My present location is around 5 kilometres inland from Salgados and on a quiet lane in the countryside. With a mix of smallholdings containing fig and olive orchards, a few interesting species are being found, including Red-rumped Swallows, Little Owl and the juvenile Woodchat Shrike shown below. It won't be long before the ten or so Red-rumped Swallows will be leaving as they fly around noisily and settle together on wires for long periods. Another nice find this morning was this female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker fifty metres from the apartment and, as I've said before, easier to find in the Algarve than in England. There are a few Summer visitors about, mostly Common Redstarts of which I've found six and, three Pied Flycatchers. At Salgados Lagoon, there was little change from yesterday except that, a Flamingo had arrived on the marsh and, at the front of the gull roost was a smart adult Audouin's Gull. I concentrated on the fields, noting more Wheatears, a Stonechat, 2 Whinchats and in the top field, a flock of 7 Short-toed Larks. Hoopoes were in 'flocks', thirteen counted together! Once an extremely rare find for me, I'm getting better at digging Tawny Pipits out of dry grassland and came across three today. Finally, not encountered everywhere in the Algarve, 5 Eurasian Magpies flew in together.
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