Port and Wey: 6 May 25

Day 14.

Carrer Can Vauma Wildlife Corridor

It was one last visit to this wildlife corridor with the main highlights being a Black-crowned Night Heron and a Purple Heron both flying over my head and up the Es Llac Gran here. Also noted was a Little Grebe calling from the lake.

I also came across my first hoverfly that I could actually ID. And it was a Marmalade hoverfly, and a very dark form.

I might also have to go back to all my Wall Browns as I think they are most likely Speckled Woods. I'm not sure how I've mixed the two up, but the patterns and colours look different from our British species. They were all Speckled Woods.

Birds Recorded:

1 Little Grebe (heard)
Cormorant
1 Black-crowned Night Heron
Cattle Egret
1 Purple Heron
Great White Egret
Little Egret
Mallard
2 Red-legged Partridge
Yellow-legged Gull
Audouin's Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
30+ Swift
5 Hoopoe
10 Swallow
6 Nightingale
Blackbird
Cetti's Warbler
Zitting Cisticola
Sardinian Warbler
1 Balearic Spotted Flycatcher
Great Tit
House Sparrow
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Serin

A Black-crowned Night Heron heading north up Es Llac Gran and shortly.......

............afterwards this..........

................Purple Heron was heading in the same direction.

One of several Swifts over the woods

This was a great day for watching Hoopoes. A distant shot of one.

And another.

Another sat on the branches of this conifer.

A fourth one sat in this dead conifer here, along with two Wood Pigeons

And a fifth one which I spooked as I made my way along the edge of this field here.

Along with the Swifts were quite a few............

..............Swallows.

A Nightingale singing...........

...............its heart out here.

And of course a................

..........Sardinian Warbler singing away as well.

A Balearic Spotted Flycatcher hidden in amongst the branches of this conifer,

These woods were full of Greenfinches.

And what do we have here.

Ahh a male..........

............Serin.

And another male.

Here are a couple of videos of Serin singing.

You might have to turn the volume up though.

Dragonflies and Damselflies Recorded:
Chaser sp.

Butterflies Recorded:

Southern Small White (Pieris mannii)
Southern Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria aegeria)

Lang's Short-tailed Blue (Leptotes pirithous)

It really is a toss up as to which butterfly is the most numerous in Mallorca

Certainly both the Southern Small White and the Southern Speckled Woods are up there.

But if I was a betting man I think these Southern Speckled Woods would just edge it.

A Lang's Short-tailed Blue or Common Zebra Blue as it is also known as. And......

..........another.

And another

And a video each..........

........of the two Lang's Short-tailed Blue above. More on this butterfly here.

Bees Recorded:
Bee sp.

Hoverflies Recorded:
1 Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

1 Variable Duskyface (Melanostoma mellinum)

A Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

The one and only other time I have come across this hoverfly was in Old Quarry Lane on 8 Jul 24. The photograph I took then of this Variable Duskyface (Melanostoma mellinum) wasn't brilliant and nor is this one. Hopefully third time lucky.

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Many unidentified flies

Two for the price of one here. The larger fly is a Sarcophaga sp. and the very much smaller one is either a fly or a very small wasp sp.

Bugs and Beetles Recorded:
Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha lignosa)

Yellow-legged Thick-legged Flower Beetle (Oedemera flavipes)

White Spotted Rose Chafer (Oxythyrea funesta)