Wildlife in Lake Garda, Italy
A story of the wildlife seen on my family holiday in Lake Garda
My mum has a flat in Garda, Italy. She was keen for my wife, two kids and I to come so she could enjoy the sunshine with us, so in May we went. This isn’t a personal record of all the details of my family holiday, which was fun with challenging moments, but the fauna that we saw.
Wildlife watching is a new hobby of mine which I only took up seriously in the Autumn of last year. It is something that has captured my imagination . It can be relaxing, and it can pump me with adrenalin when I have found or am following an animal.
On the first day in Italy I saw a number of birds I had never seen before including a Serin - which is something like a Siskin, an Italian Sparrow - which is a bit like a Tree Sparrow, and many of the migrant birds I had been hoping to see in the UK this Spring.
From my mum’s balcony I enjoyed the amusing spectacle of a Spotted Flycatcher catching flies between the branches of the big Italian conifers.
And on the telephone cables I saw my first Redstart - a brightly coloured bird with a sweet call, a little like a Chaffinch but softer.
Around the complex there was a large Oak which bled sap from two places in its exposed roots. This was a favourite meal with the insects and particularly the European Hornets that look especially dangerous with their red heads and thorax, but which actually completely ignored us.
Down by the lake there were hirundine (Swallow and House Martin) and Swift. They looked amazing against the backdrop of the lake. One day when it was raining I found a flight of over 100 House Martin sheltering under the eaves of a house.
On the lake itself were Mallard and Red-crested Pochard - a duck with light orange crest and red bill.
On the Sunday we went down to watch the final leg of the Giro di Italia (Italy’s equivalent to the Tour de France) pass by Peschiera del Garda. For me the event was underwhelming but I did see some impressive Great Crested Grebe.
One was swimming with a chick on its back. On passing a Coot the mother reared up to frighten the Coot away - in doing so throwing the chick on its back into the water. Ducks don’t apologise even to their offspring and it swam on.
A few Grebe were diving and fishing. We could see them under the water chasing the fish fruitlessly.
I also heard the song of a Great Reed Warbler which I later saw thanks to my 8 and 10 year old children pointing it out.
Around Lake Garda I saw Black Kite, Hooded Crow and Firecrest relatively frequently. The Firecrest is a small bird like a Goldcrest but has a white “bandito” eyestripe. Like the Goldcrest it likes to spend its time in the conifer trees.
Cuckoo could be heard frequently around the lake and in the mountains. Despite this I never saw one singing.
On a day out to the hot springs in Parco Termale I saw my first Hoopoe while photographing a Brown Squirrel. My son, daughter and I tracked it through the park. My heart was pounding each time we found it.
We also saw several holes in the trees that the birds were flying in and out of with food and bedding for their young. I saw Greater Spotted Woodpecker there and I wondered if they had made the holes or they were manmade.
One day we went to Parco delle Cascate (park of the waterfalls). Despite the amazing natural beauty I did not see much wildlife except the Black Redstart and couple of large gliding birds of prey which I guess were Common or Honey Buzzard although they may even have been Eagles.
We spent a couple of days in an old house in the mountains near my dad’s house in Clusone, Bergamo. Again Cuckoos were calling and we heard various birds in the trees that I was not able to identify. I saw more Buzzard, Black Kite, Lesser Kestrel and a Green Woodpecker.
There were also small Hare. They came out of the woods one evening across from our mountain house. They had black ears, long black legs and dark markings around their tails.
The kids had great fun catching the Common Lizard, Cricket, Grasshopper, Moth and Butterfly. I had some great moments too with my camera, perhaps the best of which was the magnificent Swallowtail I saw after an unsuccessful trip to photograph a cuckoo. It was really the most beautiful creature. There were also Common Brassy Ringlet, Small Heath, Common Heath and Queen of Spain Frittillery.
I came home having had a great time with my family and with the Italian wildlife.Wildlife watching is a lovely excuse to get outside and see nature at its best.
