birding...

2000 [October] – Pat & Judy Hayes – Menorca

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Other notable winter visitors were the Starlings that roosted at Son Bou Marsh, this contained and estimated 1> million birds...

2001 [Easter] - Ibiza - John Girdley

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Contrary to popular misconceptions, it is possible to have a free holiday out of a time-share scam. This was to be my second in two years. There are three simple rules:
(1.) Agree to go to the original presentation.
(2.) Say NO at the presentation. Very important this one! (If you are tempted, remember that prices come in at a 40% discount abroad.) After you say no, they then give you a free holiday voucher!
(3.) There are loads of catches. (e.g.. Perhaps you can only go on a weekend but the plane only flies on a Friday - Tenerife is like this.) Therefore read every bit of small print and act on it accordingly...

2001 [May] - Mallorca - Morten Bentzon Hansen

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As most of the best birding sites are located in the north of the Island, it makes sense to be based in either Pt. Pollenca or Alcudia in the north. This allows all of the sites to be easily visited with minimal driving. When staying in one of the above mentioned towns, the Boquer Valley, Albufereta and S`Albufera can all be visited either on foot, by bike or public transport, if you do not wish to hire a car for the full duration of the trip...

2001 [May] - Menorca - Nick Pomiankowski

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I went on a family holiday to Cala`n Bosch, Menorca, but nevertheless, with just a pair of binoculars, I did manage to get some really interesting birdwatching done. We landed at Mahon airport on the 6th May and transferred to a coach which took us to our resort in the southwest of the island. Since we had no hire car and were about as far away as possible from S`Albufera (the major nature reserve on the island); I never visited this site, and instead tried to find my own birding spots.

2002 [October] - John & Sue Roberts - Menorca

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...Menorca had had a very wet summer, with torrential rain for several days, just before we arrived. Consequently there were areas of open water visible in the reedbed from the highest dunes; the marshy area south of Cala Tirant had plenty of water showing and S`Albufera des Grau was probably too full for best wader watching conditions...

2003 [April] - Christopher Hall - Mallorca; the quiet side

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The village of Sineu in the heart of Mallorca, commemorates Good Friday night with a procession of icons, depicting the crucifixion and resurrection, which passes through the narrow streets, blocking all access to our hotel. As we watch the participants file slowly past, dressed in robes and tall pointed hoods, the white silhouette of a Barn Owl sweeps across the black sky above us. We are off to a flying start even before we have checked in to our hotel...

2003 [October] – Pat & Judy Hayes – Mallorca

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Mallorca has always be a firm favourite of ours with many spring and autumn visits under our belt. So it’s with little pleasure that I report that Mallorca is changing almost daily; many of the birding sights familiar to birders only a few years ago have either gone or had the access removed.

2004 [April] - Menorca - Honeyguide

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2004 [October] - Hans Schick - Mallorca

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From October 24–31, 2004 I spent 7 days for birdwatching in Mallorca (Spain). I arrived by plain at 15:00 on the airport of Palma de Mallorca. There I took over a prepaid car and drove to Alcúdia at the north-eastern coast of Mallorca..

2005 [April] - Honeyguides

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2005 [March] - Mark How

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Upon arrival and eventually getting the hire car we booked into the Hotel and then headed off to Salinas de Levante, parking by the saltworks. Kentish plovers, avocets, black winged stilts, coot, white wagtails, shelduck, shoveler, gadwall, little grebe were on the flats and pools. The scrub near the pools produced serin, corn bunting, meadow pipit, stonechat, whinchat, redstart, linnet, black redstart, song thrush and lots of sardinian warblers. We moved to Eddi’s track but nothing to add apart from Kestrel and Swift...

2005 [October] - Stephen Burch - Mallorca

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This is a brief report on the birding highlights from a one week family holiday to Mallorca in October 2005. Opportunities for birding were limited, but I did manage to see a reasonable number of species, and do some digiscoping on a couple of days...

2005 [October] – Pat & Judy Hayes – Mallorca

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… a great island to begin your birding abroad. Most of the birding sites are well documented and many have been developed to cater for the British birder with bird hides positioned at strategic points allowing long sessions out of the sun….

2006 [April] - Robin & Rachel Hamilton - Menorca

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Honeyguides tour - pdf

2006 [October] - Stephen Burch

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This is a brief illustrated report on birding during a one week family holiday to Mallorca in October 2006, which follows on from a visit at exactly the same time last year, to the same villa...

2006 [September] - Paul Lawrence

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2007 [April] - Honeyguide

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2007 [April] – David & Amanda Mason – Mallorca

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After 4 days the garden list included 3 Stone Curlew, Serin, 40+ European Bee-eater, Golden Oriole, Nightingale, several Woodchat Shrike and a fly-by Eleonora's Falcon. A calling Wryneck remained elusive however.

2007 [August] - Chris Stott - Menorca

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We were based in Es Castell at the Hotel Agamenon, a lovely venue with great views over Mahon harbour which provided a number of good birds from the balcony – my kind of birding!

2007 [May] – Pat & Judy Hayes – Mallorca

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All the species that were on the island 15 years ago are still there, although arguably not in the numbers they once were...

2007 [October] - Stephen Burch - Mallorca

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This is a brief illustrated report on birding during a one week family holiday to Mallorca in October 2007. This was our third and probably last visit to the same villa at the same time in consecutive years...

2008 [April] - Honeyguide - Menorca

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2008 [April] - Ken Reeves

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13 birders from Burbage Bird Club in Leicestershire stayed in Puerto Pollensa at the Pollensa Park Hotel for 7 nights. The weather was sunny and warm throughout. The roads were quiet the hotel superb and the birding excellent...

2008 [May] - Iain Johnson - Pollenca, Majorca

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The villa where we were staying was located on the northern outskirts of Pollenca, very close to the Roman Bridge, at the bottom of the Ternelles Valley. This valley is currently closed but is highly recommended in Graham Hearl’s book; A Birdwatching Guide to Majorca....

2008 [October] - Derek Lister - Majorca

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Majorca deservedly holds a high place with birders who want to see an excellent selection of Mediterranean birds in a varied and sometimes spectacular island...

2008 [October] - Tony Jones - Mallorca

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...Our week’s total was 85 (12 over my expected 'target') with 12 'lifers' which included the totally unexpected Red-knobbed Coot...

2009 [April-May] - Pat and Judy Hayes - Mallorca

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We chose Villa Select to provide both our accommodation and our flight. Our villa was situated within the triangle of Pollensa, Puerto Pollensa and Alcudia. A little further out than any of our previous villas, but it did mean we were within a 10min drive of the premier birding site “Albufera”.

2009 [April] - Honeyguide - Menorca

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2010 [February] - Mike, Emma, James & Holly Cram - Majorca

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...We took a morning walk along the wood Bosquet de Boquer and along the Formentor bypass to the base of the Bocquer Valley and back through town. A Hoopoe showed briefly on our garden along with a few Woodpigeon, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Robin and Blackcap....

2010 [May] - Chris Gibson

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...Common swifts and swallows flew overhead and swathes of nightingale and Cetti’s warbler song, with a short burst of orphean warbler, came from the dense bushes in the 'Wild Wood' next to the house...

2010 [October] - Pat and Judy Hayes - Mallorca

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This is around our 16th trip to Mallorca and we have birded both spring & autumn in approximately equal numbers. Both have their good points. In spring the number and variety of bird species is greater; autumn sees the start of the long protracted autumn migration of birds, in what seems to us, ever decreasing numbers...

2011 [April] - Honeyguide - Menorca

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…a confiding Thekla lark showed most of its features, apart from its greyish under-wing coverts. Several stone-curlews added their wild, eerie calls to the soundscape...