Flaming June -Gaucin and surrounds

For the last 20 days we have entertained non-birders but we have managed to get out on several occasions for nice walks in picturesques places.

RUFOUS BUSH ROBIN

We have visited: Rio Genal, Gibraltar, Grazalema, Zahara, Montejaque, Ronda and surrounding areas.

During our local walks we have encountered many of the local breeding species such as: Cirl Bunting, Blue Rock Thrush, Sardinian Warbler, Pallid and Common Swifts, Red-rumped and Barn swallows, Serin, mnay, many, Greenfinches, Goldfinches and fewer Chaffinches, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Cetti's, Melodiuos & Bonelli's Warblers, Common Nightingale, Booted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Griffon Vulture, Red-billed Chough.......etc

Most seemed to have bred well with many juveniles on show.

JUVENILE WOODCHAT SHRIKE

The weather has been exceptionally hot with highs of 35C on a regular basis, the evenings have been magical with a cool breeze and clear skies.

Here are a sample of recently taken pictures in and around Gaucin:

THE DAM THAT DOESN'T WORK - MONTEJAQUE



GRASSHOPPER

IBERIAN MARBLED WHITE


RED-RUMPED SWALLOW

JUNE 12TH 2011 - RIO MANILVA

A beautiful sunny morning with a nice breeze found me down at the River Manilva whilst Dawn was at the market in Sabinillas.

Rio Manilva with its lovely turquoise-blue colour

Surprisingly several birds were still singing into late morning: I heard Cetti's Warbler, Blackcap, Common Nightingale, Turtle Dove, Sardinian Warbler and Golden Oriole.

It was quite busy with traffic (Sunday always is) along the track to the 'Roman Baths', nevertheless there was still plenty to see: Blue Rock Thrush, Woodchat Shrike, Goldfinches, Red-rumped Swallows, Pallid Swifts, Booted Eagles, Griffon Vultures as well as those mentioned above.

I concentrated on photgraphing the many species of Dragonflies along the river, not very sucessful but here are the results.

Epaulet Skimmer (female) Orthetrum chrysostigma


Epaulet Skimmer (male) Orthretrum chrysostigma


Small Pincertail Onychogomphus forcipatus


Copper Demoiselle Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis

Orange-winged Dropwing Trithemis kirbyi



Orange-winged Dropwing Trithemis kirbyi







Later in the afternoon Dawn and I sat on the top terrace reading and just chilling and also watching the hundreds of Pallid and Common Swifts weaving their way across the skyline, we also saw Red-billed Chough and a Booted Eagle making its 'chit', 'chit', 'chit' call, its a bit like a Kestrel and hardly 'man-enough; for an Eagle to utter!!!

DAY TOUR - JUNE 10TH 2011

GRAZALEMA - MONTEJAQUE CORK OAK WOODS - CERRO DE TABNIZA (THE DAM THAT DOESN'T WORK) and ENCIMA DE BORRACHES

I collected Jean hardy from his Hotel in Grazalema at 7:30am, it was a bright clear morning with a light breeze. We headed out of the village towards Ronda and stopped at the roadside after 10 kilometers to view some cork oak woods.

It was fairly quiet but we saw Mistle Thrush, Spectacled Warbler (fleetingly), Bonelli's Warbler and Chaffinch. We then moved into to the Cork Oak Woods that are found a couple of kilometers north of Montejaque. This extensive woodland holds many species and has open glades and a large lake. We found lots of birds flitting around in the trees, many we typical woodland birds that are found in the UK, Eurasian Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Chaffinch, Wren, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Spotted Flycatcher. It got more mediterranean with Golden Oriole, Serin, Red-rumped Swallow, Short-toed Treecreeper, Booted Eagle, Bonelli's Warbler, Griffon Vulture, Hawfinch and European Bee-eater.

We then drove the short distance to the 'Dam that doesn't work'. Along the way we noted Cresked Lark and Corn Bunting - my two most favourite species!!!

The habitat was totally different and so were the birds: Blue Rock Thrush, Black Wheatear, Alpine Swift, Red-billed Chough, Common Raven, Crag Martin, Rock Dove and more Griffon Vultures. We also watched Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Serin, Linnet, Black Redstart and Jay.

Another track found us searching for Rock Sparrow and Rock Bunting, we found the former and almost the latter - it turned out to be a Cirl Bunting.

Several other stops along the Guadiaro Valley found us searching the sky for Bonelli's Eagle and White-rumped Swift, niether of them played ball but Common Kestrel, Common & Pallid Swift and Booted Eagle did.

The superb walk along the Encima de Borraches track always produces good sightings and today was no exception. We started with Stonechat, Black-eared Wheatear, Thekla Lark and Little Owl. We then moved from the open rocky area to the heath where we gained great views of Spectacled Warbler and glimpses of Dartford Warbler. At the edge of the cork oak woodland we tracked down a singing Orphean Warbler and added Woodchat Shrike, Subalpine Warbler and more Bonelli's Warblers to the list.

Our last bird was Rock Bunting, seen from a great distance as it sat on a high ridge with food in its beak, we also got sightings of Spanish Ibex with very impressive horns.

DAY TOUR - COTO DONANA 5TH JUNE 2011

MATALASCANAS CLIFFS – COREDOR DE VERDE – DEHESA ABAJO – NORTHERN MARSHES – JOSE VALVERDE CENTRE.


We were taking a few days break by the seaside and the hotel we used just happened to be in the heart of Coto Donana ( I wonder who picked the hotel?). It was also a coincidence that a Canadian Birder required a day tour during our stay there.

JEAN HARDY


It was a bright clear morning, a slight breeze and quite warm. I collected Jean from his hotel at 8am, it happened to be the Parador de Mazagon which is just along the coast from matalascanas where we were staying. We drove to the cliffs at Matalascanas to sea watch for a while, jean needed to see a couple of gulls and shearwaters. Only the Yellow-legged Gull turned up it was very quiet out there, a good number of Northern Gannets (all sub-adults) was diving into the sea for their breakfast.

We drove north passed El Rocio noting Flamingos, Spoonbills and Black-winged Stilts on the Marismas and along the road we saw Common Buzzard, Black Kite, Azure-winged Magpies, Woodchat Shrike, Corn Buntings and lots of White Storks on their nests, the youngsters are now ready to fledge and spend a lot of time exercising their wings.



GLOSSY IBIS AT NEST

We turned east and drove through Villamonrique before turning onto a track that led us to the Rio Guadimar which forms the Corredor de Verde. At a concrete bridge we stopped to look at Red-rumped Swallows, both beautiful and graceful in their delicate flight manoeuvres. Also noted at the bridge were Serin, Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Crested Lark and Common Nightingale.


PURPLE HERON CHICKS

We walked along a path that led us into some open woodland where we found one target bird the Golden Oriole, a male seen in flight. A pair of Booted Eagles circled above us as we watched Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Spanish Sparrows and more Serins, all unusual sightings for the Canadian eye to behold.

At Laguna Qema we added Common Coot, Common Pochard, Great crested Grebe, Little Grebe and Moorhen to the tally. We also stopped at the laguna Zorita where Tree Sparrow, Thekla Lark, Common Swift, Yellow Wagtail and Spotless Starling were seen and a Quail was heard calling from the fields behind us.


NIGHT HERON WITH SNAKE

At Dehesa Abajo there was a good numbers of birds in the distance, mainly Spoonbills, Greater Flamingos, Mallard, Common and Red-crested Pochard and lots of Great Crested Grebes. We did see Great Reed Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler Olivaceous Warbler (briefly), Jackdaw, Common Kestrel, Zitting Cisticola, Reed Warbler and Whiskered Tern. A heavy cloud base had formed behind us and we were in for a thunderstorm, large spots of rain began to fall.

We quickly drove to the ‘gravel pits’ which are found along the road towards Pueblo del Rio. On one of the pools we found 5 adult Red-knobbed Coots (4 of which had white collars to indicate that they were released birds), there were also a number of chicks being fed by the adults, how nice to is to see a rare bird breeding like this. Also on the small pool we found lots of Little Grebes feeding young, Mallard and a couple of Night Herons.

The last area to be visited was the Northern Marshes and the Jose Valverde Centre which meant that we had to drive through the thunderstorms and rain.
It wasn’t as bad as it looked, we stopped the car during the heaviest of the rainfall whch didn’t amount to much. Along the tracks towards the Valverde Centre we noted Lesser Kestrel, Lots of Cattle Egrets, Little Egret, Marsh Harrier, Black Kites and many Short-toed Larks on the track. We stopped to look at Calandra Larks and search for Lesser Short-toed larks and in doing we also found Purple Heron (flying over) and Skylarks on the ground. As we passed alongside the marshes we saw many, many Great Crested Grebes and Common Coots with chicks, a sign that the wet winter was paying off for some species.

Near the Valverde Centre we tried to track down a calling Purple Swamphen but if failed to show be we did see hundreds and hundreds of birds in the sky of many different species. The breeding colonies of Glossy Ibis, Purple Heron, cattle Egret, Little Egret, Night Heron and Squacco heron were all very busy with lots of chicks in the nests. Common Pratincoles filled the air with Whiskered Terns, and Black Kites. The marshes were littered with good numbers of Greater Flamingos. Spoonbills, Egrets, Ibis, Black-winged Stilts and Common Coots.

From the plate glass viewing windows at Velverde we notched our only Little Bitterns and had good close views of most of the breeding colony.

Soon it was time to make the return journey, along drive back to Mazagon, we made several short stops along the way where we added Black-tailed Godwit, Montagu’s Harrier, Griffon Vulture (and a very high Black Vulture that disappeared into the cloud), we also counted 10 lesser Kestrels in one field.

Our day finished at the Parador at 6:30pm and as Jean waved goodbye in the driveway a couple Azure-winged Magpies flew over, good day – good birding!

EXTREMADURA & SIERRA DE GREDOS - 7-DAY TOUR - MAY 19TH - 26TH

A tremendous tour was enhanced by superb weather, the most picturesque scenery, some fantastic bird sightings and a lovely group of people.

This tour combines the completely contrasting habitats of the open plains of Extremadura with the pine forests and high peaks of the Gredos Mountains, giving you the opportunity to see a wide variety of bird species and a huge diversity of wildlife.

Birding highlights included: Over 100 vultures, of 3 species, in the sky at once over Monfrague national park, a family party of Penduline Tits feeding on reed-mace, Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers at their nest hole feeding young, all 5 eagle species with great views of Spanish Imperial, Bonelli’s and Golden Eagles, over 40 Rollers and daily views of Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Azure-winged Magpie & Black Stork.

We also recorded over 35 species of butterfly without actually looking for them, these included both Swallowtails, the strange looking Nettle-Tree Butterfly and several Fritillaries.

An early morning sortie onto the grass plains near Casares produced over 20 Montagu's Harriers, 25 Rollers, 10 Black-bellied Sandgrouse, 2 Stone Curlews, several Great Bustards and hundreds of larks, buntings, wagtails and wheatears.

We had a magical stay in the Gredos Mountains where the Rock Thrush showed very well, the Ortolan Buntings allowed close approach and the magnificent Bluethroat performed superbly. The snow-capped mountain peaks provided a magnificent backdrop to the pine forests of the valleys. Clear springs and babbling brooks held Grey and White Wagtails and provided a haven for finches and flycatchers.

Our total bird count came to 151 species and included both Great and Little Bustard, Pin-tailed and Black bellied Sandgrouse, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Stone Curlew, Spectacled Warbler, Crested Tit, Pied Flycatcher & many more. We also saw some 'exotic' species such Common Waxbill, Red Avadavat & Monk Parakeet.

View - Montfrague National Park

The road up to the Plataforma de Gredos

Rio Magasca - near Trujillo, Extremadura

Ortolan Bunting - Sierra de Gredos

Eurasian Nuthatch - Monfrague Park

A very 'worn' Ilex hairstreak

Hoopoe & Black Eared Wheatear - Belen Plain, Extremadura

Part of the group resting by a babbling brook - Sierra de Gredos

View of Gredos Mountains

Near the top of the Gredos mountains - Bluethroat breeding grounds.

Blue Rock Thrush - Monfrague park

Black Stork with chicks - Monfrague Park

A FULL REPORT OF THE TRIP WILL BE AVAILABLE SHORTLY ON THE WINGSPAN BIRDS TOURS WEBSITE AT: http://www.wingspanbirdtours.com/trip-reports.asp

THERE ARE SIX PLACES REMAINING ON THE 2012 - TOUR OF EXTREMADURA & SIERRA DE GREDOS: MAY 12TH - 19TH

- TO BOOK YOUR PLACE PLEASE CONTACT ME:

bobbuckler49@hotmail.com

ANDALUCIA - 7 DAY TOUR - DAY 7 - MAY 12TH

GAUCIN - ALGERCIRAS VIA JIMENA DE LA FRONTERA AND LOS BARRIOS - THEN TARIFA - LA JANDA - LOS PALMONES

A full day with a full van, we all set off for the coast hoping to see some migration passage. Our first stop was a few kilometers out of Gaucin near the village of San Pablo. We stopped along a courty track that overlooked some meadows and scrub. Not many birds we seen or singing but we found Common Buzzard, Sardinian Warblers, Stonechat, some very bright GReenfinches, Goldfinch and Corn Bunting.

At Jimena we parked just below the village and scanned the wide expense of fields found there. No migrants were in the air but we saw Griffon Vultures, Barn Swallows, Pallid and Common Swifts, Corn Buntings, Zitting Cisticola, Serin and a Nightingale called from the bushes.

We drove past Castellar where we saw lots of Bee-eaters, a colony of Lesser Kestrels and more swifts.

A diversion found us at the rubbish dump at Los Barrios where hundreds of Griffon Vultures, Black kites and Yellow-legged Gulls congregated to feed on the rubbish, we also saw Cattle Egret, Stonechat, Spotted Flycatcher and more Bee-eaters.

The wind had picked up and as it was still easterly we knew our chances of seeing migrant raptors was small. At Tarifa it was blowing a gale and we had to drive inland to find shelter. We ate our lunch by the side of a babbling brook in the Ojen valley where we enjoyed views of Woodchat Shrike, Griffon Vultures, Serin, Crested Lark and a Cetti's Warbler.

After lunch we drove round to La Janda, alas it was too windy to get out of the van,
very few birds were seen. However we all enjoyed good views of Collared Pratincole as a small flock fed on the wing and landed fairly close to us.

Defeated by wind we went back over the hills to Algerciras and visited the Torrejon Municiple Park. The gate was locked as usual but we used the 'birders' entrance, through the fence. A pair of Black-winged Stilts were breeding close to the fence and over the next hour we enjoyed good views of Dunlin, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper and Great Cormorant.

Lastly we stopped at crestellina to view the Bonelli's Eagle nest, one chick was on show but there was no sign of the parents whilst we were there.

ANDALUCIA - 7 DAY TOUR - DAY 6 - MAY 12TH

GAUCIN - SEVILLA - MONTEJAQUE - GAUCIN

Today I drove to Sevilla to collect David and Wendy who are joining us for the last 3 days of the tour. Tony and Pat stayed at Gaucin for the day, they relaxed and recouperated in readiness for the final leg of the tour.

I left gaucin at 8:30am and arrived in centre of Sevilla at 10:30am and promptly mert David and Wendy at their hotel.

We had a leisurely drive back in lovely sunshine. We stopped at the limestone gorge at Montejaque where I showed my new guests a few new species. As they were from Austrailia everything they looked at was new. An easy job for me then, We saw Blue Rock Thrush, Rock Sparrow, Red-billed Chough, Alpine Swift, Crag Martin, Griffon Vulture, Black Redstart, Black Wheatear, Goldfinch, Linnet,Blue Tit and Spotless Starlings.

We all met up at 7:30pm for a delicious tajine cooked by Dawn, yum, yum! Thats for Dawn as well as the food!!!

ANDALUCIA - 7 DAY TOUR - DAY 5 - MAY 11TH

COLMENAR - ENCINAS BORRACHES TRACK - SIERRA DE LAS NIEVES


I go poor Tony and Pat up very early today and took them to Colmenar before breakfast. They both said it was worth it after having great views of Golden Oriole.

Woodcock Orchid

After breakfast we ventured up towards Ronda and walked the 'drunken oaks' path, it was very windy but we had good views of Bonelli's Warbler, Thekla Lark, Black-eared Wheatear, Linnet, Blue Rock Thrush, Rock Bunting, Rock Sparrow and good but brief views of Spanish Imperial Eagle. It was very windy but dry, the wind died down on the return journey.


Silver-leaved Viper's Bugloss




Loose-leaved Orchid (Orchis saxiflora)

A view along the 'drunken oaks' track - a section of heathland just before the oak woods where Dartford and Spectacled Warblers breed.

The afternoon was spent at the nature reserve of Sierra de las Nieves, we didn't find many birds in the windy conditions but we did lots of flowers and few butterflies.

Pat and Tony at Sierra de las Nieves




Heliborine species

Wild Peony

ANDALUCIA - 7 DAY TOUR - DAY 4 - MAY 10TH

GAUCIN "SMUGGLER'S WALK" - SAN PUEBLO TRACK - PINAR DEL REY - PALMONES - SIERRA CRESTELLINA


We began the day at 8:30am as we left Gaucin heading for the coast along the Algerciras road. We didn't go far as we stopped at the entrance to the "Smuggler's Walk" just outside the village boundary. A nice walk in open woodland and heath produced a number of orchids and some great 'in-the-scope' views of Bonelli's Warbler and Common Cuckoo.

WOODCOCK ORCHID



WOODCOCK ORCHID

A brief stop was made along a track just east of San Pueblo, we were looking for the Rufous Bush Robin and the first bird we saw along the track was, in fact, a Rufous Bush Robin. What a find, the bird flew up in front of the van and perched on a fence giving us excellent views. We also found Corn Bunting, Short-toed and Booted Eagle, Melodious Warbler, Lesser Kestrel and lots of common finches.

Next we stopped at a railway bridge just south of Los Angeles where several pairs of Lesser Kestrels are breeding. The kestrels showed well and also we found Jackdaw, White Stork and Griffon Vulture too.

We took lunch in the pine woods at Pinar del Rey then we walked for an hour in the pines looking for woodland species. It was a bit windy and most of the birds kept their heads down but we did find Blackcap, Bonelli's Warbler, Jay, Great Spotted woodpecker and we had excellent sightings of a Nightingale in full song (se pictures below).








The afternoon was spent looking at the salt marsh at Palmones, it was very windy there too and many kite-surfers were out practicing. A few waders were on the mud and sand banks, Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover and a few Sandwich Terns. After speaking to another birder we discovered that we had just missed a White-winged Tern! What a blow, we searched for the bird without success.

To make up for our disappointment we spent half an hour at Sierra Crestellina on the way home watching the Bonelli's Eagle nest. What a great time we had, first we found that 2 chicks were in the nest and then one of the parents turned up with a 'kill' and fed them, terrific stuff and as Pat commented " we had a serious Attenborough moment".

ANDALUCIA - 7 DAY TOUR - DAY 3 - MAY 9TH

GAUCIN - GUADIARO VALLEY - ESTACION CORTES - MONTEJAQUE - EMBALSE DE MONTEJAQUE - CERRO DE TABIZNA - CORK OAK WOODLAND WALK

Another glorious day, superb weather, fantastic scenery and wonderful birding. Tony, pat and I set off after breakfast and headed toward Cortes de la Frontera. We stopped at a track just before the river at Estacion De Cortes. As we emerged from the car we found Cirl Bunting, Serin and Great Tit. Our walk in the warm morning sunshine took us through oak woodland and open meadows where we found many species of flowers and birds. Long-tailed Tit, Common Cuckoo, Blackcap, Nightingale,Chaffinch, Green Woodpecker, Booted Eagle, Common Buzzard, Griffon Vulture and lots of finches were seen and heard.




At Estacion de Cortes we followed the river and had a lovely walk along the north bank. most of the usual river species were present, Nightingale, Blackcap and Cetti's Warbler in the bushes and Kingfisher, Common Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Grey and White Wagtails were found on the river.

We also saw Booted and Short-toed Eagles, Rock Sparrows, Woodchat Shrikes (nest building), Stonechats, Sardinian Warblers and Corn Buntings.




At Montejaque we walked along a track that overlooked the Cerro de tabizna ( a huge limestone pinnacle) where was found Black Wheatear, Red-billed Chough and an Orphean Warbler. Just beneath the Cerro de Tabizna we stopped to overlook the gorge and the cave entrances. There we found Alpine Swift, Crag Martin, Blue Rock Thrush, hawfinch, a few more Choughs and lots of Griffon Vultures.




Our last little walk was into the cork oak woodlands just north of the embalse de Montejaque. We enjoyed the walk but the birds were very quiet, however we did managed to find Mistle Thrush, Bonelli's Warbler, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Bee-eater, Red-rumped Swallow and Booted Eagle.

Other sightings of interest during the day included: Spanish ibex, Red Deer, Blue Emperor and Common darter dragonflies, Hummingbird Hawkmoth and many, many flowering plants.