NOVEMBER 10th - Somerset day out

Oh to be away from England now that November is here! Since we arrived last Sunday it has been windy, wet, dull and cold' why would I ever want to come back for good. Well Wednesday is the answer, what a lovely day, clear blue sky, unbroken sunshine, beautiful colours and fantastic scenery. I planned a day out with my friend Brian and we certainly picked the right day.

We met at 8:30am in the centre of Crewkerne, Somserset and drove to a site just north of Wells where we hoped to get a rare sighting of a Tree Sparrow. It was very cold as we walked the track to look for the bird but the sun was warming us up. We had great views of Bullfinch, Fieldfare, Raven and lots of common species before we had our one and only brief sighting of the sparrow, but still, that was enough.

Red-necked Grebe

Next we drove to Chew Valley lake and took a visit to the Stratford Hide where hundred of birds could be seen. The best of which were Slavonian Grebe, Pintail, Goosander, Goldeneye and a male Sparrowhawk flashing by. There was also good numbers of Teal, Wigeon, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck, Shoveler, Gadwall, Gt Crested Grebes and Common Coot. On the shore we found lapwing, Dunlin, Linnets and Meadow Pipits.

Lapwing - used to be called Green Plover - see why?

We ate our picnic lunch in the car whilst watching a party of Long-tailed Tits, we then moved on to Cheddar reservoir passing through the famous gorge on the way. The water was quite low but there was still a huge concentration of wildfowl and gulls. We picked out two Whooper Swans amongst the many Mute and we soon located our target bird the Red-necked Grebe in the distance. We walked a fair distance round the perimeter of the reservoir to get a better view and on our return we found the other 'goody' a Red-breasted Merganser.

Common Kestrel

finally we drove into the centre of the 'Levels' at Ham Wall hoping for a spectacular display from the roosting starlings. The weather was just perfect, no wind, clear sky, a lovely setting sun but alas, although the birds did come in to roost in their thousands, they simply dove for cover on arrival, no display. We also noted Common Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Little Egret, Great White Egret, Common Snipe and of course 500,000 starlings.

A fitting end to a lovely day out in Somerset.

NOVEMBER 4TH - GRIFFON VULTURE

A bit of excitement today as i was called by my friend Jorrian to tell me that an injured Vulture was wandering round in the grounds of a finca situated just behind the castle.

It took the two of us about 20 minutes to get there and round up the poor bird. It couldn't fly but we could not see any visible injury. Jorrian called a local bird sanctury and they collected it later in the afternoon. They said that there was nothing wrong with the bird except that it was exhausted and after a few days of recuperation it will be fine and released at a local feeding station.


The bird had rings on both legs and I am in the process of finding the details of where and when it was ringed.

Watch this space for more info.

6pm.
Just heard back from France with the following message:

This vulture was born in France in Grands Causses (Cévennes). He(it) was ringed in the nest on 25/05/2010 in Tarn Gorge, municipality "les Vignes" Département "Lozère". Region "Languedoc Roussillon". He(it) had not been observed here after his(its) flight.

SO A HAPPY ENDING TO MY STORY OF THE DAY

NOVEMBER 3RD - GAUCIN

The weather remains glorious, clear sky, no wind, unbroken sunshine. From our top terrace this afternoon we sat in lovely afternoon temperatures reading and sipping cool drinks.




The local palm trees are laden with fruit, Blackcaps are eating the berries whilst Chiffchaffs are feeding on the insects around them. Griffon Vultures drift over now and then and Black Redstarts are becoming increasingly more common. the local Blue Rock Thrushes are in fine song.

OCTOBER 25TH - DAY TOUR - SERRANIA DE RONDA AM. - SOTO GRANDE PM

After a day off following the 7-day tour of Coto Donana & Extremadura I was back at 'work' leading a day tour locally to our home base in Gaucin.

It was quite cloudy to start with and quite chilly but by lunch time is was hot with a clear sky. David & Olga & I set off at 9am after breakfast at our home in Gaucin, we drove directly northward towards Ronda. We picked up Rock Sparrow, Griffon Vulture, Sparrowhawk & Blue Rock Thrush before we stopped at a roadside pull-in just north of Atajate. We walked along a walled section of the road which overlooked a valley of scrub and rugged-rocky outcrops. There were many birds flitting around which included; Black Wheatear, Chiffchaff, Blue Rock Thrush, Red-legged Partridge, Ring Ouzel, Rock Sparrow & Red-billed Chough.

Next we stopped at the Dolmen's Encinas de la Borrachas where a track leads across a large open valley. the whole area is strewn with rocks, scrub, a couple of man-made pools. The whole area was full of birds, large flocks of Linnets, Goldfinches and Corn Buntings were joined by Meadow Pipits and Stonechats.

Further down the track we watched Thekla Larks, a Little Owl and we heard a Woodlark singing in the midday sunshine. Scanning the high limestone ridge we found Peregrine Falcon, Griffon Vulture, Blue Rock Thrush & Black Wheatear.

We spent the next two hours walking the streets of Ronda doing the tourist bit (finding Red-billed Chough, Blue Rock Thrush, Crag Martin and Common Kestrel). By 2 pm we were back in Gaucin enjoying a tapas lunch.

For the afternoon I took Pam out, she is also staying with us at Gaucin and wanted to visit a couple of coastal sites. We stopped at Sierra Crestellina on the way down to the coast. Up to 40 Griffon Vultures were in the sky as were Crag martins, Kestrels and small flocks of Goldfinch & Corn Buntings. We failed to find Bonelli's Eagle or Cirl Bunting both of which were on our target list.



At the coat we spent a couple of hours walking around the reserve at Torreguadiaro. It was a lovely time, many Crag martins and Barn swallows were hunting insects over the water as Little Grebe, Coot, Moorhen, Little Egret. Mallard and a single Teal messed about in the water. Two good sightings were of a Purple Swamphen and a Little Bittern, it will be interesting to see if the bittern decides to spend the winter here?



Walking around the boardwalk to the beach we found Stonechat, Crested Lark, Chiffchaff, Spotless Starling and a flock of Monk Parakeets flew over us whilst we were watching Northern Gannets and Balearic Shearwaters just offshore.

On the return journey we stopped to scan a gull flock on the beach which contained 500+ birds, mainly Yellow-legged but also Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls. Another stop at Crestellina on the way up to Gaucin gave us a very brief view of Bonelli's Eagle but it disappeared over the ridge and failed to return. It was now 7pm, the sun was still warm and bright but we had to get back to join the others for dinner.

THIS DAY TOUR CONCLUDED THE 'WINGSPAN' 2010 SEASON IN SPAIN (UNLESS NEW WORK COMES IN OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS). WE ARE TRAVELING BACK TO THE UK ON 6TH NOVEMBER IN PREPARATION FOR THE TWO TOURS TO THE GAMBIA COMMENCING ON 16TH NOVEMBER.

OCTOBER 23RD – DAY 8 - COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA TOUR

Santa Clemente to Gaucin with stops at Rio Ruesa, Vegas Altas & Alenge Castle in Extremadura and Montejaque in Andalucia.

It was 9 am as we left our charming guest house in Sante Clemente it was colder than normal and a thick cloud base was covering half of the sky. We headed south through Zorita and stopped near the rice fields at Madrigalejo. This was a repeat of two days ago as we were trying to get better views of Penduline Tit. We failed to see our target bird but had plenty of others, Long-tailed Tit, Cetti's Warbler, Kingfisher Common Crane, White Stork, Chiffchaff, Common Waxbill and Red Avadavat we all seen well and we had the added bonus of seeing an Otter very close below us.



A brief stop at an old bridge near Vegas Altas produce Water Rail (2), Hoopoe (2), more Common Cranes and huge flocks of Spanish Sparrows. Our stop we ended abruptly when a Rice harvester came along the along bridge and demanded By its shear size) that everything got out of its way or it would push us over the edge!

We popped into the beautiful town of Merida to buy our lunch and then headed for the huge reservoir at Alenge and its castle ruins. We ate our lunch near the dam and watched Crag Martins, Grey Heron, Gt Crested Grebe, Jackdaws, Red Kite, Hen harrier (flew high over us) and then we a magnificent pair of Bonelli’s Eagle drifted over the hill side behind us. Another bonus was a sighting of Rock Bunting which had eluded us throughout the tour. We drove around to the other side of the rocky outcrop to see if we could relocate the eagles. We never found them but we added Griffin Vulture, Common Kestrel, House Martin & Willow Warbler to the day list.

After a 3 hour drive we passed Sevilla and set off for Ronda, just before the toewn we turned off the main road and took the scenic route back to Gaucin. We stopped at a picturesque spot not far from Montejaque where we looked for Cirl Bunting and found only finches, Chaffinch, greenfinch, Goldfinch and Serin. We made it to Gaucin by 5pm and relaxed before enjoying a delicious dinner washed down with a glass of local wine!

OCTOBER 22ND – DAY 7 COTO & EXTREMADURA TOUR

Santa Marta de Magasca (open plains) – Rio Almonte – Casares Plains – Embalse de Talavan – Rio Almonte

We got the usual bright and chilly start to the day but it did cloud over and the temperature was decidedly cooler. We set off towards Casares from Trujillo and stopped along the road to Santa Marta de Magasca where open grass fields stretched as far as the eye could see. Soon we located a group of Great Bustards that steadily walked away from us and on a distant ridge we could see a large party of sandgrouse. In the excellent morning light we could see that they were all Pin-tailed Sandgrouse 66 of them!


Our journey throughout the rest of the morning was across a bumpy track that took us across the plains of Casares, what a joy that was. We stopped many times to scan the fields where thousands of larks appeared, the most abundant was the Calandra Lark but we saw many Crested, Sky and Thekla Larks. They were joined by thousands of Corn Buntings, Meadow Pipits, Japwings and we also saw many Hoopoes, Northern Wheatear, Red Kites and the odd Hen Harrier. Ravens and Jackdaws flew over occasionally and Spotless Starlings appeared in their hundreds, Towards the end of the bumpy track we found a party of Black-bellied Sandgrouse, some 25 flew across a ploughed field and was lost to sight, two landed within scoping distance and provided our best sighting. A Hen Harrier then flew across the field. scattering the larks, it attempted to catch one or two of them without success.

At the large bridge over the Rio Almonte we found Black Wheatear (3), Crag Martin (5), Rock Sparrow, Blue Rock Thrush, Serin, Common Sandpiper (3) & Grey Wagtail, this tall brdige and surrounding rocky, steep-sided banks of the Rio Almonte is always a nice place to visit.

The Emblase Talavan still held a little water which was being appreciated by a number of wader species, we found Common Snipe, Black-winged Stilt, Greenshank, Ringed Plover, Little Stint, Common & Green Sandpipers. A few ducks were also there, Mallard, Teal, Shoveler, Pintail, Egyptian Geese? (don’t know why they were there), Great Crested & Little Grebes all on the water. We also noted Cormorant, Black-headed Gull, Grey Heron & Little Egret. Just beyond the shoreline in the grass and scrub there were Meadow Pipits, White Wagtail, Spanish Sparrow, Cetti’s Warbler & Zitting Cisticola.

As we left the embalse we stopped along the roadside to watch a very large eagle that was circling over a nearby field, it turned out to be an adult Golden Eagle!!! We still hadn’t located a Spanish Imperial Eagle on this trip but now we had seen 2 Golden Eagles. This one flew across the road and perched on a pylon, wow! Just as I focused the scope on it, it did the usual trick of flying off and soaring so high that it disappeared from sight – why do they do that?

The return journey was littered with stops the most significant was at the Rio Almonte between Torrejon and Trujillo where we found Southern Grey Shrike, Crag Martin, Black Redstart, Serin, White Wagtail & Common Buzzard.

Well that wrapped up our final day in Extremadura, a slight diappointment fo me as we failed to locate Spanish Imperial Eagle and we missed White-rumped Swift by 1/2 hour! However we had some great sightings and the most glorious weather.We returned to our lovely guest house in Sante Clemente ans settled down to a glass of wine and a tasty dinner.

OCTOBER 21ST – DAY 6 COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA

Torrejon el Rubio – Monfrague National Park - Rio Almonte

Unabated sunshine after a chilly start with temperatures reaching 80F! We set off at 8:30am heading north through Trujillo and onto Torrejon el Rubio. A short detour was made to try and see Spanish Imperial Eagle at their nest site just outside of the town. We failed to see the eagle but enjoyed a nice hour watching such species as: Rock Sparrow, Thekla Lark, a surprising Woodchat Shrike, Serin, Mistle Thrush and Griffon Vultures.



Monfrague park was our all-day venue and we arrived about 10;30am at the Castillo de Monfrague, it was still a bit chilly with a cold breeze at the top. There were many Hawfinches flying around and we had great views of them. Many Girffon and Black Vultures littered the sky and at one stage a Peregrine joined them. Red-billed Chough made brief appearances and Black Redstart, Blue-rock Thrush, Red-legged Partridge and Crag Martin all added to our enjoyment.

Woodlark


At Pena Falcon a little further on into the park we saw more of the same but a little closer. We then drove into Villareal where we sat and ate our picnic (with about 1,000 school children – noisy beggers!). driving round to the dam we stopped to watch a singing Woodlark which had positioned itself just above the road and sang beautifully to all that passed beneath it. Just above the dam we parked in a mirador (view-point) and after throwing out stale bread we watched many Azure-winged magpies. A walk into the pine woods produced Jay, Crested Tit, Gt. Spotted Woodpecker, Cirl Bunting, Hawfinch and lots of vultures.

The rocky outcrop at Gitana was covered with Griffon Vultures they all took to the air on occasion and were joined by Black Vultures, magnificent sight. We added Rock Bunting, Long-tailed Tit, Little Egret, Cormorant and Two-tailed pasha (butterfly) to our list. After an hour or so of searching for eagles and eagle owl we decided to walk the cork woodlands just along the road. It was very hot but the shade of the trees helped somewhat. We found Firecrest, Short-toed Treecreeper, Mistle Thrush, Raven overhead and Nuthatch in the trees before we left.

On the return journey we stopped at the bridge over the Rio Almonte where we watched Crag Martins, White Wagtails, Lapwing, Whinchat, Southern Grey Shrike and several Meadow Pipits. We added Common Crane to our day list as we approached Trujillo which finalised our days sightings.

OCTOBER 20TH – DAY 5 COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA TOUR

Santa Clemente (local lanes) – Belen Plains – Madrigalejo rice fields – Rio Pizzaro

The high pressure continues with another glorious, cloudless hot day! We set off for a walk just after breakfast at 8:30am, taking the lane near Finca Santa Marta. The bushes were full of Blackcaps, we counted 50 in just a small section! Other migrants in number were Song thrush, Robin and White Wagtail. Some local specialities were also found with Hawfinch, Rock Sparrow and Hoopoe taking the biscuit.

We drove the short distance to Belen where vast tracts of open grassland cover a seriously big area. We found Thekla, Calandra, Crested & Skylarks and more Hoopoes (3) two of which were singing!! It took a while but we located, first a single Great Bustard (flying passed) and then party of some 28 Little Bustard, they were very well camouflaged on the ground but easily seen in flight. Other birds of interest were Red Kite (10), Raven (2), Little Owl (2), dozens of Lapwings and good numbers of Griffon Vultures with a couple of Black Vultures.

We then drove into Trujillo to pick up our supplies for lunch and made our way to a disused bridge just outside of the town. We watched Kingfisher, several Chiffchaff, Serin and Green Sandpipers on the river Magasca during lunch.

Finally we decided to spend the rest of the day at the rice fields just outside Madrigalejo and what a lovely time we had there. As soon as we got out of the car we found good numbers of European Tree Frogs, these bright green little gems stood out a mile as they slept on the stems of sedges.

Common Waxbill

Lastly we visited a bridge over the Rio Piszzaro just a couple of kilometres north of Madrigalejo where the clear water drifts slowly through masses of reeds, sedges and reed-mace. This a known haunt for Penduline Tit. It took us an hour to get a nice male and in the meantime we found a lot more Waxbills and Avadavats, a Southern Grey Shrike, Cetti’s Warbler, over 40 Azure-winged Magpies, Common Buzzard, more Cranes, Blackcap, Kingfisher and several other species. We stayed 2 hours and thoroughly enjoyed a sunny afternoon bird-watching in a superb area.

OCTOBER 19th – DAY 4 COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA TOUR

Matalascanas – Acebuche – El Rocio – EXTREMADURA – Presa Sierra Brava – Zorita

Today was our transfer day so our birding was interrupted by a 4 hour drive from Coto Donana to Extremadura. It was another super day, all day sunshine and great temperatures throughout apart from a chilly start.

We left our hotel in Matalascanas and made the 5km trip to Acebuche visitor’s centre where we spent an hour or so watching the antics of the Azure-winged magpies in the car park! A visit to some of the hides was rewarded with some fantastic views of Kingfisher, Common Snipe and a very obliging Water Rail. In the middle distance across the pools and reed-beds we watched Red Kites, Green Sandpiper, Southern Grey Shrike, Common Buzzard & Little Egret.

At El Rocio the ‘new’ visitor centre and watch point is still not open after nearly 2 yrs of completion! So we watched from the fence which did not afford much of a view. Distant birds included Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Black-tailed Godwit, Greater Flamingo and lots of the common ducks. We left for Extremadura at 12:15pm.

Our jouney was uneventful except for seeing many Red Kites and a ‘kettle’ of White Storks with Griffon and Black Vultures. We stopped at the dam and reservoir just south of Zorita where we were astounded at the sight of so many ducks. There must have been between 6-8,000!! These were mainly Mallard and Shoveler but there were also Great crested Grebe (100+) & Greylag Geese. From the dam we looked down to see Squacco Heron, Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, Hoopoe, Jackdaw (55) and our first Great Bustard. Another stop in the open fields near Zorita produced many Lapwing, Crested Lark, Calandra Lark & Peregrine Falcon.

It was now getting on for 6pm so we made the last leg of journey northward to Santa Clemente where we are staying for 4 nights, in the garden we found Song Thrush, Blackcap and Robin before retiring for the day.

OCTOBER 18TH – DAY 3 COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA TOUR

Matalascanas cliffs (sea-watch), Huelva – Laguna Primera de los Palos – Marismas de O’Diel – El Portil – La Rompido (Rio Piedras)


It was a chilly start to another perfect-weather day, clear blue sky, wall to wall sunshine and barely a breeze. We wore fleeces as we watched out to sea from the cliffs just west of the hotel and it took sometime before things got moving. Lesser-black Gulls lined the beach and were joined by a single Audouin’s Gull and over the next 30 minutes we logged Wheatear, black Redstart, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff around the beach area and on or over the sea we saw: Northern Gannet, Common Scoter, Sandwich Tern, Greylag Goose (9), Common Shelduck (18), Great Skua, Great White Egret (2), Mediterranean Gull and Sanderling.

Journey birds en-route to Huelva included Azure-winged Magpie and Hoopoe. At the Laguna de los Palos we found many duck species but not the expected Red-knobbed Coot!

The Marismas de O’Diel was packed with thousands of birds, the tide was just rising so plenty of movement was noted. We visited the Laguna at Calatilla and the adjacent saltpans which provided us with a good variety of waders, gulls and ducks.

Large numbers of waders included: Redshank, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, Curlew Sandpiper, Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, Turnstone, Oystercatcher, Black-winged Stilt, Little Stint, Sanderling, Common Snipe, Bar & Black-tailed Godwits, Curlew, Whimbrel, & Common Sandpiper. There were also Greater Flamingo’s, Spoonbill, White Stork, Little Egret, Gadwall, Mallard, Shoveler, Pintail, Wigeon, Common Pochard, Teal, Gt. Crested Grebe, Little Grebe & Black-necked Grebe (43).

Passerines included Northern Wheatear, Cetti’s Warbler, Blackcap, Reed Warbler, Chiffchaff & Common Redstart.

We spent a little time sea-watching down by the lighthouse and found a couple more Great Skua, Common Scoter (13), Greylag Geese (7) and lots of Gannets. A Hen Harrier flew in off the sea just as we were leaving. On the return journey to the main road we stopped to watch an Osprey eat a fish and had several sightings of Marsh Harriers.

After picking up supplies for lunch we stopped at the Laguna at El Portil, much of the same was noted on the water but we did find 6 Chameleons in the tamarisk! We ate our lunch in the shade of the Umbrella Pines and watched Blackcap, Firecrest, Robin, Black Redstart, Willow Warbler & Chiffchaff.

Our last venue for the day was the salt marsh at La Rompido on the east bank of the Rio Piedras. The tide was high and just about to turn so we concentrated on the heath where we had excellent sightings of Dartford Warbler, Whinchat, Bluethroat, Sardinian Warbler, Common Redstart and several Song Thrushes.

As the tide receded more and more waders came to feed, we added Kentish Plover to the list and found our target bird of the river, Caspian Tern!

A brief stop at Laguna de los Palos on our way back to the hotel produced two trip ticks with a fly-over Booted Eagle (and another Osprey which put up all the gulls) and Purple Swamphen which performed admirably in the reeds.