Another lovely day with lots of sunshine and plenty of birds to see. We left Gaucin at 8:30AM and drove straight to the coast on the Algeciras road. We made one stop to watch the Lesser Kestrel colony near Jimena, the kestrels performed well for us and at least 22 birds were presents at the nest site. The nesting White Storks proved a crowd pleaser too, at least 70 nests are now occupied near Castellar.
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| Turtle Dove |
It was quite cloudy near Algeciras and the hills above Tarifa were not visible so we knew that migration was going to be limited. A quick stop at the natural park at Bujeo (just above Pelayo) produced some migrant sightings: Pied Flycatcher, Common Nightingale (a female building a nest) and a few Blackcaps.
The raptor watch point called Cazella was deserted, the winds were all wrong for a passage but we did see a small group of Black Kites and the odd singleton.
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| Flowers at la Janda |
At Los Lances beach, Tarifa we had a nice time watching several good birds: Audouin's Gull, Kentish Plover, Collared Pratincole, Little Stint, lots of Sanderling and a few Sandwich Terns. On the grassy fields behind us we found Short-toed Larks, Northern Wheatear and a few Crested Larks.
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| Kentish plover |
By the time we reached La Janda it was quite warm, heat haze affected our viewing somewhat but a nice breeze was welcomed. A flock of some 8 Collared Pratincoles, flew over us and plenty of Cattle and Little Egrets, joined White Storks and Grey Herons in the rice fields. One wet field held Glossy Ibis, Great White Egret, a single Ruff, Grey Heron, Black-winged Stilts, Gull-billed Terns and Black-headed Gulls. Along the central track we found Black Crowned Night Herons, many Zitting Cisticolas, Corn Buntings and a couple of Reed Warblers.
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| not a good picture of Cal;andra Lark |
The Cattle Egret colony is now bigger than ever, a conservative estimate would be 1000 pairs, it was a noisy, thriving mass of colour and movement. We then visited the BALD IBIS nesting colony at Vejer, there are now 8-9 active nests, with all the nests occupied by sitting birds. It is really bizarre that this critically endangered bird chose to nest just above a very busy main road. Love them or hate them these strange looking birds are doing quite well.
We made a brief visit to the Barbate marshes at the Vejer Sewage Works, how nice? The water level is now very low and looks as though the whole marsh is being drained off. A few patches of water held Green and Common Sandpipers, Black-winged Stilts, lots of Moorhens and a couple of Purple Swamphens.
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| Bald Ibis on the nest at vejer |
Our last birding episode was at the 'new' reserve on the coast road near Barbate, the whole area consists of huge shallow lagoons which sit on reclaimed land, formerly a land fill site. it is now 3-4 years old and is developing into a terrific site for birding. On one lagoon alone there were over 1,000 small waders, mainly Common Ringed Plover and Dunlin but there were good numbers of Curlew Sandpiper, many in breeding plumage, Sanderling too and a few Little Stints also looking great in summer garb.
We also found White Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Black-winged Stilts, Avocet (2), Greater Flamingo (1), Little Tern (8), Collared Pratincole and lots of Mallards. Along the track we watched several Greater Short-toed Larks and many Calandra Larks, a couple of Whinchats sat on the fenceline with Stonechats and Corn Buntings.
A large flock of Griffon Vultures sat on a grassy bank and as we drove nearer we saw a large carcass of a cow covered in Vultures and just after that we found a single Stone Curlew which was very pleasing for Vern and Trish as they particularly wanted to see one of those.
It was now quite late in the afternoon so we set off back to Gaucin arriving a little later than usual, dinner was at 8pm. A great day, we recorded 86 species.
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