Eco Hvar

Birdwatching, April 2023.

We are delighted to share Steve Jones's report from a fruitful week's birdwatching in April 2023.

Wood Sandpiper Wood Sandpiper Photo: Steve Jones

Although no longer resident on the island, Hvar's dedicated birdwatcher Steve Jones comes back to his favourite haunts for spells of birdwatching and catchiong up with friends..We look forward to many more 'flying visits'!

Birdwatching on Hvar - 17th-23rd April 2023.

Monday 17th April. I walked from Dol heading down towards the Hora (stari Grad Plain) and then down the tracks towards Dračevica. I stopped for every sound. As a start, I heard Nightingale, Blackcap, Serin and Cirl Bunting on the way.

Nightingale. Photo Steve Jones

Walking down one of the tracks I saw a Sardinian Warbler and then seconds later a Sub Alpine Warbler.

Sardinian Warbler. Photo: Steve Jones
Sub-Alpine Warbler, Photo: Steve Jones

More Nightingales were calling, but from experience I don’t often spend any time looking for the bird, they're extremely hard to spot. Very shortly into the walk I came across a Redstart, several Wheatears in a field and also Whinchats.

Redstart. Photo: Steve Jones

In my leisurely four-hour four hour walk to Jelsa via Vrbanj I believe I counted around nine Nightingales singing. These were the most common, followed by Sub-Alpine, Corn Bunting and Cirl Bunting. There were a couple of Whitethroats singing, one very close to the pond.

Whitethroat. Photo: Steve Jones

By 11:30 I was sitting at a bar in Jelsa and positive I was hearing a Blue Rock Thrush. I went to look for it a couple of times, but didn't manage to see it.

Blue Rock Thrush. Photo: Steve Jones

Later I managed a photograph on top of a building in the Jelsa Pjaca.

Wheatear. Photo: Steve Jones

In the late afternoon I walked around Dol near the church and the children's play area. This proved interesting: I was hearing a Wryneck, possibly two. However, getting close to the location proved quite difficult, in 40 minutes I glimpsed one three times just for a fraction of a second. The highlight bird for me on the day was a Pied Flycatcher. In several years of birdwatching on the island, this was a first for me, so I was delighted.

Pied Flycatcher. Photo: Steve Jones

My photographs were just sufficient for identification purposes, but poor quality, so this picture is one I took in the UK in 2022.

Whinchats in a field. Photo: Steve Jones

After day one I had 30 species recorded, with probably 8 species by sound only, so about 22 actual sightings.

Cirl bunting (female). Photo: Steve Jones

The rest of my week followed a very similar pattern, wandering around Dol in the early morning and late afternoon, and in the day-time following some of the tracks, always ending at Dračevica. I did try and vary the times I was getting to the pond just in case it affected species numbers. However after the week there was no noticeable difference.

Cirl Bunting (male). Photo: Steve Jones

On Tuesday April 18th whilst walking by the airfield I saw a few House Martins and Swifts, clearly just arrived, as I'd seen no indication of them in Split, Stari Grad, Vrboska or Jelsa in the days before. As I arrived at the pond, which incidentally was as full as I had seen it for a long time, more Swifts were flying overhead with Alpine Swifts amongst them. I think the Alpine swifts were just passing through as there was only the odd bird appearing within the group. On my early morning walk around Dol by the children's play area a Wryneck was calling close by and also a Black Redstart - these are birds that over winter on the island, generally arriving in mid-October, I've never seen any evidence of them breeding here. During the week I was seeing several large flocks of Yellow Wagtails.

Yellow Wagtails. Photo: Steve Jones

As they appeared in several different locations in the fields I couldn’t be sure if this was one flock of up to 30 birds or several separate groups. For recording purposes I am counting all Yellow Wagtails as one species. On the island you do get several sub-species.

Yellow Wagtail. Photo: Steve Jones

I was seeing Hoopoe most days, but was unsure as to whether this was one bird in three different locations or three birds.

Hoopoe. Photo: Steve Jones

Wednesday April 19th followed a similar pattern, although there was no sound from the Dol Wryneck. During my walk down I encountered a brief glimpse of a Mongoose, which was clearly aware of me, but I managed a poor photograph of it standing on its hind legs.

Mongoose. Photo: Steve Jones

During the week I saw three more at different locations. The Wood sandpipers at the pond were going up at the slightest movement and generally one alerted all others. I noticed this as the Swifts were coming in to drink, they weren’t so bothered by the Swallows, but the Swifts often seemed to trigger them to fly up. Then they didn’t return to the pond but were settling in fields nearby.

Wood Sandpiper. Photo: Steve Jones

Whilst scanning the fields not only did I pick up several Sandpipers scattered around, I also picked up a solitary Ruff, which of course was another new species for the week. Very shortly afterwards I had my favourite bird of the week – a Purple Heron. I had super views with binoculars for around a minute and watched it go down in a field about 400 metres away. I went off in search, hoping to get a photograph, but after 30 minutes of looking alas I couldn't find it.

Ruff. Photo: Steve Jones

Having seen several Whinchats and Wheatears at the beginning of the week, they appeared less and less as the week wore on, so no doubt they were just passing through.

There was nothing at all different on Thursday April 20th, but Friday April 21st brought in three new species for the list. The first being the Woodchat Shrike, initially seen in fields 400 metres down from Hora, with probably another three seen at various locations in the following days. The Shrikes seem to appear and disappear with very little sound.

Woodchat Shrike. Photo: Steve Jones

At Soline beach I heard my first Turtle dove and then another. The third new species of the day was down at the pond and was picked up by an app on my phone. I often record sounds so as to test myself, however on this occasion when the Sandpipers flew the app picked up a Green Sandpiper: I hadn’t previously noticed anything other than Wood Sandpipers but on the strength of the app identification I added it to the list. I visited the pond a further three times in the next couple of days, alas I only saw Wood Sandpipers and that was also all the app picked up.

Disappointingly, Bee-eaters were not in evidence. During the week I paid three visits to Gringo's boatyard in Jelsa, where they usually settle for the summer, but without seeing or hearing any. On one occasion I thought that I picked up the characteristic Bee-eater chirruping call quite high up, but as I couldn’t see any I didn't include it in the list.

Saturday April 22nd followed a similar pattern, I picked up another first for the week and a first picture for me on the Island: a Raven. I'd often seen them in flight overhead, but never settled on a tree, albeit 150 metres away from me. So unfortunately my picture is not great, and the same goes for my photo of a Cuckoo, taken from about 300-350 metres away, just for the record.

Raven. Photo: Steve Jones

On the Saturday afternoon I visited Pitve museum which I thought was well worth a visit. On leaving I immediately heard and saw a Blue Rock Thrush on the roof of the building. Sadly I was without binoculars or camera, conditions were perfect for a good picture!

Sunday April 23rd was my last day, and a new bird for the list at the pond was a Red Backed Shrike, clearly another new arrival.

Red-Backed Shrike. Photo: Steve Jones

Finally while eating lunch on Sunday a Cormorant.

Cormorant. Photo: Steve Jones

I really enjoyed my week and it was certainly the right time to come to enjoy the birdwatching!

List of Species:
  1. Scops Owl (Ćuk)                                             24 Linnet (Juričica)
  2. Blackcap (Crnokapa grmuša)                          25 Collared Dove (Gugutka)
  3. Nightingale (Slavuj)                                         26 Wood Pigeon (Golub grivnjas)
  4. Sardinian Warbler (Crnoglava grmuša)           27 House Martin (Piljak)
  5. Wheatear (Sivkasta bjeloguza)                        28 Pied Flycatcher (Crnoglava muharica)
  6. Corn Bunting (Velika strnadica)                     29 Wryneck (Vijoglav)
  7. Redstart (Šumska crvenrepka)                        30 Black Redstart (Mrka crevenrepka)
  8. Whitethroat (Grmuša pjenica)                         31 Green Sandpiper (Crnokrila prutka)
  9. Hooded Crow (Siva vrana)                              32 Swift (Čiopa)
  10. Blackbird (Kos)                                               33 Alpine Swift (Bijela čiopa)
  11. Great Tit (Velika sjenica)                                34 Pheasant (Fazan)
  12. Goldcrest (Zlatoglavi kraljić) *                       35 Wood Sandpiper (Prutka migavica)
  13. Serin (Žutarica)                                               36 Ruff (Prsljivac)
  14. Yellow Wagtail (Žuta pastirica)                       37 Purple Heron (Čaplja danguba)
  15. Swallow (Lastavica)                                         38 Yellow Legged Gull (Galeb klaukavac)
  16. Blue Rock Thrush (Modrokos)                        39 Chaffinch (Zeba)
  17. Kestrel (Vjetruša)                                             40 House Sparrow (Vrabac)
  18. Cuckoo (Kukavica)                                           41 Turtle Dove (Grlica)
  19. Whinchat (Smedoglavi batić)                           42 Woodchat Shrike (Riđoglavi svračak)
  20. Greenfinch (Zelendur)                                      43 Raven (Gavran)
  21. Sub Alpine Warbler (Bjelobrka grmuša)          44 Red Backed Shrike (Rusi Svracak)
  22. Cirl Bunting (Crnogrla strnadica)                     45 Sparrowhawk (Kobac)
  23. Hoopoe (Pupavac)                                             46 Cormorant (Veliki Vranac)

© Steve Jones, April 2023

For more of Steve's nature pictures, see his personal pages: Bird Pictures on Hvar 2017, Bird Pictures and Sightings on Hvar 2018, and Butterflies of Hvar

Srodni sadržaj (po oznakama)

na vrh članka
Nalazite se ovdje: Home Novosti iz prirode Birdwatching, April 2023.

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Vienna’s public transport is the envy of the world – so why can’t it ditch cars?

    Austrian capital mulls expanding tram network and park-and-ride car parks in effort to reduce private vehicle use

    When Leonore Gewessler hops on the underground trains and street-level trams that run like clockwork across the breadth of Vienna, she appreciates the ease, affordability and time she “gets as a present” instead of idling in traffic. But Austria’s former climate and transport minister is also aware that cars still dominate the capital’s streets. She says good public transport is just the “precondition” to changing how people move around the city.

    Vienna’s network of trains, trams and buses have long been the envy of other European cities – let alone car-centric North American ones – but automobiles are still used for a quarter of journeys. In other capitals famed for world-class public transport, such as London, Paris and Prague, even higher use of cars has frustrated doctors and campaigners demanding cleaner air and safer streets.

    Continue reading...

  • From V2 rocket-scarred London to Ukraine: how nature thrives in bomb craters

    In the UK capital, Bomb Crater Pond is full of wildlife, while scientists studying land obliterated by recent Russian blasts 1,500 miles away have seen ‘how quickly nature begins to heal itself’

    In February 1945, towards the end of the second world war, a German V2 rocket struck Walthamstow Marshes in east London. The explosion tore a crater into the marshland. Left untouched, it slowly filled with water, sediment … and life. Today, this wartime scar has become a thriving pond.

    “It’s small but it really punches above its weight,” says Luke Boyle, a ranger for the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, as he kneels at the edge to examine aquatic plants sprouting their early spring shoots. “We can’t manage the hydrology here, so it is actually a vital part of the ecosystem – it supports a range of plants, insects and amphibians, more than you might expect,” he says.

    Continue reading...

  • Alaska’s 2025 mega tsunami highlights risk to cruise lines as glaciers retreat

    Researchers say 481-metre wave in fjord was triggered by rockslide linked to climate crisis

    A mega tsunami in Alaska last year in a fjord visited by cruise ships is a stark warning of the risks of coastal rockslides and glacier retreat fueled by the climate crisis, a new study warns.

    Scientists recorded the world’s second-tallest tsunami after it struck the Tracy Arm fjord in south-east Alaska last August after a massive rockslide around the toe of a glacier. The tsunami reached 481 metres (1,578ft) in height; by comparison the Eiffel Tower is 330 metres (1082ft).

    Continue reading...

  • EU trade deal could force UK to restrict use of weedkiller linked to cancer

    Glyphosate is currently sprayed on cereal and pulse crops to dessicate them and make them easier to harvest

    A new trade deal with the EU could lead to restrictions on the use of the controversial weedkiller glyphosate on UK food crops.

    The full-spectrum herbicide, which kills almost every plant it touches, is often sprayed on wheat, oats and other cereal and pulse crops shortly before harvest to desiccate them and make them easier to handle.

    Continue reading...

  • Gibraltar dumping all of its raw sewage into Mediterranean

    Wastewater from nearly 40,000 people and businesses pumped straight into sea as territory still has no treatment plant

    Raw sewage from nearly 40,000 people and businesses is being pumped straight into the sea because the British overseas territory of Gibraltar does not have, and has never had, a wastewater treatment plant.

    For decades, untreated sewage has poured into the Mediterranean from the southern tip of the peninsula at Europa Point, where the government of Gibraltar says there are “high levels of natural dispersion”.

    Continue reading...

  • Country diary: A butterfly haven of orange tips and holly blues | Sara Hudston

    Powerstock Common, Dorset: I’m hopeful that the mixed habitats here and bright weather will bring them out in their droves – and I’m not disappointed

    The recent pulse of warm, sunny weather has encouraged butterflies to fly in large numbers in Dorset. They were everywhere when I visited Powerstock Common: the moment I opened the car door, a brimstone fluttered sulphur-yellow over the parking area, lifted on a stream of blackcap song.

    Bright as butter in the sunshine, it’s possible that brimstones are the species that inspired the word “butterfly”. When this one settled on a hazel, its underwings merged green among the new leaves, the colours indicating it was a male. Females are much paler, sometimes almost white. Both sexes have a pair of browny-orange spots on their wings, which are foxed like the page edges of an old book.

    Continue reading...

  • Norwegian fish farms polluting fjords with waste likened to ‘raw sewage of millions of people’

    Exclusive: ‘Fish sludge’ in coastal waters now has nutrient levels equivalent to those in untreated effluent of country the size of Australia, report finds

    Norwegian fish farms are filling fjords and other coastal waters with nutrient pollution equivalent to the raw sewage of tens of millions of people each year, a report has found.

    Norway is the largest farmed salmon producer in the world, and nutrients in fish feed are excreted directly into coastal waters. Analysis from the Sunstone Institute found that Norwegian aquaculture released 75,000 tonnes of nitrogen, 13,000 tonnes of phosphorus and 360,000 tonnes of organic carbon in 2025.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘Heat, floods and droughts make men more violent to women’: Natasha Walter on eco-feminism in a world on fire

    The author has become acutely aware of how the climate crisis is affecting women – and, in her new book, she argues that it’s time for mainstream western feminists to join the dots

    Natasha Walter is halfway through explaining how she came to be politically radicalised when a young woman approaches the cafe table. We two middle-aged women look like “the most trustworthy people here,” she says, so could we watch her baby while she grabs a coffee? Like the solid citizen she is, Walter doesn’t take her eyes off the pushchair parked by the cafe steps for the next five minutes, though all we can see of the occupant is a tiny swinging foot. Sorry, where were we? Ah yes, the groundbreaking feminist writer who famously argued in her 1998 book The New Feminism that Margaret Thatcher had broken down barriers for women was explaining why she no longer really believes it’s possible to be rightwing and a feminist, as Theresa May or Amber Rudd insist they are.

    “I can’t support just any woman getting into power, because I think a system that leaves too many women in the shadows – that condemns too many women to poverty or worse – is not a feminist system, and I don’t think you can call yourself a feminist if you’re going to prop up that system,” she says, eyes still glued to the baby for whom we are briefly responsible. “It’s not my kind of feminism.” Her younger self, she admits, would have thought her too uncompromising. But something in her seems to have hardened, facing a world she sees as threatened by the rise of far-right authoritarianism on one hand and a climate emergency on the other. “In the past I always wanted to be a broad church, I always thought any woman can be a feminist, but now I really am feeling … maybe I’ve been radicalised.”

    Continue reading...

  • How car-loving American cities fell so far behind their global peers on public transit

    With most major European cities well-served by trains and buses, bringing US transit up to par would cost $4.6tn

    The only train station in Houston, the US’s fourth-largest city and one of the fastest-growing conurbations in the country, is a diminished, morose sight. Intercity trains arrive at this squat, shed-like Amtrak building, which cringes in the shadows of roaring highways, just three times a week.

    That such a meager train station could ostensibly serve a metropolitan area of about 7 million people is a stark symbol of how the sprawling, car-dominated US has fallen behind cities around the world where people can rely on extensive, high-quality public transport to get around.

    Continue reading...

  • As household bills soar, is it time for a ‘working-class climate agenda’?

    Group that worked with AOC and Bernie Sanders seeks to counter claim that climate policy is politically toxic

    Americans do not care about the climate crisis, only economic issues: that’s the message some wonks have put forth in the past year, as the Trump administration has dismantled environmental protections. But the shift away from climate is misguided, an influential group of progressives is arguing.

    “The climate crisis is a core driver of the cost-of-living crisis and instability we see across the economy,” says a new policy platform from left-leaning thinktank Climate and Community Institute (CCI).

    Continue reading...

Novosti: Cybermed.hr

Novosti: Biologija.com

Izvor nije pronađen
Copyright © 2026 Eco Hvar. Sva prava zadržana. Developed by Orion Informatika.