BELEN PLAIN
– SANTA MARTA – MONROY – EMBALSE TALAVAN – RIO ALMONTE – LLANOS DE CASARES –
SANTA MARTA.
A mixed bag
concerning the weather today, we awoke to a thunderstorm, followed by light
rain and then we had patches of bright sunshine with showers. We now have (7pm)
another thunderstorm with heavy rain! Such fun!
After a
lovely breakfast we set off for the nearby Belen Plains, it was just light
enough to scope the wide grass plains at 8:30am when we arrived there. Lots of
small flocks of Corn Buntings littered the grass verges and fences whilst
bigger flocks of Lapwings sat out in the fields. Many Crested and Thekla Larks
flew up from the track or sat on rocks looking woeful as they all had had a
soaking. We found two Little Owls on a dry stone wall and then a third appeared
further along the track. A couple of Eurasian Hoopoes provided some photographic
opportunities and many Meadow Pipits put in an appearance.
Our best
sighting was of 5 Little Bustards, they were distance but were still special
for us, a couple of Red Kites and a Common Kestrel were all we saw of raptors
until we found a single Griffon Vulture sitting in the middle of a stubble
field.
After
stopping off in Central Trujillo to buy our picnic lunch we set off for the
plains around Santa Marta, our main target species being sandgrouse. It took a while
but we found a mixed flock of Black-bellied and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, they
were distant but recognisable. Two Great Bustards flew by as were we watching
the sandgrouse.
After
driving through Santa Marta and then to Monroy (where we stopped for a quick
coffee) we headed for the Reservoir
(Embalse) at Talavan. Just before we reached the reservoir we stopped to
scope a large bird of prey sitting on a pylon, it was in fact a Golden Eagle,
fantastic.
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| 3 Views of Golden Eagle |
At the reservoir we found several Common Snipe, Meadow Pipits, a
Dartford Warbler, Blackcap and another Golden Eagle! Huge flocks of Spanish
Sparrows were dashing about and further along the water we saw two Great White
Egrets, Grey Heron, Eurasian Teal, Northern Shoveler, Mallard and Gadwall. The
sky cleared and the sun came out whilst we ate our lunch, mnay Griffon Vultures
took to the air and circled on the thermals.
Our next
venue was the bridge over the River Almonte near Casares, we drove down into
the valley on a dirt track and parked below the bridge. As we got out of the
van we saw several Black Vultures drifting right over us, fabtastic views and a
first for the gang. Then, after a short search, we found two male Black
Wheatears, a Black Redstart, a European Robin and above us a flock of Crag
Martins were joined by a couple of Red-rumped Swallows and 5 House Martins. On
the way back up the track a Blue Rock Thrush flew across the track in front of
us so we all piled out of the van to photograph this blue beauty.
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| Black Wheatear |
Our journey
back to the guest house was interrupted many times with stops to photograph
birds, a flock of over 500 Calandra Larks was an impressive sight, also Many
Iberian Grey Shrikes sat out in the open, we also found our first Whinchat of
the trip and lots of Northern Wheatears sat on the fence-lines. Red-legged
Partridges sat out on rocks and Eurasian Hoopoes posed on gate posts for us.
We crossed
the Rio Almonte once again near Santa Marta where we found a Green Sandpiper,
Cirl Bunting, Sardinian Warbler and a Eurasian Sparrowhawk.
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| Red-legged Partridge |
Other stops
were to watch Ravens, a female Hen Harrier and more Red Kites. When we got to
the guest house we realised that we had avoided torrential rain, power cuts and more
thunderstorms, how lucky we had been all day!!
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