Eco Hvar

April Bird Watch, 2016

Steve Jones from Dol continues his study of the island's birds. Anyone who is seeing or hearing anything of interest in the bird world is invited to contact him at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Wheatear Wheatear Photo: Steve Jones

April 8th 2016: As no doubt most have heard, the Nightingale is singing most of the time now.

I saw another new bird for me - Corn Bunting, once again picked up by its call, as one I wasn't familiar with. It has been in for a couple of weeks but I hadn't been close enough to see it.

Corn Bunting. Photo Steve Jones

Went up to Sv Nikola earlier in the week to see what was about, and very disappointing on the bird front. A solitary Kestrel, a Wheatear and a couple of Chaffinches singing but not seen.

Sveti Nikola, the island's highest point. Photo: Vivian Grisogono
10th April 2016: Just got back from a 90 minute wander ............... heard two Cuckoos - so another arrival - and one Hoopoe calling, although saw neither.
Cuckoo, April 28th 2016. Photo: Steve Jones

Also to be added is Linnet - I thought I had been seeing/hearing them for a while, but needed more confirmation, and I managed to get my telescope on one this morning.

14th April 2016: I have been going to appointments in Jelsa all week. I was a little bit early today and went for a stroll - thought I heard Bee-Eaters, wasn't 100% but am pretty confident so you want to keep your eyes peeled. Heard a Cuckoo in Dol yesterday .... still not seen a Swift which is a surprise to me, I suspect they might be making appearances in the UK anytime now.

15th April 2016:  Just came back from Jelsa and had a definite sighting of Bee-Eaters so my hearing was good yesterday.

Bee-eaters. Photo: Steve Jones

Eco Hvar comment: I also saw the bee-eaters in a little flock above one of Jelsa's back roads a couple of days ago. They seem to have arrived right on cue, to judge by past years. Many are having to find new homes, as a large nesting place just opposite the Bagi petrol station on the main road was dug up a couple of years ago, exposing their warren of nesting holes as pitiful relics of the past.

Bee-eaters nesting holes exposed to predators and the elements, April 2015. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Bee-eaters' nesting holes ruthlessly exposed to predators and the elements, April 2015. Photo: Vivian Grisogono 

21st April 2016: As I barely visit a town for any period of time I am still not hearing/seeing any Swifts. Are they in in Jelsa now? I was in Split yesterday and they are everywhere, I thought I heard one in Stari Grad this morning, maybe they are just arriving. Interesting, as they would only be arriving just about now in UK, For some reason I assumed things would be earlier here.

Eco Hvar comment: Yes, the swifts have arrived in Jelsa, and just today they were extremely busy renovating their nesting places under the eaves of the buildings on the main square. A diligent and co-operative crowd!

Swifts preparing their nests on Jelsa's square, 21st April 2016. Photo Vivian Grisogono

22nd April 2016. Picked up the Nightjar "churring" last night so another recent arrival.

23rd April 2016. Another long awaited  .................. Vuga/Golden Oriole I hear calling this morning and it certainly wasn't yesterday.

Sunday 24th April.2016: Went out for 90 mins or so early this morning, wondering if the low cloud, mist and rain would have any influence on things. It was very quiet, even the singing had gone quiet apart from the dawn chorus - who can blame them?

Keep hearing Cuckoo, but long distances away and not lucky enough to have seen one here. I still wonder what their host bird would be if they breed.

Anyway, as I was driving along the airport road I chanced upon a Woodchat Shrike, all over in a few seconds. I had seen one here on Hvar a couple of years ago on holiday albeit elsewhere on the island.

Woodchat shrike (c.2013). Photo: Steve Jones

Also saw a good number of Swifts in Stari Grad - so interestingly it wouldn’t be much different to UK arrivals.

Eco Hvar: Saturday and Sunday, 23rd and 24th April 2016 have been very rainy, with some thunder and a lot of low-lying clouds. The birds seem to lie low during the heaviest rains, and then emerge in full song as soon as calm is restored. It's quite a contrast to the previous period of hot sunny weather, but welcome refreshment for gardens and fields - also for dust-covered cars.

Rain clouds hanging heavy over Pitve Church. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

© Steve Jones 2016

For more of Steve's beautiful nature pictures, see his personal pages: Bird Pictures on Hvar 2017, and Butterflies of Hvar 

Related items

back to top
You are here: Home Nature Watch April Bird Watch, 2016

Eco Environment News feeds

  • How Sam Altman’s victory over Elon Musk clears way for OpenAI’s trillion-dollar ambitions

    OpenAI’s plans now seem all but guaranteed, given that the world’s richest man couldn’t put a stop to them

    On Monday morning, a jury in Oakland, California, handed a resounding victory to Sam Altman and OpenAI in their long, bitter courtroom battle with Elon Musk.

    The federal jury found Altman, OpenAI and its president, Greg Brockman, not liable for Elon Musk’s claims that they unjustly enriched themselves and broke a founding contract made with Musk when founding the startup. The unanimous verdict, delivered after less than two hours of deliberation, is a stark rebuke of Musk and his lawyer’s claims that Altman “stole a charity” through his leadership of OpenAI.

    Nick Robins-Early contributed reporting

    Continue reading...

  • For sale: one cute baby gibbon – mother probably killed by poachers

    Rising demand for exotic pets is pushing many gibbon species to extinction, with their strong family bonds making them especially vulnerable to the brutal trade

    It is a cool morning in Thailand’s hilly north, and a wildlife officer sits on the veranda of Omkoi wildlife sanctuary’s office. On her lap is a wide-eyed infant primate dressed in baby clothes. Not unlike a human baby, he kicks and waves excitedly. Most of his dark skin is covered in dense white fur, except for his face and the palms of his hands.

    “We call him Chokdee,” the officer says. “It means ‘good luck’.”

    Continue reading...

  • Country diary: A truly golden spring for buttercups and dandelions | Mark Cocker

    Snitterton, Derbyshire: I’ve had some glorious early mornings admiring the abundance of these much-loved flowers

    This spring has specialised in very specific kinds of abundance. In February it was snowdrops in extraordinary numbers, but last month it was dandelions. My most exulted sighting came as I drove out of upper Dovedale when, from the corner of my eye, I caught a blanket of gold running over the slope.

    The flowers held the foreground before the eye travelled onwards to Sheen Hill in Staffordshire. We overuse the word “carpet”, but in this instance it was appropriate. Each bloom was about the same height as all its neighbours, and if you eliminated gaps in colour by getting down face to face with the flower heads, then the whole land was turned into a single glorious sunshine hue.

    Continue reading...

  • Country diary: A bug bacchanalia on an old lime tree | Kate Blincoe

    Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: Firebugs congregate in large numbers to feast and mate – and this is the first time we’ve known their revelry on the farm

    At this time of year the farm is a popular spot, with people strolling, horse riding or picnicking from dawn till dusk. One of the unexpected joys of opening up public access is the extra pairs of eyes. A broken fence or fallen tree is noticed almost immediately; an otter is spotted slipping into a stream at first light. Recently, Laura, a regular dog walker and keen photographer, shared something new.

    Congregating on the sunny side of an old lime tree is a colony of firebugs. There are 50 or so, clustered together, like flames flickering up the trunk. Each is nearly a centimetre long, with ember-bright red backs marked by bold, symmetrical black shapes. These aggregations, typically on lime or mallow, are for mating and feeding. A firebug eats seeds, aphids or even its dead relatives, sucking out moisture with its proboscis.

    Continue reading...

  • Declare climate crisis a global public health emergency, experts tell WHO

    Exclusive: Commission says alert would trigger coordinated international response that could help avoid millions dying

    The climate crisis should be declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization, or millions more people will die unnecessarily, leading international experts have said.

    The independent pan-European commission on climate and health, which was convened by the WHO, concluded the climate crisis was such a worldwide threat to health that the WHO should declare it “a public health emergency of international concern” (Pheic).

    Continue reading...

  • Fire and ‘sheer volume’: how Britain’s 6m-vape problem is putting recycling under strain

    Despite the ban on disposables, waste professionals say the mountain of discarded devices is a £1bn-a-year issue

    It is 2pm and Ana, 47, has just started the afternoon shift at the Suez recycling plant near Birmingham city centre, standing beneath a sign reading “Non-ferrous sorting station” with a bucket of vapes in front of her. Sorting and dismantling them is part of her job as a site operative.

    Recycling them is not simple. Each bucket holds between 40 and 50 devices, and over the course of a shift, she gets through about half a bucket. Using a hammer, she has to smash each vape open, pry out the batteries and separate each component into a different container.

    Continue reading...

  • Timmy the whale confirmed dead by Danish authorities

    Humpback had been found deceased on Friday after rescue attempt criticised as ‘pure animal cruelty’

    Timmy the whale has been confirmed dead by Danish authorities two weeks after the beached humpback was transported to the North Sea in a rescue attemptcriticised as “pure animal cruelty”.

    Denmark’s Environmental Protection Agency said a whale had been found dead on Friday near ​the small ⁠island of Anholt in the Kattegat, a broad strait between Denmark and Sweden, and confirmed it was Timmy on Saturday.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘Should we leave them to die?’ The battle over how to save orangutans from the curse of palm oil

    As new settlers clear their forest habitat, the apes are coming into conflict with humans. But simply moving them to another part of the forest may not be the answer

    The banana skins were an ominous sign. As was the branch that had been broken off to get to the fruit. Had Edi Ramliwalked into the forest, he might have seen scattered balls of bark that had been ripped off trees, chewed like gum, then spat out. It takes a powerful jaw to do that. Closer to Edi’s home, there was an intricate construction of bent and broken branches high in a tree. The nest.

    It was October, the fruiting season. The pile of half-eaten bananas was less than a minute’s walk from where Edi and his family slept. He felt nervous. He got on with his day. He picked sweetcorn and sold it at the market. He bought a carton of chocolate milk and biscuits for his grandson. He and his wife, Siti Munawaroh, ran the farm with their three adult children. They prepped the land, sowed seeds, tended crops. Survival depended on what they could grow.

    Continue reading...

  • High risk yet home to thousands: the makeshift towns at the mercy of landslides and floods in Peru

    Like many informal settlements, communities that have sprung up on the edges of Ayacucho in the Andes are on the frontline of extreme weather events

    In December 2009, a late‑afternoon storm unleashed torrential rain over Ayacucho, in Peru, hitting poor hillside neighbourhoods hard. The deluge overwhelmed drainage systems, turning streams into lethal flows of mud, stones and debris that flooded houses and streets and trapped drivers at a busy junction.

    Ten people died, 18 were injured, and 530 houses were destroyed or damaged, according to a government inquest. “It was a disaster,” recalls Edgar Castro, a leader in Ayacucho’s largest informal neighbourhood, Mollepata.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘It fails under testing, but it’s what we have’: ban forces Palestinians to make their own cement from rubble

    With Israel blocking imports of building materials, those rebuilding in Gaza are recycling ruins to make new homes

    It is difficult to see through the dust inside the cramped, low-roofed tent on the eastern edge of Khan Younis. Ibrahim al-Aloul works alongside four others, with a piece of fabric tied over his mouth and nose as his only shield against the toxic grey powder as he sifts and grinds.

    Outside, a skinny donkey waits with a cart to carry the finished product to the next tent along, where it will be mixed with gypsum, calcium and binding agents before being bagged in flour sacks and sold.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds

Copyright © 2026 Eco Hvar. All Rights Reserved. Developed by Orion Informatika.