DAY TOUR - SAT 14TH APRIL 2012

DESEMBOCADURA de GUADALHORCE

Not quite a full day out but a 5 five hour visit to the Reserve at Guadalhorce. I left Gaucin at 7am and drove to Torremolinos to pick up Naoma at her hotel on the sea front. We drove the short distance to the Gudalhorce stopping for a quick look at a drainage channel just before Guadalmar. In the channel we saw Moorhen Coot, Common Sandpiper, Little-Ringed Plover, Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow and House Martin (these hirundines were dropping down onto the bank to collect mud), we also saw Goldfinch and a lovely Woodchat Shrike.

Naoma - from Vermont USA

The weather was bright and sunny and the wind of yesterday had dropped considerably. We parked at the river mouth and climbed up on the western embankment to look over the river and the sea. We met up with Andy Paterson who was due to join us on the walk. From the embankment we enjoyed views of a number of species: Monk Parakeets, Kentish Plover, Sanderling, Audouin's Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Common Sandpiper, Yellow Wagtail, Spotless Starling and a Hoopoe was calling from a chimney.

Audouin's Gull

We decided to walk along the beach and enter the reserve from there. A single Whimbrel appeared on the beach which soon turn into 7, 8, 11 and then a total of 12. Also a couple Grey Plover flew over and thousands of Pallid and Common Swifts were in huge flocks that filled the sky. Further along the beach we saw a large flock of waders that dropped down into the 'wader' pools so we decided to walk over that way and enter the reserve on the eastward side.

Some of the 49 Whimbrels seen this morning

In the wader pools there was an incredible 41 Whimbrel, giving us a total count of 49! A great record for the reserve. Also in ther pools were good numbers of Dunlin, Curlew Sandpipers, Kentish Plover, Ringed Plover and Black-winged Stilts. We also found Redshank, Avocet and Common Sandpiper. A good sighting was a single adult Glossy Ibis.

The next pools held less water but we did see a Wood Sandpiper and another Avocet with several Black-winged Stilts. The smaller lagoon held several White-headed Ducks, a single Shoveler, Common Pochard, Gadwall, Little Grebe, Purple Swamphen and a few Black-headed Weavers flitted across the pool.

You can see how low the water is in the wader pools

Lastly we visited the main lagoon, Laguna Grande. There we saw Eurasian Spoonbill, Black-necked Grebe, Grey Heron and lots more of the ducks and waders already recorded. many Sand Martins were feeding over the water and Andy pulled out an Alpine Swift from the masses of swifts above us.

A couple of Sanderling and a Ringed Plover

We had a short shower of rain before we walked back down to the beach where we added Zitting Cisticola, Crested Lark and a couple more Woodchat Shrikes. Several birds were heard but not seen during our walk: Common Nightingale, Cetti's Warbler and Reed Warbler.

Naoma had to return to the hotel at 2pm so we said goodbye to Andy and set off back into Torremolinos but not before eating our picnic lunch sitting on a bench in nice sunshine. We recorded 62 species in those 5 hours, a very good effort.