ANDALUCIA. -7-DAY TOUR. - APRIL 8TH - DAY 7

TRACK TO SECADERO - SAN ENRIQUE WOODS -  LAGUNA TORREGUADIARO - PALMONES SALT MARSH


                                                 3 WRYNECKS TO FINISH THE TRIP WITH

 

TRIP TOTAL      -      161 SPECIES SEEN WITH ANOTHER 3 HEARD ONLY

Our last full day was a leisurely one, not my doing I hasten to add. The group wanted a late breakfast and they also wanted to re-visit the Guadiaro Valley down to Secadero which is just a short drive from here.

Little Ringed Plover on the Rio Genal

The Secadero track follows the route of the Rio Genal until it meets the Rio Guadiaro just before Secadero village. We were hoping to see a Roller along the power wires as we dropped down into the valley but alas none had arrived yet. We did see many Bee-eaters down towards the river and our first Tawny Pipit of the week. A Common Whitethroat was nice to see and lots of Goldfinches, Linnets, Greenfinches and Corn Bunting were on show.

the 'bunch' at Palmones this afternoon-with Gibraltar in the distance

 

We stopped at the river and spent a nice time watching Bee-eaters making nest-holes in the river bank and whilst doing so we saw a Kingfisher visit it's own hole nearby. On the shingle banks we saw several Little Ringed Plovers, Green Sandpipers, Little Egrets, Great Cormorants and White Wagtails. Lots of Sardinian Warblers flitted in the bushes and a Common Buzzard flew over.


Our second stop much further down the valley was in search of Olivaceous Warblers, but again I don't think that they've arrived yet. We did see an Osprey carrying a fish and lots more Bee-eaters.


After a quick coffee stop we visited the deciduous woodland at San Enrique. As soon as we got out of the bus we heard a Wryneck calling, then another and then a third one. Wow, Wryneck city! We found one of them and tracked down a second (shown below).

Not much else was on show so we drove out of the woods and before leaving the site we stopped to look at a couple of Tree Sparrows.

The Laguna at Torreguadiaro was our next stop, the target was Little Bitten, we soon located one but it was distant and half hidden by the reeds.

Our last port of call was Palmones salt marsh, we viewed them from both sides. Our first stop produced Common and Green Sandpiper, Redshank and Greenshanks, Grey Plover, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Black-winged Stilt and Eurasian Spoonbills.

though they are very noisy the Black-winged stilt is a lovely species

On the way back to the car we found a Common Redstart, our first of the trip and my first for the year. On the northern side of the marsh we added White Stork, Yellow Wagtail, Whimbrel and Yellow-legged Gull to the list.

It was now 4:30pm so we called it day and set off for home. At 6:30pm we met on the top terrace and in lovely warm sunshine we called the bird log and drank nice cold beers.

At dinner we discussed our best birds and the Collared Pratincole came top of the list. We had sewn just over 160 species, a rally I would be proud of if it was my first visit to Southern Spain.