EXTREMADURA - 7 DAY TOUR - DAY 5 - MAY 26th 2012

FINCA SANTA MARTA TRACKS - EMBALSE ARROCAMPO - BELEN PLAIN

We left the plains of Trujillo today and headed west for a large reservoir near Almarez in search of some water species missing from our list. But before breakfast most of the group went for a walk along ther tracks around the finca. Not too many species were seen during the walk but we did see, Golden Oriole, Bee-eater, Hoopoe, a flyover Hawfinch, and, a singing Woodland was a new addition to our list.

By 10am we at the reservoir, it was another lovely morning, a good temperature with a light breeze and plenty of susnshine. From the road-causeway we looked into the western arm of the reservoir and saw many Purple Herons, a single Squacco Heron, Eurasian Spoonbill, Mallard, Gadwall, Coot, Moorhen and Little Grebe. A Great Reed Warbler sat high-up on a reed stem for all of us to admire but a 'reeling' Savi's Warbler was a liuttle more difficult to find but we eventually got to see it in the scope. A few sightings of Little Bittern were had as they flew across the reeds, a Night Heron was a good find but a Great White Egret was an excellent sighting. Several Gull-billed Terns hawked the water and neighbouring fields, a few Cormorants sat on a pier wall and lots of Cattle & Little Egrets joined Grey Herons onto our day list.

A short walk provided us with good views of Zitiing Cisticola, Reed Warbler and another Savi' s Warbler, this one showed better but was further away. Before lunch we toured this lovely nature reserve and visited several hides where we heard a couple of Purple Swamphens but failed to see them. We added Shoveler and some distant Little Terns to our list but nothing else of note. In the sky there was always something to look at: Black Kites, White Storks, Black Vultures, Giffon Vultures, Short-toed and Booted Eagles, all these were seen during the morning.

We ate our picnic lunch at another section of the reserve where to our great surprise we found a pair of Tufted Ducks, thses unusual winter visitors are normally long gone by April never mind May! We saw several more Booted Eagles and some lovely Red Kites.

For the last part of the day we went to Belen Plain, arriving about 4pm. A group of 6 Great Bustards in flight was a nice sighting and we saw Calandra, Crested & Thekla Larks well. As we turned onto one of the side tracks we began to search the roadside tamarisk for cuckoos and before long we found 3 Great Spotted Cuckoos sitting low in a bush. A superb find, we managed to get great views of them by silently creeping out of the mini-buses. This was a most wanted species by the group and we enjoyed our views of them immensely, what a find!

We went back to the finca for our last evening where we enjoyed an excellent meals with plenty of laughter and merriment at the table.