JUNE 20TH 2014 - PYRENEES & PICOS DE EUROPA - 9 DAY TOUR - DAY 8

FUENTE DE AND PEMBES BEECH WOODS

 

WALLCREEPER - SNOW FINCH - ALPINE ACCENTOR - ALPINE CHOUGH - WATER PIPIT - BLACK REDSTART

This was our last day of birding and we certainly went out with a bang, this group does not mess about, we had a number of target species and we saw them all. The weather could not have been better, high cloud and sunshine for most of the day with no wind, just perfect.


just arrived at the top of the cable car

 

After a nice breakfast we walked across the road from the hotel to watch Dippers and Grey Wagtails in the river Deva, both of which turned up in good numbers, we also found Wren and White Wagtail there too.

From the hotel we drove the short distance to the cable car at Fuente De arriving at 9am in plenty of time to catch the first cable car to the impressive summit of the surrounding limestone peaks. It was like a cirque, a lush green valley encircled by magnificent snow-capped peaks. The cable car rises some 830 meters in 3 minutes and the first one of the day was at 10 am so we had an hour to kill.

record shot of Alpine Accentor

 

We birded the pine woods around the car park and found lovely Red Squirrels as well as Eurasian Jays, Marsh Tit, Coal Tit, Firecrest and lots of Chaffinches. In due course all 14 of us sidled into the cable car and made the journey to the top, it was a wonderful experience the views were just amazing.



yours truly with Mervyn my second driver who was great throughout the tour

At the top we climbed the stairs of the upper cable-car housing and out onto to a mirador that gave extensive views of where we had just come from and of the surrounding area, a camera could not capture the true magnificent of our vista.

Following the track from the buildings we were confronted by a lunar landscape with patches of lush green grass and wild flowers including orchids! Patches of snow littered the hillside and mountain tops and a few bird calls could be heard.

Dave and Vanda leading the group from the cable car

We located a pair of Alpine Acceptors within minutes but they wouldn’t come close, then small parties of Alpine Choughs dashed about and a couple of Water Pipit sang as they parachuted back to earth. Our progress along this alpine track was very slow as birds, butterflies and flowers came into view in regular intervals. Northern Wheatears were nesting by the side of the track and Black Redstarts flitted about on the rocks.

We then came to a junction where a huge rock face reaches high above and a sloping rocky area is behind you. It was there that we had a fantastic experience when a Wallcreeper flew down not 5 meters from us, it was amazing, the bird stayed for a full 5 minutes whilst it collected goat or sheep hair from around the rocks. It was not fazed one little bit by a group of admiring birders staring at it, the cameras were getting red hot as they clicked away.

                                         THE MOST OBLIGING WALLCREEPER I HAVE EVER MET

 

 

Almost straight afterwards we saw our first Snow Finch, in fact over the next 15 minutes we saw a pair going in and out of a crevice so we directed our scopes onto the crevice and watched them for a while. Everyone got to see the finches but closer views would have been nice. Alpine Choughs came down for crumbs and we found more Alpine Acceptors much closer than before.

 

We had such a wonderful time that it was hard to leave this incredible wilderness, we made our back down the track towards the cable car restaurant and before we got there we stopped to look at more Alpine Accentors and then we had incredible views of Snow Finch as a pair flew right to us and landed within a few meters, they stayed for a while collecting food before flying off. Again this was the best views I had ever had, the group were simply stunned with amazement, they couldn't stop talking about this whole fantastic experience.

 



unfortunately this is all I could manage to get of the female Snow Finch, both birds would not keep still enough

We ate lunch in the restaurant at the top of the cable car run and travelled back down to 'earth' about 3:30pm. Our day was not finished yet, after dropping off a few of the group back at the hotel we drove a short way to the village of Pembes. This unique little hamlet is incredible to look at, it is just like something from the 18/19th century, I can't describe the ambiance of the place it is simply incredible.

We walked up through the village and spent am hour walking up a very steep path that led us into a dense beech wood, this where we searched for Middle Spotted Woodpecker. Our efforts were in fact rewarded but only just because we had fleeting glimpses of this elusive 'pecker' and only a few us at that.

Heath Fritillary

Other birds seen in and around the village included: Black Redstart, Common Redstart, White Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Robin, Song Thrush and lots of Serins. The butterflies were pretty good too, at one place we saw 8 Adonis Blues settled on some animal droppings!

It then began to thunder and large dark clouds formed above us so we beat a hasty retreat, by the time we returned to the hotel it had begun to rain. During the course of the evening we had the most heavy downpour of rain I have seen in a long time, the road was flooded in minutes. We were not bothered though as we tucked into another superb meal accompanied by mirth and merriment brought on by some lovely rioja.

Well our final birding day was over all that was left was our morning trip to Madrid to catch the flight home. We had seen just 150 species which is a remarkable total for this tour. We saw 95% of the target list, a great effort by the group. Some of the most wanted species in Europe showed extremely well for us and we take home some memories of a host of special moments. We talked at dinner of favourite species or best bird of the tour, Wallcreeper was high on the list, Snow Finch too, the Rock Thrush crept into the top 5 as did Ring Ouzel, bur the best bird was of course the LAMMERGEIER which showed so well and so often.

I can't wait for next year's tour, why not join me?