MADRID AIRPORT - EL PARDON (MADRID COUNTRY PARK) - BELCHITE STEPPE
The tour started like dream, everyone turned up
on time, everyone was raring to go and the weather was hot but smashing!
I collected Mike, Ross, Geraldine, Jason, Steve
and Roz from their hotels in Barajas , Madrid 9am and we set off for a morning
excursion to a local country park on the north side of Madrid
We stopped first near the town of El Pardo
Our walk started and ended in a flourish: we
quickly found Serin, Golden Oriole, Reed Warbler, Blackcap, Greenfinch,
Goldfinch and we heard several Nightingales. Further along the walk we found
Cetti’s Warbler, Melodious Warbler, Eurasian Nuthatch, Blue Tit and Great Tit.
Above several vultures drifted over they were Griffon
and Black Vultures, they were joined by Black Kites and hundreds of swifts,
both Common and Pallid.
On the return journey we ventured into a copse
of pine trees and enjoyed good views of Short-toed Treecreeper, Long-tailed
Tit, Crested Tit, Coal Tit and we got glimpses of a Great Spotted Woodpecker.
We drove to another spot on the other side of
El Pardo and spent our last hour looking for eagles. We did find Booted Eagle
and we also added Song Thrush, Hawfinch and Linnet to our list.
We had to be back at the airport by 1pm to pick up Paul our last remaing group member and so we set off at 12:45pm to collect him. Paul arrived dead on time and
by 1:30pm
we were on our way to Zaragoza . Birds seen along the route were few and far between but we added Red
Kite, Crested Lark, Woodchat Shrike and Short –toed Eagle. A couple of stops
produced Northern Wheatear, Marsh Harrier and Spotted Flycatcher.
We checked into our hotel around 6pm and went out almost immediately to
look for new species on the steppe near Belchite. It was raining, big
thunder-storm spots and it was still 30C. The rain shower quickly ended and we
drove to La Lamazas steppe natural park. We had only 40 minutes there so we
didn’t see much, it was a little windy but we managed to find several Lesser
Short-toed Larks and a couple of groups of Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, all of the
group saw them in the scope, a good result. A Little owl and a Red-legged
partridge were seen by me, the driver but no-one else got onto them.
We got back at the hotel for dinner at 8pm which after some confusion in
translation was enjoyed by all.
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