Monfrague Nacional Parque is such a terrific venue and
deserves much more than a day visit, there is so much to see and places to discover
there. We took an early breakfast and set off at 7:45am just as it was getting
light. The weather was absolutely perfect, a clear sky and not a whiff of air.
Our first stop was at the Castillo de Monfrague which sits on a limestone
pinnacle just inside the park. We parked just below the castle and scanned the
steep mountainside where Griffon Vultures sat on their nests and Crag Martins
dashed in and out of the caves.
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| RED-BILLED CHOUGH |
A Black Redstart sang from the electricity cables and a Rock
Bunting was seen in the lower bushes, then a pair of Red-billed Chough called
as they rounded the mountain peaks. We drove to the top car park and walked
along the new trail to the castle, along the way we found more Black Redstart,
a Blue Rock Thrush and we saw the Choughs perched on a radio mast. From the top
the light was perfect for scoping the Pena Falcon pinnacles, over 100 Griffon
Vultures were perched there, we even found our only Egyptian Vulture of the
trip.
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| BLACK STORK |
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| RED FOX |
Next we drove round to the base of the Peña Falcon and spent
a good hour watching the Griffon Vultures take to the air, as they circled we
found a pair of Peregrine Falcons joined them along with a Short-toed Eagle
and a few Black Vultures. From another
view point nearby we watched Crag Martins from close quarters and a pair of
Black Storks were building their nest on a rocky island in the river below us.
We also saw a pair of Grey Herons sitting on top of a tree, one of the pair had
most unusual colouring I have ever seen on a Grey Heron, it had a red bill and
red legs and large black shoulder patches, it looked like a hybrid species
crossed with a White Stork, in 40 years of birding I have never seen one as
well marked as this!
So we continued around the park until we reached Villareal a
small village in the centre of the park, there we stopped for a coffee and a
sandwich before continuing deeper into the forested valleys near the dam of the
river Tietar.
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| OCELLATED LIZARD |
At Portilla de Tietar we spent an hour watching the huge
limestone cliff face where many Griffon Vultures sat and a family of Eagle Owls
were on show too. However the best of all was a sighting of a Spanish Imperial
Eagle sitting on a huge nest in the canopy of the trees on the opposite bank of
the river, what a treat. We had just missed the sighting of an Otter but we did
find Blue Rock Thrush and another Rock Bunting.
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| the colourful GREY HERON |
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The two hours were spent walking through the open oak
forest a little further along the river, it was delightful although the
temperature was now in the upper twenties. We added a few species to the trip
and several to the day list. Eurasian Nuthatch, Common Cuckoo, European
Bee-eater, Eurasian Hoopoe, Woodlark, Rock Sparrow, Spanish Sparrow, Mistle
Thrush, Short-toed Tree-creeper and many common species.
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| THEKLA LARK |
We also saw a soaring
Spanish Imperial Eagle, as well as Booted Eagle, Black Vulture and many Griffon
Vultures. Next we drove to a small hotel and ate a cold ice-cream before setting
off for home.
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| at dinner in the courtyard |
Our journey home was relatively quiet but we did stop a
couple of times without finding any new species.
Back at the Finca we ate our dinner outside in the courtyard,
it was a lovely meal and a superb atmosphere at the table with plenty of
laughter.
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