THURSDAY 18TH - THURSDAY 25TH JULY 2013 - Local walks

The weather in and around Gaucin over the last few days has been very hot with little wind, however the early mornings and evenings have been lovely, balmy and a great time for walking.

Over the last 6 days I have walked the circular route around Punta Umbria  3 times and on Sunday 21st I visited the Rio Guadiaro at Cortes for the whole of the afternoon.

RIO GUADIARO  - Sunday 21st  July 2013

At the river I sat under our (Dawn and I)  favourite tree and watched the world go by. Many birds were on show and lots of juveniles joined their parents by coming down to the pools of water to drink and to bathe. Blue, Tit, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Serin, Blackcap, Rock Sparrow, Blackbird, Cetti's Warbler, Chiffchaff sp. Sardinian Warbler and Woodchat Shrike were all seen there.

The view of the river Guadiaro from under my favourite tree

Along the river I saw a Grey Heron, Little Ringed Plover, Grey and White Wagtails, Common Kingfisher and many House martins, Barn Swallows and Pallid Swifts were coming down to drink. I kept my eye on the swift flock hoping for a White-rumped Swift but never saw one.

juvenile Woodchat Shrike

In the ash tree I was sitting beneath a few Bonelli's Warblers fed, often calling and a Short-toed Treecreeper gave me great views as it fed on the base of the main trunk.

PUNTA UMBRIA  -  Friday 19th, Monday 22nd & Thursday 25th July 2013.

This is one of my favourite walks in the vicinity of the village, the track climbs up through some pristine cork oaks woods and then takes you through pines, some very old holm oaks and finally into a sweet chestnut wood before climbing back up to the road. From the road you walk down a much narrower track which runs downhill parallel to the road back to the village. The track is sheltered from the sun by the trees and many flowering plants are still in bloom.

freshly harvested Cork Oak

On each of the walks you get varying amounts of sightings of all the regular woodland species but there a few still in full song:  Bonelli's Warbler, Iberian Chiffchaff and Blackcap all sang today and I also heard Great-spotted Woodpecker, Eurasian Nuthatch, Crested Tit, European Robin and Eurasian Jay all called.

heavily laden Sweet Chestnut trees

There are a couple of places where water is still running down from the hilltop and lots of birds are coming to drink there. I often see Serin, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Greenfinch there. Also nearby there are often Sardinian Warblers and it is a good place for Bonelli's Warbler.

Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis)  above -  with a sprig of Throatwort (Trachelium caeruleum) also shown below

Today I noticed a few more Blackcaps and Chiffchaff species than usual, perhaps this is the beginning of their southward movement towards Africa and Southern Spain?