Barcelona, April 2026

 My partner and I spent a few days in Barcelona in mid-April, enjoying the food, the museums, the Gaudi architecture etc. Amidst the sightseeing I did keep my eyes open for interesting birds. In common with just about every European city, Barcelona was full of Feral Pigeons. However, I was slightly surprised to see so many Collared Doves, particularly as this species is declining in numbers in the UK. Having seen Monk Parakeets on a previous visit, it was no surprise to see them whizzing around the city parks. Yellow-legged Gulls were by far the commonest gull species. Swifts were already present in good numbers (do they double brood here?) and House Sparrows were fairly common.

Yellow-legged Gull, just off 'The Rambla', Barcelona, April 2026

Monk Parakeet, Ciutadella, Barcelona, April 2026

Smaller birds included many that are common in the UK and a few (Serin, Sardinian Warbler, Crag Martin) that are very rare in the UK but very common here. Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were plentiful. A single Iberian Chiffchaff was heard (I'm not sure whether this species breeds in the Barcelona area or was just passing through). An unidentified warbler, possibly a Western Orphean Warbler, was heard singing.

Sardinian Warbler, Parc Guell, Barcelona, April 2026

Serin, Parc Guell, Barcelona, April 2026

I was a little surprised to see Cattle Egrets in Ciutadella Park, particularly as there was no sign of cattle there! Had they escaped from the nearby zoo? One bird was seen standing on a litter bin - were they feeding on scraps? Cattle Egrets would, I'm sure, be present in the surrounding countryside. Perhaps they nest in the city and fly out to feed - an unsolved mystery.

Hoopoes are always a delight to see and we were lucky to see one feeding on the side of the road, close to the Miro Museum on the side of the wooded Montjuic Hill. This was the most bird rich habitat that we visited - I'm sure that, with more time, I could have built up a decent bird list here. Butterflies were thin on the ground despite the warm weather, although I did see Speckled Wood, Painted Lady and Red Admiral. No species not to be found in the UK could be identified.

Cattle Egret in Breeding Plumage, Barcelona, April 2026

Hoopoe, Montjuic Park, Barcelona, April 2026

All in all, an enjoyable stay with lots of sightseeing in warm, sunny weather and a few interesting birds along the way.

Wildlife of the Spanish Pyrenees

 In mid-September I took a break from wildlife watching in the UK to go on a walking and general interest holiday with my partner, Helen, to the Spanish (Catalan) Pyrenees, staying in an excellent hotel in the village of Ribes de Freser, surrounded by majestic hills and mountains, as well as flower-filled meadows. Wildlife was abundant, with many butterflies on the wing including at least three species of fritillary. Most were identifiable, but one common type of grizzled skipper (image below) proved to be tricky. I have plumped for Rosy Grizzled Skipper as the most likely candidate. Most of the other common species (Wall, Speckled Wood, Adonis and Common Blues, Comma, Clouded Yellow, Painted Lady, Large and Small White etc.) can be seen in the UK or are widespread in Europe, but a few were different, including Spanish Brassy Ringlet, which was a new one for me.

Rosy Grizzled Skipper (?), Spanish Pyrenees

Dragonflies were less common, but I did see both Red-veined Darter and Emperor, the female of the latter laying eggs in a small water feature in the village of Queralbs.

Female Emperor Dragonfly, Spanish Pyrenees

We saw abundant birdlife, with White Wagtails and Black Redstarts being particularly common, even when we visited Nuria, at an altitude of 2000M. Also seen at Nuria were Water Pipits and an Alpine Accentor. Griffon Vultures were seen regularly, whilst Kestrels, Buzzards and a single Goshawk were other raptors seen. Crag Martins were the commonest local hirundines, although a large colony of House Martins was present at Nuria.

Black Redstart, Nuria

Water Pipit at Nuria

Griffon Vulture - a Common Sight

There was some heavy rain before and during the early part of our stay. This may have encouraged the appearance of many fruiting bodies of various fungi to appear later on, including a cute little orange one (below) that was seen on one of the walks.

Orange Fungus

Occasionally I see unusual or rarely encountered animal behaviour on my travels. On a 'there and back' walk to a waterfall, we found a suitable bench to sit on and have a drink on the way. Coming back, we were surprised to see a Common Lizard attempting to eat a large, green grasshopper that it had caught, on the bench. For a few minutes it struggled, removing wings and legs but still unable to get the grasshopper in its mouth, let alone eat it. Like a Sparrowhawk, it obviously regarded not letting its prey escape as being more important than leaving the scene as soon as we turned up. Eventually it got the grasshopper in its mouth (image) and disappeared under the bench. On the many occasions that I have seen lizards they have invariably frozen and/or then made a run for safety, so seeing one actually attempting to deal with prey was something new for me. This was the main animal memory that I will take away from a thoroughly enjoyable holiday.

Common Lizard, with Grasshopper Prey

"Butterflies and Birds of North Macedonia" - 'Naturetrek' Trip, June - July 2025

 Every year I take a wildlife holiday to somewhere in the world that I have not previously visited. In 2023 it was Japan, in 2024 it was The Gambia and this year I chose a shorter holiday, closer to home, in North Macedonia (formerly part of Yugoslavia). Two of my major wildlife interests (bird watching and butterfly photography) were well catered for and there was the chance to see other wildlife (particularly invertebrates and reptiles) that are not encountered in the UK and Western Europe. Unfortunately, the original leaders had to pull out due to illness. They were replaced at short notice by Slave, who proved to be an excellent and knowledgeable bird guide and leader, and Marek, the butterfly expert, who came all the way from the Czech Republic and proved to be a very keen and enthusiastic leader on all things 'butterfly'. Our group of 14 clients contained a considerable amount of expertise and I found that, as in The Gambia, that whilst at home I may be considered the 'local expert', here I was of little help in species identification. The party included some very keen 'moth-ers', who brought their moth traps with them and were up at 4.00am to check what the traps had captured.

North Macedonia is a small and beautiful country of mountains and plains. It is also very hot, with temperatures above 30C being 'the norm' for the time of our visit. In fact, temperatures reached 40C on our first two days, when most of our wildlife watching was done early or late, before returning to normal (around 30 - 35C) for the rest of the trip. The food was good and plentiful (perhaps too plentiful at times, as we were treated to some large lunches in cafes and restaurants). The first hotel (three nights) was good, although the air conditioning in the second hotel (four nights) left a lot to be desired and led to some poor sleeps. Only 'Wizz Air' departures from Luton fly directly to and from Skopje (the capital of North Macedonia) and they depart late in the evening, meaning that our arrival at the first hotel (12.30am) and our arrival back at Luton (2.00am) led to sleep deprivation (a common factor, it seems, on my wildlife holidays). I'll deal with the wildlife in three sections, Birds, Butterflies and Everything Else.

Typical Scenery in North Macedonia

Birds

I didn't come out with a 'wish list' of birds to see on this holiday. I have seen most of Europe's breeding birds and was more interested in getting good photos of (preferably) some of the species that we don't get in the UK. In fact, only three of the species that we were likely to see (Eastern Imperial Eagle, Ortolan Bunting and Rock Partridge) would be new to me. We saw the eagle on the first day and the Rock Partridge (which I thought at the time I had previously seen but in fact hadn't) later in the holiday, but the Ortolan Bunting remained elusive, despite Slave's best efforts to find one for me and one being seen by one of the other clients on the holiday. Ironically, an Ortolan Bunting was being 'twitched' in England whilst I was away! There were some good sightings nonetheless, including Lesser Spotted Eagle and both Dalmatian and White Pelicans. In all, we saw 138 species on the trip. Here are a few of my images.

Male Crested Lark, Singing

Male Lesser Kestrel

White Stork (they were nesting just up the road from our second Hotel)

Tawny Pipit

Black-headed Bunting

Butterflies

Around 200 species of butterfly can be found in North Macedonia, and we ended up with a trip list of 117 species (about twice the total number of species that can be found in the UK, and bear in mind that not all those species will be on the wing in midsummer). I had decided beforehand that I wouldn't make a big effort to see as many as possible, but would try to photograph a good variety. Marek was an enthusiastic 'netter' and a few of my fellow travellers also used nets to catch and, in some cases, place the butterflies in containers before (of course) releasing them after others had seen them. In this way, I probably saw all but a handful of these species although this wasn't an entirely satisfactory way, for me, of getting 'ticks'. We saw the Macedonian Grayling, the only North Macedonian endemic, as well as the very rare Yellow-legged Tortoiseshell Butterfly. As always, it was very difficult to sort out the rarer 'blues' from the masses of Common Blues, Small Blues and Brown Argus butterflies that were present everywhere we looked. Sometimes, as many as 200 could be seen 'puddling' in the mud together. Very few Swallowtails were seen, but Scarce Swallowtails were everywhere and at one site around 40 were seen together, picking up minerals from the mud. Many different species of Fritillary were seen, and it was interesting to note the hugely variable markings on the Lesser Spotted Fritillaries and (the commonest Fritillary), the Queen of Spain. Look at the following two images, both of Queen of Spain, for example.

Queen of Spain Fritillary, 'Standard' Markings

Queen of Spain Fritillary. Note the darker, heavier markings than on the Butterfly above

Common Blue, Small Blue and other Butterflies 'Puddling'

Eastern Greenish Black-Tip, a rare and localised Butterfly

Everything Else

One of the pleasures of the holiday was in seeing invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians that are rare or absent from Western Europe, such as the Four-lined Snake that was in the process of strangling a poor Blue Rock Thrush chick when we came across it near the entrance to a road tunnel, and the many Hermann's Tortoises that we saw. A good variety of dragonflies were seen, of which the Small Pincertail (image below) was the commonest. Giant Bush-crickets and huge Lacewings were encountered, as well as a variety of lizards. Very few mammals were encountered, but there was so much of everything else that it didn't really matter. I can heartily recommend North Macedonia for those who have a general interest in wildlife, in particular birds and invertebrates.

Small Pincertail Dragonfly

Four-lined Snake

Green Lizard

An attractive species of Ascalaphid