it is possible to see only one common tern in se winds at st caths in the first week of may (and just add 3 zeros for the dungeness count). oddly tho there was a good passage of waders - barwit, grey plover, knot, turnstone - which wasn't picked up anywhere else along the south coast. in return didn't get any of the other sites' poms.

a few bits past st caths in a strong easterly inc 4 roseates, red-necked grebe, 3 poms, 4 arctic skuas, 4 btd's, 2 rtd's, little gull, trickle of waders (c.60 whimbrel, c.250 barwit) and commics (c.100), c.25 scoter, c.10 razorbills. merlin in off and brilliant view of a hobby, 6 yellow wags in.

last month i went to the costa del sol for the week april 11th-18th. not a birding holiday but i managed to pick up a few bits inc 5 lifers - bonellis, orphean and olivaceous warblers, flamingo and white-headed duck. this is my third visit to this area cos its such an easy holiday, unfortunately that corner of spain is comparatively bird poor - eg the straits of gib are in view but the only migrating bop i saw all week was a short-toed eagle! i also gen'd up on what herps/butts/dragons to look out for and saw a few new ones. starting with the butterflies:

monarch was easy in paloma park, benalmadena but i didnt see them elsewhere. awesome things to watch, butterfly highlight of the trip.

lorquin's blue (i think)

lang's short-tailed blue, but the buggers wouldn't come down from the tops

green hairstreak

brown argus

spanish festoon

black-eyed blue

geranium bronze

mallow skipper

queen of spain

clouded yellow

painted lady

swallowtail

there were a few other sp that i couldn't get a photo of inc cleopatra, moroccan orange-tip, some sort of bath/dappled white that wouldnt land

my contribution to spring migration so far