As we pulled into the car park we soon realised that this was a popular spot, as cars continued to pour in as we sorted ourselves out. We walked down to the main beach where there were queues for the boat trips out to the the caves. We soon realised that this was not the right place to access the cliffs, and back tracked and found ours elves heading out to the cliffs from the car park. Looking out over the bay of the small village of Bengali the Atlantic Ocean was that amazing azure blue.
As we stood watching a Common Kestrel drifted past, here you can see the rounded tail feathers in contrast to the angular shape of the Lesser Kestrels yesterday.
The main rock of the area is limestone, and this particular stretch of coast line has been heavily eroded by the sea over millions of years. The irregular coastline formed here has been done so over 24 to 16 million years. Further along the walk we would see the results of rain, sea and wind erosion on the cliffs, but here at Benagil it was about the sea caves, areas that have been worn away by the action of the sea at the base of the limestone cliffs
A short way into the walk we came across a hole under which we could hear the sound of the sea lapping onto the beach. As you can imagine the area was fenced off but it was possible to see through to where the sunlight was just getting through.
It is only possible to reach the cave and beach by sea, so we couldn't appreciate what it was like below, fortunately I have been able to get an image from the internet which shows the magnificence of the sea cave below. We were looking down through the hole at the top, and also a lot of people were walking along a cliff that they thought was solid!
Walking on a little further you get a view of the caves and the cliff face. Here you can see the two entrances, and where the force of the ocean over the years has exploited the weaker limestone strata.
All along the cliff edge pairs of Yellow-legged Gulls were calling to each other as they established their potential nesting site.
Similar Herring Gulls they were once considered a sub-species but were recently split. Aside from the distinctive yellow legs the mantle is a lot darker grey.
Gulls get a really bad press, and here with the many tourists they were hanging around the food vans and stalls looking out for an easy meal, however there is a definite beauty and symmetry about their appearance. In breeding plumage they look quite superb.
We then had to scramble down a valley side that leads to gully heading back in land. This is in fact another tunnel, and along this gully there were sink holes where you could see the tide moving in below. The area was full of scrub, and sheltered, Speckled Wood butterflies were about as well as several pairs of Sardinian Warblers. These are always difficult to get a good shot of as they spend most of their time creeping through the scrub, appearing briefly before moving back out of view. The only real indication of their presence is their nasal calls and scratchy song.
We then arrived at the western edge of the Praia da Marinha, and area of classic Karst erosion. The cliffs are formed by a series of land slips as the ocean erodes away the rock, the coast line gradually receding inland. The limestone rock is very susecptable to the impact of water both from the surface through rain and from the base of the cliffs by the ocean. This produces stacks and arches that can be seen in the form of some really good examples here on the beach.
An arch
Which in fact is a double arch and people were walking on it!
Looking east you can see some of the stacks that line the beach, the arches will eventually become similar stacks.
We walked to the far end of the beach and stopped for a drink. This was not a looped walk so we were re-tracing our path back to the car park, this allowed some different views of the amazing cliffs
We moved a little more inland where there was more open space and short grass, here we came across a Spanish Marbled White, that after a wait settled on the ground.
Inland there were more suitable spots for Sardinian Warblers and there calls could be heard from almost every bush. Coming around a bush I was faced with one out in the open and for once it didn't disappear into the scrub.
The adult male has dark ash-grey upperparts and wing-coverts, whereas mantle and scapulars are tinged brown. The flight feathers are blackish with grey edges. The tail is blackish with whitish edges and white tip. The underparts are greyish-white, with the chin and throat white. The most striking feature though is bright red eye ring around reddish brown eyes.
As we approached the car park a Meadow Brown drifted past, the first on the trip.
It was very warm now, and rather than decide on somewhere else to go we opted to return to the Quinta and spend the rest of the afternoon by the pool. We skirted around the outer edge of Portimao, and in places the traffic was held up by queues at the petrol stations. As we passed a couple of BP garages a little further on the trip back we could see the queues getting longer. Curious to know why this was happening we turned to Google to find out that there was a fuel delivery driver strike that had started the day before and that there were concerns there would become a severe shortage of petrol. As is the case with the media there was a lot of speculation regarding the impact, with concerns both Lisbon and Faro airport would soon be out of fuel.
Back at the Quinta we explored the situation a little further. Fortunately I had filled up at Castro Verde before leaving yesterday, so had about three quarters of a tank. We were planning to go back up the next day because the weather forecast was not good, I was now considering postponing this to see what would happen. The priority had to be to have sufficient fuel to get back to the airport.
After some time at the pool I decided to walk down the track again to check the surrounding fields. Nightingale was once again singing from the bamboo bushes near the road and the swallows were circling around the bridge over the irrigation canal.
I positioned myself near the bridge and waited for the opportunity to catch the swallows in flight. The Red-rumped swallows are not so quick through the air and would hold up in the wind making it slightly easier to catch them
The Barn Swallows were a little more difficult and you had to wait for them to bank or fly at you.
Pleased with the results I decided to head down the track to try and search for the Nightingale that I could still here singing. On one of the posts a Corn Bunting sang, but as I got closer it flew to the reeds at the bottom of the track, where it sang from the top odf a reed stem
I was still intent on trying to find the Nightingale so moved around to get a better view of the bamboo, but the only thing that improved was the volume of the song, the bird stayed firmly in the middle of the bushes. I did though get a better view of the Corn Bunting framed by the seed heads of the reeds.
As I walked back up the track I heard a strange call coming from the field, very similar to that of a cuckoo, but with more emphasis on "oo-pah". I scanned across the field and in one of the dead trees I found a Hoopoe. As it called it would lift its head up and you could see the throat move.
It then flew from the tree to the top of one closer to me, where it continued to call.
I moved slightly for a better view.
Every so often I could hear Quail calling from within the field but nothing would tempt them out Then there was a very similar quip call from above and I turned to see Bee-eaters flying over.
One settle on the top of one of the dead trees.
Then was joined by another.
And another....
Bee-eaters are sociable birds and family groups will all help to raise the young. This was a group of six birds, and as one flew off, the others would follow calling as they flew over and around my head.
Back around the apartment a Serin was singing. This was its favourite spot, but it has always been obscured by the branches. This evening it was perched at the top singing away.
What with the fuel strike and the uncertain weather forecast the next few days would be interesting. We decided not to travel too far at all on Wednesday, but with the forecast it was difficult to know what we would do.
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