21 Mar 2009

04 Feb 1989 - Cabo san Vicente

We spent the night beneath the lighthouse at Sagres. No‑one bothered us but there were cars coming and going all night, or so it seemed, with night fishermen.

We breakfast to the sound of thekla lark in song-flight: the lark went up high and flew in circles, sometimes pausing to hover briefly in one place. It did not sing continuously but when the display was last properly finished, the bird plunged earthward with folded wings. There was no doubting its identity, since we had clear views of its pale grey underwing (the crested lark has an orangy‑buff underwing).

Black redstarts were also singing, but from the tops of rocks. Their ditties included a strange, unbird‑like, hissing sound.

While we were talking to the other campers (they were not into wildlife) a mouse appeared from amongst the hottentot figs. I put out our two Long­worth traps close by and caught it within five minutes ‑ we have frequently put the traps out at night but never caught anything. This beastie was a young male wood­mouse, and it posed for photo­graphs before being returned to forage amongst the figs.

Out at sea - a feeding frenzy of thousands of gannets, gulls, skuas, shearwaters and cetaceans. They disperse after a while then another frenzy starts up with cetaceans (they may have driven fish up to the surface to catch for themselves) and a dozen gan­nets. The dazzling white plumage of the gannets attracts more gannets to the fishing area, and other species take note of the signal too.

Skuas (bonxies from their size and shape) come in and sit on the water; then more gannets and balearic shearwaters, then gulls and more cetaceans. The skuas move up to the top of the stack of birds, ready to pounce on any unsuspecting bird hoping to get away with a meal. They often chase, three or four together, after a gull, grabbing its wings or tail, or just dive-bombing it until it drops its prize.

The rest of the afternoon is spent driving slowly along rough tracks looking for little bus­tards. We find lots of lapwing and lots of stones but no bustards.

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