after arriving home from Morocco late last night I was up early to meet Pat and Kev for a day out local birding. Pat and Kev have staying in our upper apartment for the last 12 nights and have logged all the village birds and more.
At the river we were blasted by the sound of Common Nightingales and Cetti's Warblers they seemed to be singing from every bush. It was quite windy so the birding wasn't that great but we did see Serin, Sardinain Warbler, Linnets, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Robin and Grey Wagtail.
Over bthe wooded ridge to the west we saw Sparrowhawk, Booted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle and several Griffon Vultures.
We did make a quick stop at Crestellina but it was very windy and quite cold, however we found both Crested and Thekla Larks, Stoenchat, Corn Bunting and a second brief stop was made to to look at acouple of Blue Rock Thrushes.
We made our way down to the river using the track opposite venta Molina and found our first migrants: a female Common Redstart, Woodchat Shrike (5), a female Orphean Warbler and lots of Pallid Swifts.
Every stop we made along the river was rewarded with more Nightingales and Booted Eagles.
But a large group of Bee-eaters were much appreciated during an earlier stop.
At San Enrique we added the local group of Tree Sparrow, more Bee-eaters, a Little Ringed Plover on the river, blackcaps, Chaffinches and Serins in full song.
The laguna at Torreguadiaro was disappointing with only Little Egret, Grey Heron, Cattle Egret, Moorhen and Mallard found on or near the water. A party of Sanderling ran along the beach, crested larks messed about in the dunes and not much else was seen. At the ruined tower near the car park we found Little Owl (2) and Lesser Kestrel (5) we then walked into some open meadows and found a flock of Yellow Wagtails more Kestrels and more Barn Swallows. In a small patch of reeds a Reed Warbler sang its heart out, showing very well at times.
White Storks on their nest's at San Roque provided us with photographic opportunities and we spent our last hour at Castellar watching the huge Bee-eater colony there. At least 60 birds were present providing a splash of colour and melodic entertainment, we also found Little Egret, White Stork and a Great Spotted Woodpecker there.
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