GAUCIN CHESTNUT WOODS - ESTACION CORTES - LLANOS DE LIBAR - RONDA - ENCINAS BORRACHES TRACK
A cloudy overcast day with a chilly north wind that brought the temperature down to 10C for the morning and up to 15C in the afternoon.
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| Tarja standing on the track in the Llanos de Libar |
Tarja and I set off at 8:15am and quickly got to the chestnut woods just above Gaucin on the Ronda road. it was bleak and cold and not many birds turned out to greet us. We did find Eurasian Nuthatch and Eurasian Sparrowhawk to add to our list and Griffon Vulture, Black Kite, Blackcap, Blue tit and Great Tit were all added to our day list.
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| one of Tarja's favourite birds, the Blue Rock Thrush |
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| A view in the Llanos de Libar |
On a track near Estacion Cortes we found several European Robins singing, many Goldfinches, Serins and Chaffinches, a Common Cuckoo called all the time we were there but it was very distant. In the sky we saw many Black Kites (50+), Griffon Vultures (40+) and a single Bonelli's Eagle which was also distant.
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| A Provence Hairstreak butterfly |
We arrived at Llanos de Libar at 11am, it had warmed up to 12C but it was still cold in the wind. Our walk began as it ended with many great sightings. We spent 3 hours on the track walking through some of the best scenery Andalucia has to offer. We logged some great birds too: Black Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush, Black Redstart, Rock Bunting, Cirl Bunting, Linnets and sveral common species. All the time we could see Black Kites overhead, at one point there were 63 in the sky.
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| The lake now formed behind the dam that hasn't worked for 90 years!!! |
We took lunch near Cerro de Tabniza, which is a huge limestone pinnacle near the dam at Montejaque. Incidentally, the dam which was built in 1924 has never been able to hold water but today (after the worst March for 60 years) the lake behind the dam was huge!! During lunch we saw our first Red-billed Chough.
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| record shot of Red-billed Chough |
In the gorge above the dam we found another large flock of Chough but not much else. A little further up the valley we stopped to look for orchids and soon as we got out the car a number of birds appeared. first, 3 Crested Larks flew and then we located another Bonelli's Eagle which circled above a nearby hill. Then a Green Woodpecker called just as a bunch of Bee-eaters flew over. After all that excitement locating a few orchids seemed to be rather underwhelming. However we did find 3 species: Yellow Orchid (Ophrys lutea), Sombre Orchid (Ophrys fusca) and the star orchid, Naked Man ( Orchis italica).
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| Naked Man Orchid - Orchis italica |
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| Yellow Orchid - Ophrys lutea |
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| Sombre Orchid - Ophrys fusca |
After a short stop for coffee and another to look at the gorge in the centre of Ronda we stopped for our last birding session at the Encinas Borraches track just south of Ronda. We had a great time with many species seen. We walked for about 90 minutes and to be honest we didn't see much for the fist 30 minutes. Then we started finding birds. the landscape was open meadow strewn with hundreds of rocks, at each side of the meadow towering cliffs of limestone rose above us.
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| Southern Grey Shrike |
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| Stonechat |
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| Woodchat Shrike |
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| Barn Swallow collecting mud |
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| Black-eared Wheatear |
Our list began with Iberian (Southern) Grey Shrike then small flocks of Linnets, Goldfinches, Rock Sparrows and Corn Buntings flitted about. The Thekla Lark took some finding, A Little Owl sat nicely for us and Cirl Bunting was a nice bonus. On the way back to the car we found several Black-eared Wheatears which refused to show earlier. Also Northern Wheatear, Stonechat and we heard Red-legged Partridge. Along the cliff ridge we saw a Black kite, Marsh harrier and two Montagu's Harriers drifted by. On the cliff top we found a doe Spanish Ibex with two young.
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