cliftonbirding: Lanzarote

Saturday the 18th-25th I went on a sunshine Holiday with my Mrs to Costa Teguise in Lanzarote, it was very windy week and fairly quiet birdwise around the Resort mainly the usual Collared Doves and Yellow Legged Gulls although out and about during the week added a Cattle Egret, Berthelot’s Pipits, Linnets, Spanish Sparrows and the Canary Islands race of Southern Grey Shrike, some of the coastline was quite rocky and on one afternoon a Cory’s Shearwater flew past quite close but the only Waders found were a handful of Turnstones. A couple of Kestrels were seen over the Pool area several times and one day I had a fleeting glimpse of a darker Falcon I thought might have been a Hobby, it reappeared a couple of days later and I got a better view, even better it was an Eleonora’s. One evening a flock of Pallid Swifts was feeding around the Hotel along with a couple of House Martins, got some stunning views, a few days later I was photographing some more over a little Park area I had found and checking the photos later discovered there had been a couple of common Swifts with them. As usual I was allowed a bit of time to do some birding and I had found out about the Lanzarote Active Club before we came out who were offering half day birdwatching tours, I went out with them on the Tuesday hoping for better more prolonged views of Houbara Bustard, I was picked up from the Hotel and after meeting up with another couple near San Bartolome our guide then took us on a tour around the plains south-west of Tegiuse with a coffee break at Soo, it started well with good views of three Stone Curlews followed by a large mixed flock of Trumpeter Finches, Lesser Short Toed Larks and Berthelot’s Pipits, as we carried on we encountered large numbers of Cattle and Little Egrets following the Goat herds, more Stone Curlews plus several Ravens, Hoopoes and Southern Grey Shrikes, a Barbary Falcon was seen terrorising some Egrets and later we came across a small group of Barbary Partridges although they soon scuttled away, a couple of Spectacled Warblers were flitting around this area as well, eventually I got onto a pair of Cream Coloured Coursers and as we watched them discovered they had a couple of small chicks (second brood maybe) but the Houbara Bustards were being very elusive, then our guide shouted Bustard crossing the track in front, I turned and got a two second view as it disappeared behind a large rock and by the time we drove up there it had gone, I cursed my luck even though I was pleased to have seen it I really wanted better than that. We had our coffee break in Soo, lots of Spanish Sparrows and Linnets around, we made our way back via a different route with some nice scenery then as we were passing a field with some grass or crop growing down the middle I saw the shape and called Bustard, there were actually three and I finally got my good and prolonged views as they just steadily wandered across the field and away, a bit further on we came across another two this time right next to the track, one immediately ran for it but the second bird just wandered a little way from the track and watched us a while offering some really nice views before it too eventually lost its nerve and ran, I was now more than happy, we carried on coming across another small group of Cream Coloured Coursers which again included a pair with small chicks then on the last stretch before we got back to the main road we had the best sighting of Stone Curlew ever when one crossed in front of us then just stood next to the track as we passed, super morning out really enjoyed it. As for Insects etc I never really got anything much, there were a few Butterflies flitting around but they never landed for me to be able to ID them plus one or two small Lizards but that was about it.

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