Portugal & Douro Valley

May turned out to be a pretty good month as Jackie and I started with a visit to Portugal and a cruise up and down the Douro River from Porto to the Spanish border some 130miles each way.  Though this wasn't a birding trip you can't take the birding out of the Birder and whilst we cruised we spent time on deck looking, not just at the fantastic scenery and all the many vineyards but looking for any birds that could be heard and seen as you do. 

We flew from Gatwick on 30th April landing at Porto a couple or so hours later and taken by coach to our ship the Douro Elegance moored at Vila Nova de Gaia which lies across the Douro from Porto.

Poole Harbour from our plane en-route to Porto

Our ship.

As soon as we were on board we were shown our cabin and went straight to the lounge for a welcome drink and afternoon tea.

Our Cabin

We soon sailed and were on our way and we went up on deck as we left Gaia heading up river to the first lock.  

Porto Riverside

Our first birds as we left were lots of Yellow-legged Gulls resting and bathing out in the middle of the river.

There are five locks along the river which are the highest in Europe a lift of around 75 feet. They were built to make the journey safer for the boats carrying the barrels of Port wine down river to Gaia for processing, by raising the water levels the small boats didn't have to navigate the dangerous rapids of the river.

This is one of the Rabelo Boat - a Portuguese traditional cargo boat

The Rabelo boats were the only transport up and down the river Douro for centuries.  They are flat-bottomed, with a shallow draught, which was necessary to navigate the often shallow fast-flowing waters of the upper Douro prior to the construction of dams and locks from 1968 onwards.

Carrapatelo Lock: approx. 35 meters (115 feet). Known locally
as "Big Mama", this is Europe's tallest river lock.

We found that around each of the five locks there were a number of species that bred on or around the structures.  Swallow, House and Crag Martin, Swift, Black Redstart, White and Grey Wagtail. You also have opportunity to see birds moving around in the trees and bushes that line the banks of the river.

Riverside View 

As we traveled further up river towards Spain we slowly pick up species most by hearing them Blackcap, Cetti's Warbler, Wren, Blackbird and Serin were everywhere singing from the trees and bushes. We recorded Kingfisher and our first of many Black Kite which were a daily occurrence like the others.

Black Kite © Nick Hull

As we cruised further up river the habitat changed to vineyard after vineyard and we would moor up and visit a number of these establishments. It enabled Jackie and myself to add a few species to our list and see the birds that we had only been hearing along the river.

Our ship coming to pick us up from one of our vineyard visits 

The photograph above shows the vineyard covered river banks with Olive and Almond trees that are another specialty of the valley.

The birds tended to be to distant to photograph but I did manage a few ok shots of a few that dared to get closer to the ship during our periods on deck.

Crag Martin on the side of one of the locks © Nick Hull

Egyptian Vulture as we passed through a narrow Gorge © Nick Hull

The halfway point to the cruise was a visited to Castel Rodrigo and a visit to Salamanca. These visits added a number of species to our birding list.  We saw Nightingale, Red-backed Shrike, Serin Spotless Starlings though like the Serin they were common along the river.  We saw a number of White Storks which were nesting in and around the city as were the Serin.

 

White Stork on the Cathedral roof in Salamanca © Nick Hull

the above White Storks mate on there Cathedral nest - Salamanca

male Serin in the Cathedral Square - Salamanca

In the main square where had our lunch amongst all the Portuguese dignitaries that were depicted in carved stone one was British and that was the Duke of Wellington honoured for pushing Napoleon's French army out of Portugal.

Carved plaque of The Duke of Wellington

We were also told that Portugal had the first astronauts as one was depicted on the carved facade that edged one of the entrances to the 900 year old Cathedral and indeed there was.

The carved Astronaut in the stone facade around a 12th  century Cathedral Door

Though it was very much in keeping with the rest of the carving it was part of a restoration project in 1992 to serve as a modern signature representing the 20th century.  Another of these whimsical carvings was a dragon eating an ice cream.

Dragon eating Ice cream on the Ramos Gate Salamanca

On our return journey to the ship, we recorded our only Grey Heron and Montagu's Harrier of the trip.  Our guide mentioned we would have a brief stop at a gorge where there was a chance of seeing some eagles.  When we stopped and started looking around the gorge, Jackie and I realised that it wasn't eagles but a Griffon Vulture roosting site and there were 8 resting on an outcrop of the gorge and we watched as they lifted off with two soaring up past us and then right overhead.

Some of the resting Griffon Vulture © Nick Hull

One of the Griffons that flew over us © Nick Hull

We rejoined our ship and that evening the bridge near the mooring was lit and the reflections was amazing and very picturesque. 

night time reflections of the bridge

Our return to Porto repeated many of the birds we saw on the outward journey Bee-eater, Golden Oriole, Hoopoe, Black Kite, Griffon Vulture, Alpine Swift.  

As we passed the through the gorge on our return the light was much better and I took a shot of the colourful lichens that covered the rock and boulders.

Colourful lichen covered boulders of the gorge © Nick Hull

On our penultimate day we moored up near at Lamego and  Jackie and I opted out of another vineyard tour and instead we had a walk along the river which turn out to be an excellent decision. We had quite a few birds and flowers which we hadn't seen previously. including Sardinian Warbler. 

Male Sardinian Warbler © Nick Hull

We also had White Wagtail collecting a beak full of insects obviously nesting near by and had young to feed.

White Wagtail © Nick Hull

Not sure if this male Stonechat was looking at us or, what was more likely, spotted some insect which he planned to eat or take to its brood.

Male Stonechat © Nick Hull

Though the best birds of our walk were two Pale Booted Eagle which crossed the valley and passed over head.

Booted Eagle © Nick Hull

Hoary Mullein in the UK ia a nationally scarce plant only found in East Anglia, here it was scattered around in the rough grass areas and along the road verges.

Hoary Mullein Verbascum pulverulentum © Nick Hull

The Purple Milk Thistle is very much a Mediterranean species and not really found very much further north that Northern Portugal and is a specialty found on waste ground.

Purple Milk Thistle Galactites tomentosus © Nick Hull

We finished our holiday with a tour of Porto and a visit to the Railway Station with its amazing tiling. Grand Central Station in New York was pretty good but the tiled scenes here were amazingly detailed and well worth a visit if you're ever visiting.

One of the tiled walls of the Porto Railway Station

Just to summarise, our cruise took eight days cruising approximately 260 mile up and back on the Douro from Porto to the Spanish border with coach trips to Castel Rodrigo and Salamanca.  We saw great scenery tasted good wines and great port wine and learnt all about the making processes and history. We saw and heard 54 species of bird during our trip which highlights included Bee-eater, Hoopoe, Golden Oriole, Griffon and Egyptian Vulture, Montagu's Harrier and Booted Eagle.