At last we had a day of sunshine with no rain and little wind, terrific. We started at the usual time of 8am and today we were joined by local birders Paul from the village and Penny from Casares.
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| on the boardwalk at Los Lances beach |
We arrived at the beach area of Tarifa at about 9:30am and quickly got a few species in the bag. Lots of swifts drifted over and we logged Common, Pallid and Alpine Swifts as well as Sand Martin, House Martin and Barn Swallow. On the grass fields behind the beach we found Short-toed Lark, Crested Lark, Yellow Wagtail and Corn Bunting.
The beach was fairly quiet but we found Kentish Plover, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, Sanderling, Dunlin and a few Yellow-legged Gulls.
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| a picket line at La Janda |
We had a great time at La Janda with many species seen and some nice migrant species too. Bee-eaters and Collared Pratincoles were my first for the year as well as Common Whitethroat, Reed Warbler and Little Ringed Plovers. As we travelled along the central track we found Yellow Wagtails, Purple Swamphen, Water Pipit, Great White Egret and lots of Eurasian Spoonbills
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| Kentish Plover |
Overhead we noted Booted Eagle, Black Kite, White Stork, Griffon Vulture and we had great views of a perched Short-toed Eagle. We also saw Western Marsh Harrier, Common Kestrel and lots of Green Sandpipers.
We ate our lunch on the northern side of La Janda on the track to Benalup,where we watched a Little Owl, Raven, Jackdaws, Red-legged Partridges, Common Pheasants and a good number of Woodchat SHRIKES.
At Venter we stopped to watch the Bald Ibis colony, they seem to doing well with 10 nests in view and all looked to be well attended by both parents, perhaps some of them had eggs in the nest.
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| litter collected? |
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| group at Barbate |
Lastly we visited Barbate where a new nature reserve is developing nicely. Large shallow lagoons held a good number of species, we saw Dunlin, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Sanderling, Greenshanks, Redshank, Black-winged Stilts, Pied Avocet but the best bird found was again the Collared Pratincole. Driving further into the reserve we came across Calandra Lark, Short-toed Lark, Audouin's Gull, many Eurasian Spoonbills and a nice pair of Stone Curlew.
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| Collared Pratincole |
Well that concluded our day out, we drove back to Gaucin shopping at the Morador de Estrecho for an ice cream, it was a lovely day with lovely weather.
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