Another fantastic day, I can't believe the weather - I have never before been to Tarifa when the wind has been at zero kilometers an hour!! The sun shone all day, the wind picked up in the afternoon.
The Hide at Los Lances beach - calm and peaceful - it is usually blowing a gale here
I took Pat and Kevin out for their second day, we left in the dark at 7am, the sky was full of bright stars, a Blue Rock Thrush was singing from the rocks above our house. As we dropped down the Guadiaro valley towards the coast it got light, we saw Storks on their nests and a colony of Lesser Kestrels as we passed through Jimena and Castellar.
We then drove through patches of thick mist as we climbed the hills between Algeciras and Tarifa, thick cloud hung over Los Lances Beach as we approached. The birds came thick and fast as we left the car and walked to the hide at Los Lances:Corn Bunting, Zitting Cisticola, Short-toed Lark, Linnet, Crested Lark and Goldfinch were all in song. Several waders were found at the beach: a few pairs of Kentish Plover were noisily sorting out the pecking order, whilst Whimbrel (5), Sanderling,Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Grey Plover all foraged along the beach pools. Lesser Black-backed and Yellow-legged Gulls were joined by the handsome Audouin's Gull. A few Sandwich Terns were diving for fish over the sea.
By the time we reached La Janda all the mist had burnt off and we enjoyed superb views of the whole area. We watched a pair of Black-winged Kites frolicking in the air and a pair of Calandra Larks doing the same on the ground. Everywhere we went birdsong filled the air: Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Greenfinch and Linnets were the mainstay of the choir.
We drove along the Benalup track where we found several hundred pairs of Cattle Egrets in their 'nesting colony', it was quite a sight. Several Turtle Doves 'turred' as they sat out in the open and both Pheasant and Red-legged Partridges put in appearances and we had good views of Golden Oriole, Spoonbill, Night Heron and Nightingale. In the sky we had already logged Montagu's Harrier, Griffon Vulture, Booted and Short-toed Eagles, Common Buzzards: but all these were overshadowed by the sighting of, not one, but two Spanish Imperial Eagles, they were a bit distance but well seen. We also found a pair of Collared Pratincoles as we were searching for a singing (if you can call it a song!) Great Reed Warbler!
Redshank & Whimbrel at Los lances
Next we paid a quick visit to Vejer to look at the Bald Ibis nesting Colony, there are now four nests with birds sitting on eggs! This is remarkable because the birds are part of a release programme to save this very rare species, hope they do well, but they are still ugly.
At Barbate Marshes we found a flock of some 40 Glossy Ibis, now these birds are pretty to look at, unlike the Baldy! We also found Curlew Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilts, Wood Sandpiper, Ruff, Gadwall and hundreds of Moorhens.
Lastly we visited the picturesque Sierra de la Plata, the view from the mountain over to Bolonia is quite impressive. Birds seen were Griffon Vulture, Short-toed Eagle, Rock Bunting, Wren, Blue Rock Thrush, Common Kestrel, Subalpine Warbler, Sardinian Warbler and another Whitethroat.
As we drove back towards Gaucin we stopped at Sierra Crestellina and had great views of a pair of Bonelli's Eagles, they both flew off the rocks to mob a Griffon Vulture as it got too close to their nest, it was a greaat way to finsh the day.
The View from Sierra Plata down to the beach at Bolonia
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