MALAGA
AIRPORT – DESEMBOCADURA DE GUADALHORCE – GAUCIN
Quite an eventful day today, I collect some of
the group from the airport at 11:30am and we drove the short distance to the
Natural Park at Guadalmar called the Desembocadura (which translates roughly to
estuary or river mouth) of the Guadalhorce river. We sat and ate our picnic
lunch before taking a walk around the park. From the vantage point of the high
embankment on the west side we saw Ruddy Turnstone, Common Sandpiper,
Yellow-legged Gull, Sandwich Tern and a Black headed Gull. Lots of Greenfinches
and Goldfinches were flitting about and several noisy parties of Monk Parakeets
flew back and forth from the gardens in Guadalmar to the reserve centre.
After our lunch we walked inland to the ‘green
bridge’ before crossing into the reserve, along the way we logged some good
species such as: Zitting Cisticola, Sardinian Warbler, Booted Eagle, Barn
Swallow, Spotless Starling and a female Marsh Harrier.
We visited the hides that overlook the lagunas where
we found White Headed Duck (only 2 females), Shoveler, Teal, Gadwall, Little
and Black-necked Grebes, Kingfisher, Audouin’s Gull, Greater Flamingo (1
juvenile), little ringed Plover and Common Sandpiper.
Our walk along the beach to east side of the reserve
produced many Northern Gannets, hundreds of gulls, including Lesser
Black-backed and Mediterranean Gulls. From the hides along the east bank we
found another nine wading species: Black-winged Stilt, Common Redshank, Common
Greenshank, Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Dunlin, Sanderling, Common Snipe and
Green Sandpiper. We found a few migrant passerines in the shape of: Northern
Wheatear, Common Redstart, Willow Warbler, & Blackcap. Crested Larks,
Common Kestrel, and Stonechat and made up the list.
Now the bad news: when we got back to the bus
it had been broken into, a side window was smashed and the bus had been rifled.
However, nothing had been taken as we had taken all our ‘goodies’ with us, what
good luck and bad luck at the same time.
We drove back to airport to collect Marie and
changed the bus at the same time, what pain but nothing was taken and no-one
had been hurt.
After an hour and a half we were safely in
Gaucin getting ready for a lovely chicken Tajine, cooked by my excellent ‘chef’
wifey, Dawn.
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