Having had a day off from birding yesterday when we went to Gibraltar - we were raring to go today for our ninth day out. The weather had taken a turn for the worst with overcast skies and a chill in the air. We decided to leave the mountains around Gaucin and headed to Jerez to look at a couple of saltpans and lagunas.
Our first stop was the laguna Medina just south of Jerez, it was quite windy but the sky had brightened a lot. We found good numbers of Red-crested Pochard on the lake and Great Crested Grebe, Common Pochard, Shoveler, Little Grebe, Coot and Moorhen. passerines included Zitting Cisticola, lots of Chiffchaff and many Blackcaps and Cetti's Warblers were in song.
The Salinas at Santa Maria were full of birds, a good flock of over 200 Common Shelduck was extraordinary for Spain, Greater Flamingo were also in counted in their hundreds. We also found an obliging Hoopoe, a superb Black Stork, Stone Curlew (3), Kentish Plover, Whimbrel, Redshank, Dunlin, Sanderling, Turnstone and plenty of Yellow-legged and L B B Gulls. On the way out of the pans we found a small flock of Spanish Sparrows and during the whole of our visit there many Black Kites flying over or perched in the surrounding fields.
We stopped to view the Rio Guadalquiver at Sanlucar where we found Bar-tailed Godwit, Turnstone, grey Plover and Redshank.
At the salinas de Bonanza we had an incredible time watch many species at close quarters whilst we ate our lunch in the car. About 300 Slender-billed Gulls fed very close to the car and they were joined by Sanderling, Curlew Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, Redshank (a single flock held 132), Greenshank, Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Grey Plover, Turnstone, Common Sandpiper and Dunlin. Other birds of note were Caspian Tern, Spoonbill, Red Kite and Kentish Plover.
a splendid Redshank in full summer plummge
Slender-billed Gulls - looking very pink after feeding in the salt pansA brief stop at the laguna Tarela produced White-headed Duck, Common and Red-crested Pochard, Little and Cattle Egrets, Black-crowned Night Heron and another Red Kite. We then drove through the pine woods at Algaida hoping for an Azure-winged Magpie but only found Chaffinch and a few Tree Sparrows.
Our last birding stop was the marshes of Trebujena adjacent to the river. In the large open lagunas we found over 40 Marbled Duck, a great find for the trip list! There was also Red-crested Pochard, Spoonbill, Greater Flamingo, Common Pochard, Ruff, bar-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Greenshank, Yellow Wagtail, White Wagtail, Black Kite, Common Buzzard and more Avocets. One very good find was of a Little Gull which was seen feeding, tern like, with a flock of Black-headed Gulls over the laguna. #
We did note some very distant Glossy Ibis but it was hard to get very good views of them, however, as we departed the marshes we found another flock of 15 Glossy Ibis very close to the road, a lovely bird to finish off a great day in the field. It took nearly 2hrs to drive the 125 miles back to Gaucin, we arrived at 7pm, tired and hungry! Dawn had cooked us a delicious meal which was washed down with a nice red wine.
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