John & Karen drove up to Gaucin from the coast and we met just outside the village at 8:40. It was a cloudless morning with a little chill in the air but there was not a stir of wind.
We drove the short distance to Estacion de Cortes and visited one of my favourite spots along the river Guadiaro. It was superb, the sun was coming up over the hills, the air was still and the light was fantastic. We found White and Grey Wagtails on the river, Spotted & Pied Flycatchers were feeding from perches on the Cork Oaks. Large flocks of Goldfinches, Chaffinches and Serins fed on seed in the dry fields and they were joined by a few Cirl Buntings.
Further along the river we found a couple of very obliging Great Spotted Woodpeckers and at the weir we watched a family party of Kingfishers, 5 of them were in view, we also watched a small flock of Rock Sparrows which frequented their usual place near the railway track. Other birds came and went, Stonechats were common, A Cetti's Warbler sang frequently and flocks of Spotless Starlings sat on the telephone wires. as we walked back to the car we added Corn Bunting, Grey Heron, Short-toed Eagle, a flock of some 12 Long-tailed Tits and Nuthatch to our sightings.
We headed up the valley making a couple of stops near Benaojan, one stop produced a bunch of Blue Rock Thrushes (4) and a terrific low flying Bonelli's Eagle (juv) that circled right above showing all its markings to us. Griffon Vultures began to appear as the air warmed. A quick coffee stop at Montejaque was followed by a walk
along a quiet track just north of the town. The terrain was rugged with scattered rocks and bushes some open farmland and huge limestone pinnacles stretched some 100 meters above us. We quickly found several Black Wheatears, we had a brief glimpse of a Rock bunting and more Blue Rock Thrushes appeared.
Our next stop was to eat our picnic lunch whilst over looking a picturesque limestone gorge. A couple of Ravens flew over and the usual Black Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush and Girffon Vultures were always present.
A short walk after lunch produced Black Redstart, Crag Martin and not much else. We then drove a couple of k's to visit a cork oak forest. We found Nuthatch, lots of Flycatchers and had good views of Red Deer, the Stags were calling in the distance, sounding like foghorns, rutting season is upon us.
We walked from the forest to overlook some field and hedgerows and had an unexpected find of an Ortolan Bunting, we also saw Sardinian Warbler, Cirl Bunting, Great Tit and more White Wagtails.
Our last official stop was The Cueva de Gato, the cave of the cat! Don't ask me! Anyway we were thrilled with the scenery and in the car park lots of fig trees were bearing fruit and many Blackcaps and Garden Warblers were enjoying the figs. A Chifffchaff or two fed on the insects and we devoured a couple of figs too.The entrance to the cave is simply divine, one of the most picturesque sights in the whole of Andaulcia.
A perfect crystal-clear stream gushes out of the cave and cascades into a lovely deep pool. The water is turquoise blue in colour which comes from the limestone mineral content.
The water is also very cold but it is terrific in the hot summer months to bathe in, it was hot enough to jump in today! Pehaps if the mother-in-law was here I might have pushed her in to cool her down!
We stopped on the return journey but failed to add anything new to our day list. We went back to our house for a coffee on the terrace in the evening sunshine, very pleased with a lovely day out with fantastic weather, John picked out another Blue Rock Thrush that sat on the castle wall behind us! You can never tire of looking at the same species time and time again, can you?
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