SEA
WATCHING FROM THE CLIFFS OF MATALASCANAS
- ACEBUCHE VISITOR’S CENTRE – EL
ROCIO - LA ROCINA RESERVE – LA PALACIO
DE ACEBRON WOODLAND WALK
It was a
busy day today in perfect weather, clear blue sky light northerly winds and
temperatures in the lower 20’s.
We set off
from the hotel at 8:30am as it was just getting light and by the time we had
driven to the cliffs on the edge of town the light was just right. Not many
birds we out on the sea but a small passage of gulls included Yellow-legged,
lesser Black Backed and Black headed. Lots of Northern gannets fed offshore,
90% were immature birds and spent a lot of wasted time diving into the water
and coming up with nothing. We did see a few Cory’s Shearwaters out in the
distance but not much else. On the shore a number of Sanderling appeared on the
beach doing what they do best, avoiding getting their feet wet! A small flock
of gulls sat on the beach to our right, they included about 10 Audouin’s Gulls.
On the
cliff top we found Stonechat, Northern Wheatear, Azure-winged Magpie, Sardinian
Warbler, Linnet, Eurasian Chiffchaff and a couple of Thekla Larks.
 |
| Northern Wheatear |
From the
cliffs we drove the short distance to the Acebuche centre where we enjoyed 3
hours walking around the reserve and visiting the hides. Not much water in the
laguna held very few bird species; we found only Mallard, Eurasian Teal, Common
Snipe, Greylag Goose, Stonechat and a Marsh harrier. The pine woods gave us
good views of Crested Tit, Iberian Chiffchaff, Spotted Flycatcher and Black Redstart;
we did have fleeting views of Song Thrush and Common Redstart.
On the
heath near the visitors centre we found Dartford and Subalpine Warbler (very
late migrant), Sardinian Warbler, both Thekla and Crested larks, Black Redstart
and several Stonechats.
 |
| Its very hard to digiscope a Dartford Warbler as these photos will prove |
Back at the
car park we spent some time watching the antics of the Azure-winged Magpie as a
flock of them came down to bread crumbs.
We then
drove into El Rocio to buy some lunch before moving onto the Reserve at la
Rocina. We ate our picnic supplies whilst watching, Hoopoe (2), Long-tailed Tit
and Short-toed Treecreeper. Tree Sparrows were chirping in the canopy but we
failed to get a good view of one. A walk after lunch produced good views of
Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blackcap, European Robin, Booted Eagle but not a lot
else.
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| We came across this Dung Beetle pushing this dung up a grassy slope, on closer inspection you can see that the beetle is covered in baby Dung beetles that will be left buried with dung - what a nice thought! |
Our drive
through the heath land towards the Palacio de Acheron was punctuated with stops
to look at Booted Eagle, Common Raven and Southern Grey Shrike. The next two
hours was spent walking along the drive to the palace and then on the boardwalk
through the lush riparian forest. Along the drive we found Chaffinch, Pied
Flycatcher, Long-tailed Tit, Crested Tit, Black Redstart and Great Tit. At the
laguna we watched many fish jumping from the water catching dragonflies, there
we literally thousands of dragonflies, some got too close to the water and fell
in, they were quickly gobbled up by the huge fish in the dirty water. A
Kingfisher added a nice flash of colour as it sped by.
 |
| Female Common Darter |
The
highlight of the day came as walked through this unique habitat, pristine
primary forest with many mature trees produced a stunning LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER, what a find! We got it
in the scope and enjoyed some great views of this hard to find species. We also
found Short-toed Treecreeper, Blackcap, Common Redstart, Blackcap and not much
else.
We drove
back to the hotel from the Palace, a lovely dinner was taken at 7:30pm, and we
had ample supplies of ice-cream to finish off the meal.
hi, nice blog but you might like to know that the baby dung beetles on the adult are in fact mites. baby dung beetles are grubs. Nice photos as well.
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