Our second day of this week long migration tour started at 7am as we met for breakfast, it was pitch black outside but by the time we set off in the bus it was light. Our first destination was Los Lances beach which was literally a stone's throw from the hotel - but we still took the bus to save time . Our initial sightings included a nice flock of Corn Buntings, a couple of Stonechats and a superb Hobby which swooped across the fields scattering the buntings, unfortunately it missed all of them! ( Corn Buntings are not my favourite bird).
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| Yours truly with the group - Martin (forefront and Louise in Green joined us for the morning) |
At the beach we scanned the open fields and the pools next to the hide and found many species, it was early in the morning and not many people were about to disturb the resting birds. We found a dozen or so of Audouin's Gulls, all adults and about 20 Sandwich Terns. The terns sat on fence posts and a Common Kingfisher joined them. A few species of waders were feeding along the shoreline and around the pools: Sanderling, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Oystercatcher (3), Whimbrel (1) and a small flock of Yellow Wagtails flitted about.
On the grass meadows behind the beach we found Northern Wheatear, Short-toed Lark, Skylark, Crested Lark and a few more Stonechats. In the sky a few Griffon Vultures drifted by and small numbers of Black Kites circled on the hillside.
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| The Short-toed lark seen at Los Lances and Barbate today |
On the way back to the car we stopped to watch Zitting Cisticolas and a large flock of Corn Buntings (100+) and whilst looking into the fields we found a flock of about 50 Calandra Larks, very nice and our fourth larks of the morning.
We hopped onto the bus and drove towards Vejer, just before this iconic town we turned off to the recreational area around the Montemedio Golf Course. On the way in we stopped to photograph a Little Owl which posed on a fence post for us. A short walk produced many Wood pigeons and a two more owls as well as lots of Cattle Egrets, a flock of Glossy Ibis flew over us.
A known site for Eagle Owl was explored next, we walked up to a disused quarry and searched the usual roosts but alas the bird was not there today, we did find lots of Jackdaws. Then one of the group shouted out 'Bustard' , I thought she was talking to me for not finding the owl but she pointed into a distant field. Sure enough a Great Bustard strutted across a field about 3/4 mile away. [ Coincidentally I had seen a Great Bustard three days ago flying towards this area and a bird had been reported in La Janda yesterday - so I think it is the same individual and it is the first seen in this area since 2006]. As we walked back down to the car we found our first Pied Flycatcher of the trip.
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| The Bald at Montemedio - I tried to make it look beautiful with photoshop - but failed miserably |
After that superb sighting we drove further into the wooded area and down to the golf course where we found a couple of the local Bald Ibis population - these birds have been recently reintroduced to Spain and have bred locally for the ;last two years, all the birds are tagged and wear leg rings. A Glossy Ibis fed alongside one of the Bald Ibis it was nice to see the two species together.
We spent the rest of the morning and lunchtime at La Janda where we scanned the flooded rice fields and came up with a good variety of species. The most notable wAS White Stork - at least 1000 were seen in various group sizes - most of them were resting on the banks of the rice fields but many were also forming 'kettles' high above us.
Some other memorable sightings were: Black-winged Kite, Glossy Ibis, Collared Pratincole, Ruff, Common Snipe, Eurasian Spoonbill, Greater Flamingo and good numbers of Black-winged Stilts, Green Sandpipers and Little Egrets. Many Marsh and Montagu's Harriers performed well for us as we scoured the adjacent fields.
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| a record shot of the Great Bustard - digi-scoped from about a mile away |
After driving right across La Janda we passed through Benalup and circled round to Vejer where we stopped for a quick coffee break. Then we drove round to Barbate Marshes which are found along the sea front between Barbate and Zahara. The water level was high and most of the birds were loafing in the distant, however we did find: Redshank, Sanderling, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Black-winged Stilt, Eurasian Spoonbill and Greater Flamingo. Many hundreds of gulls were sitting on the reserve and a small flock of Red-legged Partridges were seen in the fields next to the wader scrapes. We also had great views of Northern Wheatear and Hoopoe.
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| this iconic Mediterranean species needs no introduction |
A final visit to the east side of La Janda on the way back to Tarifa didn't produce any new species but we had great views of a juvenile Montagu's Harrier and many Zitting Cisticolas.
We arrive back at the hotel at 17:45 giving us a good rest before dinner at 8pm.
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