WELCOME TO THE BLOG OF WINGSPAN BIRD TOURS



ALL NEWS, BIRD SIGHTINGS AND TOUR UPDATES WILL ALSO BE RECORDED ON MY WEB-SITE BLOG PAGES FOUND HERE


http://www.wingspanbirdtours.com/blog




FURTHER DETAILS OF FUTURE TRIPS CAN BE FOUND ON OUR MAIN WEBSITE:-



http://www.wingspanbirdtours.com/






FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT PARTICIPATED IN A WINGSPAN TOUR DURING 2017, THANK YOU FOR YOUR CUSTOM & YOUR COMPANY AND WE WISH YOU HEALTH AND HAPPINESS FOR 2018.

THE PROGRAMME FOR SPRING 2018 IS NOW ON MY

WEBSITE BUT HERE IS A PREVIEW



Jan 2nd - 5th - Somerset Levels

Jan 7th - 20th. - Sri Lanka. £1850

Feb 16th - March 3rd Costa Rica - full

Mar 20th - 30th Morocco - 10 nights. - full

April 2nd - 9th - Andalucia migration tour. - full

April 10th - 18th - Coto Donana & Extremadura - £950 - 2 places

April 19th - 27th - Coto Donana & Extremadura - £950 - full

April 28th - 5th May. - Lesvos - full

May 6th - 13th - Portugal - £950 - 4 places

May 15th - 22nd - Northern Greece - full

May 23rd - 30th Bulgaria - £850 - 4 places

May 23rd - 30th - Andalucia birds and butterflies - £850

May 31st - June 7th. - Extremadura and Sierra de Gredos - £950

June 12th - 20th - Pyrenees and Picos de Europa - full


FLIGHTS NOT INCLUDED IN THESE PRICES



BOOK NOW TO SECURE YOUR PLACE SEND AN E-MAIL TO:

E-mail: bobbuckler49@hotmail.com





















Red-throated Bee-eater

Red-throated Bee-eater
join us for a fantastic tour of The Gambia this November

Thursday, April 21, 2011

TARIFA & COTO DOÑANA 7-DAY TOUR - DAY 6 APRIL 20th

Corredor de Verde – Dehesa de Pilas – Dehesa de Abajo – Jose Valverde Visitor’s Centre

96 SPECIES RECORDED TODAY

The weather stared off bad with wind and rain over the hotel but as we drove northward through El Rocio and across to Villamonrique it improved and continued to improve throughout most of the day. At last! Some sunshine and not a lot of wind, this made bird watching so much more enjoyable.




Along the Corredor de Verde we stopped many times to watch Woodchat Shrikes, Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Serin, Sardinian Warbler and Nightingale. Our first walk produced a pair of distant Black-winged Kites and we witnessed for the first time a food pass, remarkable, none of us had ever seen this before.

We drove further along the track to view a laguna that was practically birdless and then we found another Black-winged Kite that WAS perched on a pylon very much closer to us, excellent views were enjoyed by all.

Dehesa de Pilas, a square shape wood of eucalyptus produced thousands of Spanish Sparrows, tens of Bee-eaters, lots of black kites, white storks, a whinchat, a hoopoe and a couple of booted eagles. We also noted a few Collared Pratincoles along the way.

At dehesa de Abajo the birds on the large laguna were distant as usual but some were alittel closer. A great reed Warbler sand loudly from the tamarisk, a kingfisher flashed by and a Little egret sat on a fence extremely close to us. On the water we saw Gadwall, Common and Red-crested Pochard, all three grebes, Greater Flamingo, Spoonbill and common coot. Alonga track on the opposite side of the road we searched for reeling Savi’s Warbler, a couple showed very briefly, as did Reed Warbler but it was too breezy for them to sit on top of the reeds.



In the smaller lagunas we found a couple of good ‘Donana’ species in the shape of Marbled duck and Red-knobbed Coot, both showed very well as did a couple of night herons. We had lunch at a small Venta before heading off to the valverde Centre found deep in the marshes of the National Park. The drive was littered with many stops as we found many species. Some of the most notable were Calandra lark, Short-toed lark, whinchat, yellow wagtail, northern wheatear, short-toed eagle, booted eagle and griffon vulture.



MARBLED DUCK



RED-KNOBBED COOT

There was a large amount of water lying in the flat meadows and marshes these areas held black-winged stilts, purple herons, cattle, little and great white egrets, grey heron, glossy ibis and white stork. We had great views of Collared Pratincole, lapwing, dunlin, ringed plover, curlew sandpiper, whiskered terns and gull-billed terns. At the centre itself the tamarisk bushes were covered in nesting cattle egrets, night herons, squacco herons and reeds held large numbers glossy ibis, purple heron and great reed warblers. The air was alive with moving birds and sound was terrific.

We spent an hour or so in the centre before driving back along the track to watch over the reed-beds in search of little bittern, which was seen by only me! We heard a purple Swamphen calling, and the noise from a dozen great reed warblers was deafening! In the distant sky we could see a good number of griffon vultures rising from the ground, several black kites drifted over and lesser kestrels seemed to be on many posts.



The drive back through the marshes produced very little in the way of new birds, a common whitethroat, more whinchats, lots of yellow wagtails and a good number of short-toed larks were found along the track and fenceline.

We stopped to look at a regular breeding area for Spanish imperial eagle and after a short while a pair of these magnificent birds appeared and chased off a couple of black kites, the birds were distant but the light was good.

The rest of the journey back was made in good time, we passed through a rain shower but it was clear at the coast and the wind had dropped. We met for dinner at the usual time and decided to try for nightjars afterwards.

At 9pm we found ourselves on the heath along the track to the Palace de Acebron. As it got dark we heard and saw a little owl, a cuckoo and a couple of red-necked nightjars. The nightjars called for a short while, then two them took to the air not far from us, they interacted, possibly mating and then flew off. One drifted across the road a second time, silhouetted in the evening sky, gliding with its wings held high and that was it!

No comments:

Post a Comment