NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Thanks to Graeme Lyons for identifying this big beast as Palm Moth (Paysandisia archon). Three were flushed along the Boquer Valley in one afternoon. One of the natural history highlights of the holiday - Violet Carpenter Bees ! Very big and a deep, deep purple. A gathering of six in a hillside garden at old town Pollenca was unforgettable. Audouin's Gull on Port de Pollenca beach - I only took my compact camera with me, so anyone with a 'big lens' could have really gone to town. A constant presence along the beach during the day, in the evening they would spend more time on the deck, polishing off any left-over food from the sunbathers. Would tolerate birders. Lang's Short-tailed Blue - I found a couple in amongst 20 Long-tailed Blues, all feeding along a patch of Bramble.

A day of 'busily doing nothing'. However, I can report that at least six Audouin's Gulls were patrolling the beach, with four adults and two sud-adults. When I first stayed at Port de Pollenca (in 1989) I had to travel round to Alcudia Bay to see this species close inshore. Since then, the beach at P de P has been built up for tourists, with vast amounts of sand being dumped, forming a sterile 40m deep beach, beloved by sun-worshippers. Such human activity results in food scraps being left behind, dropped or momentarily untended, easy pickings for the opportunistic Audouin's Gull, and thus a constant entertainment for a beach-bound birder! The natural beach of the bay still exists south of the resort. It is sand, but the beach here is narrow (a few metres wide) and heavily vegetated, is designated a reserve, and hosts breeding Little Ringed and Kentish Plovers.

North Downs and Beyond has decamped to the north of Majorca for ten days. As with all of my previous trips to this Mediterranean island, it is a family affair, with the wildlife a secondary consideration - however, my binoculars and camera have made it into the luggage, and I have a few target butterflies and plants on the radar. The Pollenca area has had to put up with a succession of north Surrey birders in recent weeks, with Neil Randon having just returned to the UK, and Steve Thomas currently residing at Port de Pollenca.  Thankfully my later arrival means that I can benefit from a bit of acquired local knowledge. The hotel  where we are staying overlooks the beach and has an area of reed and scrub behind it. Without any effort on my part at all, three Audouin's Gulls have been seen (2 adults and a second summer), a family of Spotted Flycatchers are being most confiding in the hotel gardens, both Fan-tailed and Sardinian Warblers are calling from the scrub, and a motle...