This morning Celia and I joined the Kentish Plover Volunteer group in a meeting in Chipiona, near the Camarón Beach. A great occasion to share some thoughts and meet new people.
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Kentish Plover project volunteers
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It was also a great occasion to observe a lot of interesting bird species along the coastline. Apart from the protagonists of this morning, our beloved Kentish Plovers of course, there were Barn Swallows, Little Terns, Sandwich Terns and Greenshanks, just to name a few.
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Little Egret
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Some Sandwich Terns alongside some (smaller) Common Terns
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| Some Common Greenshank |
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Common Greenshank flying over the beach
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| Three Audouin's Gulls, yet another vulnerable species |
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Sanderling feeding on the coastline
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| One of the Kentish Plovers present at this part of the beach |
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| Three well camouflaged Kentish Plover eggs |
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Barn Swallow showing its amazing colours on its back...
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The Kentish Plovers have started to breed. It seems on this beach they prefer to lay their eggs more inland. Let's hope this leads to more offspring.
Finally a word of thank you to volunteer Manolo who has designed and made some wooden cards to hand out to people who walk along the beach as a reminder of the presence of this vulnerable bird species. I find them beautiful and hope that people will appreciate them and take a moment to think about the Kentish Plovers' precarious situation.
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| Male House Sparrow on the lookout for nesting material |
It was nice to see so many devoted volunteers and the Camarón area in Chipiona is definitely a place worth visiting.
Henry.
