La Rocina – Palacio de Acebron –
Acebuche visitor’s centre – Laguna Madra de la Marismas
Our first full day in Coto
Donana was spent taking a leisurely stroll through the nature reserves in the
Natural Parks surrounding the National Parks. Before we set out we also took an early morning
walk to the edge of the Laguna Madra de la Marismas which is just a few meters
from our hotel.
It was still fairly dark at 7am
when we got there but we still managed to see a few Night Herons flying from
the reed-beds to their day roosts. As the light improved we stood near the visitor's centre to watch the
explosion of egrets, Herons and Ibis as they poured out from their night time
roost. It was simply stunning at times when hundreds of birds took to the air,
we saw Little and Cattle Egrets, Purple, Night and Squacco Herons all in good numbers,
but the Glossy Ibis outnumbered them all by far.
 |
| the view across Laguna Madre de Marismas at dawn |
A section of reeds and pools
produced great views of Night Heron and Purple Swamphen and we s wonderful to
area of open of heath held Woodchat Shrike, Stonechat and we got good views of
Common Cuckoo, a male chasing a female.
 |
| Azure winged Magpie |
Our route took us a cross an area of heath
where we stopped first to admire a Southern Grey Shrike and then a Thekla Lark
singing from the top of a bush, whilst watching the lark we saw a male Dartford
Warbler flitting about in the scrub below the lark.
From the heath we drove further
along the entrance road to a unique piece of deciduous woodland, near the
Palacio de Acebron, this huge building, formerly a Royal Hunting Lodge is now a
Hunting Museum, hundreds of Spanish visitors were making lots of noise around
the area.
 |
| female Long-tailed Blue |
it was now around 12 noon so bird activity had
greatly reduced in the woodland. The walk through was a nice experience we did
see a few species, Short-toed Treecreeper, Great Spotted Woodpecker and lots of
Chaffinches. One interesting sighting made by two of the group near the car
park was of a Wryneck!
Our afternoon was spent at the wonderful
Acebuche Centre, some of the group ate lunch near the car park where very close
views were had of Azure-winged Magpie and the rest of us ate in the restaurant.
Our walk in the hot afternoon produced very little, a few short glimpses of
Golden Oriole and later even shorter views of Common Redstart were the
highlights. We did watch several Booted Eagles and Black Kites drifting
overhead and of course the nesting White Stork and Red-rumped Swallows provided
some nice entertainment.
 |
| part of the group on the boardwalk at Acebuche |
Finally we drove back to El Rocio
after a short stop at the cliffs of Matalascanas, the beach was heaving and sea
was devoid of birds, we did a single Sandwich Tern. Our visit to the Laguna of
El Rocio was very nice, the light was superb and hundreds of birds were strewn all
over it. We added a Northern Pintail to the list but we did enjoy the lovely
colourful spectacle of water, sedges, reeds and grass with the contrasting
White Village of El Rocio in the background.
 |
| Squacco Heron at Laguna Madre de Marisma |
After a lovely dinner on the
terrace, we made an effort to see Red-necked Nightjar at La Rocina. The evening
was perfect, very still with a wonderful sunset. However we had only up to 10pm
because the gates are closed at that time. By 10pm it wasn’t quite dark enough,
we did hear 2 or 3 nightjars but none we on the wing by the time we had to
leave.
No comments:
Post a Comment