Pictures by Ray Tipper - More about Ray...
More about Ray Tipper
Ray Tipper began his birding on the North Kent Marshes at the age if eleven. He left his native Britain in 1973 spending most of the next 22 years in Hong Kong. As a trustee of WWF he was intimately involved with its renowned Mai Po Nature Reserve. It was in Hong Kong that Ray turned to bird photography, which quickly became his major interest. He gained associateship of the Royal Photographic Society in 1990, and his photographs appear in journals and books throughout the world. Ray guides specialist birdwatching and bird photography tours and since 1997 has led more than 100 tours in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and Madagascar. He now lives in the Algarve, where his intimate knowledge of its birds has been recognised by his appointment as Chairman of the Portuguese Rarities Committee.
Greater Short-toed Lark - Calandrella brachydactyla
Noticeably smaller than Crested Lark, the Greater Short-toed Lark is equally partial to open ground without trees, grassland, farmland, both arable and pasture, bare and waste ground. As a long-distance migrant, it arrives in the Algarve from its winter quarters in West Africa from late March and early April, betraying its presence with its bouncing, aerial song-flight that is regularly performed for five minutes or more at a time. It cannot be regarded as common but can usually be found in the Sapal de Venta Moinhos area of Castro Marim nature reserve, the barrier islands hugging the coast of the Eastern Algarve and the wind-swept plateau of Sagres.
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