OCTOBER 23RD – DAY 8 - COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA TOUR

Santa Clemente to Gaucin with stops at Rio Ruesa, Vegas Altas & Alenge Castle in Extremadura and Montejaque in Andalucia.

It was 9 am as we left our charming guest house in Sante Clemente it was colder than normal and a thick cloud base was covering half of the sky. We headed south through Zorita and stopped near the rice fields at Madrigalejo. This was a repeat of two days ago as we were trying to get better views of Penduline Tit. We failed to see our target bird but had plenty of others, Long-tailed Tit, Cetti's Warbler, Kingfisher Common Crane, White Stork, Chiffchaff, Common Waxbill and Red Avadavat we all seen well and we had the added bonus of seeing an Otter very close below us.



A brief stop at an old bridge near Vegas Altas produce Water Rail (2), Hoopoe (2), more Common Cranes and huge flocks of Spanish Sparrows. Our stop we ended abruptly when a Rice harvester came along the along bridge and demanded By its shear size) that everything got out of its way or it would push us over the edge!

We popped into the beautiful town of Merida to buy our lunch and then headed for the huge reservoir at Alenge and its castle ruins. We ate our lunch near the dam and watched Crag Martins, Grey Heron, Gt Crested Grebe, Jackdaws, Red Kite, Hen harrier (flew high over us) and then we a magnificent pair of Bonelli’s Eagle drifted over the hill side behind us. Another bonus was a sighting of Rock Bunting which had eluded us throughout the tour. We drove around to the other side of the rocky outcrop to see if we could relocate the eagles. We never found them but we added Griffin Vulture, Common Kestrel, House Martin & Willow Warbler to the day list.

After a 3 hour drive we passed Sevilla and set off for Ronda, just before the toewn we turned off the main road and took the scenic route back to Gaucin. We stopped at a picturesque spot not far from Montejaque where we looked for Cirl Bunting and found only finches, Chaffinch, greenfinch, Goldfinch and Serin. We made it to Gaucin by 5pm and relaxed before enjoying a delicious dinner washed down with a glass of local wine!