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Birdwatching in and around Casa Rosa

Birding Reports.

^{9th to 23rd September 2003}

Courtesy of Neil and Renate Barker. (With very many thanks)

This was not a specific bird watching trip, but as it is one of our main pastimes we proposed to take in as much as possible without impinging on the enjoyment of the other pleasures of Casa Rosa and this particular end of the Algarve.

The weather was extremely good with temperatures into the thirties most days. There had been little or no rain in the area since May and as such the area was particularly dry and dusty. With good weather also prevailing over most of northern Europe at the same time, and considering that we had chosen to visit in early September, we did not have high expectation for large amounts of migrants going through with the exception perhaps of waders.

Many thanks to Roger and Hanny who, together with our fellow guests (some active birders), indulged us, showed a genuine interest, and gave us some good pointers.

Below is a list of some of the sites we visited and a list of the birds seen in each area.

As you can probably read from the promo stuff, Casa Rosa is situated on a slight elevation with a south view over a shallow valley. The gardens within Casa Rosa have a good mix of trees and shrubs, so an early morning stroll could be quite productive for anything that may have dropped in overnight, warblers seeming to particularly enjoy the fig. If you happened to be spending any part of the day around the pool, it was always worth keeping the bins (and scope) close at hand as something was always flitting about or moving down the valley towards the sea.

There is also a good short circular walk taking you down into the valley. This will lead you down through scrubland, dry grassland and citrus groves. Again either in the morning or a gentle stroll before dinner could be productive. If you needed an excuse you could also take Fudge with you, who was (typically) happy to sit and wait if you did spot something…..

Most of the ‘usual suspects’ were about. A family group of around 30 Azure Winged Magpies put in an appearance almost daily, up to 4 Hoopoes were in and around the garden, Little Owls were calling most of the day and night but annoyingly difficult to spot even though you knew they were within 50 yards. Roger indicated that Red Necked Nightjars possibly breed on the site based on their level of activity earlier in the year. Our only view however was the silhouette of one swooping over the roof and terrace having just finished dinner at Hanny’s Bistro on our first evening. There were also plenty of Sardinian Warblers as would be expected. Bird of the fortnight from the pool had to be a ‘classic’ Short Toed Eagle which put in an extended roost on top of the nearest pylon, before drifting down the valley.

Rio Formosa National Park.

An area that extends from the east side of Faro almost to the Spanish border in the west, which in reality is no more than a 60km and as such easily explored at the same time as visiting other areas of interest. The area covers the barrier islands on the seaward side (where some of the best beaches are), and behind them a system of salt marshes, tidal flats and channels (imagine the north Norfolk coast on a really warm day!) On the land itself are numerous saltpans, both in and out of production, which provide excellent concentrated birding……if you are into waders!

The following are the sites that we visited. They are listed from a West to East direction. As the first few are within 10 km of Casa Rosa, or on the way to a beach, there is no excuse for not just ‘popping in’ at any time of the day.

Take a trip down to the fish and produce markets at Olhao to stock up on something interesting for dinner, and you will find yourself along from Olhao harbour. The promenade behind the markets overlooks the marina and ferry terminal (no, we are not talking Dover size!). It is a good area for terns and gulls, as well as waders and storks on the far bank of mud flats when the tide is out. We had both Caspian Tern and Med Gull from here. Best bet is to do your shopping, then take a coffee (or two) at the Café Gelvi on the corner of the fish market overlooking the river and just see what drifts by!

A managed educational centre/reserve almost within Olhao itself. Take the turning signed to Ria Formosa and campismo to the seaward side of the N125 just as you are leaving Olhao in the direction of Tavira. There is a small entrance fee (euro1.5 pp), but they do provide you with a map and information. A way marked walk takes you through pine woodlands, down to the saltpans, round onto the estuary and dune system, then back inland through some scrubland via a fresh water pool with hide which did provide a purple gallinule and some waxbills. On route back you can also visit the legendary Portuguese Aquatic Poodles! Allow yourself a good three hours to do this at a leisurely pace. This site provided our best views of Flamingos.

Take the main turn at the lights of the N125 down to Fuseta and going past the fish market you will come along to the small harbour with plenty of good free parking. From here you can take the ferry across to the Ilha da Armona and its long sandy beaches. There is also a small sand beach on the landward side at the end of the harbour, with a couple of small cafes. Again, good for a coffee or beer and a bit of tern watching!

As with Olhao the harbour channels are good for terns and gulls as well as waders. If you happen to be here at low tide, it is well worth walking back up past the fish market to the end of the estuary. This was our first site of the holiday, and we managed to clock off most of our anticipated waders within half an hour!

If you want a couple of hours on the beach, take the ferry and your bins as there were always plenty of coasting gulls and terns as well as a hen harrier over the marsh, which can be seen from the top of the dunes.

This is the area on the other side of the harbour. To access it, take the turning signed ‘Arroteia B XO’, pass almost immediately through a narrow rail bridge, follow the road down into the village and at a crossroads with a café on your right, turn right to the end of the tarmac’d road. You can either leave your car here and walk along and around the saltpans, or you can take the sandy track past between the saltpans and fenced off fish farm and end up on the other side of Fuseta Harbour. This track does get a little rough though! Again this area of saltpans can be productive with plenty of waders, gulls and terns. Flamingos were usually seen. We also had a juvenile great grey shrike in the bushes along the fish farm fence on our second visit.

Another easily accessible area of saltpans, lagoons and mudflats. Take the Pinheiro turning off the N125, drive down to the village then park on the wide sandy track to the right, just as the road does a sharp left in front of the estuary.

Yet another good area for waders, gulls and terns. Just be careful where you are walking as you can soon find yourself in ankle deep mud! We had a nice flypast by 16 spoonbills, and a surprising amount of kingfishers.

I am also led to believe that the rather unassuming fish restaurant in the village is something a bit special. Unfortunately we were not there at a suitable time to find out!

Turn south off the N125 just after leaving Luz in the Tavira direction, also signposted to Santa Lucia. The cultivated area just after turning off the main road and crossing the bridge certainly looked worth exploring at the right time of year, however we did not. On arriving down at the marsh there is a large sandy car park where you can park up. It is from here that you can catch a small train that will take you across the marshes to Barril on the Ilha Da Tavira. The advantage of this place is it the only place that we found that you could actually walk across to one of the islands and its beaches (if you so choose). A concrete path runs alongside the rail track making walking easy.

Tide depending, more opportunities to find some of your missing waders. There is also a small area of pines and scrub as approach the far rail terminal. We had good views of spoonbills in one of the channels.

If you carry on the road from Pedras D’el Rei in the direction of Tavira you will pass through Santa Lucia. Just having left the town there is a turning on your left to a salt works of Sopursol. There is also a sign on the telegraph pole marked ‘Las Salinas’. Take this turning and head down the sandy track. There are saltpans both in and out of production to your right and as you round the right hand bend they are on both sides of the road. The track is well above the pan level and as such the birds are easily spooked. This site provided the greatest density of smaller waders anywhere we came across all fortnight. With a little patience and time it probably would have provided more interesting species than we actually logged.

A good place to park up in Tavira if you want to a bit of birding and sightseeing is at the new Market building. The salt works are on the other side of the road to this building and you could bird from the car if you really wanted to. More of the usual suspects, but it did give us our first flamingos although typically juveniles. From here it is not a long walk into town and down into the river (and the market itself is worth a look!).

This area is not part of the Ria Formosa National Park, but provides much of the same habitat. It is the area immediately adjacent to the Rio Guadiana forming the border with Spain. The best route from Casa Rosa is straight down the A22 motorway and off at the last exit signed to Castro Marim. There appear to be several parts to this reserve, and the first is accessed by following the signs back under the motorway and then follow the ‘transit local’ sign. A long gravel track will take you down through marshland and some plantations eventually arriving at a car parking area by the saltpans. There is an information board and a small walk signposted. Best viewing is achieved by climbing the small hill from where you can also look down towards the river. Good views of a couple of roosting Caspian Terns from here as well as warblers and chats in amongst the scrub.

The main reserve forms a large triangle between Castro Marim, Vila Real de San Antonio and the N125G. It can be accessed from the reserve centre within the castle at Castro Marim or various other parking places (if you can find one!) including the gravel track just after the bridge on N125G heading from Castro Marim. Looks like it is the kind of place you need to be prepared to do plenty of walking to get full benefit (we weren’t on this particular day!).

The best location we found however was a lagoon immediately before the buildings of Vila Real start if you are heading from Castro Marim. There is roadside parking on the left, but also a sandy track on the right. There is an inlet from the river here and there were plenty of terns taking advantage of it. This looked the most likely spot for any marsh terns (we had a couple of blacks).

With the new extension to the A22/E01 now open as far as Lagos, Cape St Vincent and its environs are within a day’s reach. We took the opportunity to visit some old haunts from our previous Algarve trip and were parked up at Alvor in just over the hour. On that basis Cape St Vincent should be no more than two hours. There was plenty of bird activity in Alvor harbour/marina as well as along the river and at Quinta de Rocha (the area the other side of the river). We also did a short cliff walk from Luz back towards Lagos. This managed to add a few different species.

Reports from others who had been down towards Cape St Vincent the same week said raptor migration was disappointing or even non existent!

An excellent centre for those that want to combine their birding with other pleasures.

I’m sure that our bird list would look completely different if we went at a different time of the year, which is not beyond the realms of possibility!

Best bird of the holiday had to be the totally unexpected Artic Skua in off the sea doing what it should be doing to a black headed gull…..! all the better in so far as we were sitting in a beach bar at the time not really birding. Oh! And the Flamingos in flight are quite a sight if you have not seen them before

Disappointment of the holiday (from a birding aspect)….the also complete absence of any raptors .Happy birding…………                                                                                                                            

Neil and Renate.

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