A later start today saw us leaving the village at 8:30am, my two guests, Mike and Lindsay wanted a short day so we were only visiting two sites in the mountains near Ronda.
However we did make a couple of other short stops including the Sweet Chestnut Woods just outside the village. We didn't stay long because it was very quiet, we saw a Sparrowhawk, Blue Tit and heard a Eurasian Nuthatch and that just about sums up our visit.
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| Thekla Lark |
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Next we stopped a kilometer outside of the village of Atajate where we watched from the roadside, a good number of birds we flitting about. We looked over a man-made wall to view Black Wheatear, Rock Bunting, Common Stonechat, Goldfinch and a couple of Sardinian Warblers.
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| Common Redstart |
Over the next two hours we walked the Encinas Borraches Track, the sun was well up in the sky and we had a lovely breeze which kept the temperature at a nice level. We enjoyed superb bird and butterfly watching, the light was superb and the scenery was terrific.
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| a flock of Hermits? Isn't that a contradiction in terms |
We quickly located Southern Grey Shrike, Black-eared Wheatear and Thekla Lark. then we moved to a more scrubby area and found Spectacled Warbler, Hoopoe, lots of Goldfinches and more Thekla Larks.
A Little Owl sat out on a wall and a Blue Rock Thrush perched out on top of a rock for us to admire. We walked as far as the edge of an oak wood where we found a Subalpine Warbler and a small herd of Red Deer. On our return journey we noticed several butterfly species on the wing, including The Hermit, Grayling, Clouded Yellow, Bath White, Spanish Gatekeeper asn Sagr Skipper. We also picked up a Woodchat Shrike as we neared the bus.
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| Sage Skipper |
From there we drove to the Sierra se las Nieves Natural Park where sat eating our picnic lunch as we watched many Common Redstarts, Eurasian Jays, Spotted Flycatcher and another Hoopoe. A quick coffee break followed lunch, we sat at a roadside café as we scanned the sky for raptors. We listed Short-toed Eagle, Black Kite and Griffon Vulture before we left.
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| at the river Guadiaro |
I dropped off Mike and Lindsay in the centre of Ronda for a quick tourist half-hour before we drove to the Cueva de Gato site in the upper Guadiaro Valley near Benaojan. The scenery was terrific but it was now too hot for birding, however we did find an Olivaceous Warbler and a White Wagtail, several Crag Martins were still flying around the cave.
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| the beautiful blue pool at the Cueva de Gato |
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