Last day! Mick decided to have another go at seabirds and so went out on another Dolphin excursion. I wasn't up for it and instead went to Machico to try for photographs of the Grey Wagtail subspecies, Schmitzi. In summary we both did terribly. Mick saw almost no seabirds, and I botched the single two second opportunity I got by getting a pile of reeds in the way. At this point we gave up birding.
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| There are hundreds of these. I don't understand why people don't eat them. |
Our flight back was early evening, and after a spot of lunch the afternoon was spent having a wander around the Funchal Botanic Garden, where my attention turned to Agaves, Cycads, Palms, Cacti and Aloes. Wonderful - what a climate, oh that I could do something similar here. Well, partly I can I suppose, and plant cuttings that I brought back from Madeira several years ago are now established in my garden - the Agapanthus flower in profusion every year.
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| Aloe plicatilis (now Kumara) in the background, with Agave attenuata in the foreground |
No trip to Madeira is going to see you come back with a large list of birds. Even if you do the pelagics you'll only add a few. It is a case of quality over quantity. You can see the trip list with locations and checklists on eBird, or if that is a bit too dorky, here is a quick reference table.
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