Natural Selection

I meant to blog every day, but being holiday I didn’t hold myself to things like that. So here is a summary for anyone interested.

I continued to spend a bit of time birding in the area round the hotel. In this regard it was lovely to be reacquainted with Marsh Sandpipers, as I’ve not seen any for a number of years.

Lovely delicate tringa sandpipers. Here’s a picture of their relatives, a pair of Greenshank at the same time to show the difference in build and particularly bill shape.

The last couple of days I have taken taxis to the water treatment plant to the south. This has been productive, with several species of ducks and my only Black-necked Grebe of the trip. Some of the other birds included the Black-winged Stilt at the head of this blog and the species below.

Red-throated Pipit with helpful red throat

Marsh Harrier

Probably better birds for the location but not captured well enough to bother showing here included 3 Lapwing and several Snipe (which to be honest weren’t captured at all as they grunted and zigzagged away).

I tend to summarise these trips for people who could end up birding here on school holidays with families / partners, because I know no self-respecting birder would come purely for birding even though I kind of just have. It’s a nice destination, the people are friendly and there are a couple of options for good early morning birding before it gets too hot (later in the season). It is also very good value for money at the moment and worthy of consideration. I’ve had a great time here.