The mother-in-law has gone, long live the mother-in-law! I dropped her off at Malaga Airport this morning at 10:15am, bless. As soon as she has got out of the car I was on way to the Guadalhorce reserve just 5 minutes from the airport.
The weather has turned, autumn is here. we had an electrifying thunderstorm at 4am in Gaucin and it had followed me to Malaga, I could see the clouds gathering in the hills. I parked up and set off into the park via the beach. I love this place there is always a good number of species to see in a variety of habitats.
My first birds as usual were the noisy Monk Parakeets small groups flew here there and everywhere. Little Egret, Common Kestrel, Melodious Warbler, Hoopoe, Northern Wheatear, Crested Lark, Marsh Harrier were all seen on the way to the first hide at Laguna Grande. From the hide there were surprisingly few species, Knot, Little Ringed Plover, Greenshank, Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Common Sandpiper, Kingfisher, Chiffchaff, Zitting Cisticola, Short-toed Eagle & a Peregrine.
A short walk to the next hide, which overlooks Laguna Escondida, got me a soaking, big thunder-spots slapped my face driven at me by a strong wind. By the time I reached the hide the rain had stopped, Murphy's Law I think. From the shelter of the hide I logged Gadwall, Pochard, White-headed Duck, Shoveler, Little Grebe and a glimpse of a Black-headed Weaver, these escaped birds originate from Sub-Sahara Africa and are now breeding here.
The third hide didn't produce much except a meeting with Roger who accompanied me for the rest of the walk. Four eyes are better than two, we added Black-tailed Godwit, Common Snipe, Spoonbill (3), Redshank, Common Teal, another Kingfisher, Kentish and Ringed Plover. The storm seemed to be passing to the north and we had spectacular views of the lightening striking various parts of Malaga (see attached movie).
We walked to the beach-stand for sea-watching and found Mediterranean Gull, Northern Gannet, Balearic Shearwater and a small pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins. To complete my circular walk we set off along the beach and turned north back to the first hide. The rain began to come down again, a Whimbrel flew over us and landed in the marsh and we legged it fast to the hide.
A pleasant hour was spent watching the various waders feeding, we added Yellow Wagtail and watched several Honey Buzzards drift down the coastline before we had an aerial display of a Peregrine dive bombing the local Marsh Harrier! The rain stopped and I set off back to the car whilst Roger went to look from another hide.
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