I had a nice, winter break on Gozo, where we got to witness an impressive storm which brought huge waves and at least 30 Yelkouan Shearwaters within sight of my clifftop vantage point. Thankfully, the storm only lasted one day and the rest of the week was perfect weather for walking around the island and familiarising myself with its birds, most notably Spectacled Warbler, which was singing everywhere. The first few days only provided fleeting glimpses of Blue Rock Thrushes, the national bird of Malta, but there were lots of them at Ta Cenc cliffs, including several, powdery-blue males, although I only managed to photograph one female.
By far the most scenic walk we did was from Sannap Cliffs (below) down to Xlendi and, whilst this was more of a break in the sun than a birding trip, a pair of Goldcrests, a scarce winter visitor to the islands, became the final and 25th species of my short week away.
