News in Brief: Peru, Spain & the UK

‘“The Birds of Northern Peru” tour never stops amazing us, and this year was no exception', writes tour leader Alejandro Solano. 'Highlights included the vastness of the Amazon River and exploring the different microhabitats where we found hundreds of birds, but the undoubted star was the Wattled Curassow. In the Andes, we enjoyed al fresco breakfasts followed by mixed flocks with colourful tanagers and even an unexpected male Cock-of-the-rock! Once in the Pacific, seeing three King Vultures and two Andean Condors at the same time would be one of our best memories. A wonderful meal, pisco sour, and lots of Inca Terns close to Lima was a great way to finish off this journey.'

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‘The picturesque village of Corfe Castle is the location of our wonderful hotel, the base for this 4-day tour’, writes co-leader Simon Dicks. ‘In the lovely autumnal sunshine, we made the short ferry crossing over to Brownsea Island, famous for its Red Squirrels which we happily watched scurrying around collecting food to cache. The hides overlooking the lagoon yielded good numbers of waders, but the highlight was an impressive flock of 67 Spoonbills. Black and Bar-tailed Godwits, Avocets and Mediterranean Gulls all provided an interesting supporting cast.

A morning at Portland Bird Observatory produced a freshly trapped Chiffchaff which was quickly processed before its release. Clouded Yellow and Red Admiral butterflies and a confiding Kestrel were also enjoyed and the previous evening’s moth-trap was investigated. Numerous Swallows were flying around and many perched on the wires of the telegraph poles as if they were trying to decide whether today was to be the day to embark on the long journey south.

An afternoon at Lodmoor gave us good views of Kingfisher, Marsh Harriers and the highlight, a juvenile Hobby, which delighted us as it hawked and caught dragonflies.

Durlston Country Park was our final destination. After enjoying a flyover by two Peregrine Falcons, we located a Dartford Warbler. Ravens cronked overhead and a Shag was observed at the base of the cliffs. A successful tour was brought to a fitting close watching a pair of delightful Firecrests.'

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'Our enjoyment of the wonders of northern Spain began with a sea crossing from Plymouth to Santander’, writes tour leader Byron Palacios. ‘Our “mini cruise” provided plenty of Manx, Great, Cory's, Sooty and Balearic Shearwaters, alongside pods of Common Dolphins, plus Fin and Minke Whales! Once in Spain, our remote base in the Cantabrian Mountains delivered amazing views of Iberian Wolves and European Wildcats. Brown Bears were elusive but also around. We also greatly enjoyed seeing interesting birds such as Great Bustards, Hen Harriers and much more – do join us in Spain next year!’

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‘The wonderful and secluded Montaña Palentina produced fantastic views of this fascinating and sought-after canine’, comments tour leader Byron Palacios. ‘In a short period of time we managed to enjoy the most magnificent mountain habitat, where Broom Hare, Wildcat and a lucky Wallcreeper were some of the highlights! All this was accompanied by the best gastronomy and expert companionship!’

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‘On this tour to the island of Menorca we experienced unusually warm weather for the time of year, and had only a few spots of rain in the whole week’, writes tour leader Ian Nicholson. ‘From our base at a quiet rural hotel we explored the Menorcan countryside and coast and enjoyed good views of some of the migrant birds which pass through the island in autumn, as well as the resident species such as Hoopoe, Egyptian Vulture, Booted Eagle, Western Swamphen and Dartford Warbler.

Highlights of the trip included a bird ringing demonstration, a boat tour of Mahon Harbour and a visit to the largest prehistoric settlement on the island.

Non-bird interest was provided by a good variety of butterflies, dragonflies and other invertebrates, and although it is not the best time of year to see plants in flower, we managed to see and identify a good range of the island’s flora.’

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‘Naturetrek’s “Extremadura’s Dragonflies” holiday covers a range of habitats in this wildlife-rich province’, reports tour leader Martin Pitt. ‘The summer had been marked by an ongoing drought (as has been the case in much of Europe) and when we began the tour, the weather had just broken after many days with high temperatures. The summer heat of 2022 was a double-edged sword, while vegetation and rice paddies were desiccated, the dry conditions had attracted the rarest of dragonflies from North Africa, but the conditions were fickle and populations highly variable. During the week we found 20 species of dragonflies including many of those special to this area such as Green Hooktail, Long Skimmer, Black Pennant, Epaulet Skimmer and Violet Dropwing. We also saw five species of mammals, seven species of amphibians and reptiles, 18 species of butterflies and 124 species of the birds that this area is perhaps best known for, including bustards, vultures and harriers.'

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'Powerful southerly winds, rain, showers, rainbows, sunshine, red sunrises, grey banks of cloud, white horse wave-tops, seaweed-covered larva, glistening grey granite buttresses and star-filled nights were the varied backdrops for our wildlife encounters’, writes tour leader Neil McMahon. ‘For many, an encounter with an Otter or an eagle were the most anticipated events and despite sometimes challenging watching conditions we achieved these extended moments several times over. A female Otter with attendant young is perhaps the best way to observe these aquatic mustelids as they interact, squabble and play on the shoreside rocks and seaweed, or perhaps fish together – we were fortunate to find such a family group on two occasions and watched them for long periods of time.

Raptors are always on the agenda and we enjoyed ghost-like adult male Hen Harriers quartering the open ground, Sparrowhawks ambushing flocks of Chaffinches and Redwings, plentiful Common Buzzards and of course both White-tailed and Golden Eagles lording over them all. Red and Fallow Deer provided close views but unusually we failed to connect with any of the island hare species. All three common species of diver, migrating Whooper Swans, a flock of Barnacle Geese, a Velvet Scoter and a Kingfisher were some of the other bird highlights. We managed a day visit to the historic and revered island of Iona, spent some hours at the engaging harbour-front of Tobermory and walked along the lovely beach at Calgary. The rugged and beautiful island of Mull and its hardy wildlife retains the magic!'

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'An autumn visit to the wild goose island of Islay and the rugged island of Jura is a much-anticipated event in the Naturetrek diary’, writes tour leader Neil McMahon. ‘Brooding skies, pink early morning and late evening horizons, dark peat and the browns of just-bloomed heather blend beautifully with the grey/green waters of estuary, loch and sea. Milky sunshine and big skies permit views of island clusters, the Mull of Kintyre and even Rathlin Island and Northern Ireland to the south and Mull and Colonsay to the north.

All this was the backdrop to our amazing tour amongst the wild flocks of Barnacle, Greenland White-fronted, Greylag and Pale-bellied Brent Geese and this year an excellent array of mammals which included multiple Otter sightings (four animals on one particular day), close-up views of Roe, Fallow and Red Deer, almost daily Harbour and Grey Seal sightings and a superb pod of active Bottlenose Dolphins to conclude the tour. Somehow, we squeezed in a distillery and woollen mill tour and sampled excellent food at three different restaurants. In addition, we wowed over the daily multiple sightings of Hen Harriers, wondered at the power and resonance of both Golden and White-tailed Eagles and enjoyed the twanging nasal calls of fidgety Twite and the flying skills and tumbling of vocal Choughs! More diverse sightings included Puffin, Dipper, Barn and Tawny Owls, seaducks, all three species of diver, Hummingbird Hawk-moth and a huge invasion of winter thrushes invoking a reaction from the island’s Sparrowhawks and Peregrines.’

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‘Islay and Mull in style – the very words conjure up images of geese, raptors, Otters, bellowing Red Deer stags and, perhaps, the legendary peaty whisky’, writes tour leader Andy Bunten. ‘On our trip this October, these images became a reality!

On Islay, the “Queen of the Hebrides”, the geese had poured in and we were treated to spectacular flights of beautiful black and white Barnacle Geese thundering into the air sounding like an express train as a huge raptor glided over. More subtly, but equally smartly, plumaged Greenland White-fronted Geese lurked in the marshes. Red-billed Chough frequented the sand dunes and flocks of Twite the fields of quinoa. Islay also produced our first Otter, with Mull providing another seven sightings of these glorious, sinuous, sleek, amphibious beasts.

Mull also gave us wonderful views of soaring Golden Eagles and the massively winged White-tailed Eagles conveniently landing in nearby trees to allow ideal views. Hen Harriers, so tragically rare in England, seemed almost common here and watching the buoyant, twisting, turning flight of these wonderful birds was a real privilege.

Add to this wildlife mix two lovely hotels with magnificent food and I think we can safely say we did, indeed, do Islay and Mull in style!’

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