TARIFA & COTO DOÑANA 7-DAY TOUR - DAY 7 APRIL 21st

COTO DONANA – TARIFA VIA SEVILLA – RONDA – MOTEJAQUE - GAUCIN

It was dull overcast, windy and raining as we left the hotel heading north through Donana to Sevilla. The sky cleared as we passed through Sevilla and remained very bright and sunny until we got to mountains near Ronda when it started to rain again.

We went for a walk in a Cork Oak woodland and spent a couple of hours enjoying some woodland species not seen previously on the trip. These included Eurasian Nuthatch, Mistle Thrush, Bonelli’s Warbler and Blue Tit,. We also found Great Tit,
Dartford Warbler and lots of Chaffinches. The rain was making it hard to find birds so we quit and headed for the limestone gorges nearby.


The rain stopped for a while so we had a nice hour scanning the high peaks, the deep gorges and the hillside for new species. Within minutes we located Black Redstart, Blue Rock Thrush, Red-billed Chough and Rock Dove. A hawfinch was a lovely surprise, it landed close by and it was a beautiful male. A pair of Alpine Swifts put in an appearance and many Griffon Vultures could be seen both perched and flying.

The next stop, just around the corner, was along a track found just above the village of Montejaque. It was there that we found Rock Bunting, Black Wheatear and a very obliging Rock Sparrow. We bought some things for lunch in the village and drove down to a popular tourist site near a large cave and as we ate our picnic we saw more Alpine Swifts and a few Crag Martins.

The rain set in for good and increased in intensity as the afternoon wore on, we drove through thick cloud mist as we passed through Ronda and the Genal Valley to Gaucin.
A brief stop at Gaucin to drop things off at my house was made before we drove through torrential rain back towards the coast at San Roque. One stop just passed Castellar produced Lesser kestrel (7), Common Nightingale, Greenfinch, Blackcap and Serin.

We reached our hotel at 5pm and decided to call it a day! Dinner was enjoyed by all, washed down with a nice glass of wine.