Western Palearctic Birding

Corsica and Sardinia 13 - 17 May 2009

Deciding to do 2 short trips this spring/summer rather that our usual longer trip we plumped for a trip to Corsica for it’s famous endemics followed by another to Portugal for some rather less famous category C stuff.

After investigating the travel possibilities for getting to Corsica it quickly became apparent that for a short trip the only viable option was to fly to Sardinia and then take the ferry onto Corsica. Flying direct would have meant staying for a week which we didn’t want or need to do.

So, good old Ryanair were used again with flights to Alghero in NW Sardinia from Stansted. The ferry from Sardinia leaves from Santa Teresa Gallura and docks at the spectacular Bonifacio on the southern tip of Corsica. The crossing time is about an hour and has the added advantage of allowing for some seawatching which proved an added bonus as you’ll see later. The ferry needs to be booked in advance at http://www.mobylines.com/en/index.html

We booked our hire car in advance (and had no issues taking it from Italian Sardinia to French Corsica) but we left the accommodation side of things to chance. After trying at several hotels in Aleria on the east coast and finding them all full we were directed inland along the road towards Corte. After about 8 km found the rurally situated Les Bananas hotel http://www.welcometocorsica.com/Orientale/Aleria/Alberghi/Bananas/index.uk.html . This proved to be OK at 30 euros each per night even though the rooms needed a few repairs! The position between the mountains and the coast was excellent though and we stayed for 3 nights. Our last nights accommodation was the Bellavista Hotel http://www.hotelbellavista-alghero.it on the seafront at Fertillia (a few miles west of Alghero on Sardinia) at 25 euros each and with nicer rooms.

13 May 2009

Our flight landed mid morning so we were able to have a fairly leisurely drive through northern Sardinia en-route to catch our 15.00 ferry at Santa Teresa Gallura. Despite getting caught up in a confusing one-way system in Sassari with a distinct lack of signs we eventually got on the right road along the north coast and started picking up birds. One particular roadside stop near Costa Paradisio gave us a good selection including our only Rock Sparrows of the trip, c20 Bee-eaters, Cirl Bunting, Whitethroat, Spotted Flycatcher and a couple of Serins. Other notable sightings on the journey included 5 Common Buzzards, Sparrowhawk, 3 Turtle Doves and the ubiquitous Spanish Sparrows, Spotless Starlings, Hooded Crows, Yellow-legged Gulls and Sardinian Warblers. A Blue Rock Thrush also entertained us singing from the top of a crane while we stopped at a garage for coffee.

Arriving at the harbour to catch our ferry we had plenty of time to scutinise the swifts overhead and found 2 Pallid Swifts and 2 Alpine Swifts amongst the large numbers of Common Swifts. A Marsh Harrier also moved east over the picturesque harbour before we boarded the ferry.

The Corsica/Sardinia ferry

The ferry journey itself proved to be one of the highlights of the trip. Although the timing of our crossing and quite high winds probably had a bearing on the numbers of birds seen we still managed a good variety with 2 Scopoli’s Shearwaters, c10 Yelkouan Shearwaters, a surprise but excellent Mediterranean Storm Petrel (recently split by several authorities) and 5 ‘desmarestii’ Shags before we docked into the amazingly scenic Bonifacio harbour.

Seawatching from the ferry

The coast at Bonifacio, Corsica

After a quick disembarcation we stopped at the top of the steep road up from the harbour towards the town and it was immediately apparent that a raptor passage was underway. In a short time we’d seen c30 Honey Buzzards and a Peregrine plus Spotted Flycatcher and 10+ Alpine Swifts before we headed to the coastal clifftop scrub just the the east of the town. Despite the wind being a nuisance we did manage brief views of a singing male Marmora’s Warbler as it responded to MP3 encouragement, several Sardinian Warblers, a pair of Red-backed Shrikes, 2 Ravens, a ringtail Montagu’s Harrier and several more Honey Buzzards (bringing our total up to c50). Bizzarely we also had a churring and calling Nightjar in bright sunshine at 5pm!

Coastal scrub near Bonifacio, habitat for Marmora's Warbler

We spent the rest of the evening driving north along the east coast of island to Aleria. En-route and around the village on arrival we had relatively little of note except 2 Red Kites, 3 Common Buzzards, several Serins, 3 Nightingales, Cuckoo and after dark a very distant Scops Owl from the front of our hotel.

Les Bananas Hotel

14 May 2009

Dawn saw us in the coastal scrub at Etang de Salle just the south east of Aleria in search of California Quail. Despite having precise GPS co-ordinates of several recent sightings we drew a complete blank. If the birds don’t actually wander onto the track at this site they will be impossible due to the very thick scub that can’t be worked. We did have some good birds however – a splendid singing male Moltoni’s Warbler (another recent split) was the undoubted highlight but 1 Dartford Warbler, several Cetti’s Warblers, several Nightingales, male Red-backed Shrike, 5+ Bee-eaters, 2 Hobbies, Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Cuckoo, 3 Turtle Doves, 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and 2 Brown Hares also helped liven up the early morning.

With no further ado we then headed inland towards the mountains for (hopefully) the main event of the day. At a river bridge near Faio on the way we enjoyed some photographically good views of another Moltoni’s Warbler plus Grey Wagtail and Blue Tit before carrying on to a site on the Col de Sorba.

Moltoni's Warbler, near Faio, Corsica

The Col de Sorba consists of a winding narrow road that leaves the N193 just south of Vivario. The best place to look for the speciality endemics are from where the roads enters the first good looking patches of Corsican Pine forest and for the following 3km to the summit of the col. We did just that and within just a few minutes we had some wonderful views of a male Corsican Nuthatch that respnded very well to diligent use of an MP3. We found that birds come to investigate the call within a few minutes and then quite happliy stay and feed close by when they realise it’s just another annoying group of birders! It obviously needs to be stressed that this tactic is to be used sparingly to avoid disturbance as much as possible. In all we had 2 – 3 birds along this stretch of road including some good views of a female too. The general birding here is very good too, we managed a group of c5 Spotted Flycatchers, Treecreeper, Long-tailed Tit (of the race irbii), Coal Tit, Cirl Bunting, 20+ ‘corsicana’ Crossbills, our only Chiffchaff of the whole trip, several Blackcaps and Cuckoo whilst there were Wrens singing everywhere. Jus then called a Goshawk and we had some great prolonged views of a presumed male circling over the valley. Red Kite, Marsh Harrier and Raven were also noted before we strolled a little further up the lane. Upon nearing a bend we could hear an unfamiliar Trumpeter Finch-like call and investigation revealed a family party of male, female and juvenile Corsican Finches on the edge of the road and wooden barrier. Back near the car we were treated to some nice close up views of a Firecrest vigerously defending it’s territory. Non-birding highlights were Green Hairstreak, Wood White, Scarce Swallowtail, Speckled Wood and for the botanist Elderflower Orchid, Green-winged Orchid, numerous Cyclamen, and further down the col a nice group of Narrow-leaved Helleborines.

Corsican Nuthatch, Col de Sorba, Corsica (copyright Lee Gregory)

Col de Sorba, Corsica

Pink Butterfly Orchid, Col de Sorba, Corsica

Cyclamen, Col de Sorba, Corsica

Tassle Hyacinth, Col de Sorba, Corsica

At the start of col there’s a café called Le Chalet and a couple of their excellent espressos soon woke us up for our afternoon birding! This started off with a walk up the tarmac track (an old road) immediately behind the café. Here we got some more good views of 3 more Corsican Finches, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Red Kite and 2 Italian Sparrows together with time spent photographing Pink Butterfly Orchid and Tassle Hyacinth growing by the trackside.

Further north in Corte town we stopped at a convenient roadside supermarche for provisions. As was to become a theme this involved much cheese and local carniverous specialities! A Spotted Flycatcher was calling from a lampost in the carpark and a look over the main bridge revealed Dipper, Grey Wagtail and Serin.

Deciding against the lengthy drive up to the Valle De Aste we plumped for a drive/walk up the much closer La Restonica valley. Sadly this proved a little disappointing for birds but the scenery was very dramatic and somewhat reminiscent of the Pyrenees. Still, with c8 Alpine Chough, 4 Crag Martins, Raven plus Coal Tits and Great Spotted Woodpecker we couldn’t really complain.

La Restonica Valley, Corsica

That night we ate what was left of our provisions and wrote up notes over a beer in the hotel bar.

15 May 2009

Guess where we were again at dawn this morning?! Again we failed with California Quail at Etang de Salle with the birds seen there being very similar to the previous day. This time we added several Scopoli’s Shearwaters offshore, a female Red-backed Shrike, 2 Spotted Flycatchers, a calling Stone Curlew and Red-crested Pochard. Back at the small carpark a Fan-tailed Warbler snuck onto the triplist and the endemic Island Bluetail damselfly was watched well.

Leaving the site while it was still early we decided to try out second site for California Quail – some vineyards a few km inland of Aleria. Again to no avail as we drove the whole perimeter without luck. 2 Red-legged Partridges got pulses racing briefly but we had to settle for Woodlark, c10 Red Kites and a Common Buzzard.

With the weather considerably better than the very wet forecast we agreed that we’d all enjoyed the Col de Sorba so much yesterday we’d pay a return visit. En-route we had 2 Moltoni’s Warblers at the same site near Faio and Serin, Italian Sparrows and Corn Bunting by our hotel. This time we drove right up to the top of the Col de Sorba and parked in the small carpark there. Within minutes we had great views of 5+ Corsican Finches and about the same number of Crossbills that lingered around the carpark for a while. Some more mind-blowing views of a male Corsican Nuthatch followed and we also notched up Cirl Bunting, Grey Wagtail, Spotted Flycatcher, Stonechat, 2 Ravens and Wood White.

Corsican Finch, Col de Sorba, Corsica

'corsicana' Crossbill, Col de Sorba, Corsica

Col de Sorba, Corsica

Italian Sparrow, Les Bananas Hotel, Corsica

Our next port of call was to be a complete change of habitat which we hoped would add some new species to our meagre looking triplist. The site was the Etang de Beguglia on the east coast just south of Bastia. It proved to be a good call as we stopped at the northern end of the lagoon and picked up 7 Audouin’s Gulls, 3 Greater Flamingoes, Great Crested Grebes and Coot straight away. Moving a little further along to get closer to the gulls and we were soon able to get some good photos and note one of the Audoiun’s was ringed (‘IDAT’ black on white, traced to having been originally ringed in Morocco in 2007 and a regular visitor to a breeding colony in Livorno, Italy where it was only 2 days befroe our sighting in Corsica) and also 2 Little Egrets and our first Hoopoe of the trip across the water. Further along we drove onto the wide peninsular that cuts out into the lagoon and added 4 Red-crested Pochards, c6 Tree Sparrows, Reed Warbler, Fan-tailed Warbler and 2 Turtle Doves. Before leaving the area we tried the area right at the northern end of the lagoon by the bridge and added some much wanted waders to our list – 2 Ringed Plovers, 6 Little Stints and 1 Curlew Sandpiper. Non-avian highlights were a big Western Whip Snake and Brown Argus.

Audouin's Gull, Etang de Beguglia, Corsica

Greater Flamingo, Etang de Beguglia, Corsica

Brown Argus, Etang de Beguglia, Corsica

16 May 2009

Our third and final dawn attempt for California Quail, this time at the vineyards, was once again a total failure and by the time we left the site we’d resigned ourselves to not seeing this bird. We could say ‘who cares for category C rubbish’ but with a trip to see several such goodies in Portugal in a few weeks time we’d be kidding nobody!

Spotless Starling, Ghisonaccia, Corsica

Leaving that site we had to head south to catch a ferry back to Sardinia. We’d purposefully left ourselves plenty of time to try a site or two near Bonifacio though. From trip reports and other literature it seemed that the D60 road to the NNW of the town could be good so it was here we tried first. This area of rocky scrub was excellent for sylvias and although it took a little while to find any we were treated to some fantastic close and prolonged views of 3 Marmora’s Warblers, plus c8 Dartford Warblers, 1 Moltoni’s Warbler and 10+ Sardinian Warblers plus a fly-over Tawny Pipit, 2 Woodlarks, 1 Honey Buzzard and a Raven. I also got some photos of the endemic Corsican Heath and we noted Common Blue and another Western Whip Snake.

Corsican Heath, near Bonifacio, Corsica

The return ferry crossing was smoother than the outward one but the birds seen were predictably similar. This time however the views of both shearwaters was much better with 4 Scopoli’s Shearwaters seen (including 2 following the boat), c40 Yelkouan Shearwaters, 6+ Shag and several Yellow-legged Gulls of which 2 hitched a ride on the stern of the boat. Approaching the Santa Teresa Gallura harbour a single Audouin’s Gull showed well for us on a rock. A look at the sea from the headland just west of the harbour gave us some good on the deck views of the same shearwaters plus Swallowtail, Cleopatra and Meadow Brown.

We then began the drive along the north coast of Sardinia back towards Alghero. Near the town of Sorson we eventually found a bird we’d been looking for throughout the trip – ‘badius’ Woodchat Shrike. Some photos were taken of a showy male while the female seemed to disappear! 4 Woodlarks, Corn Bunting, 2 Bee-eaters, Cirl Bunting and a Lesser Emperor dragonfly were in the same small area whilst we also noted 2 Sparrowhawks, Hooded Crows and Common Buzzard on the journey. Of interest all of ther Hoodies seen on the trip were of the race ‘sardonicus’ which shows a distinctly sandy tinge to the grey areas of the mantle and underparts.

'badius' Woodchat Shrike, near Sorsa, Sardinia

Near the town of Sorsa we drove along beside a wetland reserve that looked interesting (not least for a fly-by Purple Heron seen from the car!) so decided to stop. It turned out to be the Stagno e Ginepreto di Platamora and in about 20 minutes viewing from a wooden platform we’d seen 1 Squacco Heron, 1 Little Grebe, 3 Audouin’s Gulls, 2 Marsh Harriers, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Fan-tailed Warbler and Cettis Warbler as well as several Island Bluetails and another Lesser Emperor. Moving on to the coast at Fertillia we had a Peregrine at Porto Torres before finding our overnight accommodation and heading straight out to the headland of Capo Cassia to look for our last target bird - Barbary Partridge. Alas we couldn’t find any but did see and hear the amazing spectacle of 300+ Alpine Swifts that nest on the massive seacliffs there plus 3 Crag Martins, 2 Spotted Flycatchers, Blue Rock Thrush, a patrolling Peregrine and and raft of c20 Yelkouan Shearwaters way below us.

Hotel Bellavista, Fertillia, Sardinia

17 May 2009

We gave Capo Cassia one last look at dawn but still found no Barbary Partridges. Maybe the time of the year was a factor for gamebirds with females sitting and males no longer calling. 3 Blue Rock Thrushes entertained us around the carpark but otherwise it was pretty much the same birds as the previous evening. A Northern Wheatear over the road on the way down proved the very last trip tick as we made our way back to the nearby airport at Algehro and suffered all the usual queuing and tedium to get home.

Capo Cassia, Sardinia

View from Capo Cassia, Sardinia

Chris Lansdell