A great day with all day sunshine, a little breezy but very warm, top temperature 21 C.
Today I took out John and Mary, our American firends who live just outside the village, Fred, who owns a large house in the village, a Villa fan, and who is here for a few weeks holiday, and Dawn, my precious.
Left to right, Fred, myself, Mary and JohnWe set off at 8am and quickly drove down the mountainside to San Pablo where we took the San Martin road and turned onto my favourite track. We quickly logged several finches, Corn Bunting, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Stonechat, Common Buzzard, Eurasian Kestrel, Black Redstart, Meadow Pipit, Spotless Starling and Sardinian Warbler.
After a quick coffee-stop we set off for San Enrique and along the way we stopped to admire a couple of Little Owls. We arrived at San Enrique Woods which were quiet and the river had had recent ground-work changes made to its banks which completely changed the ecology of the area to the detriment of the wildlife. We only found Kingfisher, Great Spotted Woodpecker and the usual Tree Sparrows.
The laguna at Torreguadiaro proved to be very productive and we spent a good hour enjoying a nice selection of water birds. Grey Heron, Little Egret, cattle Egret, Moorhen, Coot, Mallard, Shoveler, Little Grebe all took second place behind Purple Swamphen, Crag Martin,Little Bittern (3) and Squacco Heron (2). We also found Little Owl on the tower ruins.Out at sea we watched several Northern Gannets diving for fish and as we walked across the sand dunes we put up two Crested Larks.
The laguna Camelias at Torreguadiaro where we saw Little Bittern, Squacco Heron and Purple SwamphenAt Palmones we made two diverse birding stints. The first, on arrival, was a walk along the promenade in the town. There we found Curlew, Whimbrel, Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Kentish Plover, Redshank, Greenshank, a single Ruff, White Stork, Cormorant, Sandwhich Tern, Black-headed, Yellow-legged and Lesser Black-backed Gulls.Obersavations were made difficult because we were looking into strong sunlight.
A nice lunch was enjoyed by all before we drove to the west side of the saltmarsh where we watched the marshes from the raised hide. It was a good move because the sun was now behind us and we commanded a great panoramic view of the whole area. We added Black-winged Stilt, Grey Plover, Dunlin, Water Pipit, Grey Wagtail, Common Snipe and Spoonbill. Soon the goodies started to be found. First a Short-eared Owl was found sitting on the ground, then an Osprey, up to four Marsh Harriers, including a superb male and lastly a Peregrine was seen sitting on a concrete block. The Falcon flew up high and proceeded to dive-bomb a Common Buzzard which would turn over with its talons spread open to thwart the Peregrine's attacks, a great aerial display of flying agility and fantastic bird watching.
Viewing from the raised hide at the Palmones salt marshWe left the marshes at 5pm and drove back to Gaucin via Casares and the Sierra Crestellina where we stopped to look for larks in fading sunlight. A big surprise was the discovery of two Bonelli's Eagles, drifting over and around their nest-site, what a great bird to finish off the day with. But just as we were ready to go we found a Sparrowhawk and a Spanish Ibex, both looking superb in the golden light of the setting sun.
The Soto Grande Lighthouse from the Torreguadiaro beachOur tally for the day was just under 70 species, we all enjoyed a superb day in glorious weather and we took home some treasured memories. Bird of the day for was the Short-eared Owl but others voted for Little Bittern and Purple Swamphen.
new birds for year list:
56. Greenfinch
57. Little Owl
58. Purple Swamphen
59. Little Bittern
60. Squacco Heron
61. Little Grebe
62. Shoveler
63. Northern Gannet
64. Bonelli's Eagle
65. Common Moorhen
66. Common Coot
67. Bl;ack-winged Stilt
68. Eurasian Curlew
69. Ruff
70. Common Snipe
71. Sandwich Tern
72. Common Kingfisher
73. Grey Wagtail
74. Tree Sparrow
75. Serin
76. Short-eared Owl
77. Spoonbill
78. Peregrine Falcon
79. Great Spotted Woodpecker
80. Crested Lark
81. Water Pipit
82. Stonechat
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