Majorca is the largest of Spain's Balearic islands and lies off the Spanish coast in the Mediterranean Sea. It is about 60 miles long and covers approximately 1400 square miles. A mountain chain stretches from the southwestern tip of the island to Formentor in the north but the island is mainly covered by fertile plain.

We hired a car for the day and travelled to Salinas De Levante, an area of salt flats south of Campos and a good place to see birds according to my guide book. I was a bit disappointed in the fact that there were very few birds on the salt-flats but of those we did see, three species were 'firsts' for me. Black-Winged Stilt, Sardinian Warbler and three Hoopoes

Hoopoe

We left Salinas De Levante and headed for La Albufera in the north west, just behind the bustling resort of Alcudia. Albufera is a large freshwater marsh which has been turned into a nature reserve. It has a number of hides overlooking the reedbeds and water but we couldn't spend as much time there as I would have liked because the reserve was closing for the day. There were a few Little Egrets wading in the shallow water, and we saw Mallards, Coots and a single Wigeon. I saw my first Marsh Harrier as a female flew up out of the reeds and off into the distance. It's brown upperparts and cream patches on the fore-wing were unmistakeable.