2 Jan 1989 - Aveiro Lagoon

Jan 2

The southern arm of the Aveiro lagoon is, like the northern end, the domain of thousands of gulls, mostly herring and lesser black-back, two of the latter chase a black‑headed gull which manages to swallow its meal in flight. There are a few sandwich terns flying over but most are out at sea, as are divers and scoter.

Further south we stop to explore an area of sand dunes. Small square fields have been levelled within the dunes and fertilised with seaweed for intensive vegetable production. In one apparently abandoned (or perhaps fallow) field there are a dozen golden plover feeding warily in long but sparse vegetation. Sometimes they take to the air and fly in nervous circles, melting into the background when they land again. Finches, warblers and skylarks are in abundance. Serins have a flight call which sounds rather like a wagtail, while a group chirruping in the trees sounds like corn-buntings.

Along the shore of the lagoon are a green sandpiper and two sanderling, the latter showing juvenile black‑centred wing coverts and tertials