Sicily - Part I

It was off to Heathrow Airport by train on Tuesday 24th September for our flight to Palermo in Sicily and the start of our museums and ancient ruins holiday

We began our trip in Palermo with a few days sight seeing, staying in the NH Palermo hotel near the old city and opposite the botanical gardens and with a room overlooking the port and the sea. Palermo was great, very hot and sunny with some beautiful architecture, an amazing archeological museum that is unfortunately only partially open at the moment, a relaxed air and some great food.

 Palermo

 Palermo

 Palermo

 Palermo

Palermo

Birding was slow as expected in a busy city but I did see some familiar birds - blackbird, woodpigeon, collared dove, swallow, grey wagtail, goldfinch, great tit, kestrel, ring-necked parakeet, swift, blackcap and feral pigeon - plus a few less familiar ones - yellow-legged gull, hooded crow, Sardinian warbler, spotless starling and tree sparrow.

Butterflies and moths were also seen and I managed to get some good views of hummingbird hawkmoths and vestals plus clouded yellow, geranium bronze, painted lady, Lang's short-tailed blue, red admiral and small white.

 Vestal

 Geranium Bronze

 Lang's Short-tailed Blue

Painted Lady

Wall lizards (Sicillian/Italian) were noted too in the botanical gardens along with violet dropwings, a demoiselle species, a large dragonfly species (emperor?) and a few small red dragonfly species.

 Dragonfly Sp.

Violet Dropwing

We ventured out of Palermo on Thursday 26th September and caught a train to the ancient city of Solnus, a short 20 minute journey away along the coast and where we spent a few happy hours wandering around in the baking heat while admiring the ruins, views and wildlife.

Solnus

Solnus

A very skittish juvenile Eastern black-eared wheatear was the highlight as it fed around the ruins and I also saw 2 ravens, magpie and linnet while offshore a flock of small gulls were resting on the sea before being buzzed by yellow-legged gulls and flying off but too far out to properly ID.

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear

Swallowtails were very noticeable around the site but were very difficult to photograph in the heat and I also found a small heath, clouded yellow, a scarce swallowtail, a Cleopatra, painted lady, a small skipper species (Mediterranean/ pygmy?) small white and dragonflys. Wall lizards were everywhere and I also found a few very nervous Moorish geckos that scuttled off before I got anywhere near them.

 Swallowtail

 Mediterranean/Pygmy Skipper

 Wall Lizard

 Dragonfly Sp.

 Dragonfly Sp.

Flower Sp. in the ruins

Saturday 28th September and it was time to leave Palermo and head off on the train to Agrigento, a 2 hour journey away. The views from the train were stunning and I added grey heron, great white egret, jackdaw and crested lark to the bird list along the way.

On arrival in Agrigento we picked up our hire car for the week and drove to the nearby Villa San Marco, our base for the next 3 days and an absolute delight set in quiet solitude right in the Valley of The Temples and with amazing views across the countryside. It was a great place to stay with a fantastic breakfast on the terrace each morning, a menagerie of birds and animals, a small swimming pool and a great view of the temples including from our room terrace where we enjoyed a glass of Sicillian wine at night listening to calling stone curlews and Scops owls while bats flitted about over the trees.

The Valley of The Temples archeological site covered a huge area and with the baking heat it was great that we had the time to take things slowly and explore the ruins at leisure over the 3 days.

 Valley of The Temples

Valley of The Temples

Being more rural the birding was more varied and I added some good birds to my trip list. A fly away hoopoe and 2 bee eaters flying overhead were all too brief but 2 blue rock thrush in the ruins were more confiding. Serins were regularly seen flying around and buzzards soared overhead on the thermals along with a juvenile Egyptian vulture and a booted eagle. Crag martin, house martin, Italian sparrow, mallard, moorhen, blue tit and spotted flycatcher were also seen with Cettis warblers and Sardinian warblers also heard.

 Egyptian Vulture

 Booted Eagle

Booted Eagle

Butterflies were also noticeable with swallowtail, scarce swallowtail, Cleopatra, wall, Langs short-tailed blue, clouded yellow and small white seen. Wall lizards were everywhere and I also found a Turkish gecko on the wall at our Villa.

 Scarce Swallowtail

 Scarce Swallowtail

 Wall

 Lang's Short-tailed Blue

 Dragonfly Sp.

Turkish Gecko

It was soon time to continue our tour of the island and so Tuesday 1st October saw us driving onwards to Selinunte via the ruins at Eraclea Minoa for the next part of our holiday.

Yellow Legged Gulls Galore.....in Spain.

After my trip to The Scillies the weather improved and it was warm and sunny. I managed to get out for a walk at Wembury on the 18th and the 21st September where the best sightings were a whinchat, 4 ringed plovers and 3 bar-tailed godwits along with clouded yellows and long winged coneheads. The weather was also good on a walk along the coastpath from Hope Cove to Thurlestone on the 20th September and the best sightings were 4 little stints feeding together with dunlin at South Huish Marsh, giving some nice views despite all the cars and people nearby.

 Sand Wasp on Sea Holly at Thurlestone

 Green Carpet at Wembury

 Whinchat at Wembury

 Whinchat

 Whinchat

 Female Long Winged Conehead, Wembury

Common Darter, Wembury



And on September 22nd we headed off on the train to Heathrow Airport for our flight to Madrid in Spain for Davids sumptuous 52nd birthday holiday extravaganza. The journey was delayed due to a jumper in front of a train and it was a bit tight but we caught our flight which was actually late taking off anyway. On the journey up to Heathrow I managed to see a kingfisher and the resident Slavonian grebe along the River Exe, a few distant views of red kites around the Reading area and a flock of around 20 common cranes in a field near Taunton, presumably part of the Great Crane Project release programme.

And so to Spain. Madrid was as lovely as ever although the weather this time was a lot more varied with rain, cloud and wind as well as hot and sunny days. Birding in Madrid was limited but pied flycatchers and monk parakeets were very noticeable in the parks, being noisy and relatively confiding at times.

 Monk Parakeet, Madrid

Pied Flycatcher, Madrid



A day trip to nearby Segovia on the 24th was very interesting despite my tooth ache which at times was totally distracting. The Roman aqueduct was very impressive and I saw some good birds too with the biggest surprise being 2 choughs flying around the Alczar. Other highlights were red kites, black redstarts and cattle egrets and at least it distracted me from my painful tooth. I also had good views of 4 vultures, 1 was an adult griffon vulture and the other 3 were all black and I ignorantly assumed they were juvenile griffon vultures. Later when checking my bird book I realised they were actually 3 rare black vultures and a life tick for me.

 Roman Aqueduct at Segovia

 The Alcazar at Segovia

 Male Black Redstart, Segovia

Chough, The Alcazar at Segovia

Chough, Segovia

 Griffon Vulture, Segovia

 Black Vulture, Segovia



Heading down to Cadiz by train on the 26th and I managed frustrating views of birds of prey - eagles, buzzards, vultures, falcons, kites and harriers - with a probable short toed eagle and a probable black shouldered kite being seen as we whizzed across the countryside at 150+mph. Nearing Cadiz the train travelled slower and I saw a nice hovering osprey over some salt flats along with black winged stilts and greater flamingos.

Cadiz was lovely too and it was nice to actually stay in the old city for a few days to explore after our first 3 hour day trip in 2011. Monk parakeets were again noticeable due to being so noisy and confiding. The rocky shore had roosting whimbrel, ringed plover, sanderling and turnstone at high tide while offshore Sandwich terns and gannets were seen - it was great to sit on the breakfast terrace of the hotel and watch juvenile gannets dive for fish (mostly unsuccessfully) quite close in to shore. Best of all though were the gulls - black headed, Mediterranean, lesser black backed and yellow legged - which provided me with hours of distraction and enjoyment. The yellow legged gulls were ridicously tame at times, much as herring gulls can be in Plymouth, and I was able to fully appreciate a range of different ages and plumages. I have seen adults and juvenile yellow legged gulls before but have never paid much attention to non-adult birds, a shame as I have spent the summer looking for juveniles here in Devon and Cornwall! I was surprised at how variable the juvenile birds were in size as well as plumage and while sitting on the decking around the hotel swimming pool I was kept absorbed by the birds coming down to drink and bathe in the pool just a few meters away.

 Geranium Bronze, Cadiz

Speckled Wood?, Cadiz

Cadiz Beach



2nd Cal.Yr. Yellow Legged Gull



Juv. YLG



Juv. YLG



Juv. YLG



2nd Cal. Yr. YLG



Juv. YLG with pale eye



Adult LBBG



Adult YLG - With red orbital ring



Juv. YLG



Moving on to Seville on the 29th and birding slowed again but I did manage to see ring necked parakeets along with monk parakeets, spotted flycatcher and blackcap. A day trip to Cordoba on Davids birthday on the 30th provided a bit more variety with kingfisher, Cettis warbler and common sandpiper along the river and a few red rumped swallows overhead.

 Long tailed Blue, Cordoba

Lizard sp., Cordoba



The Alcazar Gardens in Cordoba - stunning



The Mesquita, Cordoba

 Alcazar Gardens, Seville

 The Alcazar, Seville

Bee sp., Seville



The train journey from Seville to Madrid on the 3rd October was very nice as we travelled in first class, enjoying food and drinks in a comfortable carriage as we sped along. I managed to see 3 hoopoes flying off as we sped past along with more frustrating views of raptors and a hare cowering by the trackside underneath a road bridge. Our last day in Madrid was quiet but we did see some small bats flying over the water at the Temple of Debod when it as lit up at night and the next morning it was time to head off to the airport and the flight back to the UK.

The Temple Of Debod by night, Madrid



The Temple of Debod



Heading back to Plymouth by train and I managed some better views of red kites including one bird which flew low over the train carriage as we came to a halt at Reading station and I again saw the Slavonian grebe on the River Exe but there was no sign of any common cranes this time.

And so it had been a great holiday despite my tooth problems. I didn't do any real birding but managed to see around 60 species with quality not quantity being the order of the day. And it was great to see so many yellow legged gulls and so well, a great help for me to try and finally find one here in the UK.