From 10 to 13 October, all flyways lead to the Algarve. Dates have been set for the annual birdwatchers' migration to the Algarve. From 10 to 13 October, Sagres hosts the 10th Birdwatching & Nature Activities Festival. In October, thousands of birds fly over the Algarve en route to their wintering grounds in Africa. To celebrate these feathered visitors and make the most of this amazing sight, the festival offers 4 days filled with all kinds of activities.

In April, Lagoa Council sent in heavy machinery to 'clean' the banks of one of the water channels at Alagoas Brancas, in the middle of the breeding season for birds.

Although the GNR's SEPNA nature division were called they said they found no dead birds, yet local residents have photos and a video that prove otherwise.

The Sawday’s guide to extraordinary and legendary places has picked Quinta do Barranco de Estrada on the Santa Clara reservoir as the place for birders to stay if they want to get the best of a ‘Spring birdlife explosion.’

The boutique travel guide, Sawday’s, “still looks for authenticity, warmth and character, places that embody the slow life and where hours of love have been poured into the tiniest detail to create those simple, personal joys that make something truly special.”

A campaign that is raising concerns about planned oil exploration off the Algarve coast has been supported by a donation from a British wildlife holiday company.

A group from Honeyguide Wildlife Holidays has donated £500 (€550) to SPEA, Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves. SPEA is part of the coalition Plataforma Algarve Livre de Petróleo (Platform for an Algarve Free of Petroleum) that is campaigning against oil and gas exploration in the region.

An area in the Baixo Alentejo has been deemed unique, so it must be preserved, thanks to UNESCO.

The Castro Verde Biosphere Reserve is home to some 200 species of bird, including the great bustard (below) a species with 60% of its population found in Portugal and Spain.

A new paper just published by Arrondo et al in the journal Biological Conservation analysed the foraging strategies of 71 griffon and cinereous vultures tagged in Spain and foraging in the Portuguese-Spanish border region - which is largely defined by river valleys and is not associated with any abrupt or systematic change in terms of climate, topography or land cover.

An exciting week for birding and nature enthusiasts as the Sagres Birdwatching Festival returned on October 4th and runs until the 8th, backed by Vila do Bispo council and organised by SPEA. Events are dedicated to nature, birds and outdoor fun.

In Sagres, "you can see almost everything", says André Pinheiro from Almargem, one of the promoters of the initiative who says that it’s the unique landscape which makes this festival not only for bird watching, but for nature in general.

While the Algarve in summer is more renowned for its holiday beaches, increasingly it is gaining a reputation for the wealth of beautiful birds that also migrate here for the season – but unlike the majority of the holidaymakers, they arrive from the south and not from the north.

Several, such as the impressive Alpine Swift and its smaller relatives, the Pallid and Common Swifts, can be watched while prostate on the beach as they zoom around their nest-holes in the cliffs. Others, such as the delicate Subalpine Warbler or the striking Black-eared Wheatear, will take a more determined search inland, but more than repay the effort.