ZARAGOZA - PYRENEES & PICOS - DAY 3 - JUNE 12TH ...

HECHO VALLEY - GARBADITO - UPPER HECHO VALLEY

What a fantastic day! We awoke to a superb morning, clear blue sky, no wind and such a wonderful back drop to the village. After our breakfast we made the short journey to Garbadito which is a journey of some 10km from the village of Hecho. As we climbed through the dense forest and pine woods we saw: Bullfinch, Song Thrush, Blackbird and a couple of Red Kites perched on prominent dead branches.

From the upper car park at Refugio Garbadito we saw our first Citril Finches, they sat in a dead tree and soon flew a little closer. We also saw some very brightly coloured Linnets and a few Chaffinches, but the best sighting was of a few Crossbills feeding in the pines. O the well our walk through the forest towards the well known Wallcreeper nest site produced very little until we saw some large birds drifting across a cliff face on the other side of the valley. These birds turned out to be Lammergeiers, what a great  then waited find. The birds circled for a while and then one of them landed on a ledge and we could see through our telescopes that there was a young bird on a nest!

Gentian

Not long after we arrived at the wallcreeper site, we saw one of the birds approach a hole in the rock, then a second bird came out of the hole, they both flew off round the rock face. We then waited some 15 minutes before further activity and what activity it was. The male bird returned to the nest hole, he was carrying a bunch of flowers in his beak, no word of a lie, the female came out of the hole and he gave her the flowers, unbelievable, I have never seen such behaviour of any species.

Later the male came down from the nest and started scouring for food on the rock face just some 30 meters from us, it gave stunning views which we all enjoyed tremendously. I have to say that I have never had such great views of Wallcreeper in all my life.

Other birds seen on and around the cliff face:Alpine Swift, Red-billed and Alpine Choughs, Crag Martin, Griffon Vulture and as we walked through the woods we saw: Crested Tit, Coal Tit and we heard Robin, Wren and a Green Woodpecker.

We ate our lunch back at the Refugio where we had better views of Citril Finch and more views of Griffon vultures. We then drove back down the river and drove to the upper section of the Hecho Valley. We then spent the rest of the afternoon scouring the valley, river and the mountain sides for new species. We got great views of Garden Warbler, Red-backed Shrike, Yellowhammer, Linnet, Grey Wagtail, Dipper and Egyptian Vulture. We also saw Alpine Marmot, Pyrenean Chamois and lots of new butterflies. A couple of nice orchid were also on show: Early Purple and Provence Orchid were very common and lots of Gentians displayed brilliant blue in the grass hillside. But the best spectacle of the day was the appearance of some 300 Choughs, they circled on the skyline and landed in the high mountains to feed on the grassy slope. Occasionally they take to the air, what a magnificent sighting.

Provence Orchid above and Early Purple below

It was now 5pm so we left the mountains and drove back to hotel. We met up at 7pm and had a lovely fish dinner before retiring for the night.

ZARAGOZA - PYRENEES & PICOS - DAY 2 - JUNE 11TH 2013

HOTEL RINCON DE CIERZO TO EL PLANERON – QUINTO (RIO EBRO) – LOS MONEGROS – HECHO VALLEY

Our longest day yet! We were up at 5am and out on the road at 5:30 in the dark, how nice!  We arrived at El Planeron at 6am just as it was getting light, the reason for this madness? DUPONT’S LARK! Guess what, the lark stayed in bed or sat up and laughed at us. No Dupont’s but plenty of other birdies. In fact the air was alive with lark-song, Calandra, Short-toed, lesser Short-toed and Crested all giving it large!

The view from the hide at El Planeron

We drove deeper into the reserve and as the light improved we could see the true brilliance of the landscape, the open steppe gave way to the most colourful escarpment and its true beauty became apparent as the sun came up. Wow, that was worth getting out of bed for, sod the lark!

Over the next hour or so we sat in the hide adjacent to a lovely clear pool hoping for some Sandgrouse activity, but alas, that never occurred either. We heard the evocative call of the Stone Curlew and we saw several Southern grey Shrikes, Red-legged Partridges, Hoopoe (calling), Common Kestrel and a few dozen Corn Buntings.

El Planeron

On the way back to the hotel we stopped to watch a Great Reed Warbler, Woodchat Shrike, a Blue Rock Thrush and a very strangely coloured Short-toed Eagle. The bird was perched, it had a completely snowy white head, breast and its back and wings were grey flecked with white, extraordinary.

After breakfast we packed up the bus with our luggage and set off for the Pyrenees. We made a last ditch effort to see Sandgrouse as we passed El Planeron, our efforts were rewarded with a couple of views of fly-over Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, but we also saw Little Owl, Red-billed Chough, Northern Wheatear, lots of Black Kites, Griffon Vultures and Common Kestrels. One ‘kettle’ of Griffon Vultures held 50+ birds!

At Quinto the river Ebro winds it way down to the coast toward Barcelona, it is quite big here but this year extra rain has made it flood its banks, it was still very full and fierce today. However, a few meanders and side pools held some slow flowing water and some birds. Our first stop produced 5 warblers in 5 minutes! Great Reed, Reed, Melodious, Cetti’s and Blackcap all sowed for us. We also saw a couple of Purple Herons, Common Cuckoo, two Golden Orioles and plenty of Common Nightingales were singing.

Our second stop at a junction in the river was also rewarding, we watched a Sand Martin Colony that had just about escaped the high water mark and a Kingfisher had done just the same. Lots of White Storks appeared and even more Black Kites. We saw our first Common Buzzard as we drove further westward into an area cultivated for rice. In the rice paddies there were good numbers of Black-winged Stilts, Northern Lapwings (9), Common Ringed Plover (3) and three more Purple Herons with a Grey Heron and a couple of White Wagtails.

We stopped to buy and eat lunch in Pina del Ebro, the plaza Espana was very nice and we could watch many Common Swifts and several White Storks visiting their nests whilst we ate. Before we made the final leg of the journey to the mountains we headed for Los Monegros, this is a wonderful wilderness of scrubland with small steep sided hills, some of the landed is protected and still holds, the wretched Dupont’s Lark. It is also an excellent place to see immature Golden Eagles, I suppose it is because there is a large population of Rabbits. We had several target species to look for and our first stop produced two of them. Spectacled Warblers are sometimes very hard to find but today we were lucky and one bird was performing its display flight whilst singing its head off, thank you very much! Whilst watching this lovely little beast we found a very smart looking Black-eared Wheatear which also showed extremely well, two targets in the bag.

At the next stop I said , (just as we were getting out of the bus), “this is a good place to look for Golden Eagles” and Neil said, “there’s one”.  Yes it was, the first year eagle flew off a nearby hillside just as we pulled up, it circled right over us and even came back some 10 minutes later to do it again, fantastic. In the meantime we had found Dartford Warbler which was number four of our target species. We searched on for a Great Spotted Cuckoo but never found one, what we did find was quite distressing, a dead Golden Eagle handing from pylon, we couldn’t tell how it had died but whichever way it was it wasn’t natural as the bird was probably only a second year.

It was now 3pm so we had to set off for the mountains, as we approached the outskirts of Zaragoza we saw two more Golden Eagles, how fantastic was that? We then drove on the autovia passed Huesca and Jaca (we stopped on the east side of Jaca for a coffee break) to complete our trip. Journey birds included Carrion Crow, Red Kite, Black Kite, Marsh Harrier, Spotless Starlings but no Egrets or Herons. 

Along the Hecho valley we added Grey Wagtail and Red-backed Shrike to the tour list, both birds were seen from the bus as we sped by. We reached the village of Hecho where we were staying for one night, don’t ask! Tomorrow we are staying in the Hotel Uson for the remaining four nights of our stay in the Pyrenees.

ZARAGOZA - PYRENEES & PICOS - DAY 1 - JUNE 10TH 2014

MADRID TO BELCHITE WITH VISITS TO LOMAZA STEPPE AND EL PLANERON

After last night's rain we awoke to a lovely clear blue sky. With bags packed we were ready to move at 7:30am, and so our tour began. Birds seen in the suburbs included: Common & Pallid Swifts, White Stork, Spotless Starling, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove and House Sparrow.

We made good time, after a breakfast stop and another stop to buy our picnic lunch and then another stop to eat it (which produced Greenfinch, Cirl Bunting, Chaffinch and Turtle Dove), we arrived at our first scheduled stop some 15kms east of Belchite at a river. During a 30 min stop we found: Black Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher, Griffon Vulture, Serin, Goldfinch, Great Tit and lots of House Sparrows.

The view across El Planeron

Our second scheduled stop was at the Lomaza Steppe nature reserve near Belchite, it was quite windy but we saw a few birds there. The whole area is managed for the conservation of Dupont's Lark, It is a bit late in the season so our chances of seeing this very elusive character are very low. Lots of Lesser Short-toed larks sang and displayed around us, we also saw Crested Lark and Calandra Lark.

Shortly afterwards we visited the superb reserve called El Planeron, again this is an expansive area of light arable farming and steppe, it is also managed for the Dupont's Lark. We didn't manage one but we found instead: Stone Curlew, lots of the larks,  those mentioned above. also Bee-eater, Black-bellied Sandgrouse (1), Southern Grey Shrike and many other larks.



We then drove to our hotel found near Belchite and after checking in we had an hour or so looking over the terraine at the back of the hotel. A fairly good list was amassed in that short period: Hoopoe, Rock Sparrow, Northern Wheatear, Red-billed chough, Alpine Swift, Greenfinch and Linnet.

Our dinner was served at 8am  which was enjoyed by he group



we arrived at Belchite around 3pm.

TRANSITION DAY MALAGA - MADRID

GAUCIN TO MALAGA TO MADRID WITH STOPS AT GUADALHORCE AND LAGUNAS DE LILLO

this was the end day of the Andalucian tour, I took Ian and Judi to Malaga airport and Neil stayed with me for the journey to Madrid in preparation for the the tour of the Pyrenees and Picos.

We saw Monk Parakeet, Redshank, Black-winged Stilt,  Northern Gannet, yellow legged Gull and not much else.

Our journey to Madrid was punctuated with a couple of coffee stops and for lunch and by 3pm we were at the Lagunas of Lillo. Birds seen along the way included Azure-winged Magpie, Eurasian Magpie, Raven, Griffon Vulture, Black kite, Marsh Harrier and Bee-eater..

At the lagunas we saw Pied Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Greater Flamingo, Gull-billed Tern, Short-toed lark, kentish Plover, Common Shelduck and Lesser Kestrel. AS we drove away from the lagunas we stopped to watch a Hoopoe as it searched for food in a ploughed filed.

this bird needs no introduction

The rest of the journey went smoothly and we arrived at Madrid Airport in good time to collect Paul before driving a short distance to a hotel where Lorna and Mike we waiting to meet us. The group was now assembled ready for the Pyrenees trip in the morning.

ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR - DAY 7 - JUNE 8th 2013

GAUCIN - SERRANIA DE RONDA - SIERRA DE LAS NIEVES - LAGUNAS AT CAMPILLOS - LAGUNA FUENTE DE PIEDRAS

We had a full minbus today as we were joined for the day by Adam & Lucy and Michael & Trish

Team for the day, from the left: Lucy, Adam, Ian, Judi, Michael, Trish and Neil

. It was the worst weather this month, dull, overcast, very chilly and it rained!

We started off with dry conditions but it got worse as the morning wore on. Our day started at 8:30am as we left the village and headed up towards Ronda, along the way we had good close views of Rock bunting and Rock Sparrow, but we stopped at Encinas de Borrachas track for our first birding stint. It was quite cold up there with a very chilly breeze. Our short stop produced Thekla Lark, Red-billed Chough, Southern Grey Shrike, Corn Bunting, Linnet, Stonechat and some Red Deer.

Greater Flamingos

At Sierra de las Nieves the weather got worse and it began to rain, we drove a few kilometers into the reserve and made a couple of brief stops. We saw Mistle Thrush, Jay, Woodlark and we found a couple of Chaffinches whilst searching for a Bonelli's Warbler. At this stage we decided to abandon our planned itinerary and drive out of the mountains. We headed for Campillos and the lagunas found around the town.

What a good decision, the sky opened up, cloud lifted and the sun came out, the temperature rose from 9C to 19C within an hour, amazing. Two stops near Teba saw us searching for raptors along the cliffs, we found Common Kestrel, Griffon Vulture, Red-billed Chough, Crag Martin, Blue Rock Thrush, Alpine Swift and Jackdaw. In the scrub nearby we saw Serin, Greenfinch, Turtle Dove and we heard a Sardinian Warbler.

At Laguna Salada we stopped to eat our picnic in the sunshine, the laguna was full of birds with over 50 Greater Flamingos. also present was: Common and Red-Crested Pochard, Gadwall, Common Coot, Moorhen, Little Ringed Plover, Black-winged Stilt, Avocet, Little Grebe, Gull Billed and Whiskered Tern.

a record shot of a Gull-billed Tern

The larger laguna just outside Campillos, called Laguna Dulce, held many hundreds of birds, mainly Common Coot but also White-headed Duck, Great-crested, Little & Black-necked Grebes, Cattle Egret, Northern Lapwing, Black-headed and Yellow-legged Gull, Gull-billed Terns and many of the species listed above. We heard a Great Reed Warbler but never found it.
In the fields at the back of the laguna we saw a Montagu's Harrier, lots of Corn Buntings, Skylark, Calandra lark and Yellow Wagtail.

Laguna Fuente de Piedra didn't produce anything new but the spectacle of seeing thousands of Greater Flamingos was truly amazing, but what was even better and more thrilling was the sight of approx 5,000 Common Swifts forming swirling masses over the lake as we viewed from a hide. We also saw Zitting Cisticloa, Reed Warbler and a Common Buzzard.

Our journey back was broken with a quick stop in the mountains between Ronda and Atajate. We enjoyed good views of Black-eared Whetaer, Rock Sparrow, Rock Bunting, Blue Rock Thrush and a Black Wheatear.

It got cold again so we jumped back into the bus for the short journey back to Gaucin, we concluded the tour at 6pm.

ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR - DAY 6 - JUNE 7th 2013

GAUCIN - SAN MARTIN ROAD - LAGUNA MEDINA  -  BONANZA SALT PANS - TREBUJENA SALT MARSH - CHIPIONA

A full day out and a fantastic birding day tour. We started off with a bang!!  Our first venue produced two great sepcieswas the road to San Martin where we searched for a reported Black-winged kite site, just as reported the birds where where they were supposed to be. Fantastic, two adult birds were on show, they flew from one perch to another until one flew off to hunt. Another great find was a ROLLER  which was perched on wires very close to the kites. This is the third that I have seen Rollers in the same area and i suspect that a pair is breeding nearby.

BLACK WINGED KITE

From there we returned to the Algeciras road where we stopped on the bridge just passed  Jimena too look at the Lesser kestrel nesting site, unfortunately some workers we in the vicinity and had disturbed the birds, we did see about six birds high above the bridge.

We then made the long drive to laguna Medina and our hour long walk produced quite a few sightings. We saw Great Reed and Reed Warblers, Cetti's Warblers and Nightingale. We also saw Zitting Cisticola, Corn Bunting, Stonechat and a few Greenfinches. On the water there not many birds, we saw all three grebes and a few Common Pochard. A Purple Heron flew over and a couple of Booted Eagles showed.

THERE WERE OVER 25 WHITE STORK'S NEST ON THIS BUILDING

We then spent some time at a smaller laguna called Salada on the way to Sanlucar, there we saw many Common Coots (but not Red-knobbed ) White headed Ducks, Common and Red-crested Pochard and all the grebes.

At the Salt pans we had great views of Slender-billed Gulls, Sanderling, Avocets, Black-winged Stilts, Grater flamingos and lots of Little Terns. From there we visited the laguna Tarelo it was great full of birds we logged so many new species: Night Heron, Squacco Heron, Purple Heron, Little Bittern, Eurasian Spoonbill, Common Waxbill and several duck species.

SLENDER BILLED GULLS

The marshes at Trebujena were also very productive, we added Whiskered Tern, Glossy Ibis and lots of kites, both Red and Black Kites hunted over the river and marsh. Many ducks and waders fed on the open water but we failed to find marbled Duck which is normally a regular sighting there.

Lastly we stopped off at Chipiona hoping for a sighting of Little Swift, a colony is now firmly established there, but still we never saw them!! However we did see small numbers of Northern Gannet out at sea.

Well that concluded our day out, it was along drive home but we all felt that it was worth it.

ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR - DAY 5 - JUNE 6th 2013

THE LAGUNAS OF CAMPILLOS AND FUETE DE PIEDRAS

We spent a nice relaxing day at the lakes near Campillos. It was a very misty start, as soon as we drove out of the village we hit thick fog, but it did thin out a little further up the valley as we got nearer to Ronda.

A quick stop in  rocky terraine just south of Ronda produced a number of montane birds. Rock Bunting, Rock Sparrow, Blue Rock Thrush and Black Wheatear were all seen well.

By-passing Ronda we turned onto the road to Canmpillos where the mist thickened once again. It did not clear until we were well clear of Teba some 10km south of Campillos. We stopped at the little observation point which affords great views of the cliff face near Teba. We soon found Red-billed Chough, Griffon Vulture, Crag martin, jackdaw, Alpine Swift and behind us in the olive groves we found Turtle Dove, Serin and Greenfinch. High above us a Booted Eagle and a Black Kite passed over.

The first of the lagunas we visited was the Laguna Dulce, but before we visited the hide we drove round the back and explored the large open fields there. A Red-legged Partridge showed well as did several Gull-billed Terns as they quartered the fields. We also saw Skylark, Calandra Lark, Crested lark and lots of Corn Buntings. As we neared the water's edge we saw Greater Flamingo, Northern Lapwing, Black-winged Stilts and lots of Common Coots. On the water a little further out we found Black-necked, Little and Great-crested Grebes, Common and Red-crested Pochard and lots of Mallards.

Black-necked grebes

Further exploration of the fields and lagunas produced more of the above plus a lovely male Montagu's Harrier. We then drove around to the hide situated on the main road where we sat and ate our lunch, a long search for Red-knobbed Coot failed to produce a single sighting, but we did find White-headed Duck and had great views of Black-necked Grebes.

From there we made the short journey to Laguna Fuente de Piedras, it was now very hot and the heat shimmer proved difficult for viewing. The track passed a fantastic view point where we see the extent of the Flamingo breeding population, it was amazing to see, some 5000 birds in close clusters. From the visitor's centre we scoped the laguna and the small pools in the area. We saw hundreds of Avocets, Black-winged Stilts and of course Greater Flamingos. We added Common Shelduck and Noirthern Shoveler.

White-headed Duck

From Fuente we drove around the south side of the water and bumped into our first Hoopoe of the trip, then another one flew up from the track. We then spent the last couple of hours searching 3 more lagunas in the Campillos area, laguna Salada and Capacete held good numders of birds and you could get great close views of them. Greater Flamingos, White Headed Duck, Black-necked Grebes, Kentish Plover and Gull billed Terns to name but a few. Despite extensive searching in the hoards of Common Coots we could not find a blessed Red-knobbed Coot!



Despite our bad luck we had a great day out at the 'lagunas'.

ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR - DAY 4 - JUNE 5th 2014

GAUCIN - SAN MARTIN - SAN ENRIQUE - SECADURA TO CASARES TRACK

Another full with excellent weather, clear sky all day, fairly hot with a lovely breeze. We made an early start as we  headed down to our local river, the Genal, at 6:45am. We spent a pleasant hour and a 1/2 watching a number of species including our target bird the Golden Oriole. We saw at l;east four of these stunning birds, we also saw Nightingale, Cetti's Warbler, Grey Wagtail, White Wagtail, Cirl Bunting and a few common species.

Spotted Flycatcher

After breakfast our stop was on a track not far from San Pablo. many birds were singing and we got sightings of the most common ones:  Melodious Warbler, Serin, Sardinian Warbler, Greenfinch and Goldfinch. Further along the track we found a Little Owl, lots of Corn Buntings, Stonechats and Crested larks. Our star bird however was the RUFOUS BUSH ROBIN. This bird performed extremely well, it sang from a few perches very close to the track and then performed its courtship display by cocking & fanning out its tail, superb. We had great views of a couple of Short-toed Eagles, Common Buzzard, Bee-eaters and Turtle Doves.

the RUFOUS BUSH ROBIN singing to us

After that excitement we drove to San Enrique where we spent an hour so looking for woodland species and for the Tree Sparrow that is usually found there. In the woods we saw Spotted Flycatcher, Blackcap, Blue and Great Tits but not much else. The Tree Sparrows only showed near the end of our visit.

Sierra Crestellina seen from the Secadera track

Finally we took the track from Secadera to Casares, our target species was the Olivaceous Warbler which took all of fifteen minutes to find. Two of them showed very well for 10 minutes or so. The river was quite busy with wagtails and Little Ringed Plovers and the scrub & bushes held lots of finches, Linnets, Serin and Sardinian Warblers. Lots of Bee-eaters were flying around and several Booted Eagles put in an appearance.

We concluded the day early so that we could eat dinner at 7pm. After dinner we returned to the same track for a nightjar watch - what a disappointment, not one nightjar showed up!! We only heard a distant one calling, so we returned home in the dark empty handed!

ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR - DAY 3 - JUNE 4th 2014

GAUCIN - ESTACION CORTES (RIO GUADIARO) - LLNOS DE LIBAR - RONDA - ENCINAS BORRACHAS

A good all round day out with plenty of great weather, some super birds and fantastic scenery. Matt and Val joined us just for today, we collected them on the edge of the village and then drove down to the Rio Guadiaro at Estacion de Cortes.

It was a beautiful morning, Chaffinches, Blackcap, Serin and Nightingale sang as we got out of the bus, then a distant Cetti'

STONECHAT with a dragonfly

s Warbler also called. We quickly found Red-rumped Swallow, Woodchat Shrike, White Wagtail, Melodious Warbler, Rock Sparrow and several common garden species.

A little further along the track where the fields opened out we could see the distant hills and a Booted Eagle circled over them with many swifts coming down to drink, a mixed flock of some 20 Pallid and Common Swifts were seen. Turtle Doves called from across the river but we never saw them and on a shingle bank we located a calling Little Ringed Plover and a couple of Grey Wagtails. Stonechat, Serin, Spotless Starling and four Griffon Vultures circled overhead.

some of the group  -  NO, THE GUY ON THE RIGHT ISN'T PEEING AND THE GUY ON THE LEFT ISN'T WATCHING HIM

On the way back to the bus we got a singing Nightingale in scope, lovely! Then a family party of Sardinian Warblers showed well and finally a Blackcap showed for some of us.

At llnos de Libar we were hardly out of the bus when the group were watching a Black Redstart, a fine male appeared, then a female turned up carrying a couple feathers which she promptly took to her nest in a crevice. Then a Blue Rock Thrush sang from on high which was quickly put into the scope. A smart looking Linnet fed on seeds on the cliff face and whilst we were watching a few Griffon Vultures we noticed a small flock of Alpine Swifts up there with them.

A Copper Damselfly

Our walk up the track was delightful, many butterflies were on the wing and masses of wild flowers bloomed in front of our very eyes. back to birds, we found Corn Bunting, Cirl Bunting, Rock Sparrow, more Linnetss, Stonechats and Blue Rock Thrushes. We continued our walk and eventually stopped for lunch, which was, as always, interrupted by bird sightings. This time is was an Orphean Warbler that chose to disturb us by singing in the nearest tree. We got great views of it and a lovely Woodchat Shgrike into the bargin.

On the way back down the valley we finally caught up with the Black Wheatear, one of our main target species, we eventually found 4 more of these, but not the Rock Thrush we had hoped for. A great view of a Red-billed Chough was followed by a fly over Raven.

After a coffee stop we drove into the centre of Ronda for a brief visit to the famous Gorge before heading off to our final destination of the day, Encinas Borrachas. This track is one of my favourites as it takes you through many habitats and thus many species of birds. The first 300 meters are open grass meadows which develop into rocky scree with elevation and finally end in magnificent limestone pinnacles and cliff faces. From there you walk into heathland, and today the heath was covered in bright yellow flowering broom, a lovely sight, then we turned acorner and found ourselves in a cork woodland, magical.

A Thekla Lark

Anyway back to the start! Within the first 20 meters we stopped to watch a huge flock of Red-billed Chough, there must of been about 50-60 noisy birds there, they flew over the cliff ridge. Then we  had Corn Bunting and Southern Grey Shrike in the bag, followed by Linnets and a family party of Rock Buntings. Crested Larks frustrated our efforts to find Thekla Larks and we spent some time on the heath before we all got good views of Spectacled Warbler. It wasn't until the return journey that we found both Northern Wheatear and Black Eared Wheatear and finally we caught up with Thekla Lark, right by the entrance gate next to the bus!! A couple of Short-toed Eagles circled over the hills before we jumped into the bus in preparation for our journey home.

That concluded our day out, just under 60 species were recorded and everyone went back happy, so happy in fact that they fell asleep as I drove them back to Gaucin.

ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR - DAY 2 - JUNE 3rd 2014

GAUCIN - PALMONES SALT MARSH - ALGORROBO RAPTOR WATCH POINT  -  LOS LANCES - LA JANDA  -  VEJER - BARBATE MARSHES - BOLONIA (SIERRA DE LA PLATA)

An action packed today with several venues on the itinerary and some nice sunshine followed us all day, It was very windy for most of the day which spoiled our enjoyment and our bird count somewhat.

BAR-TAILED GODWIT

We left Gaucin at 8:15am and collected mark from Sabanillas, which is on the coast, at 9am. We then set off South/eastward towards Tarifa and we passed through San Roque before stopping at the Salt Marsh found at Palmones. It was a little disappointing as very few species were seen, however, we did find Kentish Plover, Common Ringed Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit (two birds in winter plumage), Little Egret, Eurasian Spoonbill and several gull species.

KENTISH PLOVER

On the way up through the mountains as we headed to Tarifa we stopped at the raptor watch point called Algorrobo just passed Algeciras because we had seen a large flock of vultures circling overhead. The vultures were very low and lots of them were perched on the ground, we spent half an hour just watching this spectacle.

Los Lances beach was also fairly quiet especially for wader species, we only saw Kentish Plover, about 50 Sandwich Terns, lots of Yellow Legged Gulls, a single Mediterranean Gull and a few Lesser Black backed Gulls. Other species seen included Crested Lark, Egyptian Vulture, Common Kestrel, Corn Bunting, Stonechat and Collared Dove.

MELODIOUS WARBLER

Most of our time at La Janda was spent in the car because the wind was so bad, we drove along the central track stopping to watch from the van or sometimes we jumped out or a while. Cattle Egrets and White Storks were everywhere and many Black-winged Stilts waded in the flooded rice fields. We heard Great Reed Warblers without seeing them but we did find: Yellow Wagtail, Little Egret, Bee-eaters, Marsh Harrier, Zitting Cisticola and lots of Mallards.

We drove passed the huge egret colony where nearly 500 nests held young birds almost ready to fledge, we also saw many Turtle Doves, Cetti's Warbler, Wood Pigeon and more Griffon Vultures. During lunch we watched a beautiful Meldious Warbler which sang to us whilst we ate, a Cetti's Warbler showed fleetingly and a few Turtle Doves put in an appearance.

some of the group at barbate marshes - as you can see they are not marshes!

From La Janda we drove round to Benalup and along the way we added a Booted Eagle to the day list. From Benalup we circled round to Vejer where we watched the BALD IBIS colony for a while, these rare birds are doing really well we counted fifteen chicks (all had been banded/ringed) and after a short coffee stop we went round the seafront at barbate.

This newly created nature reserve at Barbate Marshes is fast becoming a great place to visit. It is extremely reliable for Collared Pratincole and Stone Curlew, both of which were in the bag within minutes. The Pratincoles must have numbered over 50 pairs and they all went up after a Kestrel which drifted over the nest colony. We also had excellent views of a few species of larks, Crested, Short-toed, Sky and Calandra all were seen very close to the bus. A Tawny Pipit was a little further away. Also present were: Kentish Plover, Black-winged Stilts and a large gull roost too distant to view through the heat haze.

Our final destination was the Sierra de la Palta at Bolonia, it too some 30 minutes to get there but for the view alone it was worth it. We scanned the rock face and the famous 'cave' for rare swifts, both the White Rumped and the Little Swift are known to breed there. After another 30 minutes we had seen Pallid, Common, Alpine and a couple of White-rumped Swifts and lots of passing raptors. A group of 9 Black Kites flew over as did Short-toed Eagle, Common Kestrel, Common Buzzard, Booted Eagle, Egyptian Vulture and Griffon Vulture.

So ended a great day out, lots of places visited and lots of species seen, time for dinner.