EXTREMADURA - 7 DAY TOUR - DAY 8 & DAY 1 - MAY 22ND 2012

PARAODR DE GREDOS - BARAJAS (MADRID AIRPORT) - JARAICEJO HEATH + 3 BRIDGES - FINCA SANTA MARTA

It was changeover day today, I took my first group back to Madrid for their departure to the UK and I collected my new group for a repeat of last week's tour and so it DAY 8 for group 1 and DAY 1 for group 2.

But before all that there was a little birtding done at the Parador before breakfast, a nice list of species was amassed before we set off for Madrid. Black Redstart, Coal Tit, Jay, Rock Bunting, Raven, Long-tailed Tit, Common Crossbill, Serin, Short-toed Treecreeper, Blackcap & Blue Tit were all seen in the hotel grounds.

We set off at 9am and arrived at barajas Airport at 11:30am one group departed whilst I met up with Paul (our second driver) and together we drove to Barajas town to collect the second group, all from Cheltenham Bird Club, they had arrived the night before and were now waiting for us to collect them from their overnight hotel.

By 12 noon we were back on the road and heading for Extremadura. We noted White storks, Black Kites, Booted Eagles and lots of Spotless Starlings along the way. Our first was to refuel one of the buses, whilst there we found a pond that held Little Grebe, Mallard, Gadwall & Shoveler. Overhead we recorded Black Vulture, Booted Eagle and more White Storks.

The next stage took us to Jaraicejo heath where we ate our picnic lunch and spent some time looking for scrub warblers. We were not disappointed as found two very obliging Dartford Warblers, a Subalpine Warbler that sang fro the scrub and a couple of Spectacled Warblers also singing from the heath. We had brief views of Sardinian Warbler but good views of Crested Lark, Southern Grey Shrike, Corn Bunting and a pair of Black Storks in the distant sky.

At the '3 brdiges' over the Rio Almonte we spent an hour so enjoying the lovely scenery, the flowers and the bird life. Woodchat Shrike, Kingfisher, Bee-eater, Hoopoe, Stonechat. Blue-rock Thrush, White Wagtail we all seen well, but Common Nightingale and Cetti's Warbler were only heard. As we pulled away from the brdiges we noticed two Short-toed Eagles in the sky, a Raven and several Magpies were logged as we approched Trujillo.

Finca Santa Marta was as lovely as ever, the tranquil setting and idyllic surroundings are just perfect for a bird-watching tour. A short walk before dinner produced Serin, Red-rumped Swallow, Golden Oriole,
Azure-winged Magpie and there were 5 Stork's nest in close proximity to our rooms.

We sat down at 8pm for dinner and during the log call we realised that we had recorded 59 species!! Not a bad start at all for our tour.