A full day packed with some lovely venues and some super sightings, it was a lovely sunny day with not much wind but a nice breeze developed in the afternoon.
We set off from Gaucin at 8:30am taking the road to Algeciras after 15km we turned off towards San Martin and stopped at track that leads over the hill to marchanilla. The air was alive with bird song as we got out of the bus and we soon located a Common Nightingale and then a Melodious Warblers , the latter showed very well.
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| Melodious Warbler |
As we walked along the track we saw several Sardinian Warblers, Zitting Cisticolas, many Greenfinches and Goldfinches, the track was buzzing with bird life. A few raptors appeared, we saw Common Buzzard, Booted and Short-toed Eagles, lots of Bee-eaters called as they passed over and hundreds of migrating Common Swifts passed over.
As we got into the open area of the valley we found Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Serin and Pied Flycatcher. We then hit a small purple patch with the raptors as we saw a perched Hobby, an Osprey and a Eurasian Sparrowhawk. More birds of prey began to appear over the ridges joining lots of Griffon vultures on the thermals. Our last new bird for the day was a Little Owl found on the way back down the valley.
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| climbing the track the open valley |
We then made the short trip to San Enrique Woods where we found Tree Sparrows near the sewerage works along with White Wagtail and a flock of some 40 Bee-eaters. In the woods we watched Great Spotted Woodpeckers feeding young, a couple more Pied Flycatchers, Eurasian Chiffchaffs and some common species.
The Laguna at Torreguadiaro was almost devoid of life, we only saw Moorhen, mallard and a Little Grebe. We then drove to Palmones where we spent the rest of the afternoon, first we visited the east side and walked along the new promenade. From there we found: Common Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Dunlin, Sanderling, Common Sandpiper and Lots of Yellow-legged Gulls. A few Yellow Wagtails zipped by and a small flock of Eurasian Spoonbills sat on the marsh with the odd Little Egret and White Stork.
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| a snake sp. |
Before driving over the the west side of the marsh we sat drinking coffee along the promenade, from there we saw a small group of Black Kites fly over and surprisingly a single Red Kite was with them.
Our visit to the western marshes produced some new species for our list, a Whimbrel fed in marshes catching small crabs, several Black-winged Stilts fed on the muddy banks as the tide receded, we also saw a with very red plumage especially around the head and neck, it was a male developing it's wonderful breeding plumage.
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| Whimbrel in the marsh |
Lastly we stopped off at Sierra Crestellina and was rewarded by some excellent sighting of Bonelli's Eagle both at the nest and in flight. We also saw Raven, Woodchat Shrike and lots of Griffon Vultures.
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| Common Kestrel |
After dinner we made an excursion down to the river Guadiaro to look for Nightjars and Owls, it was a perfect evening, bright moon, very still air and still quite warm. But alas we never heard a single nightjar and only saw two Little Owls!!
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