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Friday 12 February 2010

Fuengirola, Malaga Province.

Fuengirola gives me another Spanish tick.

Purple Sandpipers (Correlimos Oscuro / Calidris maritima).
Well this was almost a twitch but we made a full day of it. After first reading a bit of information on Andy Patterson's BIRDING THE COSTA blog about a small group of Purple Sandpipers (Correlimos Oscuro / Calidris maritima) on rocks near Fuengirola and getting more of an idea where the site was from Juan Perez-contreras in Granada I decided to have a look for the whilst we were passing the site. The first couple of areas of rock produced several Ruddy Turnstone (Vuelvepiedras Común / Arenaris interpres) and a single Kentish Plover (Chorlitejo Patinegro / Charadrius alexandrinus), both of which were year ticks. 
Huetor Fields in the snow.
I then pulled of the coastal main road on to a beach parking area above some rocky crags. The two Purple Sandpipers were soon found on the sea ward side of a tall lump of rock which had a few small shrines build on to it. Both birds feed happily untill a large wave flushed them around the corner of the rock and out of site. Other birds seen included Northern Gannets (Alcatraz Atlántico / Morus bassanus), Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocorax carbo), Mediterranean (Gaviota Cabecinegra / Larus melanocephalus), Black-headed (Gaviota Riedora / Larus ridibundus), Yellow-legged (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis) and Lesser Black-backed Gulls (Gaviota Somria / Larus fuscus).
House in the snow.
We then headed home as the rain started to get quite heavy and had turned to snow again by the time we reached the house.