DAY 8 - 10 DAYS IN ANDALUCIA

LOS BARRIOS - OJEN VALLEY - LOS LANCES - LA JANDA

The wind of the last few days had completed gone, but it was still very cold to start with. Some cloud appeared during the morning but it burnt off later giving us a beautiful, warm afternoon.

Paul from Gaucin joined us today, we set off at 8:30am and took the scenic route towards Los Barrios via Castellar and Jimena de la Frontera. We stopped at the land fill to look for Black Kites, we saw hundreds of them. They were perched everywhere, trees, hillsides, buildings and on rubbish! They were joined by hundreds of Griffon Vultures, cattle Egrets, Gulls and the odd White Stork - the smell was awful.

Leaving the aroma of the rubbish tip we drove passed Los Barrios and crossed into the Alcornacales Natural park and traveled the length of the Ojen valley looking for migrant raptors. Our search started well with 7 Short-toed Eagles flying over but from then on it proved to be very quiet. The bumpy track was 15 kilometers long and we saw only a handful of Griffon Vultures, a few Common Kestrels and a couple of Common Buzzards. Many passerines flew across the track as we progressed, Song Thrush, Robin, Sardinain Warbler, Black Redstart, Blackcap, Jay, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and we heard a Mistle Thrush singing.

Sand Crocus - taken by Penny Robinson

Next we parked near the beach at Los Lances - Tarifa. It was lovely and sunny with very little wind - not ideal for the surfing capitol of the world. The beach held a good flock of Audouin's Gull,
Yellow-legged Gulls, L B B Gulls, Black Headed Gulls, Sandwich Terns and a lone Caspian Tern. The Caspian Tern took off and dived for fish right in front of the hide we were using! Waders included over 50 Sanderling, Dunlin and a single Redshank. We also found Meadow Pipit, Crested Lark, Barn Swallows and a few House Martins.

For the rest of the afternoon we had a fabulous time at La Janda. This bird rich area lived up to its expectations and supplied some great sightings. We parked at the start of the central track and ate our picnic lunch which was interrupted many times by bird sightings. During this time we found a couple of hundred White Storks, 4-500 Common Cranes, Marsh Harrier, a superb male Hen Harrier, lots of Grey Herons, Little and Cattle Egrets. But the star bird had to be the male Bluethroat that showed very well for a brief spell in the ditch right next to us.

We drove along the central track stopping at a couple of flooded rice fields, one field was covered in wagtails a conservative estimate was 200 Yellow Wagtails (Ibericae), 100 White Wagtails, there was also a good number of Meadow Pipits and they were joined by several Water Pipits a couple which were in summer plummage. Other birds found in these two fields included many Common Snipe, Spoonbill, Greenshank, Ringed Plover, Redshank, Green Sandpiper (4) and a good sized flock of Corn Buntings.

Our next stop was on the track to Benalup where we watched a hillside for sightings of raptors. First we found another Hen Harrier ( a ringtail this time), Marsh Harrier, lots of Griffon Vultures and Black Kites. We also had several sightings of Spanish Imperial Eagle there were 2 possibly 3 juveniles. Two were in view at the same time and interacted by soaring and chasing one another, that was great.

One the return drive we stopped to look at Red-legged Partridge, a large flock of Golden Plover flying high overhead and a perched Black-winged Kite. This bird took off and began hovering not too far away, it then moved around a field hovering in many places looking for prey. A great bird to finish off a lovely day filled with good sightings and large numbers of birds - La Janda truly is a place for birds.