This was our last day at the coast so we spent the morning in the coastal area and the afternoon working our way up into the mountains to begin a 3 day period watching montane species.
Breakfast was at the usual time of 7am and by 8:30am we were walking on the boardwalk to the beach area of Los Lances. A brisk easterly breeze cleared a cloudy sky within the hour. We spent a lot of time looking at the fields behind the beach where we found a single Tawny Pipit, Crested Lark, Corn Bunting and quite a few Black Kites in the air. We also logged our first Sand Martins of the trip.
On the beach we were very lucky to see both Audouin's Gull and Slender Billed Gull together (3 of each), it would have made a great photo but I was a little late and the S B gulls flew off before my shutter operated. We also listed Bar-tailed Godwit, Sanderling, Dunlin, Kentish Plover, Ringed Plover, Sandwich Tern and the usual gulls.
Next we drove over to Palmones, passing through Algeciras along the way. The tide was just turning on its way out and a lot of birds sat on the sand bar. Greenshanks (4) were very noisy before they flew off high to the west, but Redshank, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, Whimbrel, Sanderling and Curlew Sand Piper remained in view. A small flock of Black-headed Gulls positioned themselves away from a similar number of Mediterranean Gulls. In between them were Sandwich Terns and Yellow-legged Gulls.
After a quick mid-morning coffee stop we drove to Pinar del Rey, it was lovely and peaceful there but a bit quiet on the bird scene. We spent an hour or so searching for Crested Tit without luck but we did find: Bonelli's Warbler, Blue Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Spotted and Pied Flycatchers, Chaffinches, Jays and several Booted Eagles drifted over the wood. We ate our picnic lunch at one of the benches provided before setting off for San Enrique.
A similar list of species turned up in San Enrique Woods except that we added: Blackcap, Tree Sparrow, and White Wagtail to the trip list and we had good sightings of Common Kingfisher, Little-ringed Plover, Green Sandpiper and a huge flock of Bee-eaters. A hoopoe put in a very short appearance.
The rest of the afternoon was spent working our way up the Rio Guadiaro valley towards Casraes from Secadera, we stopped many times but only added a few new species to our tally. We had some great views of brightly coloured Yellow Wagtails (ibericus), also European Serin and a single Eurasian Linnet. Large flocks of European Goldfinches fed in the Sunflower fields and small groups of Red-rumped Swallows fed above us. After a short spell at Sierra Crestellina where we watched Griffon Vultures we drove up the hill to Gaucin, arriving, as planned at 5pm.
We called the bird log on the top terrace which was interrupted by the appearance of small flocks of Honey Buzzards (8, 22, 5) as they circled above the village, ah, it was nice to be home!
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