Our first full day and great start to our holiday. We were joined by Debra and Ian who are on holiday from Australia which made the group size now six. We set off from Gaucin at 8:30am and drove down the mountain to San Pablo where we turned onto the Marchanilla track. Along the way we stopped to watch Woodchat Shrike, Corn Bunting, Stonechat, Bee-eater, Common Whitethroat and Serin.
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| the group looking at palmones salt marsh |
The air was full of bird song as we left the bus at the start of the track, Common Nightingales snag from 3 places nearby as well as Cetti's Warbler, Sardinian Warbler and a very showy Melodious Warbler, Hundreds of House Sparrows added to the chorus with Goldfinches, Green Finches and Serins.
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| Melodious Warbler along Marchanellia track |
The hundred meters of the walk produced all of the above plus Little Owl, Common Buzzard, more Corn Buntings than you can shake a stick at and lots of Bee-eaters. Our star bird was next in the bag, the RUFOUS BUSH ROBIN is a rare breeding bird in Southern Spain and this track holds a couple of pairs, we went on to see two pairs with a couple of males competing for attention from the females, we also saw them displaying their tails and singing from the fenceline, smashing bird.
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| Rufous Bush Robin |
We spent some time further up the valley where gentle sloping hills are covered in grass and it was on the way back that most activity was seen. Up until then we hadn't seen a single migrant raptor! But suddenly they began to appear, first 3 Honey Buzzards came over, a distant Short-toed Eagle circled then a mass of Black kites came over the hill. For the next 30 minutes we watched as groups of Black kites came over and circled above us catching the thermals from the hillside. They were joined by more Honey Buzzards (19), Marsh Harrier (3), Sparrowhawk (1) and the total for Black Kites was (127).
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| Tawny Pipit |
On the way back to the bus we finally caught up with Tawny Pipit, a very showy individual sat on a fence and let us approach quite closely.
A brief visit to the bridge over the Rio Hozgargante produced Cetti's Warbler, Garden Warbler, Blackcap and to my surprise a pair of Olivaceous Warblers were chasing one another around and looked as though they maybe settling there.
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| an unusual sighting an Ostrich - must have flown over on the thermals? |
After a quick cold drink we set off for San Enrique deciduous woodland which is a small strip of woodland found along the bank of the Rio Guadiaro near the coast. Before we got there we stopped a couple of times, once to look at a pair of OSTRICHES, they must have dropped in from the thermals this morning, ha! A stop at a small road side pool produced Mallard, Little Ringed Plover and a couple of Short-toed Eagles perched on the pylons nearby.
Just outside the San Enrique wood we watched a few Tree Sparrows, my clients were not impressed by these little gems as all four Brits see them in the UK and so do the Auzzies back home, nevertheless I love to see them!
We ate our picnic in the shade of the trees whilst watching a Great Spotted Woodpecker, then a Wryneck called, the call was answered by another bird not too far away. Our search produced nothing, these elusive little beggars called a few times after that and we still couldn't find them.
What we did find was Short-toed Treecreeper, Blue Tit, White Wagtail lots of Serins and we heard a Green Woodpecker calling. A couple of White Storks flew over as did Booted Eagle and another marsh Harrier flew over whilst we were there.
Our visit to Palmones coincided with the turning of the tide from high to low, which was perfect for us. As east side of the salt marsh we watched from the promenade, there were not too many birds present though. A couple of dozen Yellow-legged Gulls and on the sand bar we saw Dunlin, Common Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, a single Bar-tailed Godwit, likewise a Red Knot and a Common Sandpiper. We then drove round to the west side where we sat on the top level of the concrete hide for an hour.
The light was superb, there was a lovely cooling breeze and some good birds appeared. A small flock of 7 Grey Plover landed not too far away on the exposed mud, 5 of them were in breeding plumage and looked fantastic. The Dunlin were the same, then we saw one of each of Greenshank and Redshank, a few Black-winged Stilts, Common Sandpiper, a single Spoonbill and one Little Egret. Deeper in the marsh we found Grey Heron and an Osprey put in a brief appearance. On the way back to the car we found several Zitting Cisticolas and a couple of Yellow Wagtails.
We set off back to Gaucin at 5pm stopping at Crestellina hoping to see Bonelli's Eagle or an Egyptian Vulture, none of which turned up. So, after dropping Debra and Ian off near Casares we drove up the mountainside back to Gaucin where we ate another lovely home cooked dinner produced by my lovely wife Dawn.
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