Arrived at Ushuaia late evening and settled into our B&B. We walked down the very steep hill (especially going back up) for a walk along the sea front where we got our first look at some south american birds. Southern Giant Petrels patrolled along the shore and Dolphin Gulls and Imperial Shag flew by. Upland Geese were on the shore, Night herons were beginning to come out fishing and we heard the first of many Rufous-collared sparrows. We had arrived at the end of the world!

 

The next day we were up and out early for another walk in warm spring sunshine. We found Blackish Oystercatcher, Imperial and Rock Shags and Dark-bellied Cinclodes.

Dolphin Gull

Dark-bellied Cinclodes

Blackish Oystercatcher

Along the bay there is a memorial boat covered in these little figures of ducks and geese.

We had booked a guide, Marcello Cruz for the day. We were picked up at around 8.00 and headed up to the Martial Glacier National Park were we had a very strenuous morning looking for some special birds.

Bar-winged Cinclodes

Dark-faced Ground-tyrant

Yellow Bridled Finch

Then we headed to the Tierra del Fuego National Park were we saw, among lots of other birds, Austral parakeets, Austral Pygmy Owl, Ashy-headed Goose,the amazingly named Thorn-tailed Rayaditto and White-throated Treerunner and eventually, Magellanic Woodpecker.

Ashy-headed Goose

Austral Pygmy Owl

Chimango Caracara

Austral Negrito

Flying Steamer Duck

Magellenic Horned Owl

We were dropped off along the coast where we added Long-tailed Meadow-lark, Magellanic and Blackish Oystercatcher and White-rumped and Baird's Sandpipers.

Long-tailed Meadow-lark

                 A stunning introduction to the birds of Tierra del Fuego.

Amazing Antarctica

The excitement levels still high, bags packed (nearly) and ready to go. 6o'clock flight to Paris, followed by an overnight flight to Buenas Aires. Change airports and a few hours to wait before the flight to Ushuaia. Adventure here I come!

The planned itinerary.

In search of Lynx

Up and about early we explored the gardens before breakfast and then set off into the hills. As we got higher up we encountered red deer in groups dotted about, many of the stags roaring their message of supremacy. This sound filled our days as they never really seemed to stop.

Over the next 3 days we managed two single sightings of lynx and a mother with 2 cubs, although we didn't manage to photograph them this time. We also saw mouflon, wild boar and fallow deer.

We went down to the damn area where we found 3 species of bat inside the tunnell. An amazing sighting was of 2 Free-tailed bat flying around outside on the rocks. They appeared to be in a dispute over a crack in the wall and one soon returned while the other flew to a crack on the other dside of the bridge and wedged itself in.

As always in Spain we had some great sightings of birds, including azure-winged magpie, osprey, black vulture, spanish imperial eagle and blue rock thrush, butterflies and dragonflies 

with ticks for most of us including two-tailed pasha and copper demoiselle.

It is really such a lovely area with so much to look at that we will be back.

Return to Spain

As the last trip had been so pleasant we decided to re-visit the area in search of better views of lynx and anything else that was about. We booked a 5 day break and set off at an unearthly hour to Stansted for our flight to Madrid. To break the long drive we spent an hour exploring the steppes on the way where we found black-eared wheatear, raptors but no bustards. We did find windmills to tilt at and a view point overlooking a vulture nest site.

In search of Owls

We spent the next few days exploring the woods and fields finding lots of birds, including cranes, hooded crows, whooper swans, northern form of nuthatch and bullfinch, an unexpected osprey and the highlight - 3 toed woodpecker.

As well as flowers like hepatica, coltsfoot, wood anemone and gagea lutea.

We also saw several butterflies including small tortoiseshell, comma, brimstone and Camberwell Beauty.
We tried some evening drives but had no luck with Tengmalm's owl although we did hear some owl's calling.

Although the trip back was only a few days later, it was noticeable how much the land had thawed.

Swedish Spring

Having settled into our hotel we went to visit a friend who now lives near Stockholm where we had a lovely meal and caught up on the news. An osprey and lots of birds from the balcony were a real pleasure.

The next day we moved north.

Sweden - getting ready

Packed and ready to go. Another early start in the morning but it does mean we get half a day to look around and settle in. As we flew in over the land it looked really cold and frozen. We collected our car and set off north to find our bearings and see what birds we could find. Some cranes in a field, northern jackdaws and some gulls got us off to a good start.