Trip Report - Delta de l'Ebre, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain

Griffon Vulture: This week I turned 40, a milestone I have not been looking forward to, but one I could't escape. However I was able to escape the UK for some Spanish summer sun.  

Western Swamphen: Located in the province of Tarragona in southern Catalonia, the Delta de l’Ebre is an impressive natural landmark which attracts thousands of nature-lovers each year. 

Western Bonelli's Warbler: Where the Ebro River meets the Mediterranean Sea, the Delta de l’Ebre is home to a wide variety of wetland birds. I also ventured out up into the hills and to the drylands of Lleida and Zona Picnic Mont-roig.
 

Collard Pratincole: This trip was actually a surprise trip that the one in million partner of mine Dawn decided to gift me, with some help from Gary Edwards they conspired together to find a location that's birdy enough for me and offered family activities. 

Whiskered Tern: The area close to the sea is comprised of large lagoons and marshes, dunes and sand, with small remains of riverside forests by the banks of the river. Due to its naturalistic and ornithological character, the ares is internationally known. 

Gossy Ibis: Please check out the detailed trip report at the bottom of the blog page.

13/05/2021 Longham Lakes, Dorset

Whiskered Tern: So this week I've been doing a range of ecological surveys near Luton, and the site was much closer to Dorset then Wigan so I thought I would the for the whiskered tern.

There have been some really gripping images of it sat on a water level post where it was giving some great views. Typically, when I arrived it was hawking above the water and resting on an orange boy way out on the lake.

Whiskered are stout little marsh terns with a slightly forked tail and summer plumaged adults resemble common terns more than black terns due to their black and white heads, but the short, broad wings and tails are typical of marsh terns.

They breed in scattered populations across southern Europe and Asia, in south-eastern Africa and Madagascar, and in Australia and are particularly area visitor to the UK. 

Although the bird refused to alight on the water level post it still came in close and showed extremely well. 

Whizzing right past me at some knotts it was difficult to follow with the camera set to 1.6 crop, but I managed to get these images. 

Tis was the only tern species on the lake but there were hundreds of swifts, swallows and martins, i also heard a cuckoo calling ad there were dozens of spring warblers.  

A nice bird to add to this list and a bird too tempting to pass up.