A GREAT WINTER FIND - LITTLE BITTERN AT LAGUNA TORREGUADIARO!
My last day-tour of the year began at Jimera de las Frontera where I collected Rory, a visitor from Wyoming, at 8:30am.
It was a bright morning but very windy and after 4 days of constant rain the fields, meadows and rivers were full of rain-water.
We visited Soto Grande first. Both areas of the Natural Park were flooded with large parts impassable. We found several species on and around laguna Torreguadiaro; Gadwall, Shoveler, Mallard, Cetti's Warbler, Crag Martin, Chiffchaff, Crested Lark, Sardinian Warbler and many gulls.
Offshore, flying over a blustery sea, there were many Gannets feeding and hundreds of gulls milled around.
At Palomones the wind got even stronger, it was difficult to hold our binnoculars still. We watched the salt marsh at low tide from the 'Promenade', and later, from the hide on the west side of the marsh.
Redshank, Greenshank, Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey, Ringed & Kentish Plover, Dunlin, Sanderling, Oystercatcher, Spoonbill, Sandwich Tern, Osprey, Marsh Harrier & Griffon Vulture were all seen on or near the mudflats.
At the back of the salt marsh we could see 200+ White Storks and over 50 Grey Herons.
A short stop at Pinar del Rey added Crested Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper, Blackcap and a few common woodland species. We popped into the fruit fields at San Enrique where we found Tree Sparrow, Meadow Pipit, Sparrowhawk and good numbers of Chaffinch.
Lastly we returned to Soto Grande to look for Purple Swamphen, but instead we found a superb adult male Little Bittern, It sat in the afternoon sun at the base of the reed-bed in a sheltered area. a great bird to finish off our day, Rory was very pleased as he found the bird and identified it, very good for an Amercian in Spain!
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