An action packed today with several venues on the itinerary and some nice sunshine followed us all day, It was very windy for most of the day which spoiled our enjoyment and our bird count somewhat.
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| BAR-TAILED GODWIT |
We left Gaucin at 8:15am and collected mark from Sabanillas, which is on the coast, at 9am. We then set off South/eastward towards Tarifa and we passed through San Roque before stopping at the Salt Marsh found at Palmones. It was a little disappointing as very few species were seen, however, we did find Kentish Plover, Common Ringed Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit (two birds in winter plumage), Little Egret, Eurasian Spoonbill and several gull species.
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| KENTISH PLOVER |
On the way up through the mountains as we headed to Tarifa we stopped at the raptor watch point called Algorrobo just passed Algeciras because we had seen a large flock of vultures circling overhead. The vultures were very low and lots of them were perched on the ground, we spent half an hour just watching this spectacle.
Los Lances beach was also fairly quiet especially for wader species, we only saw Kentish Plover, about 50 Sandwich Terns, lots of Yellow Legged Gulls, a single Mediterranean Gull and a few Lesser Black backed Gulls. Other species seen included Crested Lark, Egyptian Vulture, Common Kestrel, Corn Bunting, Stonechat and Collared Dove.
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| MELODIOUS WARBLER |
Most of our time at La Janda was spent in the car because the wind was so bad, we drove along the central track stopping to watch from the van or sometimes we jumped out or a while. Cattle Egrets and White Storks were everywhere and many Black-winged Stilts waded in the flooded rice fields. We heard Great Reed Warblers without seeing them but we did find: Yellow Wagtail, Little Egret, Bee-eaters, Marsh Harrier, Zitting Cisticola and lots of Mallards.
We drove passed the huge egret colony where nearly 500 nests held young birds almost ready to fledge, we also saw many Turtle Doves, Cetti's Warbler, Wood Pigeon and more Griffon Vultures. During lunch we watched a beautiful Meldious Warbler which sang to us whilst we ate, a Cetti's Warbler showed fleetingly and a few Turtle Doves put in an appearance.
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| some of the group at barbate marshes - as you can see they are not marshes! |
From La Janda we drove round to Benalup and along the way we added a Booted Eagle to the day list. From Benalup we circled round to Vejer where we watched the BALD IBIS colony for a while, these rare birds are doing really well we counted fifteen chicks (all had been banded/ringed) and after a short coffee stop we went round the seafront at barbate.
This newly created nature reserve at Barbate Marshes is fast becoming a great place to visit. It is extremely reliable for Collared Pratincole and Stone Curlew, both of which were in the bag within minutes. The Pratincoles must have numbered over 50 pairs and they all went up after a Kestrel which drifted over the nest colony. We also had excellent views of a few species of larks, Crested, Short-toed, Sky and Calandra all were seen very close to the bus. A Tawny Pipit was a little further away. Also present were: Kentish Plover, Black-winged Stilts and a large gull roost too distant to view through the heat haze.
Our final destination was the Sierra de la Palta at Bolonia, it too some 30 minutes to get there but for the view alone it was worth it. We scanned the rock face and the famous 'cave' for rare swifts, both the White Rumped and the Little Swift are known to breed there. After another 30 minutes we had seen Pallid, Common, Alpine and a couple of White-rumped Swifts and lots of passing raptors. A group of 9 Black Kites flew over as did Short-toed Eagle, Common Kestrel, Common Buzzard, Booted Eagle, Egyptian Vulture and Griffon Vulture.
So ended a great day out, lots of places visited and lots of species seen, time for dinner.
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