A very special days birding 

After a long, hot summer its now late September and my wife, Carol ,has plucked up enough courage to fly back to England for a week.So I decided to go to the local forest. Initially looking for Beech marten and also to see what birds were passing through the area.

I had just turned down the lane passing through the olive -groves when a flock of birds rose up from a puddle of water on the side of the track.I reversed the car into the grove and waited to see just what birds would arrive.

To my astonishment, within minutes ,there were 10 different species bathing and drinking from the puddle.The sun was getting really hot so I made a makeshift shade from some camo -material I had in the boot of the car.Setup my scope and camera just as I got settled with a cold drink the birds started arriving in force.

Some of the more interesting birds to arrive were the Middle -spotted woodpecker,Lesser whitethroat and a pair of Redstart. 

 Middle spotted woodpecker  

 Redstart        

  Lesser whitethroat

 By mid afternoon 30 species had arrived at the watering hole,here's the list:~

House sparrow       Greenfinch

Spanish sparrow     Chaffinch

Song thrush           Serin

Mistle thrush          Goldfinch

Blackbird               Red -backed shrike

Magpie                 White wagtail

Jay            Middle -spotted Woodpecker

Great tit             Syrian woodpecker

Blue tit     Sparrow hawk (flew through)

Sombre tit             Barn swallow

Sardinian warbler    Lesser whitethroat

Subalpine warbler    Whitethroat

Willow warbler         Corn bunting

Redstart                   Cirl bunting

Spotted flycatcher     Blackcap 

NB: Update ,after several more visits to the puddle in the olive -grove the species - count is now an amazing 39 species,adding :~

Black redstart      Wren

Chiffchaff            Hooded crow

Stonechat           Crested lark

Meadow pipit       Robin

Collared dove      

Definitely a one -off location found by pure chance