A spot of urban birding in Barcelona

Last week Chris and I went on a wee holiday to Barcelona - it was our Christmas present to one another instead of stuff, which we have enough of already. Chris isn't too into birds so it wasn't a birding holiday, but I was excited to see whatever I might come across, and hoping for a few lifers as the majority of my European birding up until now has been north of the Arctic Circle :oD

Unsurprisingly the first birds we saw were Feral Pigeons, Common Starlings and Yellow-legged Gulls. However it wasn't long at all before we came across the first of many Monk Parakeets - these noisy guys are in pretty much every tree in Barcelona, even on the busiest roads.

Monk Parakeets in Park Güell.

Monk Parakeet in Parc de la Ciutadella. This one and several of its associates were wearing little neck tags which I think are part of a project studying the dispersal of Monk Parakeets.

I read somewhere that there are 6 species of parakeet in Barcelona, all feral populations - I managed to find 3, as well as the Monk Parakeets we also saw some Rose-ringed on La Rambla, and a good-sized flock of Red-masked Parakeets in Parc de la Ciutadella which was a new species for me.

Parc de la Ciutadella, near to where we saw a flock of Red-masked Parakeets in a large coniferous tree.

In the two parks we visited, we saw plenty of everyday (for us at least) birds - Blackbird, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Collared Dove, White Wagtail, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Robin, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Jackdaw and Magpie. It was dead exciting to see so many Black Redstarts, they weren't wary at all and we watched one female sitting in a nearby bush in Park Güell for some time.

Spot the Black Redstart!

Park Güell is a most excellent park, with the joyful and intriguing Gaudí architecture of the busier 'monumental zone', and the quieter, richly vegetated wider park area, which is hilly in places giving brilliant views over Barcelona, and where more birds could be found. Just by where the Black Redstart above was, I saw my first Crested Tits - deep joy!

Park Güell monumental zone.

Park Güell.

View over Barcelona from high up in Park Güell.

My first Crested Tits were in this tree :o)

Other lifers included Serin, seen while we were wandering round the city, Spotless Starling which we saw in Parc de la Ciutadella (another top notch park!) and Audouin's Gull, a super-smart gull which could be seen flying around over the sea at the beach.

The beach!

The beach!

There was also something of an owl theme to the trip, not because we saw any but (to begin with at least) because this was my holiday reading:

'Owl' by Desmond Morris, an anniversary gift from Chris!

It was a very enjoyable and accessible read about owls in human culture, which also unexpectedly enhanced our holiday by alerting us to the existence of this mighty owl!

This is supposedly one of the largest owl images in the world! It is on top of a building located at the junction of Avinguda Diagonal and Passeig de Sant Joan in central Barcelona, and was erected as an advertisement for a company that installs neon lighting. Although apparently it doesn't light up any more.

Later on in the book was a large section about Picasso's works featuring owls, which was also fortuitously timed to coincide with our visit to Museu Picasso. I vaguely remembered from A-level art, my art foundation course and previous visit to Barcelona with said course that Picasso had depicted owls but had since kind of forgotten about it so these images filled me with the joy of rediscovery, as well as the joy of just seeing pictures of owls!

Pablo Picasso - Still life with owl and three urchins (1946).

Pablo Picasso - Owl in an interior (1946).

Also in Museu Picasso, I enjoyed his series of paintings of a pigeon loft, they were filled with light and colour, I can imagine the pigeons cooing and bumbling around their peaceful loft in the Mediterranean sunshine.

Pablo Picasso - The pigeons (1957).

Picasso's work is so varied, I think there is something for everybody :o)

Weekend in Norfolk!

I didn't post any drawings over the weekend as I was away on the annual West Midland Bird Club jaunt to Norfolk, good times! We headed off very early from Birmingham and arrived at our first stop, RSPB Snettisham, by around 10ish. The weather was looking good and before we'd even left the car park we'd had Common Gull, Redwing, Fieldfare and Skylark fly over. A Kingfisher flew over our heads and off down the fishing pond as we entered the reserve, and a couple of sleepy rabbits were enjoying the sun just to one side of the path, seemingly unperturbed by our presence!

Zzzzz.

Walking down the first lagoon, the usual ubiquitous Greylags and Mallards were everywhere, plus a pair of Little Grebes, then towards the top end we noticed something else....a female Common Scoter, super-close and giving us smashing views!

Here's a dreadful record shot!

When we reached the mudflats, they were mostly covered but the tide was receding fast to reveal the vast muddy expanse. There was plenty of wader and goose action, with Brent and Pink-footed Geese, Golden and Grey Plover, Knot, Dunlin, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher and more. Lovely wintery vibes! Having said that, the weather was very pleasant, and we even saw a Red Admiral butterfly at one point!

Lovely mud.

In one of the hides I did some variable sketches of Wigeon:

Wigeon.

Wigeon sketches.

I also spotted a new flower to try and ID:

It looks like Sea Campion (Silene uniflora).

Here's a couple more photos.

Grazing Greylags.

A former Greylag (I think). Check out those teeth!

The rain finally caught up with us about 10 minutes before we reached the car park, despite that I enjoyed a big flock of Long-tailed Tits in a Hawthorn bush by the path - I love how oblivious they are of people, never get tired of trying to get close to them. Although the weather had turned we decided to try our chances at a spot (whose name I've forgotten, doh) where we'd heard Barn Owl could be seen regularly, and luckily when we got there it was only drizzling very lightly, not enough to discourage the brilliant Barn Owl which we watched for some time hunting - I love owls! :o)

After that we decided to drop off quickly at Salthouse to see if we could find us some Snow Buntings. However when we arrived thoughts of Snow Buntings were quickly banished from our minds, as we bumped into some other WMBC members who were about to leave - they asked us if we were there for the Grey Phalarope. We were now! This would be a life tick for me, it was hard to contain my excitement! The light was fading fast so we sprinted (well, as much as you can sprint across thick shingle) over to the pool where the Phalarope had been loitering, and there it was, dibbling around in the water, feeding in a most distinctive fashion, fussily pecking at small insect prey on the water's surface. Brilliant! We watched it until the light became too poor to see much, and then headed on to our base for the weekend, the Cliftonville Hotel in Cromer, for dinner and an excellent night's sleep. What an awesome day!

The next morning we went to RSPB Strumpshaw Fen, where we enjoyed more great views of hunting Barn Owl over the grassland! The epic rain overnight must've prevented it from catching a meal the previous evening so it was out in the morning instead. Stonechat and Kestrel were also to be seen, and Chinese Water Deer grazing in the grass and reedbeds. We also saw a Black Swan, presumably an escapee. There were a lot of these attractive berries around, another identification to attempt:

Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus) I reckon.

We watched some interesting behaviour - a Jay landed on a gate and put two acorns down on top of the gate which it had been carrying in its crop. It picked them up and put them down a few times, and rolled one around a bit. Maybe it was deciding where to cache them, or was trying to dry them off if they were slightly damp? After a while it picked them both up again and flew off. Fascinating behaviour, if anyone knows what this Jay was up to I'd be very interested to hear.

I did a couple of sketches of Shoveler at Strumpshaw:

Shoveler sketches.

After that the plan was to go to Stubb Mill at Hickling Broad to watch the Cranes and Hen Harriers fly in to roost, however unfortunately disaster struck when we broke down a short (but too long to be walkable!) distance from our destination, argh! The AA arrived on the scene quickly but the problem turned out to be fairly serious - the car was eventually towed back to Birmingham and we got a taxi back to Cromer, a bit disappointed that we'd missed out on the Cranes, but at least we were all OK - the car engine and power steering had just cut out in a quite alarming manner and if we'd been on a busier road it could have been nasty.

The weather was pretty wild the next morning, with the wind and rain rattling against the windows as we ate breakfast. Undeterred we went to Salthouse and although it had just about stopped raining the high winds made it a bit grim! 

Windy!

We'd walked into the wind down to look at some of the pools, and decided to walk back along the shingle bank to look over the sea, with the wind at our backs. Out at sea a Razorbill flew past, then I spotted something high up, flying in from the sea, that was definitely not a seabird. It was an owl traveller, a roaming Short-eared Owl arriving from more northerly climes for the winter! Major excitement as I'd never seen one coming in from the sea before! It sailed over our heads and dropped down to land on the marsh, out of view behind a hummock. We started to rush over to see if we could find it again but before we got that far another WMBC member attracted our attention, he was photographing a flock of around 30 Snow Bunting on the shingle - we got a brilliant close up view for a minute or two before they flew off, flighty chaps that they are. We searched a bit more for the owl but couldn't find it, it was probably having a well-earned rest somewhere out of the wind. Pleased that our perseverance had paid off, we continued on to Titchwell.

Fortunately at Titchwell the weather was sunny and the wind much reduced. We decided to go to the beach first as high tide was just receding, however we inevitably got distracted by various bits and bobs on the way down such as Spotted Redshank and Curlew. On the beach plenty of Sanderlings were scuttling around, they are great!

Sanderlings.

Out at sea I saw a seal and a couple of Red-throated Divers but to be honest I possess neither the patience nor the kit (saving up for a decent scope!) for sustained periods of seawatching, and after a while I went for a walk down the beach, where I didn't see much of note but warmed up at least. We walked back through the reserve, stopping at the hides where we had great views of Pintail and distant Avocet, among others. I was just starting some sketches of Shelduck when Mike P had a call from Andy M (who'd gone to buy a new coat in the shop) to say a Short-eared Owl was flying around!

Unfinished Shelduck sketches!

We hot-footed it out of the hide and soon spotted the owl hunting down towards the road. However it was coming our way! It was lit from one side by the low sun so that its wings glowed, embodying its binomial name Asio flammeus. We had awesome views as it flew right past us! Unfortunately for the owl it was being bothered by Black-headed Gulls and it shortly turned back, vocalising grumpily as it did so - another treat for me having never heard a Short-eared Owl before. So we had awesome views again as it flew past us back the other way! After that we heard that there was a White-fronted Goose with Greylags on the freshwater lagoon, some patient searching from Mike P soon located the bird and we were able to enjoy good views - when seen with Greylags the differences were obvious, its smaller size and daintier build, proportionally smaller head and bill and of course the white flash above its bill. It even obligingly got out of the water so we could see a couple of dark marks on its belly. The light was starting to go by this point so we headed back to the car - on the way we stopped as we heard Bearded Tits in the reedbed, but we didn't manage to see any. However I did get a great view of a Cetti's Warbler, its white throat was very bright in the low light! A great end to an excellent birding weekend, of which the owls were definitely the highlight :o)

Budget Bucket List competition!

I thought I would have a go at this after finding out about it from Tristan's entry over on The Inked Naturalist. MoneySupermarket.com are running a 'Budget Bucket List' competition in which they would like to read about bloggers' bucket lists - the things they most want to do before they kick the bucket - and the idea is to write about one 'budget' bucket list item, and one completely extravagant, money-no-object, item. There's a prize of £1000 on offer for the winner, which will rise to £2000 if over 50 people enter the competition!

And so without further ado to my budget bucket list item......

LOW CARBON FINNISH OWL QUEST!!

One of the things that makes me uncomfortable about travelling outside the UK is the carbon emissions associated with flying. I love to visit new places and experience the natural history and culture, but it disturbs me that that actions I take in order to enjoy nature are contributing to the diminishment of future generations' ability to do so. It's partly why I tend not to venture outside of Europe (also I generally can't afford to!), and when I do fly I usually make a donation afterwards to Atmosfair offsetting the flight - it doesn't 'undo' the carbon emitted by my flight, but does go towards funding renewable energy projects in developing countries, so that they can make the leap straight to renewables and not cause further carbon emissions. Therefore my budget bucket list item would involve travelling entirely by train and boat to my destination, with the help of the excellent Man in Seat 61. This wouldn't normally be a 'budget' option for me, but if I won £1000 I'd be laughing! The travelling would take a while, but it's all part of the fun - I would get to pass through several super-cool European countries, enjoy the scenery and relax with my headphones and a novel. Lovely stuff. I would of course also blog about it to hopefully raise some awareness of low-carbon travel! I would keep accommodation costs low once in Finland by staying in hostels.

I'm a bit obsessed with the Nordic countries, having visited bits of Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden.....so naturally Finland is next on my list! The other main reason for visiting would be that Finland is known for its owls - there's the potential for a serious OWL BONANZA, with Eurasian Eagle Owl, Great Grey Owl, Ural Owl, Northern Hawk Owl, Tengmalm's Owl, Eurasian Pygmy Owl as well as Long-eared, Short-eared and Tawny Owl on the cards. Owls were the first birds that captured my imagination at a very young age - my walls were covered with owl pictures when I was little and for a while I was pretty sure I was an owl (that phase has now passed), so although I don't get to see many owls it's always mega-exciting when I do, they have a special place in my heart! Look at all these lovely owls........

Northern Hawk-Owl, Hökuggla, ©Dan Frendin, via WIkimedia Commons.

Eurasian Eagle Owl, ©Sonja & Roland, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Great Grey Owl, ©westfortwarbler, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Ural Owl, ©Salmando, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Eurasian Pygmy Owl, ©snowmanradio, via WIkimedia Commons.

Tengmalm's Owl, ©Mdf, via WIkimedia Commons.

Now for my completely extravagant item.....

Patagonia. FLIPPIN' PATAGONIA! Look at it!!!

Cavalli Al Pascolo Ai Piedi Del Massiccio Del Fitz Roy, Patagonia, ©Annalisa Parisi, via Wikimedia Commons.

Patagonia Alive, ©Stuck in Customs, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Perito Moreno Glacier, Patagonia, Argentina, ©Luca Galuzzi, via Wikimedia Commons.

Patagonia's Profile, ©Irargerich, via Flickr Creative Commons.

'Turquoise Mirrors', Argentina, Patagonia, Parque Nacional Los Glacieres, Lago de las Tres, Mt. Fitzroy, ©WanderingtheWorld (www.LostManProject.com), via Flickr Creative Commons.

I actually don't know an awful lot about Patagonia other than it looks amazing, which is why I would like to go - it's currently a mysterious and intriguing place to me and I want to find out all about it by visiting! Some things I do know about Patagonia include:

• There are albatrosses (several species! Joy!) there. Like many people (e.g. my Mum), seeing an albatross is obviously also on my bucket list.
• The geology is AWESOME. The mountains! The glaciers! The caves! The volcanoes!
• There are Welsh people there! Well the descendants of Welsh people, who settled there in the 19th century. The documentary film Separado!, in which Gruff Rhys goes to Patagonia to track down his long lost uncle, is a most enjoyable watch covering the history of the Welsh settlers set within the wider context of Patagonian culture, with some smashing music to boot.

So those are my budget and extravagant bucket list items. Both of them centre around exploring and learning about the natural world and other cultures - what is most important to me in life is to experience and enjoy the huge variety in our world as much as I am able, there's a lot of things I would like to do and see but I think these two are pretty high on my list at the moment!

Three other bloggers who might be interested in entering this competition are:
Alexis
Jolene
Katie