This was the second outing with Ian and Sue who are staying with us for a couple of weeks. We left Gaucin at 7:30am and headed towards Ronda from the village, after 3 km, we stopped at the chestnut woods for a quick sortie down the track. Our first bird was a PIED FLYCATCHER my first for the autumn, this was followed by Spotted Flycatcher, Crested Tit, Firecrest, Blue, Great & Long-tailed Tit, Eurasian Nuthatch and Jay. Overhead 3 early Black Kites circled in the wind and a single Honey Buzzard soon followed them.
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| one of the many Spotted Flycatchers seen today |
At the river things were quiet to start with but we listed a good number of Spotted Flycatchers, lots of White Wagtails, Common Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Cetti's Warbler (heard), Blackcap, Common Kingfisher, Grey Heron, Common Sandpiper, Rock Sparrow, Girffon Vulture (40+), Short-toed Eagle (4), Booted Eagle (2), Bee-eater (70+), Woodchat Shrike and many Goldfinches.
We arrived at Llnos de Libar at 11am it had warmed up but became increasingly cloudy as the day wore on.
Some good sightings were had in this beautiful valley: Blue Rock Thrush, Black Wheatear, Rock Sparrow, Rock Bunting, Crag Martin, Black Redstart, Stonechat, Spotless Starling and lots of Goldfinches.
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| Rock Bunting in the Hawthorne along the Llnos de Libar track |
Raptors seen over the mountains were: Honey Buzzard (2), Griffon Vulture (20+), Short-toed Eagle (4), Booted Eagle (2), Eurasian Sparrowhawk (1) and Common Kestrel (1).
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| One of the superb vistas along the Libar valley |
We ate our lunch at the base of the valley and hoped for the appearance of a Bonelli's Eagle which did not happen so we set off for the Enicas Borrachas track. After a brief stop at the Montejaque dam and a coffee stop in Montejaque we arrive at the track at 3pm. The cloud had thickened and it began to thunder, we could see heavy rain over Ronda. Over the next hour we kept a constant eye on the weather as well as finding some good birds. A Southern grey Shrike appeared on a bush, showing well and then a Black-eared Wheatear was found on a thistle stem, (this appeared to be the only one left at this site now), we also found Little Owl, Corn Bunting, Rock Sparrow, Goldfinch, Blue Rock Thrush, Common Kestrel, Short-toed Eagle and many Stonechats.
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| Sue and Ian on the track at Llnos de libar |
We left early as the rain clouds and thunder came nearer and nearer, a couple of stops along the road towards Gaucin produced a Dartford Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Common Swift, barn Swallow and more Short-toed Eagles.We had listed 55 species which was a good effort for a day out in the mountains in August.
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