I’m writing this on the plane as we return from a family holiday on Tenerife from 8th-15th April. We spent a pleasant week in the comfortable Riu Arecas hotel in Adeje. Adeje is in the south west of the island - towards the northern end of the hotel sprawl that extends along the coast and includes Los Cristianos, Las Americas and Costa Adeje.
The area around the hotel offered little in the way of wildlife. The bird highlights were Canary Islands Chiffchaff, Plain Swift, a Whimbrel, small rafts of Cory’s Shearwater on the sea viewed distantly from our balcony and a free-flying African Grey Parrot. On walks to the beach we saw a colony of African Grass Blue butterflies, a Scarlet Darter dragonfly and a small number of Tenerife Lizard.
We hired a small car for 2 days. On one day we drove to see Mount Teide and the Las Cañadas caldera which was worthwhile for the incredible volcanic scenery alone. The caldera is huge measuring 16 x 9 km and the summit of Mount Teide is 3,718-metre (12,198 ft) making it the highest point in Spain. On the way we stopped at the well known picnic site at Las Lajas, north of Villaflor, where few birds were seen and I felt fortunate to see African Blue Tit, Canarian sub-species of Great Spotted Woodpecker, Atlantic Canary and Blue Chaffinch. Berthelot’s Pipit was recorded at a few stops, including a confiding individual feeding around the feet of tourists on the terrace at Parador de Cañadas del Teide. The following day I made an early start and drove to the laurel forests at the northern end of the island. At the El Llano de las Viejos picnic site, north of Las Mercedes, I saw Bolle’s Pigeon (several), African Blue Tit and heard a Tenerife Kinglet. Driving a little further on to the view point at Pico del Ingles views across the laurel forest were hampered by low cloud. It was surprisingly cold. Returning to El Llano de las Viejos no pigeons were seen, but a Tenerife Kinglet gave good views. I then drove westwards to the Mirador Las Grimonas lay-by to the west of La Orotava. The habitat did not look promising, but a Laurel Pigeon soon appeared with at least 5 seen during my short visit. The return drive to Adeje was via Mount Teide National Park with Berthelot’s Pipit one of the few species seen. As time was short there was no opportunity to check out another Blue Chaffinch site at Zona Recreativa Chio Pinar – something for another time.
On 12th we joined a whale watching trip, with a company called FreeBird, from nearby Puerto Colón. On the 3 hour trip we saw Bottle-nosed Dolphin (several) and 25+ Short-finned Pilot Whale (mostly very close) and a few tens of Cory’s Shearwater. However, the weather was dreadful with continuous drizzle, occasional heavy showers and a blustery wind. We accepted a free trip on 14th. This time the weather was excellent and as well as seeing Short-finned Pilot Whale we enjoyed memorable views of Atlantic Spotted Dolphin with at least 30 around the boat, mostly bow riding, for over half-an-hour. We also saw 2 Portuguese Man o' War – not actually a jellyfish – one of which was fished out of the sea and placed in a tank for us to view.
The most surprising wildlife moment was stepping out of our hotel room one evening at c21:00 and seeing several tens of Cory’s Shearwater wheeling overhead illuminated by the hotel lights. They were highly vocal and their bizarre calls reminded me of the display calls of Black-tailed Godwit. This gathering started at about 21:00, but had finished by 21:30.
Tenerife turned out to be an excellent choice as a family holiday destination for us with great weather, several close beaches and a lovely hotel plus good birding and wildlife watching opportunities - something to keep everyone happy.