Today we ventured into the mountains, the weather had changed for the better and although it was dull and overcast at first it brightened up for the afternoon.
We stopped at the chestnut woods just outside of Gaucin on the Ronda road where we spent a hour searching for Firecrest and other woodland birds. We did find Great spotted Woodpecker, European Robin, Eurasian Nuthatch, Blue Tit and we heard Mistle Thrush and green Woodpecker.
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| the boys in Llanos de Libar |
At short visit to a track near Estacion Cortes produced up to 5 Firecrest, a Pied Flycatcher and a Blackcap.
The River Guadiaro was quite productive too, we watched a flock of Rock Sparrows but also saw Common Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, White Wagtail, Grey Heron, Spotless Starling, Stoenchat and lots of finches.
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| Red Deer stag |
By the time we reached Montejaque and the Llanos de Libar the sky began to clear and it warmed up somewhat. Our walk began after we had eaten our picnic lunch which was interrupted by several Griffon vulture sightings and a Black Wheatear. Birds along the first part of the track were few and far between but as we climbed higher then more activity was noted. Blue Rock Thrushes showed well, then both Black Redstart and Common Redstart were found. A Rock Bunting put in a brief appearance and several Rock Sparrows showed well, at least 4 other Black Wheatears were found and lots of Goldfinches, Linnets, Greenfinches and the odd Chaffinch madea lot of noise in the bushes. We added Blackcap, Sardinian Warbler, Northern Wheatear and Crag martin to the Llanos list.
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| Common Redstart |
After a quick coffee stop we drove into Ronda for a short visit to the famous gorge but failed to see Red-billed Chough as we peered over the bridge.
Lastly we spent a couple of hours at the Encinas Borrachas track it was now quite bright as the cloud completely cleared. We quickly located a couple of Southern Grey Shrikes and a Northern Wheatear. A Thekla Lark was found, tracked down as it sang from a low boulder. A Woodlark then also burst into song on the wing right above us, a lovely surprise and nice to see. The next hour was spent following the antics of a couple of Spectacled Warblers as they flitted from bush to shrub and back again. In the meantime we found a Common Whitethroat, a Raven and 8 Red-billed Chough. We could hear the baying of the stag Red Deer in the distance and we found one or two on the top of the mountains.
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| Southern Grey Shrike |
The light began to fade as we headed back to the car, most of our target species were in the bag and we were happy with our day's sightings, 18 new species for our master list.
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