Herculaneum
Roman Herculaneum, with modern Herculaneum and Mount Vesuvius in the background.
Of course, I was also watching for birds. A species with a very isolated global range, the Italian Sparrow, was abundant here (and elsewhere in the area) and this was a new bird for me. It seems likely that it originated as a population of hybrids between House and Spanish Sparrows, and over time it has become reproductively isolated from the two to become a species in its own right. In appearance (unsurprisingly), the males are intermediate between the two species, though the females are seemingly inseparable from female House and Spanish Sparrows.
Italian Sparrow, Herculaneum.
Without looking closely, I had originally dismissed this bird and the group of similar individuals around it as Italian Sparrows, but looking at my pictures I realised that these were in fact Tree Sparrows, a nice bonus species to have seen! The black spot on its cheek is the main clue as to its identity.
Other birds seen around the ancient town included Yellow-legged Gulls, Jackdaws, Magpies, Barn Swallows, House Martins, Hooded Crow, my first Blackcaps of my challenge and a large number of Serins, which is always a great species to see.
Serin, Herculaneum.
The next day, we got back onto the train and headed to Pompeii. Walking around this city was an incredible experience, especially around the thin cobbled streets. It was truly harrowing to think of the extreme tragedy that had occurred in this area, which was really brought to life by the display showing some of the petrified bodies found in the city.
Sadly, we discovered that many of the city's greatest attractions were closed to the public during our visit for restoration work. It isn't surprising that such work has to be carried out, with the enormous numbers of tourists wandering around the streets (many of whom seem far more interested in achieving the perfect selfie for their various social network accounts than taking in the incredible sights of the ancient city). I shall have to revisit some day!
I tried my best to add some birds to my challenge list, and was rewarded with several fly-over Hoopoes (definitely one of my favourite species), and a male Sardinian Warbler. On top of that, Italian Sparrows were again abundant, along with Barn Swallows, Hooded Crows, Kestrels and Serins in good numbers.
For our final full day in Italy, we decided to visit Capri Island. On the ferry from Sorrento, I hoped to find Scopoli's and possibly Yelkouan Shearwaters, but sadly four Yellow-legged Gulls was all I could manage. We spent much of the day walking around the stunning, but extremely over-crowded island. In a wilder area, I found a number of Serins, Alpine Swifts, Kestrels, Hooded Crows, Barn Swallows and Ravens. Sardinian Warblers were calling from everywhere, though I didn't manage to see one. Late in the afternoon, we took the cable car up to the highest point on the island.
The cable cars were single seats with a slightly rickety bar holding the passenger in place. It was an amazing experience to travel up the mountain in this way and the views on the journey were truly incredible.
The views from the top.
Both Pallid and Alpine Swifts were very common up here, though they were far too fast for me to be able to photograph them.
The Yellow-legged Gull was abundant on Capri.
We soon headed back down, and caught the return ferry back to Sorrento. Sadly no Shearwaters were seen on the return journey either. The next morning we flew back to Gatwick to bring to an end a fantastic short holiday. It is now less than two weeks' before I head to the USA, which is extremely exciting! In the meantime, I will be trying to get as much birding in the UK in as possible, and hopefully I will be able to get close to 115 species before I leave.
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