31 Jan 26 - ORCA Canaries Cruise - Birding On La Palma

There was no time for any surveying as we approached our third destination in the Canaries: the island of La Palma. This is one of the two most Westerly islands and as such it receives a lot of rain. Consequently, the island has lush Laurel forests, where they haven't been clear for agriculture.

We were berthed next to the elegant-looking Wind Star: She can carry just under one hundred and fifty passengers

A map of La Palma: I was heading to locations in the North East of the island

I wanted to make the most of my time on La Palma and so I left the ship soon after the gangplank had been connected and we were allowed to disembark. The car hire company was next to the quayside and within a few minutes I was heading off to my first destination of the Laurel forests at Los Tilos. There are forest trails at Los Tilos and I rightly suspected that there would be limited parking. My plan was to find somewhere I could watch the forest slopes, rather than walking the trails, and I found a convenient viewpoint next to the entrance hut to the reserve.

A view over the forest at Los Tilos: This looked to be a good place to look for Laurel Pigeons. There are occasional eBird records of Bolle's Laurel Pigeon from here, but the only species I saw for certain was the commoner White-tailed Laurel Pigeon

White-tailed Laurel Pigeon: This monotypic species occurs on the Western Canary islands of La Palma, La Gomera & Tenerife

White-tailed Laurel Pigeon: All the Laurel Pigeons seen were flying around the upper slopes of the forest. Therefore, it seemed unlikely I would have bumped into them on the trails

White-tailed Laurel Pigeon: White-tailed Laurel Pigeons have uniform upperwings, whereas, Bolle's Laurel Pigeons have paler grey coverts

Buzzard: This is the insularum subspecies which is restricted to the Canaries. I saw a Marsh Harrier at Laguna de Barlovento, which has been seen there on a few occasions. Otherwise, the only other large Raptor I saw on the Canaries were Buzzards

After about an hour at Los Tilos, I was ready to move on have seen one of the two Laurel Pigeons species. The forest around Laguna de Barlovento looked to be a better location for Bolle's Laurel Pigeon. After another three-quarters of an hour of driving I arrived at the site. It is a massive and nearly empty concrete reservoir and frustratingly it was fenced off, so it wasn't possible to see if there were any Birds on the relatively small amount of water in it. There were plenty of extensive Laurel forests surrounding it, but the forest wasn't as close as it had been at Los Tilos. Unfortunately, it was not late morning and that isn't a great time for Pigeon activity.

The forest around Laguna de Barlovento

A view of Mount Teide on nearby Tenerife

I tried a number of viewpoints over the forest, but I failed to see either of the Laurel Pigeon species. After a while, I drove back to a campsite and ornamental lake next to the reservoir as Birds are often tamer at campsites. I did manage to finally get some reasonable photographs of a Canary Island Chaffinch.

Moorhen: This is the nominate chloropus subspecies which occurs from the UK to Europe, North Africa, the Canaries & Madeira, East through Asia to Sri Lanka, the central Malayan Peninsula, China & Japan

Blackbird: This is the cabrerae subspecies which is restricted to the Western Canaries & Madeira

Canary Islands Chiffchaff: This monotypic species is restricted to the Canaries

Canary Islands Chiffchaff: The song is similar to a Chiffchaff, but different enough to be immediately obvious

Canary Islands Chaffinch: Male. This is the palmae subspecies which is restricted to La Palma. There are another three subspecies on the Canaries

Canary Islands Chaffinch: Male. It is interesting that all of the Chaffinch species on the Canaries are much bluer than our Chaffinch

Canary Islands Chaffinch: Male

Canary Islands Chaffinch: Female. The females look more similar to a Chaffinch in the UK

Canary: This monotypic species is restricted to the Azores, the western Canaries & Madeira

Canary: They were a commonly seen species in grassland areas

I had seen very few Butterflies so far in the Canaries, but there were a few Butterflies flying around the grassy edges to the forest at Laguna de Barlovento. They were flighty and I only had a couple of opportunities to take some quick photos, as I was focusing on looking for flying Pigeons. It was disappointing to find that the two species photographed were regular visitors to my UK garden.

Red Admiral

Small White

It was now around one-thirty. I figured I wasn't likely to see any Bolle's Laurel Pigeons at Laguna de Barlovento and I might as well head back to the Spirit of Discovery for a late lunch. On port days, it's possible to get a late lunch as long as it's ordered before three.

The island has a much larger population that Lanzarote and the houses are very different to the traditional houses on Lanzarote

I stopped for a few scenic photos and at one of these stops, I bumped into a feeding Monarch. At last a Butterfly species that isn't on my garden list, albeit I have seen pukka individuals on the local Winspit patch back in the 90s.

Monarch: The Canaries population is believed to have originated from North American migrants to Mexico which were blown into the Atlantic and were lucky enough to have arrived on the Canaries, where one of it's food plants, Tropical Milkweed, has been commonly introduced

The lower slopes of La Palma are covered in small fields

After about an hour's drive I was back in the city of Santa Cruz de la Palma.

Replica of Santa Maria: This replica of Columbus's ship is actually a naval museum

Replica of Santa Maria: Had I realised it was a museum, I would have stopped for a look at the exhibits which are within its hull

Heading toward the main town

I like the way this old tree has been used to provide shade for this cafe

A breaching multicoloured Humpback Whale

We departed at five and managed to get about ninety minutes of surveying in before we lost the light. I saw a couple of Dolphins, which were too brief a sighting to be possible to identified.

The coastal edge of the island was very heavily scarred by valleys

An atmospheric sunset: With all the storms we weren't going to get the lovely orangey sunsets I had seen on the previous two Saga cruises

It was time to head off for dinner, followed by booking a hire car for our next Atlantic island of Madeira. I will cover that in the next Blog Post.

26 Nov 14 - Insect Photospot2 - Dorset Butterflies - The Nymphalidae (Aristocrats, Fritillaries & Browns) and Skippers

This is Part 2 of my Insect Photospot on the Dorset Butterflies. A big part of the intention of these two Dorset Butterfly blog posts is to show what a good diversity of Butterflies we are lucky to have in Dorset. Another good thing is with a modesty priced Lumix camera you can get some good photos of these species, as all of the photos taken before Oct 13 demonstrates. Most of the Dorset Butterflies are either fairly common & widespread or can be found at well known sites. There are a handful of scarce breeding species in Dorset, where the site is potentially more sensitive. But all of these species can be found at well known sites in the neighbouring counties. So next January, set yourself a New Years challenge & go out & enjoy the Butterflies in your local county.

Duke of Burgundy Fritillary: Cerne Abbas (2 June 13)

Purple Emperor: Dorset (12 July 14)

White Admiral: East Blean Woods, Kent (3 July 14)

Peacock: St Aldhelms (20 July 14)

Red Admiral: Sturminster Marshall (28 June 14)

Painted Lady: St Aldhelms (20 July 14)

Painted Lady: Aberration Rogeri (14 July 14)

Small Tortoiseshell: Sturminster Marshall (28 June 14)

Comma: Alner's Gorse (27 July 14)

Silver-washed Fritillary: Male. Dorset (9 July 14)

Silver-washed Fritillary: Female. Dorset (9 July 14)

Silver-washed Fritillary: Female aberration Valesina. Dorset (9 July 14)

Dark Green Fritillary: St Aldhelms (2 July 14)

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary: Purbeck. (9 June 14)

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary: Purbeck. (9 June 14)

Marsh Fritillary: Powerstock Common (18 May 14)

Marbled White: St Aldhelms (1 July 14) 

Grayling: St Aldhelms (14 July 14)

Meadow Brown: Throop Mill (23 June 14)

Ringlet: Higher Hyde (11 June 14)

Ringlet: Alner's Gorse (27 July 14)

Gatekeeper: Dorset (9 July 14)

Gatekeeper: Soldiers Road (11 July 14)

Small Heath: Powerstock Common (17 May 14)

Speckled Wood: Old Harry (1 June 14) 

Speckled Wood: Alner's Gorse (27 July 14)

Wall: Powerstock Common (18 May 14)

Grizzled Skipper: Powerstock Common (17 May 14)

Dingy Skipper: Powerstock Common (17 May 14)

Lulworth Skipper: St Aldhelms (1 July 14)

Essex Skipper: Unfortunately, a species I have yet to photograph

Small Skipper: Higher Hyde (11 July 14)

Large Skipper: Male. St Aldhelms (1 July 14)

Silver-spotted Skipper: Fontmell Down (30 July 14)

Additionally, I've seen 3 vagrant species in Dorset: Swallowtail, Monarch & Large Tortoiseshell. Unfortunately, I've no photos of the Large Tortoiseshell which spent several days at Durlston in July 2008. I will just have to hope another one appears & hangs around in Dorset in the future.

Swallowtail: There are plenty more photos on Mugshots post of the July 2014 Swallowtails so I've used one of my favourite ones instead. This is Individual B at St Aldhelms (6 July 14)

Monarch: Easton, Portland (8 Sept 12). I've also seen them in Winspit on 2 Autumns in October 1995 & October 1999

Monarch: Easton, Portland (8 Sept 12)

Finally, there are the Map Butterflies that were found in Aug 14. This now looks like it was a deliberate release, although the person responsible is claiming it was accidental, to avoid a potential prosecution for releasing them.

Map: Swanage (Aug 14)

The majority of the UK breeding species occur in Dorset. However, the following UK breeding species do not occur or have died out in Dorset: Wood White (potentially recently died out), Black Hairstreak, Large Blue, Northern Brown Argus, High Brown Fritillary, Pearl-bordered Fritillary (has probably been lost to Dorset in the last couple of decades), Glanville Fritillary (has occurred as the Isle of Wight population has briefly expanded to the mainland), Heath Fritillary, Mountain Ringlet, Scotch Argus, Large Heath & Checkered Skipper. In addition, there is one Irish species which occurs in Northern Island & which I've not seen as I cannot justify the costs of a trip to Northern Ireland to see it: Real's Wood White.

There are a number of vagrant species to the UK which haven't occurred or have rarely occurred in Dorset. Camberwell Beauty is the one of the commonest vagrants to the UK (but mainly on the East Coast) & a species I am yet to see in the UK. There have been the occasional Camberwell Beauty records in Dorset in the 17 years I've lived in the County. The problem with seeing a Camberwell Beauty in Dorset, is some photographers are so desperate to photograph species like Camberwell Beauties is they will buy some commercially bred pupae & then release them into the UK countryside to take their photos. I do know one local Butterfly photographer (& well known Bird stringer from the 80s) was prone to doing this. Not only is this environmentally unsound, but it also significantly tarnishes the reputation of real migrants as it can be difficult to assess the vagrancy of individual Butterflies. Where there is a local appearance e.g. the St Aldhelms Swallowtails then that is a good indication they are locally bred from a Butterfly or Butterflies that arrived at an earlier date. The case is helped where there are also similar occurrence elsewhere in the UK (like the similarly timed Sussex Swallowtails).  Alternatively, a vagrant appearing in Dorset with a good supporting cast of migrant moths will support a vagrant Butterfly's case.