I had been looking forward to the first week in August for many months, years in fact. With one son and family in Norwich and the other son and family in Munich, we had not been able to holiday together since 2019 due to Covid. 2019 and we were in Maspalomas, Gran Canaria and, after two rebookings due to Covid, that is where we went again this year - same hotel.

Just 10 minutes walk from the hotel is a freshwater lagoon called La Charca de Maspalomas, sealed off from the sea by sand dunes and fed by a small stream originating in the mountains. Three years ago there was little there as a drought had made the water semi-stagnant but I still took my camera and managed three late afternoon sessions of about a couple of hours each during the week, before dinner.

Just before I left for my first session, I noticed a small bird in the hotel gardens - a Canary Islands Chiffchaff by the unusual call.

So then on to La Charca.

First to appear was a small family of Black-winged Stilts.

After the first session, the aduly disappeared and the young became quite flighty.

I took some shots of what I thought was a party of House Sparrows - wrong - Common Waxbills- a first for me.

Little Ringed Plovers were very noticeable but as iI already have plenty of photos, I took the odd one as a reord.

On the second day, a party of Whimbrels appeared.

and on the last day, a Bar-tailed godwit also appeared.

The ground around the water was very colourful, even making a juvenile Moorhen look attractive.

a small party of Spanish Sparrows were in the nearby scrub.

I noticed a couple of Collared Doves in the bushes, one much smaller than the other. It flew down with an unusual call so I photographed it for later - an African Collared Dove - another new one for me.

In the high palm trees, there were continuous calls by a parrot species but it wasn;t until around 18.00 that they came down to the bushes. I eventually realised that they were feeding on the sedum for moisture. Always in the depth of the shrubs so patience was the watchword. Monk Parakeets.

So a few hours in the one place and I have well over 100 keepers, with five new species. If only that would happen in the UK!!!!