Mallorca in early March (Part 1)

Mallorca is how it is written on my map so I'm sticking with that - if what I've read is correct it became Majorca for those that couldn't pronounce the 'll' - which I read is pronounced as a 'y' so it ought to be Mayorca??

Anyway, enough of that, we had 10 days there from the 9th to 18th March. It wasn't organised as a birding trip but I would seek out what I could when I was there. The best time to catch the spring migration seems to be around the last week in April but that wasn't possible for us, so we settled on these dates to have a break from the cold grey skies of the UK.

Leaving Gatwick in rain and the temperature barely into double figures, we arrived at Palma airport - in rain with temperatures barely into double figures. I wasn't expecting glorious sunshine and 25°C all the time but had thought that traveling the best part of 1000 miles south would offer some improvement on the climate. However, we couldn't change it so made the best of it.

10th March

The first full day started wet but the rain did stop intermittently and we even saw the sun on occasions, but it was still only about 11°C.  We'd stopped at the edge of the road (not something that you can do very often we found, so many of the roads had nowhere to pull over so it could be quite frustrating if something was spotted when you were driving, it could be nearly a kilometer before you could safely stop), not far from the town of Campanet in the north of the island. A verge under a stone wall had recently been strimmed and several different birds were feeding in the debris. First to catch my eye was a female Black redstart.

I quickly lost interest in that when I saw what I was convinced was a Whinchat. I have photographed these in Kent, usually on their autumn migration, but they are difficult to approach, so if this one came close it might give me my best shot of one. It did come close and revealed itself to be a female Stonechat, there had been something about its posture (1st photo) that had made me think Whinchat, but seeing it close by it was obviously not (2nd photo).

In fact I never saw a Whinchat at all which was a bit disappointing.

The strimmed edge had also attracted Greenfinches, a Robin and a couple of Siskin which I didn't see but my wife did. The light wasn't good by now and also, despite being on a small road in what can only be described as a 'one horse hamlet', some form of  vehicle came past about every 60 seconds - or more accurately within 10 seconds of the birds returning after being scared off by the previous vehicle. I made a note to return in better light to have another go.

11th March.

Great excitement in the morning, sunshine could be seen through the slats on the louvered doors so we wasted little time in getting out. Driving along scenic tiny lanes through olive groves and cultivated fields I spotted something in the young corn. Unusually there was somewhere to pull in and get the car off the road, at the entrance to a gated and locked driveway. I walked back and could see larks moving about but they were too far away for a photograph. A male Stonechat was flying down from a low branch but again was a bit far off. I looked up, having wandered rather further from the car than intended, to see another car behind mine waiting to access the drive - I couldn't believe it, the gates didn't look like they'd been used all winter and within 5 minutes of me stopping I was in someones way!

View to the Tramuntana mountains along the gated driveway.

We moved on and found another place to stop, in a field gateway that clearly hadn't been used in some time, it was overgrown and looked like the gates would need a bit of work to open so hopefully we wouldn't be in the way here.

A couple of Ravens were cawing overhead and a Black redstart was looking suspiciously like it was feeding young in a very gnarled olive tree but it seemed much too early in the season? We waited but it never returned to the tree again so possibly it had just found somewhere to eat its grub in peace.

 Other highlights for the day were a Cattle egret, a Blackcap feeding on as yet unidentified berries in the village of Mancor de la Vall, and best of all a Booted eagle flying overhead, a bird of prey we saw quite often.

A last note here about finding peace and quiet - we'd parked the car and walked along a gravel road to nowhere in particular. Female Black redstarts were feeding everywhere you looked, a lovely male Stonechat was flitting around, and Crag martins were swooping and wheeling over a nearby field of sheep. It was blissful, the only noise was of the sheep bells tinkling in the valley below. I sat on a rock and soaked up the sun and waited quietly as the birds started to accept me and venture a little closer. 

Within 10 minutes a large tipper lorry pulled up immediately behind me, engine running, the driver got out and locked the gates he'd come through, he wasn't there more than 3 or 4 minutes but the peace had been shattered and the scent of the pine trees replaced by diesel and exhaust fumes. 

Part two coming soon, with Thekla lark, Audouin's gulls and Black vultures.