiday based in the main town of Funchal. We have visited Madeira 3 times before and this time our friends Julie and Matt were joining us, they have never been before so the plan was to do new things for us and the main sights for them and with a little bit of wildlife watching thrown in for me.
We stayed at the Quinta de Penha da Franca Hotel in Funchal again, our base for the whole 8 nights of our stay and an oasis of old fashioned calm. On arrival at the hotel there were Monarch butterflies flitting about and Blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla heineken) singing away while Yellow-legged Gulls flew around offshore and Plain Swifts buzzed around overhead.
Friday 5th July saw us heading up to the Jardim Botanico via 2 cable car journeys and somewhere that was new for us. I thought I saw a Trocaz Pigeon from the cable car but wasn't totally sure but I did have good views in the gardens of Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus canariensis), Maderian Wall Lizard, Clouded Yellow, Long-tailed Blue, Small White, Speckled Wood, Perez Frog, a Madeiran Grayling and a Blue Emperor along with Madeiran Chaffinch, a Madeira endemic only recently made a full species and common everywhere.
Saturday 6th July was spent around Funchal and the Hotel with Common Tern and Sally Light foot Crabs seen along the shoreline and Canary around the town and Hotel gardens. A Grey Wagtail was seen around the pond in a Funchal park along with Muscovy Ducks and Feral Mallards while another nearby park had 3 Mute Swans on its pond.
We picked up our hire car on Sunday 7th July and headed off to the Christo Rei and Garajau Cable Car, somewhere new for us. The cable car ride was short but fun and the geology of the cliffs along the journey was very interesting. The view from the Christo Rei out to sea was wonderful and a walk down to the promontory below the statue was hot and sticky with a family party of Spectacled Warblers (Sylvia conspicillata orbitalis) at the bottom some consolation for the even hotter walk back up.
We carried on our journey to the Palheiro Gardens where it was cooler and misty, a beautiful garden created by the Blandy family in the 1800's and very reminiscent of an English country house garden. We had a very enjoyable lunch in the cafe while admiring Madeiran Chaffinch at close quarters and many Perez's Frogs in the ponds while Robins (Erithacus rubecula rubecula) were surprisingly skulky in the bushes. Even better were at least 4 Trocaz Pigeons (another Madeiran endemic) which gave amazing views as they fed on the very well manicured lawns and allowing a very close approach. I had seen them on my previous visits to Madeira but the views were usually brief, distant and in flight so to see them so well made for quite a change.
Before heading back to the hotel we drove to Cabo Girao, the highest sea cliff in Europe and now home to a glass floored sky walk which wasn't present on our visit back in 1993. The views were stunning as the cloud swirled just above our heads.
We headed off in the car to Porto Moniz on Monday 8th July via the old road to Sao Vincente, stopping regularly to admire the views and finding Madeiran Speckled Wood and lots of flowering Agapanthus along the way.
Porto Moniz was very busy with people and devoid of any offshore seabird or cetacean activity in the hot and calm conditions and after some lunch we headed over the mountains back to Funchal via a stop at Fanal, another new place for us and which was very reminiscent of Dartmoor back home. There was lots of Bracken around and large patches of open grassland, cows and lichen- and moss covered trees with Blackbird (Turdus merula cabrerae), Clouded Yellow, Speckled Wood, a Blue Emperor, Perez's Frogs, brief views of 2 presumed Red Admiral and the usual Madeiran Chaffinches all seen. A Buzzard was also seen on the steep drive back down to Funchal.
Tuesday 9th July didn't start out too well with a flat tyre on the car needing to be sorted out before we headed up to the Pico de Arieiro. I love it when we leave the heat, humidity and chaos of Funchal behind as we drive up into the woods and mountains of Madeira, it's much cooler and fresher and stunningly beautiful there and a lot less busy, a totally different world. It was a wonderfully surreal experience to drive up through the clouds into clear blue skies and to look down on a sea of white fluffiness.
It was very busy at the peak as expected and due to delays caused by the flat tyre our time there was shorter than planned but it was as stunning as always. Madeiran Grayling, a songflighting Berthelots Pipit (Anthus bertheloti madeirensis) a Red-legged Partridge with at least 2 young, Plain Swifts with a very white throated individual amongst them, a Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis parva), a brief flight view of a Spectacled Warbler and flowering Pride of Madeira were all highlights here before we headed on to Riberio Frio for lunch and a levada walk.
It was surprisingly clear on our walk along the Levada do Furado and the views for once weren't clouded in mist. As usual I had a brief flight view of a Trocaz Pigeon over the treetops but did get much better views of a Madeiran Firecrest (another endemic bird of Madeira) along with brief views of a male and female Madeiran Brimstone and lots of flowering Maderian Orchids.
Wednesday 10th July was an early start to catch the ferry to Porto Santo for the day. It was all clear blue skies as we left Funchal but we headed into cloud and showers and our time on the island was beset with occassional cloudy and showery spells although by the time we caught the ferry back to Madeira it was hot and sunny again.
Common Terns were buzzing around the harbour as we left for Porto Santo but I couldn't find any Roseate Tern amongst them this time. Not long after leaving the harbour I saw a distant pod of around 6 Dolphins, easily seen in a perfectly flat calm sea, I think they were Bottle Nose but I'm not totally sure. Another distant pod of Dolphins were seen later in more choppier seas as the cloud and showers arrived, they were smaller and leaping out of the water and attracting a few Cory's Shearwaters, they were probably Atlantic Spotted Dolphins but again I'm not totally sure.
More and more Cory's Shearwaters were seen, giving great views, and eventually they were joined by Bulwer's Petrels. Even better were 11+ Desertas/Zinos Petrels, some of which passed very close to the ferry.
We had an enjoyable time on Porto Santo and a swim in the sea off the sandy beach was wonderfully refreshing. Spanish Sparrows were a new bird for the trip and Collared Doves were seen too, common on Porto Santo and appearing to have now colonised Madeira as I had a few sightings there too during our stay.
The return ferry crossing to Madeira was enjoyable too, no Desertas/Zinos Petrels or cetaceans but lovely views again of Bulwer's Petrels and Cory's Shearwaters and a surprise sighting of a Manx Shearwater. An enjoyable sight was watching a Cory's Shearwater unsuccessfully chasing down a Flying Fish low over the waves and very close to the boat.
Thursday 11th July was our last day and Julie and I had an early start for a RIB ride out into Funchal Bay for a Dolphin and Whale watching trip. It was a lovely sunny morning and the sea was flat calm although a gentle swell had picked by the time we returned to harbour. Within 10 minutes of leaving the harbour we had found a pod of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins although they were distant and already being watched by other boats and so we continued on our way. We soon found another pod and had some wonderful views of them very close to the boat, a new species of cetacean for me.
Cory's Shearwaters and Bulwer's Petrels were flying around along with one, possibly two Manx Shearwater and eventually we found a pod of Rough-toothed Dolphins, an uncommon sight around Madeira in summer and another new cetacean species for me. Again they gave some great views and were strange looking things with quite dinosaur looking faces and pinky-white markings on their lips.
On returning to the harbour we watched various fish swimming around while waiting for David to meet up with us and they included Hound Shark and Ornate Wrasse and more we couldn't identify.
It was time to fly back home on Friday 12th July but a quick look at the sea from our hotel balcony just before we left for the airport revealed a pod of Dolphins just offshore, their presence being given away by the Dolphin watching boats nearby.
All in all it had been another fantastic trip again to a fantastic place with interesting wildlife seen and fairly straight forwardly despite it not being a wildlife holiday, I can't wait to return.
