After a lie in Azure winged magpies were easily spotted from the Villa, along with singing spotless starlings. Essential shopping and bits and pieces were taken care of then we headed down to the beach just near our villa, a couple of sandwich terns were fishing off shore, along with yellow legged and greater black backed gulls and a bold crested lark was on the beach. Here was a small lagoon (just outside the nature reserve) with a hide here the birding was good, purple swamphen, black winged stilt, little egret, snipe, moorhen, coot, shoveler, mallard, teal, gadwall along with many terrapins and cetti's warblers. A group of photographers from the UK were at the hide and we swapped sightings sites etc. One of them spotted a spotted crake out in the open showing well, house martins and swallows swooped overhead. I headed into the pine wood/scrub adjacent to the lagoon, goldfinch, greenfinch and serin were abundant. Blackbirds, house sparrows and common chiffchaff were easily found. The highlights here was a short toed treecreeper calling nicely and a showy bonelli's warbler. This rounded off the day.

An early start to meet with john butler of www.donanabirdtours.com At the edge of the Coto donana in Spain about 1.5 hours from faro. We headed off to White stork colony oppisite the brewery for a moment, but the dense fog hampered the viewing. The fog along the Corredor Verde meant a change in the usual route, so john reversed the itinerary. We headed through the Corredor Verde to the northern marshes. We stopped a couple of times on route for Bee eaters, and a black winged kite, here we also has common and pallid swifts overhead. Next stop was the Dehesa de Pilas here was a large flock of Collared Pratincoles in the fields and a lots of Spanish Sparrows along the roadside.

Along this stretch we had Whiskered and Gull-billed Terns overhead. Bee-eaters were common saw Northern and Black-eared Wheatears, Crested, Calandra and Short-toed Larks, Kestrels, Black Kites, Red-legged Partridges, Grey Herons, Little and Cattle Egrets and White Storks Black-crowned Night Herons.

On the road to the Valverde Centre we had Spectacled Warblers, a Sardinian Warbler, Reed Warblers, Glossy Ibis, Spoonbills, Purple Herons and a Little Owl on a wall

At the Lucio del Lobo there were Black-winged Stilts, Avocets, Greater Flamingos, Black-tailed Godwits, Common and Green Sandpipers, Shovelers, Teal, Gadwalls, Pintails, Ravens, Spotless Starlings and Red Kites.

At the Valverde Centre we had a picnic lunch provided by John (very nice indeed) here we had a Water Rail, Purple Swamp-hens, many ducks including Red-crested Pochards, Great Crested and Little Grebes, a Kingfisher and Great Reed Warblers, the prize was an obliging little crake.

Although there is very little water in the Caño de Guadiamar, we were able to find Ringed and Little-ringed Plovers, Redshanks, Willow Warblers, male Common Redstart (male), Yellow Wagtails, Sand Martins and a cracking Short-toed Eagle.

In the afternoon we returned to the Corredor Verde and were rewarded with Black-shouldered kite, a Booted Eagle, a Cuckoo, a Cetti's Warbler, Blackcaps and Penduline Tits. We also found some helmeted guineafowl which apparently breed locally.

On the way back to Portugal we visited Niebla (just off the E01 at Junction 60, follow the signs to the centre and you can see the castle) Lesser Kestrels nest here, you can park right next to the castle and get amazing views. This site was suggested by John and was well worth the visit. We also had several red rumped swallows in the fields surrounding the town. We headed back to Portugal and stopped in the picturesque town of Tavira for some food.

A leisurely start, the day was spent sight seeing, we did however spend two hours at Quinta de lago, we parked at the hotel (there is usually a 5 euro charge for parking here) out of hours the parking was free. We walked along the beach, the tide was out and there were waders everywhere. Lots of kentish plovers, a couple of whimbrel, curlews, dunlin, ringed plovers, turnstones, grey plovers, common sandpiper, wood sandpiper and sanderlings. There were several yellow wagtails along the path and yellow legged gulls around. We reached the golf course, several sardinian warblers were easily found a woodchat shrike was showy, along with collared doves. Here we found 3 purple swamphens on the fairways, and met a local birdwatcher who proved very helpful with advice in finding our target birds, he knew the region very well, including the tip that the farmer at Ludo farm dislikes birders. We reached the lake and entered the hide. The lake contained little egrets (over 50 in the roost by dusk) coot, moorhen, pochard, red crested pochard, little grebe, mallard and gadwall. The reeds and bushes contained cetti's warblers and chiff chaffs both iberian and common. One bird flew into the reeds along with a little egret and out of sight, it flew to the bank a little while after it was a little bittern and it showed till dusk. We headed back several glossy ibis flew over and a hoopoe was seen on the fairway.

A very leisurely start and after a hoopoe on the lawn outside, we again headed to Quinta de lago but this time parked at the restaurant (it is free here) and walked through the saltpans, to last nights destination. Cormorant, coots, moorhens and gadwall were on the brackish lake and we found several crested larks along the footpath. Several spoonbills and a lone little egret were on the pans. Several waders, curlew, whimbrel, kentish, ringed and grey plovers, ringed plovers, dunlin, were all present. We met some other birders who had seen a bluethroat but we could not locate it. The tide was rising so the numbers of waders was not as high as the previous evening (I would suggest a low tide here is best for waders). We reached the lake with the same birds as the previous evening only white wagtails and white stork to add. We located the little bittern again. We headed off further into the lagoons here we found grey and purple herons, black winged stilts. We had to walk back through the golf course (there is a path here marked with yellow posts) as the tide had covered the path (it happens only occasionally). We walked back through the saltpans and picked up two waxbills, they were flighty, but a short while later they reappeared with several others, they did not spend a little time in the open as it was quite blowy.

After some late lunch we headed down to Ludo farm, we parked at the no entry signs and walked round, there were some bee hives that attracted several bee eaters. The telegraph wires in the fields held a large number of bee eaters, woodchat shrikes and corn buntings, there were several azure winged magpies and large numbers of swallows and martins. We headed down the other end of Ludo farm parked at the end of the airport runway and walked along the track dunlin, kentish plovers, redshank and greenshank were the only waders, a lone spoonbill and little egret were feeding in the lagoons. A large flock of flamingos were present and two little terns and a caspian tern fished over the river.

A full day on the plains between Castro Verde and Mertola, just over 1 hour north of where we were staying. First we headed down a track (marked (1) page 27 of Gosney guide) between Castro Verde and Qurique. Here we had lots of woodchat shrikes, hoopoe, bee eaters, spotless starlings. A lesser kestrel passed over, we headed down the track further, then picked a couple of southern grey shrikes, an excellent booted eagle, very low over us. Then came dozens of Montagu's Harrier, crested larks and corn buntings were abundant, and at the main road several telegraph posts had white stork nests. We also had buzzard and black kite over.

We moved onto the track (marked (5) page 27 and page 29 of Gosney guide, it is sign posted to Monte Branco, you can see its end at a post / small chimney as we approached a female great bustard flew from the track into the long grass. As we reached the top at least 20 male bustards were present, the moved to a safe distance from the car. The next stop was one recommended to us by the local birdwatcher at Quinto de lago. Just past Sao Marcos de Ataboeria heading towards Mertola there is a nature reserve on the right hand side (see pic) drive down this track Here we found white storks on all the telegraph posts at the entrance. We had Montagu's Harrier, kestrel, stonechats, crested and calandra larks, spotless starlings and corn buntings. A large raptor very pale, was located, not a egyption vulture tail wrong and it was not white, it was mobbed by black kites and ravens and was clearly twice as large as the kites. It was clearly a large eagle but the colouring was wrong for a juv spanish imperial or tawny eagle it was too pale, we saw it a couple of time and even with good views could not assign an i.d. but we were certain of it being an eagle. We headed further along the track and found 3 male little bustards by the side of the track, they ran away into longer grass a safe distance from the car, but did not fly. The track ended at a small village and we turned round, we stopped near the farm as I heard some strange calls and got out of the car, a flock of 30 black bellied sandgrouse were flying over the farm. Another flock of 15 passed in front of us 5m away and we got super views. Further down the track near the entrance we picked up two little bustards in flight.

We headed into Sao Marcos de Ataboeria, kept to the west of the village and followed a track to a lake, wood sandpiper, common sandpiper, black winged stilt, white stork, tree pipits, gadwall, shoveler, mallard and little egrets were present. We passed through Mertola and headed to the old mine (described in the Moore book) via the village of Fernandes and Santa de Cambas along the road we found a green woodpecker (ssp sharpei). We found the mine not particularly easy but very hard to describe, the book describes it reasonable well, it was quite lifeless there were crag martins, a few jackdaws, feral pigeons sand martins, swallows and a hoopoe in the scrub. There were no signs of any white rumped swifts. We headed back to Mertola, the Convent here holds a lesser kestrel colony however it is only open to the public Friday, Saturday and Sunday 14:00 - 18:00. Mertola itself had swifts, many lesser kestrels flying in amongst them. We headed back to faro only encountering a quail on the road of any note. A trip to the Vale de Lobo Pool and surrounding scrub failed to produce any red necked nightjars.

 Friday 8^th April

Most of the day was spend on a boat cruise along the coast, (Top Cat cruises from Vilamoura it was OK) Sandwich terns were seen as well as the expected gulls, and we visited the grottos (they can be seen from the land) where a colony of common, pallid and alpine swifts was easily spotted. Gulls and gannets were the only other birds seen. The highlight was an artic skua which came close to the boat. The trip finished and we headed back to the Quinta de lago saltpans parking at the restaurant again. A short walk west produced the expected birds, serins, egrets, black winged stilts, yellow wagtails, sardinian warblers and a few lizards. We then went to the Vale de Lobo pool, teal was the only new species not seen here before. On the beach a group of sanderlings ran the surf. No red necked nightjars could be found.at dusk.

The last day and we headed to Faro to do some sightseeing the highlight was climbing to the tower of the Se cathedral with it stork nest. We went to the beach at Pria de Faro just by the Ludo farm track by the airport. After a picnic lunch, my father and I headed across the causeway and down the the Ludo farm track, all the waders were present as were the flamingos from the other evenings visit, there were lots of fish in the lagoons and this brought caspian terns in. A fan tailed warbler showed very well. We headed back to the family on the beach, here sandwich terns and a selection of gulls fished. We went for ice cream across the car park, and a bird flashed past inched away and circled round the car park, it was easily identified a red necked nightjar in broad daylight, it headed off towards Ludo farm. We headed off to the airport and home.