JGG500

  May in Mallorca In early May, we spent a week in the beautiful countryside just to the north of Pollenca, and I managed to dovetail some birding with family trips around the island. An unexpected and unfortunate facilitator in this regard was the stomach bug that laid everybody low but which allowed me dashes of a different nature on a few occasions. Part of the fun is in the planning and I must mention the Mallorca thread on Birdforum, run by Mike Montier, which is as generous with its time and patience with holidaying birders as it is with its knowledge and expertise. As a relatively inexperienced birder abroad, the opportunity to see species which are rare or scarce in the UK, either close at hand or in greater numbers, was exceptional. On the first morning, I was up and out early and had the Boquer Valley -  a dramatic, high-sided cleft running into the sea above Puerto Pollenca -  all to myself.  Sardinian warblers chattered from the bushes and a rock thr...