OCTOBER 18TH – DAY 3 COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA TOUR

Matalascanas cliffs (sea-watch), Huelva – Laguna Primera de los Palos – Marismas de O’Diel – El Portil – La Rompido (Rio Piedras)


It was a chilly start to another perfect-weather day, clear blue sky, wall to wall sunshine and barely a breeze. We wore fleeces as we watched out to sea from the cliffs just west of the hotel and it took sometime before things got moving. Lesser-black Gulls lined the beach and were joined by a single Audouin’s Gull and over the next 30 minutes we logged Wheatear, black Redstart, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff around the beach area and on or over the sea we saw: Northern Gannet, Common Scoter, Sandwich Tern, Greylag Goose (9), Common Shelduck (18), Great Skua, Great White Egret (2), Mediterranean Gull and Sanderling.

Journey birds en-route to Huelva included Azure-winged Magpie and Hoopoe. At the Laguna de los Palos we found many duck species but not the expected Red-knobbed Coot!

The Marismas de O’Diel was packed with thousands of birds, the tide was just rising so plenty of movement was noted. We visited the Laguna at Calatilla and the adjacent saltpans which provided us with a good variety of waders, gulls and ducks.

Large numbers of waders included: Redshank, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, Curlew Sandpiper, Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, Turnstone, Oystercatcher, Black-winged Stilt, Little Stint, Sanderling, Common Snipe, Bar & Black-tailed Godwits, Curlew, Whimbrel, & Common Sandpiper. There were also Greater Flamingo’s, Spoonbill, White Stork, Little Egret, Gadwall, Mallard, Shoveler, Pintail, Wigeon, Common Pochard, Teal, Gt. Crested Grebe, Little Grebe & Black-necked Grebe (43).

Passerines included Northern Wheatear, Cetti’s Warbler, Blackcap, Reed Warbler, Chiffchaff & Common Redstart.

We spent a little time sea-watching down by the lighthouse and found a couple more Great Skua, Common Scoter (13), Greylag Geese (7) and lots of Gannets. A Hen Harrier flew in off the sea just as we were leaving. On the return journey to the main road we stopped to watch an Osprey eat a fish and had several sightings of Marsh Harriers.

After picking up supplies for lunch we stopped at the Laguna at El Portil, much of the same was noted on the water but we did find 6 Chameleons in the tamarisk! We ate our lunch in the shade of the Umbrella Pines and watched Blackcap, Firecrest, Robin, Black Redstart, Willow Warbler & Chiffchaff.

Our last venue for the day was the salt marsh at La Rompido on the east bank of the Rio Piedras. The tide was high and just about to turn so we concentrated on the heath where we had excellent sightings of Dartford Warbler, Whinchat, Bluethroat, Sardinian Warbler, Common Redstart and several Song Thrushes.

As the tide receded more and more waders came to feed, we added Kentish Plover to the list and found our target bird of the river, Caspian Tern!

A brief stop at Laguna de los Palos on our way back to the hotel produced two trip ticks with a fly-over Booted Eagle (and another Osprey which put up all the gulls) and Purple Swamphen which performed admirably in the reeds.