OCTOBER 18TH 2012 - COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA - 9 DAY TOUR - DAY 5

MARISMAS DE O’DIEL (HUELVA)  - LAGUNA EL PORTIL  - RIO PIEDRAS (EL ROMPIDO) – LAGUNA PRIMERA DE LOS PALOS (HUELVA)

                                                                                                                                                  

It was almost a complete wash out today – we knew there was a 70% chance of rain but it turned out to be that 70% of the day was wet! It came in buckets at times and it never got light until way past 9am. We abandoned our first venue and went straight to the Marismas de O’Diel where we stopped near the salt pans and viewed the small laguna at Calatilla.

A few views of Bluethroat - we saw three individuals during a brief break in the rain

The water level was very low and few species were present, we were particularly disappointed because this is usually a good spot for Red-knobbed Coot, but not today. We did see several species of duck and some waders which included; Ruddy Turnstone, Common Snipe, Sanderling, Dunlin, Kentish Plover, Green Sandpiper and Common Ringed Plover.

We drove further into the salt marsh and stopped at several locations to watch from the bus as it was too wet to get out. Despite the weather we had a good watching some very nice species having great views of Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Eurasian Curlew, Osprey (carrying a fish – what else?), Oystercatcher, Redshank and Greenshank. The gulls were good too with some very ‘pink’ Slender-billed Gulls and also Mediterranean, Black-headed, Audouin’s, Yellow-legged and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. A few Caspian Terns were added to our trip list as were Sandwich Terns.

At El Portil we looked over the laguna from the roadside, it was still raining but not so hard, the laguna was surprisingly full of water and hundreds of ducks. There were mainly Common Pochard and Shoveler but we found: Northern Pintail, Gadwall, Eurasian Teal, Black-tailed Godwit, Black-necked Grebe, over 20 Eurasian Spoonbills and lots of Black-winged Stilts.

Whimbrel and a Grey Plover on the banks of the Rio Piedras near El Rompido

We took our lunch in a bar/restaurant in El Portil before driving out to El Rompido to look on the heath for Bluethroats. It began raining as soon as we got out of the bus, it was quite windy too, but we held out and soon the rain eased off. Our perseverance paid off because over the next half an hour we found at least 4 Bluethroats, Dartford Warbler, Sardinian Warbler and Stonechat on the heath, a great result.

We then spent some time looking along the muddy banks of the Rio Piedras for more waders and in doing so we found 4 species of Terns. Caspian, Sandwich, Common and Little Tern were all resent in small numbers, there was also a good selection of wader but none of which were new to the list.

Back on the road we drove to Huelva and stopped at the lagunas near Palos, at laguna Primera we spent an hour or so searching for the elusive Red-knobbed Coot without success, however there was enough birds to look at to keep us happy. We added Red-crested Pochard and Purple Swamphen to our day list as we searched every corner of the laguna.

It was 5:30pm by the time we got back to the hotel, we were tired, cold and still damp, we all were looking forward to a hot bath and a warm dinner. 

This was our last day in the Donana area as we depart for Extremadura in the morning, we had amassed a total of 141 species, which was, despite the bad weather today and the general lack of water, a very good tally.

OCTOBER 16TH 2012 - COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA - 9 DAY TOUR - DAY 3

SEA WATCHING FROM THE CLIFFS OF MATALASCANAS  -  ACEBUCHE VISITOR’S CENTRE – EL ROCIO  - LA ROCINA RESERVE – LA PALACIO DE ACEBRON WOODLAND WALK

It was a busy day today in perfect weather, clear blue sky light northerly winds and temperatures in the lower 20’s.

We set off from the hotel at 8:30am as it was just getting light and by the time we had driven to the cliffs on the edge of town the light was just right. Not many birds we out on the sea but a small passage of gulls included Yellow-legged, lesser Black Backed and Black headed. Lots of Northern gannets fed offshore, 90% were immature birds and spent a lot of wasted time diving into the water and coming up with nothing. We did see a few Cory’s Shearwaters out in the distance but not much else. On the shore a number of Sanderling appeared on the beach doing what they do best, avoiding getting their feet wet! A small flock of gulls sat on the beach to our right, they included about 10 Audouin’s Gulls.

On the cliff top we found Stonechat, Northern Wheatear, Azure-winged Magpie, Sardinian Warbler, Linnet, Eurasian Chiffchaff and a couple of Thekla Larks.

Northern Wheatear

From the cliffs we drove the short distance to the Acebuche centre where we enjoyed 3 hours walking around the reserve and visiting the hides. Not much water in the laguna held very few bird species; we found only Mallard, Eurasian Teal, Common Snipe, Greylag Goose, Stonechat and a Marsh harrier. The pine woods gave us good views of Crested Tit, Iberian Chiffchaff, Spotted Flycatcher and Black Redstart; we did have fleeting views of Song Thrush and Common Redstart.

On the heath near the visitors centre we found Dartford and Subalpine Warbler (very late migrant), Sardinian Warbler, both Thekla and Crested larks, Black Redstart and several Stonechats.

Its very hard to digiscope a Dartford Warbler as these photos will prove

Back at the car park we spent some time watching the antics of the Azure-winged Magpie as a flock of them came down to bread crumbs.

We then drove into El Rocio to buy some lunch before moving onto the Reserve at la Rocina. We ate our picnic supplies whilst watching, Hoopoe (2), Long-tailed Tit and Short-toed Treecreeper. Tree Sparrows were chirping in the canopy but we failed to get a good view of one. A walk after lunch produced good views of Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blackcap, European Robin, Booted Eagle but not a lot else.

We came across this Dung Beetle pushing this dung up a grassy slope, on closer inspection you can see that the beetle is covered in baby Dung beetles that will be left buried with dung - what a nice thought!

Our drive through the heath land towards the Palacio de Acheron was punctuated with stops to look at Booted Eagle, Common Raven and Southern Grey Shrike. The next two hours was spent walking along the drive to the palace and then on the boardwalk through the lush riparian forest. Along the drive we found Chaffinch, Pied Flycatcher, Long-tailed Tit, Crested Tit, Black Redstart and Great Tit. At the laguna we watched many fish jumping from the water catching dragonflies, there we literally thousands of dragonflies, some got too close to the water and fell in, they were quickly gobbled up by the huge fish in the dirty water. A Kingfisher added a nice flash of colour as it sped by.

Female Common Darter

The highlight of the day came as walked through this unique habitat, pristine primary forest with many mature trees produced a stunning LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER, what a find! We got it in the scope and enjoyed some great views of this hard to find species. We also found Short-toed Treecreeper, Blackcap, Common Redstart, Blackcap and not much else.

We drove back to the hotel from the Palace, a lovely dinner was taken at 7:30pm, and we had ample supplies of ice-cream to finish off the meal.

OCTOBER 17TH 2012 - COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA - 9 DAY TOUR - DAY 4

DONANA NACIONAL PARK WITH VISTS TO CORREDOR DE VERDE - DEHESA ABAJO – JOSE VALVERDE CENTRE – NORTHERN RICE  FIELDS OF ISLA MAYOR

 88 SPECIES SEEN TODAY IN A VERY DRY COTO DONANA

Today we spent all of our time in and around the Donana Parque Nacional. It was very misty as we left our hotel in Matalascanas but by the time we reached our first destination it was bright and sunny with no wind. 

The small gap in the bushes where we viewed a laguna - hundreds of birds were on it including 3 Ferruginous Ducks

We drove to the Corredor de Verde which runs right through the park north to south and we joined it near Villamonrique. The group was amazed to see so many large flocks of finches; we had stopped to look at huge numbers of Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Spanish Sparrows and Tree Sparrows before we actually reach the Corredor. Once we arrived in the Corredor finch numbers were truly astounding. We also stopped to watch a very confiding Hoopoe and we saw two Black-winged Kites, many Azure-winged Magpies and an abundance of Crested Larks.

Our first planned stop was at a laguna found just off the Corredor track; it was covered in birds which was understandable as Donana this year is extremely dry. A flotilla of hundreds Mallards, Common Pochard, Shoveler, Eurasian Teal and Common Coot also held; FERRUGINOUS DUCK (3), Red-crested Pochard (1 female), Northern Pintail (1 female), Great Crested Grebe (1), Greylag Goose (3) and several Great Cormorants. On the laguna banks and in the surrounding scrub we found, Kingfisher, Cetti’s Warbler, Eurasian Chiffchaff, Sardinian Warbler, Grey Wagtail, Common Sandpiper and a lovely Osprey came over and began fishing over the water (without success).

Black-winged Stilts with Ruff and flamingo - can ypou pick out the Ruff in the picture below?

The track took us through some lovely open woodland and then passed many hectares of arable farmland where potatoes, cotton and rice was being grown. We stopped a few times to look at Northern Wheatear, Thekla and Crested Larks, Marsh Harrier and a few Common Buzzards. 

Black Redstart

At Dehesa Abajo the laguna was almost completely dry with just a few small pools of water remaining, so we concentrated our efforts in the rice fields on the other side of the road. Sitting on the telephone wires was alarge flock of starlings which held both Common and Spotless, the two species sitting side by side. We also found Zitting Cisticola, Red Kite, Marsh Harrier, Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Greater flamingo, Eurasian Spoonbill, Black-winged Stilts (200+), Ruff (50+ we only realised this number were present a little later when a Peregrine put the whole flock up), Pied Avocet (8) and many Grey Herons, White Storks and large numbers of gulls were also milling about.

Lesser  Short-toed Lark with a Linnet

From there we drove along tracks that dissected the rice fields where we stopped to look for more species. We found two ‘exotic species’ in the form of Common Waxbill and Yellow-crowned Bishop, also Green Sandpiper, Purple Heron, Peregrine Falcon, Red Kite and several Marsh Harriers.

Views along the track near the Jose Valverde centre in the centre of Coto Donana

 Our journey to the Jose Valerie centre was punctuated by a scheduled stop (our picnic lunch). During lunch we found Black-winged Kite (5), Black Stork (5), Great White Egret (7 – that was 3 now and 4 later). Black-crowned Night Heron (1 juv), Little Grebe and several Lesser Kestrels.

The whole area was very dry with very little water in the channels and certainly no standing water. As we approached the Valverde centre we turn off towards El Rocio to look for Sandgrouse. It was along this track that we stopped to look at birds that were drinking from a small pool of water that had leaked from a Horse’s drinking trough. We found LESSER SHORT-TOED LARK (50+, THEY ARRIVED IN SMALL FLOCKS TO DRINK), Linnets, Crested Larks, Northern Wheatear and Stonechat. Further along this track we stopped to watch many Griffon Vultures circling above the park.

We reached the centre at 3pm and promptly ordered coffee! From the Valverde Centre we saw Purple Swamphen, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler and lots of Mallard.

At 4pm we set off back towards Villamonrique via a different route, we stopped to look at a flock of some fifty Skylarks and a party of seven Great White Egrets. Our journey back took via Isla Mayor rice fields which held thousands of gulls, storks, ibis, herons, egrets and flamingos. At one stop we counted 700 Glossy ibis, 2000 Greater Flamingos and countless gulls in just one field.

It was now 5:30pm and time for us to make the long journey back, but before we got off the marshes we stopped to watch a Hen Harrier (female) our first of the trip so far. We arrived back at the hotel at 6:30pm, with just enough time to get ready for dinner.

15th OCTOBER 2012 - COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA - 9 DAY TOUR - DAY 2

GAUCIN  CHESTNUT WOODS  - ENCINAS BORRACHES  -  LLANOS DE LIBAR  - COTO DONANA – EL ROCIO – MATALASCANAS BEACH FROM THE HOTEL

Our first full day began at 7:30am at breakfast; we all assembled in readiness for a full day’s birding and transfer from Gaucin to Matalascanas on the beach deep in the Coto Donana. We planned to spend the whole day travelling with several scheduled stops, the first of which was 2 km from the house, just north of Gaucin on the road to Ronda.

It was 8:45am when we pulled over, it very chilly, with a brisk northerly blowing down from Ronda way. Once we were in the shelter of the tree it wasn’t so bad. As soon as we got out of the bus we found a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers sitting quietly on some dead branches and very soon we located a very vociferous Eurasian Nuthatch. Next we found a Spotted Flycatcher and soon we were watching a Crested Tit and a showy Firecrest, other than that we didn’t see much else: we heard a Jay and saw Wood Pigeon, Great Tit and Sardinian Warbler.

Our drive towards Ronda was uneventful, we passed through some stunning scenery as we drove higher into the mountains, we did see some Griffon Vultures and a Common Kestrel before we stopped by the roadside to view a rocky valley. In the valley we found at least 3 Black Wheatears, Rock Bunting, Great Tit and a Sardinian Warbler.

 We then stopped near Ronda at the Encinas Borrarches track where a short walk produced numerous species. A Southern Grey Shrike sat quietly on a bush which also held Corn Bunting and Goldfinch. We also had great views of Thekla Lark, Linnet, Northern Wheatear, Rock Sparrow, we had fleeting views of Rock Bunting and a fly-by Green Sandpiper (there are two man-made pools on the side of the track).

Two view of the beautiful llanos de Libar

A little further along the track we stopped to watch Cirl Bunting, Northern Wheatear and Stonechat, but a very cold, biting wind from the north drove us back to the warmth of the bus.

What a contrast the next stop proved to be, we drove through Ronda, over the famous gorge and onto the Seville road. After a while we turned off towards Montejaque where we stopped for a coffee. We sat out in the lovely sunshine, it was bright and warm with no sign of the cold wind, what a joy.

The next two hours were spent walking in the hidden valley above Montejaque, called Llanos de Libar. It was fantastic, lovely sunshine, beautiful scenery and some good birds. We found Black Wheatear (6), Blue Rock Thrush (6), Black Redstart (4), Northern Wheatear (1), Rock Bunting (2) and the star of the morning – Ring Ouzel (sub-species alpestris ). Many Griffon Vultures drifted overhead and littered the cliff ledges, we had brief view of a ‘probable’ Bonelli’s Eagle and great views of Rock Bunting just before we left.

Blue Rock Thrush - distant but you see the blue colouring

After a tapas lunch in Montejaque we continued our journey to Coto Donana, we stopped just outside of Alnazcazar, the scene of the infamous ‘heavy metal’ spillage during 1998. Our first was as catastrophic we stopped at the Botanical garden just outside of the town where we found: Common Buzzard, Booted Eagle, Common Kestrel and a Red Kite were found along the roadside. Along the river (which was just a series of pools), we found a Common Waxbill (carrying food), Kingfisher and we heard another Cetti’s Warbler. Along the track we found Grey Wagtail, Stonechat and lots of Goldfinches.

The last stage of the journey took us through El Rocio, the marshes were completely dry and no birds were presents but we did log: Common Magpie, Azure-winged Magpie, Raven, Southern Grey Shrike and White Wagtail along the road. At 6pm we arrived at our hotel on the beach at Matalascanas, all our rooms overlooked the beach and sea. We logged L B B Gull and Sanderling on the beach and a few Balearic Shearwaters over the sea before we went down to dinner.