La Mata

La Mata

I went for a walk around La Mata this afternoon, the walk down to the tower was fairly quiet probably due to the sun still being high. There were some large flocks of Serin and Greenfinch on the way down as well as the occasional Corn Bunting, Hoopoe and Crested Lark. From the tower many of the usual suspects were seen, including Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Kentish Plover and the odd passing tern.

A huge battle developed in front of me whilst at the tower which highlighted the trails and tribulations faced by birds on a daily basis at this time of year. A Woodchat Shrike spent about 15 minutes attempting to take the very small (1day old?) chicks out of a Kentish Plover nest. The shrike eventually gave up mainly due to the huge efforts of both Kentish Plover, a massive feat when you consider that the shrike is considerably bigger than this small wader (see below).

Avocet

"The Battle"

The walk to the second hide was much more productive in terms of different species recorded, the highlight of which was a Rufous Scrub Robin. Other species of note seen during the walk were, Turtle Dove (8+), Spotted Flycatcher (see below), Cuckoo (2), Greater Short-toed Lark (2), Hoopoe (10!) and a male Montagu's Harrier.

Little Tern

From the hide it was clear to see that the Tern colony was doing well, some of the birds already having chicks. Terns numbers visible from the hide were as follows, Little Tern (12 pairs), Common Tern (18 pairs), Whiskered Tern (4 pairs) and a single pair of displaying Gull-billed Tern. All the waders recorded at the tower were also present here in good numbers with the addition of 4 Curlew Sandpiper. The walk home was made even more enjoyable by another Rufous Bush Robin, but unfortunately it would not sit still long enough for a picture, maybe tomorrow!

Spotted Flycatcher