ANDALUCIA - 7 DAY TOUR – DAY 5 - APRIL 19TH

EL ROCIO (LAGUNA DE MARISMA DE LA MADRE) – LA ROCINA – ACEBUCHE – EL ROCIO

We had spells of clear skies and overcast conditions but it didn’t rain until 5pm! We started at 9am after our scramble for breakfast with many other birders staying at the Hotel. A quick look at the laguna right outside the hotel revealed many species but they were all on the far side of the water, so we jumped into the bus and drove round to them as they certainly weren’t coming to us!

 EURASIAN SPOONBILLS

Hundreds of waders were feeding in the shallow water, they included Curlew Sandpiper (100+  with many in summer plumage), Dunlin, Ruff (at least one showing a great deal of  a coloured ‘Ruff’), Little Stint, Ringed Plover, Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, many Spoonbills, Greater flamingos, Mallard, Shoveler, Gadw2all and Common Coot. There were also several White Storks, Grey Herons and lots of Black Kites overhead, a few hundred Sand Martins joined the Barn Swallows and House Martins feeding over the water.

UBIQUITOUS - WOODCHAT SHRIKE

Several new hides are now in place just south of El Rocio but5 are best visited in the afternoon with sun behind you, we found it diffult to view the birds in the morning,. We walked south along a sandy track and came across a small pool which held Common Sandpiper and a SApotted Redshank which was in the process of changing from winter to summer plumage.

A little further along the track we located a Red-knobbed Coot, it took a long time for everyone in the group to see it properly and as we were scanning another bird was located. What luck! This rare Coot is difficult to see in good light never trying to see it with the sun behind it!

RED-CRESTED POCHARD

Next we walked across the main El Rocio to Matalascanas road to La Rocina Nature Reserve where we visited several hides and walked through some pine woodland with thick scrub over a stream. From the hides we found pour first Purple Heron and in the woods we heard Bonelli’s Warbler, Iberian Chiffchaff and Tree Sparrow but only got glimpses of them. A Party of Long-tailed Tits showed better as did a Common Nightingale, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Goldfinch.

We had a similar experience when scanning the marsh from a board-walk, we could hear Savi’s Warbler and Reed Warbler but only got glimpses of them. A group of Night Herons showed much better. Further along the walk we had good views of Wren, Bee-eater, Marsh Harrier (a couple of superb males), a Hoopoe was elusive and we heard a Common Cuckoo, the first of the year for most of the group.

We drove down to the visitor’s centre at Acebuche where we ate lunch in their superb restaurant. By the time we finished lunch the wind had picked up and made birding difficult but we did see Common and Azure-winged Magpies very well, two more Hoopoes, Stonechats, Great Tit, Red-rumped Swallows and lots of Pallid Swifts. From the hides we watched many Red-crested Pochard, Common Pochard, Little Grebe, Eurasian Spoonbill, Purple Heron (4), Glossy Ibis and lots of Black Kites.

SPOTTED REDSHANK - showing shades of summer plummage

It was now 4pm and many of the group opted to go back to the hotel, it had clouded over and rained threatened. Three of us went back out to view the Laguna de Madre from the west side but the light got a little dull. We did add Black-tailed Godwit and Whimbrel to our day list but it started to rain so we called it day at 5pm.

ANDALUCIA - 7 DAY TOUR – DAY 4 - APRIL 18TH

GAUCIN – EL ROCIO (COTO DONANA)  VIA – LAGUNA MEDINA – SANLUCAR/BONANZA SALT PANS AND TREBUJENA MARSHES.

Today we transferred from the mountains of Andalucía to the ‘flat-lands of Coto Donana. We set off at 8:30am and headed for the coast along the road to San Roque via Jimena, it was dull and overcast as we left Gaucin. Our first stop was at a railway bridge just passed Estacion de Jimena where we watched a dozen or so Lesser Kestrels as they attended their nests in the bridge wall, a few Jackdaws joined the kestrels in competition for their choice of nest sites.

Our next stop was an hour later as we approached Jerez, the Laguna Medina is always a good place to stop off when headed to Sevilla. The water had its usually crowd of Common Coot, Great-crested Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Shoveler, Gadwall and Mallard. There was an exceptional number of both Common and Red-crested Pochard as well as Moorhen, Little Grebe and a few Yellow-legged Gulls. In the tamarisk and reedy scrub we found Great Reed and Reed Warblers and we had excellent sightings of both Cetti’s Warbler and Common Nightingale. Other birds seen were Yellow Wagtail, Zitting Cisticola, Corn Bunting, Stonechat, Garden Warbler, Blackcap and Serin.

After a lunch stop in a vent near Puerto Maria we set off for the salt pans at Bonanza, we made a quick stop at the river Rio Guadiaro near Sanlucar where we saw Little Egret, Yellow-legged Gull, Ruddy Turnstone and our first Lesser-black Backed Gull. The salt pans at Bonanza were a little disappointing but we did enjoy seeing Slender-billed Gull, Little tern, Whiskered Tern and hundreds of Avocet at close range. Despite there being a lack of good numbers of waders we did see: Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper, Sanderling, Black-winged Stilt, Common Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit as well as Eurasian Spoonbill, Greater Flamingo, Glossy Ibis, Black Kite, Common Buzzard and Common Shelduck.

Next stop was the Laguna Tarelo where we struck lucky with a number of excellent species, the best of which was Marbled Duck (2), White-headed Duck (6), Night Heron, Squacco Heron, Red-crested  Pochard, Common Pochard, Shoveler, Gadwall and Cattle Egret (nesting colony).

LAGUNA TARELO - where we saw both Marbled Duck & Whie-headed Duck

The drive through Algaida Pine Woods was uneventful except for a fly-over Booted Eagle but the marshes at Trebujena produced a number of species the best of which was a single Red Kite, a single Great White Egret and a superb male Montagu’s Harrier.

We passed through Sevilla without a hitch and arrived at El Rocio at 6pm, a few journey birds added to our list included; Common Raven, Eurasian magpie, Azure-winged Magpie, many Corn Buntings and a dozen or so of Woodchat Shrikes.

We all checked into our hotel which overlooked the Laguna de Madre where a lot of birds were present; we left them for tomorrow and retired from birding for the day.

ANDALUCIA - 7 DAY TOUR- DAY 3 - 17TH APRIL

GAUCIN - PELAYA - LOS LANCES BEACH - LA JANDA - VEJER - BARABTE MARSHES - SIERRA DE LA PLATA (BOLONIA) - LOS LANCES BEACH PART ii.

CREAM-COLOURED COURSER - BIRD OF THE DAY (A SPANISH TICK FOR ME)

A big improvement in the weather today, it got much warmer, the wind reduced and there was very little cloud cover. After our breakfast we drove down to the coast via Casares where we collected Penny Hale who was joining us for the day.



Our first stop was in the hills between Algeciras and Tarifa, it walked through a park just above Pelaya. It was a bit breeze up there which kept many species out of sight but there were many Common Nightingales singing, a Cuckoo called in the distance and we found Blackcap, Cirl Bunting, Serin, Stonechat, Griffon Vutlure and Short-toed Eagle.

The westerly wind wasn't conducive to raptor migration so we didn't stop at the 'watch points' and went straight to Los Lances Beach. Unfortunately there were many joggers, dog-walkers and strollers on the beach so not many birds were present, the same applied to the grass meadows behind the beach. We saw a flock of 10 Whimbrels, Sanderling, Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper, Kentish Plover and a single Yellow-legged Gull. On the grass meadows we found: Short-toed Larks, Crested Larks, Northern Wheatear and more Kentish Plovers, the whole area was a bit disappointing.

The same can be said about La Janda, the wind had picked up so not many birds were on show, there were many White Storks and good numbers of both Pallid & Common Swifts but not much else. We did see a few Purple Swamphens, Grey Heron, Cattle Egrets and Corn Buntings. We ate our picnic lunch along the Benalup track where we found Common Pheasant, Black Kite and we heard a Cetti's Warbler.


Next we drove to Vejer to look for the 'now breeding' bald Ibis, there were four nest with accompanying birds in attendance. The nearby marshes at Barbate held a good number of Glossy Ibis, Purple Swamphen, Moorhen, a single Wood Sandpiper and lots of Black-winged Stilts.



We made a short stop at the Sierra de la Plata where we looked for Little Swifts but all we found was a pair of Blue Rock Thrushes and a Griffon Vulture.

Lastly we returned to Los Lances, after we had heard of a rarity for Spain, in the shape of a Cream-coloured Courser. We all had excellent views of this little gem and it was a great bird to end the day with.

ANDALUCIA - 7 DAY TOUR- DAY 2 - 16TH APRIL

GAUCIN CORK WOODS - RIO GUADIARO - MONTEJAQUE (DAM) - MONTEJAQUE CORK WOODS.

A very windy day with a clear sky had us all scrambling for our warm fleeces, scarves and gloves. In actual fact it was very warm in the sheltered areas of the woods but most of us kept on our coats for the whole day.



We set off at 8:30am and headed north towards Ronda from Gaucin and after a couple of clicks we stopped near the Plaza de Torro - Gaucin's defunct Bull Ring. We quickly found a Eurasian Nuthatch and then plenty of Blue and Great Tits, Chaffinches and Serins. But not much more after that, a party of Long-tailed Tits were nice, we saw a Mistle Thrush flash by, a Sparrowhawk circled above us and many Griffon Vultures drifted over.

Our walk along ther Rio Guadiaro at Estacion de Cortes was much more rewarding. The river held White Wagtail, Grey Wagtail and Little Ringed Plover, there were half a dozen Nightingales singing and one was seen by some of the group. We watched Blackcaps, Cirl Bunting, Garden Warbler, Woodchat Shrikes, Mistle Thrush, Rock Sparrows, Short-toed Treecreeper, Stonechats and Barn Swallows. In the sky we found Booted Eagle, Griffon Vultures and we had great views of Short-toed Eagle. During our walk we had tantalising views of Hawfinch but as we ate our picnic lunch at the end of the walk we had good views of a male.

Around 1pm we drove up through Cortes and on to Montejaque where we visited the area behind the dam that doesn't work. In the rock scree we found Black Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush and below us in the more open area we saw Southern Grey Shrike, Linnet, Spotless Starling and more Stonechats.

Our last port of call was the cork wood above Montejaque, which was a little disappointing. We only saw Eurasian Nuthatch, Chaffinches, Blue Tits, Great Tits and a few Greenfinches. We did hear a Bonelli's Warbler & Wood Pigeon. Back at the bus we watched a pair of Red-rumped Swallows, gracing the sky with their elegant flights of fancy.

A few butterflies added to our enjoyment of the beautiful mountainous-habitat, we saw Small White, Scarce Swallowtail, Speckled Wood, Large Tortoiseshell and Green Hairstreak.

One last stop produced another Short-toed Eagle and a Red-legged Partridge, we arrived back at Gaucin at 5pm, the wind had dropped off and the sun was now very warm. The tally for the day was only 52 species, I blame the windy conditions not the bird guide for suh a low a total!

7- DAY TOUR - DAY 1 - 15TH APRIL 2012

GAUCIN - GRANADA - MALAGA - GAUCIN

I had a busy day today!!!! I left Gaucin at 6am to collect Kenneth & Katherine from Granada in the centre of Granada, they are from Toronto and will be joining us for a week. We then drove to Malaga Airport to meet Ken & Margaret arriving from the UK. and they are also staying for a week.

We all then set off for a quick look at the Desembocadura at the Rio Guadalhorce, It was clear but a cold was blowing quite strongly. We limited our visit to viewing from the embankment where we saw Kentish Plover, Common Sandpiper, Yellow-legged Gull, Goldfinch, Spotless Starling, Serin, Zitting Cisticola, Barn Swallow, House Martin and Pallid Swift.

We made the usually stop at Sierra Crestellina on the way up to Gaucin from the coast, there, despite the windy conditions, we found several Griffon Vultures, Corn Bunting, Stonechat and great views of a Bonelli's Eagle which eventually flew down to its nest (eyrie?). We noticed a group of vultures landing on the hillside behind us, so we turned the bus around and headed off to see them, unfortunately they all flew off as we approached. There was a carcass of a sheep left lying there.

We then spent a little time at the Rio Genal where we found Grey Wagtail, Chaffinch and we heard Cetti's Warbler, Cirl Bunting, Wren and Robin. Rain drove us off, we ended up at Gaucin at 4pm and called it a day.

We all assembled at 7:30pm for one of Dawn's delicious dinners, now the group of 6 (with Ivan and Muriel) had met up in readiness for the offical start of the tour tomorrow morning - watch this space.

DAY TOUR - SAT 14TH APRIL 2012

DESEMBOCADURA de GUADALHORCE

Not quite a full day out but a 5 five hour visit to the Reserve at Guadalhorce. I left Gaucin at 7am and drove to Torremolinos to pick up Naoma at her hotel on the sea front. We drove the short distance to the Gudalhorce stopping for a quick look at a drainage channel just before Guadalmar. In the channel we saw Moorhen Coot, Common Sandpiper, Little-Ringed Plover, Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow and House Martin (these hirundines were dropping down onto the bank to collect mud), we also saw Goldfinch and a lovely Woodchat Shrike.

Naoma - from Vermont USA

The weather was bright and sunny and the wind of yesterday had dropped considerably. We parked at the river mouth and climbed up on the western embankment to look over the river and the sea. We met up with Andy Paterson who was due to join us on the walk. From the embankment we enjoyed views of a number of species: Monk Parakeets, Kentish Plover, Sanderling, Audouin's Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Common Sandpiper, Yellow Wagtail, Spotless Starling and a Hoopoe was calling from a chimney.

Audouin's Gull

We decided to walk along the beach and enter the reserve from there. A single Whimbrel appeared on the beach which soon turn into 7, 8, 11 and then a total of 12. Also a couple Grey Plover flew over and thousands of Pallid and Common Swifts were in huge flocks that filled the sky. Further along the beach we saw a large flock of waders that dropped down into the 'wader' pools so we decided to walk over that way and enter the reserve on the eastward side.

Some of the 49 Whimbrels seen this morning

In the wader pools there was an incredible 41 Whimbrel, giving us a total count of 49! A great record for the reserve. Also in ther pools were good numbers of Dunlin, Curlew Sandpipers, Kentish Plover, Ringed Plover and Black-winged Stilts. We also found Redshank, Avocet and Common Sandpiper. A good sighting was a single adult Glossy Ibis.

The next pools held less water but we did see a Wood Sandpiper and another Avocet with several Black-winged Stilts. The smaller lagoon held several White-headed Ducks, a single Shoveler, Common Pochard, Gadwall, Little Grebe, Purple Swamphen and a few Black-headed Weavers flitted across the pool.

You can see how low the water is in the wader pools

Lastly we visited the main lagoon, Laguna Grande. There we saw Eurasian Spoonbill, Black-necked Grebe, Grey Heron and lots more of the ducks and waders already recorded. many Sand Martins were feeding over the water and Andy pulled out an Alpine Swift from the masses of swifts above us.

A couple of Sanderling and a Ringed Plover

We had a short shower of rain before we walked back down to the beach where we added Zitting Cisticola, Crested Lark and a couple more Woodchat Shrikes. Several birds were heard but not seen during our walk: Common Nightingale, Cetti's Warbler and Reed Warbler.

Naoma had to return to the hotel at 2pm so we said goodbye to Andy and set off back into Torremolinos but not before eating our picnic lunch sitting on a bench in nice sunshine. We recorded 62 species in those 5 hours, a very good effort.