Sardinian Holiday pics.

Back at last from the non birding holiday to Sardinia. Weather was terrific apart from Tuesday, when it rained hard all day - just like being at home really, except we had a nice veranda to sit on, a beautiful view in spite of the rain and a bottle or two of wine, and it wasn't cold. Ove the week I did manage tio get a few pictures of birds, wildlife and "bugs". I'm not sure about all of the idents so please correct me if I ahave any wrong.

Cormorants

Little Egret

Great White Egret

Cattle Egrets?

Spotted Flycatcher - these were the most commone bird I saw, apart from the flocks of Hooded Crows.

ooded Crows

ollared Doves

ouse Martins

he world wouldn't be the same without a Chaffinch

A distant Jay, seen from our veranda. We could hear it every day and saw it flitting about often enough, but it only settled once.

European Bee Eater - couldn't get any closer, but at least it let me get a few shots off. The photographs do not do any justice to the colours I'm afraid.

An unidentified bird - the sscond picture is it as it flew off and is very blurred, but the shape may help someone identify it.

Insects, for which I have no ID skills.

Lastly some of the not so much wildlife as free range:

A magnificent set of horns.

pick 'n mix piglets

Mother and son

Lats but not least the biggest Aaah factor of the holiday-

One day we went for a 15km drive up onto the plateau - first 10 k the road was single track tarmac and then turnes into a dirt track. We saw about 3 or 4 other vehicles all day. We parked the car to go for a hike to some prehistoric ruins and by the time I had loaded up with kit we mobbed by locals. I'm sure they were just offering to look after the car while we were away - but as soon as we wandered off into the heat they dispersed back into the shade. When we came back to the car they returned to make sure we were OK .

On the whole it was fabulous holiday. Weather was terrific apart from the one day. The flights were cheap, and the accommodation was very reasonable. Eating out was very reasonable especially if you went to local rather than touristy restaurants. The beaches are fabulous too, and for those that like to combine hiking and sunworship, there are many beautiful beaches that you can only reach by hiking -  by sea as well of course. There aree mountains to climb, canyons to explore, and caves to visit and we only touched a small part of the island. Although the ground wa dry and the grass well fade, the scrub and trees are obviously deep rooted enough to exploit the watere table as there is a lot of greenery about most places. As with many of the meduiterranean countries some of the very old trees are a works of art in themselves.

Any helpwith the idents greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Bob

  • Glad you had a great holiday, Bob. Ironically, the weather's not been too bad here since you've been away.

    Great pics of the Spotted Flycatchers and all the others too.

    Now as you know I can get these wrong. I think the birds in the first pic might be Shags. The Mediterranean sub species can have a very white breast and the bill looks too fine for a Cormorant.

    I think the the little yellow breasted bird might be a Corsican Finch. This is an endemic to Corsica and Sardinia. It has recently been separated from Citril Finch. However, I've never seen one so best wait for aiki/Seymour/Roy W.

    No idea about the bugs.

  • Unknown said:

    Now as you know I can get these wrong. I think the birds in the first pic might be Shags. The Mediterranean sub species can have a very white breast and the bill looks too fine for a Cormorant.

    I think the the little yellow breasted bird might be a Corsican Finch. This is an endemic to Corsica and Sardinia. It has recently been separated from Citril Finch. However, I've never seen one so best wait for aiki/Seymour/Roy W.

    Before scrolling down far enough to see TeeJay's reply I reached the same conclusions about the "Cormorants" and the mystery yellow bird. I wasn't aware that Corsican [Citril] Finch (which does occur on Sardinia!) had been split from Citril Finch, or at least I don't remember reading this! It doesn't surprise me that it has been split though, and it's not a split that I'd take much notice of unless I was planning a trip to either of the islands!

    The dragonflies are (in the order they appear): An immature male Keeled Skimmer, a mature male Keeled Skimmer, and an immature male Red-veined Darter.

  • Glad you had such a good time , Bob. Isn't it great having plenty of light and not having to use high ISO for a change ?

  • I think the thing that looks a bit like a moth is a Cicada. They're the things that make the racket all night in hot countries.

  • What a fabulous place it sounds. I'm pleased you enjoyed your "non birding" holiday and managed to bring some sunshine back with you. I just love the donkeys and the local non-wild wildlife! I enjoyed reading your report and all your photos.

  • I have to say the 'pick and mix' look rather cute :) It looks and sounds like you had an excellent holiday.  The olive tree looks fabulous - they create the most wonderful shapes as they age.  

    Caroline in Jersey

  • Wow! Wonderful pics Bob! Looks a beautiful location!

    Agree with Germain, the 'pick and mix' lot are adorable and love the baby donkeys! Also think the Spotted flies are stunning!

    As for the 'bugs', I'm not at all familiar with Sardinian ones, but the dragonflies look like skimmers / darters. It's a beautifully marked grasshopper, but again, no idea on species and the moth is a moth (Cicadas have clear wings), but not sure which type of moth!

  • Great pics Bob, so nice to see something different:]

  • quite jealous of your hol, it looks lovely and is on my list of places to go, so I was very interested to read your account.  Not bad, eh, for a non-birding holiday.  Love the bee-eater and the yellow finch, that must have made you feel like you were 'on holiday'.............

  • Unknown said:
    Naturally, typical Italian driving rules apply -pedal to the metal at all times, bump parking, it's always my right of way don't you know, what's an indicator? etc.

    I found the parking interesting on Scilly. If there is a space, but it's not long enough for the length of the car, just drive in forwards and leave the rear end sticking out into the road, and if there's not a big enough gap for that just park alongside the cars already parked (even if that means other vehicles have to touch wing mirrors to get past!