A little more laidback than some, it took Kate and I nine months after getting married to finally get away on honeymoon. After deliberating over a few locations we'd plumped for Madeira as it seemed to be a great mix of natural beauty, coastline and a bit of city buzz. Birds were obviously a key consideration for me and, with three endemics, several endemic subspecies and a potential ten or more new birds on offer, I was more than satisfied!
The first lifer of the trip came before we'd even left the airport - though not a bird - as a Monarch butterfly gracefully glided over the terminal building as we walked across the tarmac. A species I've long dreamed of seeing, it was by no means the last one of these majestic butterflies we saw, although it took until almost the last day of the trip before we actually saw one land for any length of time. It's no wonder they're one of the strongest migrant species given how much ground they cover with seemingly little effort!
The first birds came as we picked up our rental car, with
Blackcap and
Atlantic Canary singing in nearby trees. Both of these species would prove to be pretty ubiquitous throughout the trip, particularly the Blackcaps which seem far less fussy than our own ones back home, seemingly everywhere from gardens to coastal scrub, and often seen singing out on fence posts or the tops of suburban trees.
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| Blackcap |
We hit the road and headed northwest to Porto Moniz where we'd be staying for the first few nights. Here at the wonderful Aqua Natura hotel we had a room looking straight out onto the Atlantic so I wasted no time in unpacking my scope and immediately picked up the first
Cory's Shearwaters of the trip. This proved to be an excellent spot for them as many dozens could be seen passing by relatively close in the space of a 15-30 minute seawatch most evenings, with smaller numbers of
Manx Shearwaters mixed in.
Common Terns were seemingly nesting on the rock out to sea and we saw a few of those flying past among the many
Yellow-legged Gulls. A light stroll around the town on the first evening produced the first
Plain Swifts of the trip, close views of
Atlantic Canary and distant views of a couple of
Trocaz Pigeons up on the hillside above the town.Three lifers before dinner on day one; not a bad start!
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| Buzzard |
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| Macaronesian Red Admiral |
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| Madeiran Wall Lizard |
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| Madeiran Firecrest |
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| Chaffinch (maderensis sub-species) |
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| Trocaz Pigeon |
In the evening after dinner, walking back to our hotel we heard a curious call which I quickly realised was a
Cory's Shearwater flying straight over the town! Having never heard one before I was struck by how similar the call is to Kittiwake and couldn't help but wonder why that species got all the glory of the onomatopoeic name.
On day three we decided to head to Ponta do Pargo, the westernmost point of Madeira. The habitat was the absolute opposite to the lush forest we'd seen the previous day. Here we found a dry mix of grass and scrub atop the cliffs which I suspected would be great for
Berthelot's Pipit and
Spectacled Warbler, and I was right! A short walk from the lighthouse to a café yielded two very showy Pipits with many others around and calling. The Warbler was a little more elusive but with some persistence on the walk back I managed to get good views of one in the Gorse. Dozens of
Plain Swifts were racing around overhead the whole time, among which I managed to pick out the first two
Pallid Swifts of the trip and also two
House Martins - the only time we saw this species in Madeira.
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| Berthelot's Pipit |
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| Clouded Yellow |
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| Spectacled Warbler |
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| Plain Swifts |
On Saturday we left Porto Moniz behind and headed towards Ponto do Sol where we'd planned to spend the next four nights, although that didn't actually happen in the end, but more on that in a bit! En route we stopped off in Seixal just east along the coast from Porto Moniz. A cute little town which didn't add anything to the trip list but we did get some great views of Plain Swift and the Madeiran subspecies of Kestrel; by far the most ubiquitous bird of prey on Madeira, found even in the most unlikely of locations. It's amazing how one species can fill so many niches on islands such as this where the species diversity is relatively low.
A brief stop at Ponto do Sol also didn't add much to the trip list aside from a group of
Muscovy Ducks(!). We decided not to stay here as the hotel owner had neglected to tell us about the massive concert stage and outdoor bars being set up very close to the hotel. Although he said the music would finish before midnight, as we had our pelagic trip from Machico harbour on the far eastern side of the island the following morning we decided not to risk it and hastily cancelled our booking and found a hotel in Machico itself.
Although perhaps not the prettiest place we visited during our stay, Machico was surprisingly birdy, producing our first
Black-headed Gull of the trip plus plenty of
Common Terns flying around the harbour.
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| Black-headed Gull |
The next morning we headed to the harbour where we met Hugo from WindBirds who took us and the rest of the group out to the boat where the other half of WindBirds, Catarina, was waiting and, after a quick safety talk, we set off out into the Atlantic. First stop was a slow pass of the harbour wall at Caniçal where Hugo said they sometimes find migrants and vagrants sheltering. Sure enough, here we found our first waders of the trip: singles of
Dunlin and
Sanderling and two
Turnstones.
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| Dunlin |
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| Sanderling (and friend!) |
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| Turnstone |
We moved further east along the coast and the going started to get a little more choppy as we passed Ponta de São Lourenço. Catarina turned the boat further out into open water and after a while the pelagic species began to appear, a single
Bulwer's Petrel to start followed by odd ones and twos of
Cory's Shearwaters and the first
Fea's Petrels.
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| Fea's Petrel |
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| Cory's Shearwater |
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| Bulwer's Petrel |
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| Cory's Shearwaters |
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| Cory's Shearwater |
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| Cory's Shearwater |
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| Cory's Shearwater |
Further out still and the numbers increased. Turning back towards land we ran into a large flock of Cory's sitting on the sea which all flew up as we passed. Just as the sea really started to swell Hugo shouted '
Sperm Whales!' and we enjoyed fantastic views of two adults and two calves moving close to the boat for several minutes before they dived. We headed back to Machico more than a little wet but very happy, but the Atlantic had one more surprise in store as a
Loggerhead Turtle appeared as we approached the harbour.
Once we'd regained our land legs Kate and I went for a wander around Machico. The drainage ditch that runs down to the sea produced the only
Grey Heron and
Moorhen of the trip along with two LBJs in flight which, with hindsight, were more than likely Common Waxbills as I discovered this to be a regular area for them. Luckily I've seen the species in South Africa otherwise I'd be kicking myself! Two
Goldfinches with Canaries in the trees near here were another trip tick.
It was lovely to be back at Porto Moniz in the evening, as the Aqua Natura had kindly let us come back for a few nights after the Ponta do Sol debacle; and a nice welcoming treat was our first
Barn Swallow of the trip which flew along the seafront as we were having a pre-dinner drink.
The next day we headed a bit further inland to Rabaçal where we walked some of the popular 25 Fontes levada walk. The 10km walk didn't produce any new birds for the trip although we did get our best views yet of some of the many Firecrests, plus our only other
Sparrowhawk while having lunch at the Nature Spot Cafe. Non-bird lifers along the way included
Madeiran Small Copper and
Madeiran Orchid.
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| Madeiran Firecrest |
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| Perez's Frog |
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| Madeiran Small Copper |
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| Madeiran Orchid |
Back in Porto Moniz in the evening a brief seawatch before dinner produced a nice bonus in the form of a
Great Skua flying east, terrorising the Cory's Shearwaters as it went.
On day seven we stayed mostly local, with just a little trip to Achadas do Cruz in the morning to take the cable car down to the tiny village by the sea where we had good views of
Blackcap,
Kestrel and various other familiar species. Most exciting though was a few seconds' view of a grey-backed short-tailed Falcon flying along the cliff which was almost certainly a
Peregrine/Barbary Falcon - scarce on Madeira. Sadly it disappeared behind a crag before I could clinch the ID.
The afternoon was spent exploring a bit more of Porto Moniz where we found plenty of
Collared Doves (nowhere near as scarce on Madeira as I expected), lots of
Plain Swifts and at least ten
Trocaz Pigeons again up on the hillside above the town. In the evening a
Black-headed Gull flew west over our hotel; only our second of the trip.
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| Madeiran Wall Lizard on Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans) |
Day eight saw us head into Funchal where we would be staying for the last couple of nights. The main city on Madeira, I'd already pre-emptively written this section of the trip off as being pretty birdless, but I was proved wrong! Our first day exploring Funchal proved productive with plenty of Plain Swifts and a single
Pallid Swift over our hotel and only our second record of
Goldfinch in one of the green spaces in the city. The Jardim Botanico produced plenty of
Blackbirds,
Firecrests and a flyover
Trocaz Pigeon (sadly I suspect it was too busy with tourists for them on the ground), and also our best views yet of
Monarch, one of which actually sat still for long enough to get some photos!
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| Monarch! |
In the evening we made our way to a pre-arranged spot where the Wind Birds crew picked us up. We made a couple more pick-ups before we headed on our way to Pico do Ariero; the third highest peak on Madeira and the only known breeding site for
Zino's Petrel. As Hugo drove us higher and higher up the mountain road we went first into thick cloud and then eventually cleared through the top of it. As we parked up he cheerfully announced that the outside temperature was 16 Celsius colder than it had been when we left Funchal (5 as opposed to 21!) and we sure felt it as we got out. I'd rather incredulously packed a fleece and gloves in my luggage as I had a feeling it would be cold up here but I still felt distinctly under-dressed and poor Kate was even more so. Luckily, Catarina and Hugo had plenty of spare hats and scarves which were all eagerly snapped up!
We had to hike the remaining part of the journey to the best spot to wait for the Petrels to appear. Catarina explained that it's generally the young and non-breeding birds that are most vocal around the colony, flying about and playing, basically, while the breeding adults get on with the task at hand. It took half an hour or so of waiting but eventually the birds did begin to call. Certain wildlife experiences are hard to put into words, rather like the 'Singing With Nightingales' event back home in Sussex a few weeks ago - and, as the mournful wails of
Zino's Petrels began to get louder and more frequent around us, I shivered a little, partly from the cold which was beginning to gnaw a little, but more from just the overwhelming wonder at the situation we found ourselves in: up here, above the clouds, above humanity, in the Petrels' world. We tried to all stay as quiet as possible but, when one scythed through the air just a couple of metres above us, the whoosh of its wings clearly audible and its shape visible as a silhouette against the night sky, the whole group let out an involuntary collective 'wow!' The calls got more and more persistent, presumably as more birds joined in the fun. Catarina also pointed out occasional calls from
Manx Shearwaters.
I completely lost track of time but, after what must have been about an hour, Hugo quietly distributed tea and biscuits to us all, which was very welcome indeed - in all the excitement I almost hadn't noticed quite how cold it was, especially now the wind had got up. Once we were all refreshed and aglow from the shared encounter with these incredible birds we made our way back to the van and headed back to Funchal. The drive up to the mountain had been an excitable, talkative affair as we shared birding anecdotes; the journey back was far more sedate as we all privately took in the astounding experience we had just shared.
A leisurely start to our ninth and last full day in Madeira saw us head out on foot to properly explore Funchal. Joe from Coventry who we'd met on the Zino's trip the night before had mentioned seeing a probable
Roseate Tern from his hotel. I knew there was a small breeding population on Madeira but wasn't sure if we'd jam into any without making a special trip. As we wandered down to the harbour I noticed a few Terns feeding and immediately realised a couple of them were Roseates! They came really close at times, as we enjoyed a drink at a restaurant overlooking the water. Certainly the best views of this species I've had anywhere.
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| Roseate Tern |
The second new species of the day (and new for the trip list) came as we crossed over one of the many bridges over the drainage ditch than runs down the centre of the Rua 31 de Janeiro. After seeing the usual Grey Wagtails, Muscovy Ducks and Feral Pigeons, Kate pointed out a small brown bird flitting about at the edge of the ditch near the bridge: a Spanish Sparrow!
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| Spanish Sparrow |
In the evening after a tapas dinner in the hotel bar I persuaded Kate to take a trip out of the city to Ponta do Garajau which I'd been told is a reliable site for
Barn Owl (the Madeiran sub-race) and
Madeiran Storm Petrel. We quickly heard the former (although sadly didn't see one) and a very noisy chorus from the local
Cory's Shearwaters. Even louder though, unfortunately, were the locals in a nearby bar who had their music cranked up so loud we didn't stand a chance of hearing the thin calls of any Storm Petrels. Still, it was a good excuse to see the massive Jesus statue here (which commemorates the rather unpleasant historical significance of this spot being where non-Catholics were thrown off the cliff into the sea when they died!) and enjoy the spectacle of bats (not sure which species?) chasing moths around it at breakneck speed!
Our final day was spent doing some further exploration of Funchal which didn't produce any last minute extra trip ticks, but a stroll round Santa Lucia Gardens did yield our best views yet of the
schmitzi Grey Wagtails - there were loads of them about! - some very low flying
Plain Swifts tearing around the chimney (remnant of an old factory which used to occupy the site) and trees and a nice bonus butterfly lifer, a
Lang's Short-tailed Blue.
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| Grey Wagtail |
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| Lang's Short-tailed Blue |
It's always sad to head home from any holiday but nine new bird species and five butterfly lifers from what was essentially a non-birding trip was a very satisfying result indeed. I have to say what I'm missing most of all though is the Madeiran wine!
Full list of bird species seen/heard (lifers underlined)
Mute Swan (presumably wing clipped birds on pond at Santa Catarina Park)
Muscovy Duck
Cory's Shearwater
Manx Shearwater
Bulwer's Petrel
Zino's Petrel
Fea's Petrel
Grey Heron
Buzzard
Sparrowhawk
Kestrel
Moorhen
Sanderling
Turnstone
Dunlin
Great Skua
Black-headed Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Common Tern
Roseate Tern
Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon
Trocaz Pigeon
Collared Dove
Barn Owl
Pallid Swift
Plain Swift
Barn Swallow
House Martin
Berthelot's Pipit
Grey Wagtail
Robin
Blackbird
Blackcap
Spectacled Warbler
Madeiran Firecrest
Spanish Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Goldfinch
Atlantic Canary
Full list of butterflies seen
Small White
Clouded Yellow
Madeiran Small Copper
Long-tailed Blue
Lang's Short-tailed Blue
Red Admiral
Macaronesian Red Admiral
Painted Lady
Speckled Wood
Monarch
