Megan and Mathew joined me for their second day out. I collected them from their holiday home in Jimena de la Frontera at 8am. It was bright and sunny and quite warm, no noticeable wind - a perfect day.
We drove straight down to the coast via Castellar where we counted over 50 White Storks perched on their nests along the railway line. At the coast we drove into thick mist and low cloud which got thicker as we drove through Algeciras towards Tarifa.
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| Cazalla raptor watch point near Tarifa |
The road rises up over the hills as we approached Tarifa and we rose above the clouds into superb sunshine with a clear blue sky. The raptor watch sat in warm sunshine and was very still, no wind for a change. Birds began to appear as the air temperature rose we saw single Black kites, Short-toed Eagles and Booted Eagles. After an hour there were many of the above, all rising on thermals in groups of 10-20 birds. We also saw a flock of 10 Black Storks and some Griffon Vultures. On the ground we found Northern Wheatear, Red-legged Partridge, Sardinian Warbler, Crested Larks and a few Stonechats. Many Red-rumped Swallows flew passed as did a single Common Swift and an Alpine Swift.
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| Spotless Starling singing in the autumn sunshine |
Next we made a brief stop at the beach of Los Lances but the mist was too thick to see anything except: Cattle Egrets, Spotless Starling and a single Little Egret fed along the shoreline.
Our visit to La Janda was littered with many stops and some great sightings. The air remained still so the temperature crept up as the day wore on. A flock of some 300 White Storks was a nice sight and soon we were watching: Corn Buntings, Zitting Cisticola, Green Sandpipers and dozens of Cattle Egrets.
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| just one of the hundreds of White Storks seen in La Janda |
As we ventured along the central track we watched Marsh Harriers and a single Montagu's Harrier and at one point we saw both of those circling above us together with a Black Winged Kite!
On the track to Benalup we saw another 4 Black winged Kites, many Yellow Wagtails, Red-legged Partridge, Common Pheasant and a flock of Jackdaws. At a pool near benalup we found two Lapwings, Common Snipe, Common Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, Black winged Stilt and a single Collared Pratincole hawked insects above us. Then we found two adult Bonelli's Eagles circling very high above us and the next sighting was the spectacle of above 500 White Storks circling on the thermals, they rose to a great height before drifting off towards the coast.
Our last port of call was the Marshes at Barbate (Sewer works near Vejer). As usual the whole area was covered with birds: Glossy Ibis numbered in their hundreds as did Black-winged Stilts. We also saw Wood sandpiper (6), Green Sandpiper (4), Common Sandpiper (2), Common Snipe (11), Shoveler (2) there were also many Common Coot, Moorhen and several Common Ringed Plover.
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| not the usual bird that you would expect on a fence wire |
All day long we had sightings of Short-toed Eagles, Booted Eagles, Marsh Harriers and Black Kites as they drifted off to Africa.
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