SPAIN - ANDALUCIA - 5-DAY TOUR - DAY 4 - OCTOBER 4TH 2016

LAGUNA MEDINA - SANLUCAR 'PONDS' - BONANZA SALT PANS - LAGUNA TARELO - CHIPIONA MARINA

A great day out with some fantastic birding, we saw 96 species with TEMMINCK'S STINT (2), MARBLED DUCK (5) and LITTLE SWIFT (10+) topping the bill.

WEATHER: Clear blue sky all day, hot, dry and sunny. Max temp 35C. The good weather continues with crazy temperatures for October luckily we had a nice cool breeze for most of the afternoon.

It was a very long day with an early start and a late finish but we enjoyed every minute of it. We set off at 7am in the dark and arrived at Laguna Medina at 8:30am. We noted White Stork, Cattle Egret, Common Buzzard, Griffon Vulture, Jackdaw and Crested Lark along the way.


Sanderling - the most common bird of the day

The morning light was superb and the air was dead calm, the laguna was like a mirror flat-calm, perfect for birding. We soon had a few species on the list with Goldfinch, Zitting Cisticola, Common Stonechat, Marsh Harrier and Common Waxbill seen within a hundred meters of the car park.
The reed beds were dead-still too we found a Reed Warbler, Cetti's Warbler amd both Greenfinch & Spanish Sparrows were feeding on the ground. Not so many birds were on the water as in previous years, this is due to the large numbers of Common Carp in the water, they eat everything. We noted Mallard, Shoveler, Common Pochard, Great Crested & Little Grebes. A single Northern Pintail flew over us as we progressed slowly along the track.


record shot of Common Waxbill - an African species often kept in cages but now breeds freely in Spain

The fields around the laguna provided some nice birds too, we saw several Whinchats, Northern Wheatears, Red-legged Partridge and a single Stone Curlew. From the hide we added Eurasian Teal, Purple Swamphen, Green and Common Sandpiper, Little Egret and Grey Heron. Good views of Cetti's and Sardinian Warbler were also had, a single Spotted Flycatcher was the only flycatcher of the day. A Ferruginous Duck was a great find, it was distant but in the excellent light it showed well enough.

As we left the laguna we had much closer views of the Ferruginous Duck, a splendid male, we also found Red-crested Pochard with it.


the male Ferruginous Duck (behind the Mallard) with Common Pochard and Red-crested Pochard (top of picture)


After a coffee stop we made our way to Sanlucar adding Raven and Common Magpie to our growing day list. We visited the ponds on the north side of the town, they were superb and full of birds. White-headed Duck, Purple Swamphen and a number of waders were noted with TEMMINCK'S STINT ( two birds), being the best find. We also saw two Squacco Herons there.

We stopped to look at the banks of the River Guadalquiver just outside of Sanlucar, where we found a number of waders and two Black Terns.


Slender-billed Gulls

Bonanza salinas (salt pans) always provide an excellent array of species, in a blaze of colour, heat and dry dust we made our way to several favourable viewing points. It was just fantastic, waders, gulls, terns, flamingos, storks, heron and egrets were everywhere. We saw 20 species of wader. ​Also Great White Egrets (7), Black Stork (11), Caspian Tern (3) and hundreds of Slender-billed Gulls. The best of the wader sightings were Knot, Sanderling in their hundreds possibly thousands, Little Stints, Curlew Sandpiper, Bar & Black-tailed Godwits, Avocets and dozens of Common Shelduck.


very bad record shot of one of the two TEMMINCK'S STINTS

Osprey, Red Kite, Peregrine Falcon and Common Buzzard was all the raptors that we noted. After our picnic lunch we drove to Laguna Tarelo stopping along the way for a cold drink. The laguna was also excellent with 12 wader species, 7 species of duck and also grebes, coots, egrets, moorhens etc. The best sightings were of MARBLED DUCK (5) and White-headed Duck but we never saw a single Night Heron which is very unusual for this site. My group were flagging a bit in the heat, it was now 4pm and 35C with little breeze! So we gave up and drove to the beach at Chipiona.


Marbled Duck at laguna Tarelo

The marina at Chipiona is a regularly haunt for a large number of Ruddy Turnstones, at the moment there are about 50 but this number will increase soon, we also saw Mediterranean Gull, Audouin's Gull (our 6th species of gull on the day), a number of Northern Gannets were seen offshore and Sanderling were on the beach.

However, it was the ​LITTLE SWIFT ​ that we were there for, it took a while but we saw a dozen or so, they were extremely high up amd hard to see, some of them eventually came down to their nests to roost, a marvellous bird to finish off our birding with!


Red Knot in winter plumage, seen in good numbers at the salt pans

It was a long drive back, we arrived in Gaucin at 7:30pm, a cold beer went down extremely well with Dawn's delicous dinner. We had seen 96 species a few short of my record total for this day-tour of 106 seen back in 2005!

SPAIN - ANDALUCIA - 5-DAY TOUR - DAY 3 - OCTOBER 3RD 2016

GIBRALTAR (JEW'S GATE RINGING STATION & EUROPA POINT) - PALMONES SALT MARSH - LA JANDA - BARBATE (RIO BARBATE & MARSHES).

WEATHER: Sunshine all day with a brisk easterly wind, cloudy on Gibraltar first thing. Top temp. 28C.

We set off at 7am in the dark and got down to Gibraltar by 8:15am we noted Little Owl, White Stork, Common Buzzard and House Martin along the way. We drove straight up to Jew's Gate ringing station and arrived just as the ringing group went off to inspect their nets.

Ray Marsh, the lead ringer, was his usual charming self and gave my clients a great display of ringing and an educational talk on bird identification in the hand. His group of helpers gathered their morning's catch and supplied a running commentary whilst they ringed the captured birds.

We watched them process a number of species: Sardinian, Garden & Willow Warblers, Blackcap, Common Chiffchaff, European Robin, Common Redstart and they saved the best until last when Ray brought out a COMMON NIGHTJAR, what a beautiful bird that was to see.


Common Nightjar in the hand at Jew's Gate bird ringing station


From there we drove down to Europa Point where we looked out into the Strait of Gibraltar to look for sea-birds. We noticed dozens of Cory's Shearwaters, they were following huge pods of Common Dolphins and were joined by Northern Gannets and lots of Yellow-legged Gulls.


Cory's Shearwaters in the morning light off Europa Point

A couple of sightings of European Shag were made before we made our way back off the 'island'. We made a quick stop along the east 'slope' to look for land species but only found Common Kestrel and Blue Rock Thrush.


Palmones river and salt marsh

Next we drove to Palmones Salt Marsh where we scanned the river and marsh from the 'promenade' A number of waders were seen but generally there was far too much human disturbance to encourage birds to roost, especially gulls and terns. We noted Ringed Plover, Redshank, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, Dunlin, Whimbrel, Eurasian Spoonbill, Grey Heron and not much else.

At La Janda we had a great time despite a very strong easterly wind. The PECTORAL SANDPIPER was still there and birds numbers in general were still very high. In the flooded rice fields we found Common Snipe, Little Ringed and Common Ringed Plovers, Redshank, Wood & Green Sandpipers and the Pectoral Sandpiper which showed very well.


record shot of the Pectoral Sandpiper

Huge numbers of Glossy Ibis, White Storks, Cattle & Little Egrets, Jackdaws, Wood Pigeons, Goldfinches and both House and Spanish Sparrows covered the area, the sky was full of moving birds. Marsh Harrier numbers were also good and we found 9 Lesser Kestrels, 2 Common Ravens, Zitting Cisticola, Common Stonechat, Corn Bunting and Greenfinches.

We dragged ourselves away after watching a tremendous movement of around 1,000 White Storks, some of them landed behind a pool which held dozens of Black-winged Stilts. We then visited two places in Barbate, the first was the river at the site where the bridge spans the water. It was just reaching high tide as we arrived, so many birds were just roosting on posts or near to the water's edge. We found Audouin's Gulls, Redshanks and Greenshanks, Black-winged Stilts, Sandwich Terns, Cormorants and the three common species of gulls, Black-headed, Yellow-legged and Lesser Black-backed. We also watched two Ospreys fishing upriver in the distance.

Our final venue was the open lagoons on the reclaimed land now c​alled Barbate Marshes, we saw a nice selection of waders, lots of Audouin's Gulls and to our great delight 3 Caspian Terns flew over the water just before we left. There was no sighting of the BALD IBIS which can usually be found along the approach track.

We arrived home just after 7pm and Dawn served us a superb chicken dinner at 8pm washed down with nice cold beers and a glass of wine.

SPAIN - ANDALUCIA - 5-DAY TOUR - DAY 2 - OCTOBER 2ND 2016

GAUCIN SWEET CHESTNUT WOODS - MARCHENILLA TRACK - RIO HOZGARGANTE - SAN ENRIQUE WOODS - SOTO GRANDE BREAKWATER -LAGUNA TORRE GUADIARO -RIO GUADIARO VALLEY (SECADERO TO CASARES)

WEATHER:  clear blue sky all day, bright hot & sunny. Top temp 30C.

The warm weather returned after a cooler spell and we revelled in warm sunshine all day, marvellous! We drove up to the Chestnut woods and found the gate padlocked! A sign on the gate said no entry and it is strickly forbidden to pick the chestnuts! That didn't stop four intrepid birders from climbing the fence and enjoying a bit of birding.

We found Firecrest relatively easy but other species were few and far between, Blue Tit, Eurasian Nuthatch, European Robin, Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Eurasian Spartowhawk was all.


the first section of the Marchenilla Track

We next went down the valley to San Pablo and onto to the Marchenilla track which was covered in birds as usual. Hordes of Common and Spotless Starlings sat on the power lines with Collared Doves, Greenfinches and Corn Buntings, whilst flocks of House & Spanish Sparrows were joined by Goldfinches, Serins and Linnets in the hedgerows and scrub. We also noted Zitting Cisticola and Blackcaps in the bushes and open fields of alfalfa.


Willow Warbler

I've never seen so many Common Stonechats they were everywhere, we also noted a good number of Sardinian Warblers and Willow Warblers feeding on insects in the giant fennel. Many Barn & Red-rumped Swallows together with House Martins passed overhead and once the air temperature warmed up a few raptors appeared. We saw Common Buzzard and Common Kestrel on pylons and Short-toed Eagles & Griffon Vultures riding the thermals. Later another 10+ Short-toed Eagles passed over with 6 Booted Eagles.

As we made our way up to the top of the track and over the hill we added Southern Grey Shrike to the list and a Little Owl.


Little Owl

A short stop at the nearly-dry Rio Hozgargante produced a few sightings, Willow Warbler and Common Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, Blue Tit, European Robin and Blackbird were all seen coming down to a pool of water to drink.

We ate our picnic lunch before taking a short walk to look for more water, when we found it we added Grey Heron and a possible Common Sandpiper to the list and two of us had great views of another Firecrest.

After a quick stop for coffee we went to San Enrique Woods which seemed very quiet. Monarch Butterflies proved more popular than birds and were definitely more abundant. We found Spotted & Pied Flycatchers, Jay, Willow Warbler and not much else.


Monarch Butterfly

Soto Grande marina and breakwater offered a nice cooling relief from the 30C in the woods, the sea breeze was much appreciated. We watched a large 'raft' of Cory's Shearwaters, a few Northern Gannets and the odd Yellow-legged Gull before we drove to the Laguna at Torreguadiaro.


A view of Gibraltar and Morocco from the breakwater at Soto Grande
The access to the laguna was no-existent as usual and an attempt to make a break in the giant pampas that blocked our view proved futile. We noted Common Coot, Common Moorhen, Little Grebe and Mallard.

We spent the last hour of the afternoon at the Ruo Guadiaro where many Spanish families were enjoying Sunday afternoon picnics so not many birds were present. We saw Little Egrets, Grey Herons, White Wagtail and a distant Green Sandpiper. We left pretty soon after we arrived and apart from a very quick stop at Sierra Crestellina, where we watched dozens of Griffon Vultures, that was it!

A cold beer on the top terrace before a delicous dinner of calallera (pig's cheeks), finished off our day.

SPAIN - ANDALUCIA - 6-DAY TOUR - DAY 6 - SEPT 30TH 2016

MONTEJAQUE - LLANOS DE LIBAR

WEATHER:  a perfectly still morning, such a contrast to yesterday, the sun rose into a clear orange sky as we left the village and then it turned into a beautiful blue as we  entered the mountains.

This was our last day and we only had the morning hours in which to go birding. It took 45 minutes to drive to the 'hidden valley' behind the beautiful white village of Montejaque. The weather was perfect for birding and the birding was perfect for us! We quickly found Blue Rock Thrush, Rock Sparrow and Black Redstart. Many Griffon Vultures drifted over the high peaks in a clear blue sky, the light was magical at this time.


on the track in the Llanos de Libar

As we walked along the track deeper into the Llanos de Libar we made slow progress because bird sightings were so numerous. We added Black Wheatear, Red-billed Chough, Eurasian Sparrowhawk and lots of Linnets, Goldfinches and Stonechats to our list. We spent a good deal of time watching the impressive number of Griffon Vultures and to our great delight we found a Bonelli's Eagle. The eagle showed for a brief time at first but later we had prolonged views.


Not a scene from ET! We were being watched by Spanish Ibex

A watering  trough was the centre of our attention for quite a while, both Cirl and Rock Buntings were visiting for a midday drink along with Goldfinches, Black Redstarts, a Grey Wagtail and a Blue Rock Thrush. Many Sardinian Warblers flitted about in the bushes, we saw a couple of Wrens which were the first sightings of this species during this trip!


Rock Sparrow

The Spanish Ibex was another species encountered on the mountain peaks, several fed or sat and watched us. All too soon it was time to walk back to the bus. We had much better sightings of Rock Bunting near the bus and Black Redstarts seemed to be everywhere especially males in their superb summer plumage.

After a nice cooked lunch back at the house and a couple of hours of relaxation we set off for Malaga Airport leaving Gaucin for the last time. I dropped Les, Carol, Patrick, Peggy, Zowie and David at the airport at 7pm. I returned the bus, picked up my car and drove home alone! Back at Gaucin by 9pm - a cold beer please!!

It had been a great week of relaxed birding with the rarity finds especially exciting. The PALLID HARRIER was voted bird of the week and deservedly so. I personally like waders and to find a PECTORAL SANDPIPER was equally as good for me (this bird had been around for a few days when we 'found' it, but we didn't know of it, so it was truly a find for us).

SPAIN - ANDALUCIA - 6-DAY TOUR - DAY 5 - SEPT 29TH

RIO GENAL - RIO GUADIARO VALLEY - SAN ENRIQUE WOODS - SOTO GRANDE BREAKWATER - LAGUNA TORREGUADIARO - RIO MANILVA

WEATHER:  A very strong LEVANTE blew all day with gusts up to 40km/hr, not good for birding.
As usual the first couple of hours of the day provided the best birding and because the Rio Genal valley was relatively sheltered we found it to be the best area to bird.


Pied Flycatcher

We parked not far from the bridge at the bottom of the hill from Gaucin and walked up river. The river itself was barely flowing leaving a series of festering pools turning green with algal growth. We saw Grey Wagtail and Green Sandpiper on the rocks in the river bed and heard a Cetti's Warbler several times.

A nice surprise was the finding of 3 Common Crossbills sitting in the top of the tallest White Poplar trees we also found a number of birds feeding on blackberries across a meadow. There was Blackcap, Sardinian Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, a Whinchat and several White Wagtails. Both Willow Warbler and Common Chiffchaff fed along the near fence line giving excellent close views, it was great to see them side by side like that.


Short-toed Eagle - this one hovered above us for about ten minutes

Above us in a cloudy sky we found Peregrine Falcon, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Booted  & Short-toed Eagles and Griffon Vultures. Reluctantly we left the valley to drive over the Rio Guadiaro where it was really blowing a gale. We managed to find shelter behind thick scrub to watch birds on the river. We found Little-ringed Plover, Grey Heron, Green Sandpiper, Crested Larks and both Goldfinch and Linnet were coming down to drink.

We tried to each lunch there but abandoned the idea and drove to the San Enrique woods to try there. Well, on arrival we were amazed to see a host of Booted Eagles, they were everywhere, dozens of them. We found shelter in woods and finished our lunch whilst watching good numbers of Monarch Butterflies. On the river we saw Common Kingfisher, Little Egret and we heard Cetti's Warbler yet again.


Booted Eagles over the San Enrique Woods
From the woods we made a brief visit to Soto Grande Marina to watch the sea breaking over the huge breakwater, it was spectacular! We also tried to sea-watch noting only Northern Gannets and Yellow-legged Gulls.


Monarch Butterfly

The pool at Torreguadiaro didn't provide shelter from the relentless wind, we saw only Little Grebe (14) a few Common Coots and a single Common Moorhen. We stopped for our second coffee break in Torreguadiaro where we noted Monk Parakeets and as we left a Lesser Black-backed Gull flew along the beach.

Finally we stopped at the Rio Manilva just off the coastal main road, it wasn't as sheltered as one might expect so we didn't stay long. A number of birds were coming to the river to drink, we found Blackcap, Common Chiffchaff, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit and a Grey wagtail.


The strange mineral-rich colour of the Rio Manilva

We called it a day at that point, we drove back up to Gaucin arriving at 4:30pm, an early finish to a blustery day. Dawn served up a delicious Moroccan Chicken Tajine for dinner, followed by pears poached in red-wine. yummy!
 

SPAIN - ANDALUCIA - 5-DAY TOUR - DAY 4 - SEPT 28TH 2016

MORNING WALK ALONG THE MARCHENILLA TRACK ONTO THE RIVER HOZGARGANTE - AFTERNOON WALK ALONG THE RIO GUADIARO AT ESTACION CORTES

WEATHER: bright sunshine all day but the persistent easterly wind (Levante) was annoying at times.

Our rarity finding continued as we found a Ruppell's Vulture in the Guadiaro Valley, it was that man Patrick that did it again.

Today was our pre-arranged mid-tour slow-down - half of the group wanted the day off from birding and decided instead to go walking around the village and onto a local woodland walk. Dawn took then woodland-walking whilst I took the two remaining birders out locally.

Over driving down to San Pablo we turned onto a dirt track that led us to Marchenilla. The farmland along the Marchenilla track is looking very dry and barren at this time of the year but it is full of finches and sparrows and plenty of raptors fly over it. We quickly listed Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Linnet, House Sparrow, Stonechat, Zitting Cisticola and both Starling species - Common & Spotless.


part of the very dry Marchenilla track

Not long after we​ found Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel and a superb GOSHAWK, it was a juvenile showing its markings very well. Next came a BLACK-WINGED KITE, this scarce breeding species is the third one I've seen recently at this site. Further along the track we found Common Redstart, Pied Flycatcher, Eurasian Hoopoe, Northern Wheatear, Crested Lark. Corn Bunting and we counted over 50 Griffon Vultures. Red-rumped and ​Barn Swallows passed over in a steady stream and distant Short-toed Eagles drifted on higher thermals.


our only Hoopoe of the trip so far

The Rio Hozgargante was virtually dry, just a few small pools remained. However, after watching one pool we soon realised that several species were coming down to drink. We saw Common Kingfisher, Pied Flycatcher, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, European Robin, Reed Warbler, Serin, Willow Warbler, Common Chiffchaff, Goldfinch and Blackbird.

We drove to Gaucin via the Marchenilla track noting Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Common Redstart and more Griffon Vultures along the way.

After a long lunch just four of us set off for a short birding spell at the Rio Guadiaro Valley near Estacion Cortes. The wind was gusting badly at times but it did calm down for longer spells. We quickly found a number of species as we watched the river from a footbridge, a male Cirl Bunting was drinking not too far away whilst Pied Flycatcher, Blackcap, and Sardinian Warbler all fed on blackberries.


the Rio Guadiaro seen from the footbridge

We walked a kilometer down-river noting a few more species including Common Kingfisher, Spotted Flycatcher, both Grey and White Wagtails and a number of raptors overhead. Towards the end of our outward walk we made two exciting finds, the first was of a RUPPELL'S VULTURE, this was the third sighting of this species I have made this year in this area, unusual because it is 40km away from the coast where it is normally encountered! Nevertheless the sighting was a good one.

Just after that we found a TWO-TAILED PASHA Butterfly. This extraordinary African species is the most colourful and the largest butterfly beast that you are likely to encounter in Europe, it was feeding on rotting figs as they lay on the ground.


the magnificent Two-tailed Pasha

Other sightings made during this last walk of the day included: Red-rumped and Barn Swallows, House and Crag Martins​, Griffon Vulture, Booted & Short-toed Eagles, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Common Kestrel, Jay, Grey Heron, Cetti's Warbler (heard), Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Common Stonechat and lots of Goldfinches, Chaffinches and Linnets.

That concluded our birding for the day, for dinner we ate in the village, it was still windy and a little chilly but we all enjoyed a lovely meal and plenty of local wine.

SPAIN - ANDALUCIA - 5-DAY TOUR - DAY 3 - SEPT 27TH 2016

GIBRALTAR - JEW'S GATE BIRD-RINGING STATION & EUROPA POINT - ALGARROBO RAPTOR WATCH - LA JANDA

Our 'rarity' finding week continued today as we found the HOODED CROW on GIBRALTAR and a PECTORAL SANDPIPER at La Janda, what another great day in sunny Spain!

WEATHER: cloudy over Gibraltar with a brisk easterly wind that increased during the day. Sunny later but the wind made birding very difficult at La Janda.

An early breakfast and an early start saw us arriving at Gibraltar at 8:45am, the traffic on Gib was particularly bad so we went straight to Jew's Gate, arriving just after 9am. Our two hours spent there were most enjoyable, Ray Marsh, the lead Ringer, was very informative and the ringing demonstration was excellent. The group all saw a number of species being processed; Blackcaps, Garden Warblers, Common Redstart, Sardinian & Subalpine Warblers, Common Chiffchaff, Blackbird amd Greenfinch.


My group at Europa Point, Gibraltar with the cloudy 'Rock' behind them

At 11am we thanked Ray and his helpers and made our way down to Europa Point where had a quick coffee-stop and a short sea-watch. Dozens of Cory's Shearwaters sat on the water or followed the pods of feeding Common Dolphins, we also saw Northern Gannet and Yellow-legged Gull. Overhead we noticed a steady stream of Booted Eagles and one or two Sparrowhawks. The local celebrity, a HOODED CROW, put in appearance too!

We left Gibraltar at 12:30 and drove up through Algeciras heading towards Tarifa, many raptors could be seen in the cloudy sky as we started the climb out of Algeciras, so we decided to stop at Algarrobo raptor watch point. What a great decision that was! The sky was full of migrating birds! Dozens of Booted Eagles & Short-toed Eagles came from all easterly angles heading westward towards Tarifa often climbing out of sight into the clouds.


Short-toed Eagle over Algarrobo

A huge flock of White Storks 'roamed' back and forth across the sky, they couldn't get enough lift to rise over the hills so they stayed around Algeciras Bay. We ate our picnic lunch enjoying this superb migration spectacle. Apart from the two common eagle species we also saw many Eurasian Sparrowhawks, Black Stork (3), Honey Buzzard (3), Black Kite (7), Common Raven (3), Common Buzzard (3), Griffon Vulture (dozens) and Egyptian Vulture (6). Hundreds of Barns Swallows passed by in swarms joined by Red-rumped Swallows, Sand & House Martins.


White Storks


Well the day so far had been fantastic, we had had some superb bird-watching experiences, could it get better? Well yes it could!


A Preying Mantis devouring a Blue-winged Grasshopper! A number of ants attacked the Mantis and stole the grasshopper, it was amazing to watch!

the Mantis walking off disconsolately, bereft of its lunch

We drove to La Janda arriving at 3pm, it was very windy so much of our birding was done from the bus. We noted several species along the central track, Zitting Cisticola, Common Stonechat, Corn Bunting and huge flocks of Goldfinches, Linnets and Sparrows.

An area of open water in the rice fields held the usual high numbers of Little Egrets and Glossy Ibis. They were joined by over 50 Common Snipe, Northern Lapwing (6 - the first arrivals this autumn), there was also a couple of Common Redshanks, Green Sandpipers, Little Ringed Plovers and Yellow Wagtails.

We then found our bird of the week!! A single PECTORAL SANDPIPER, smaller than than the Wood Sandpiper that it appeared to be associating with, showed very well about 30 meters from us. Patrick called it first and a quick check proved he was correct. Amazingly we were the only birders in sight no-one else around to share our find! Despite the close porximty of the bird it was extremely hard to photograph, the windy conditions and the position of the sun were all bad.




Pectoral  Sandpiper

All around us many marsh Harriers struggled across the rice fields fighting the windy conditions, hundreds of Cattle Egrets followed a tractor, huge flocks of Wood Pigeons, Jackdaws and Finches dashed about whilst White Storks were all over the area in high numbers.

We dragged ourselves away from the Sandpiper and contiued along the central track turning off towards Benalup. We searched for roosting Red-necked Nightjars without success but added  Red-legged Partridge, Common Kestrel, Common Pheasant and a superb BLACK-WINGED KITE to our list.


Cattle Egrets and the plough

We retraced our steps passing along the central track, a quick second look at the PECTORAL SANDPIPER was made and a stop to look at 7-8 Lesser Kestrels feeding over the recently cropped fields was our last birding of the day.

It was now 5pm and we were 1 1/2 hours from home, but that didn't stop us taking another refreshment -break before setting off. We arrived back in Gaucin at 7:15pm. A superb fish dinner was served up by Dawn at 8, delicious! 

SPAIN - ANDALUCIA - 5-DAY TOUR - DAY 1 & 2 - SEPT 25TH & 26TH 2016

GAUNCIN WOODS - ENCINAS BORRACHAS TRACK - SIERRA DE LAS NIEVES - RONDA

Day 1: I collected my group of 6 from Malaga Airport late in the evening, they landed just as it was getting dark so we drove back to Gaucin without seeing a single bird. Day 2: we had a full day in the mountains with lots of great sightings but the best by far was a 1cy PALLID HARRIER, what a great bird to find in Spain!

WEATHER: Hazy sunshine for most of the day, max temp 29C. light easterly wind.
We had breakfast at 7:30am and set off for our first birding excursion at 8:15am we drove the short distance to a track just 3km from Gaucin on the Ronda road which led into the cork and chestnut woods. We found a Great-spotted Woodpecker as we left the bus and a Nuthatch called as we entered the wood. Then 3 Common Crossbills landed just above us in some dead twigs, hmmm, not a bad start at all.
Over the next 30 minutes we enjoyed superb views of Firecrest, we also saw Sardinian Warbler, Griffon Vulture, Booted Eagle and  Montagu's Harrier. A Mistle Thrush flew over us as we walked deeper into the woods but we couldn't locate a Crested Tit. However, a juvenile Hawfinch sat out in the open for a while which more than compensated for the lack of a Cresty.

Whinchat
We watched a Common Kestrel fight off a Sparrowhawk before we left the woods to drive to our next destination which was the Encinas Borrachas track near Ronda. It developed into a beautiful morning, a light breeze and plenty of sunshine with about 20C. The birds seemed to like it too because they sat out to greet us in the warm sunshine.
Several distant birds were 'scoped' on the high peaks from our position on the track. We found 3 or 4 Black Wheatears, Blue Rock Thrush, Short-toed Eagle and a Peregrine Falcon. Closer to the track we notched up Common Stonechat, Whinchat, Thekla Lark, Iberian Shrike, Goldfinches and a couple of Serins.
Raptors kept on appearing, with Sparrowhawk, Booted Eagle and lots of Griffon Vultures, we also found a pair of Spanish Ibex sitting high up on a ledge.

Swallowtail Butterfly - taken by Les
Just before we reached the heathland section of the walk we found our two target heathland-species, first a spextacled Warbler showed well then a Dartford Warbler appeared, two fantastic little gems. On the heath we had a lot better view of Dartford Warbler and we noticed good numbers of Barn Swallows flying over with a few Sand Martins.
It was on the return journey that we found our bird of the day and probably the week! At first we thought it was a Montagu's Harrier as it drifted towards us just a couple meters off the ground, then as it got closer we could see it was a well marked first year PALLID HARRIER, the light ring around the neck stood out a mile, what a beauty!
The atmosphere on the bus was electric as we set off to our lunch picnic site in Sierra de las Nieves nature reserve. We sat at a large picnic table in lovely early afternoon sunshine, a Common Redstart was our only good sighting during lunch.

Spanish Chalkhill Blue - another picture taken by Les
Next we sat near a water trough where a few species were coming to drink, we added Grey Wagtail, Jay, Blue & Great Tits and a Common Chiffchaff. A drive deeper into the reserve found us watching butterflies, feeding on Juniper flowers, more than watching birds. We listed about a dozen species of butterflies but we also saw Black Wheatear, Common Whitethroat and a Rock Bunting.

ADONIS BLUE - by LES
We left the park at 3pm and drove to a restaurant where we enjoyed coffee in the sunshine, from there we drove into Ronda. Our tourist hour or so produced a couple of new birds for the list. About 20 Red-billed Chough flew around the famous Ronda Bridge where we also found Crag Martins and Grey Wagtails.
At 5:30pm we headed back to Gaucin where we all enjoyed a cold beer sitting on the top terrace watching Booted Eagles and Blue Rock Thrush. We tucked into one of Dawn's superb dinners at 7:30pm, what a way to end a fantastic day!

DAY TOUR - GIBRALTAR - SEPT 22ND 2016

A morning visit to the Ringing Station and Europa Point produced a number of nice sightings...........

I collected Pete Saunders from the Manilva Beach area at 7:30am and drove to Gibraltar. We arrived at Europa Point an hour later, there was a brisk westerly wind and the sea was a little choppy. We watched a good number of Cory's Shearwaters out in the Med and a large pod of Common Dolphins made their way westward into Algeciras Bay.


A couple of European Shags flew passed the point, these are the Mediterranean variety,​Desmarestii, a good tick for Peter.

We made our way up the Jew's Gate entrance to the Upper Rock Nature Reserve where the Bird Ringing Station is situated. Unfortunately due to the windy conditions not many birds were being caught in the nets. We stayed for a couple of hours and saw Blackcap, Garden Warbler, European Robin, Willow Warbler and Blackbird being 'ringed'.



The biggest cruise ship in the world arrives at Gibraltar - "INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEAS"
Birds of prey started to trickle over the 'Rock', we saw Honey Buzzard, Short-toed Eagle, Booted Eagle, Eurasian Sparrowhawk and a couple of local Peregrine Falcons.


                   A Death's Head Hawk Moth - caught in the bird nets on 3 consecutive nights

A second visit to Europa Point produced a very close Honey Buzzard and three Marsh Harriers, all of these birds seemed to be struggling against the strong westerly wind. The shearwaters were much further out in a choppy sea, we gave up trying to scope them.

We left the Rock at 1:30pm and I got back home at 2:30pm after dropping Pete back at his holiday apartment on the coast.

DAY TOUR - AUTUMN MIGRATION - SEPT 18TH 2016

SAN ENRIQUE WOODS – EL GARROBO WATCH-POINT – CAZALLA WATCH POINT – LA JANDA

Weather: bright, sunny, hot, light easterly wind top temp 34C.

Another cracking day down at the coast, we listed 14 species of raptors as well as numerous other birds, the light was superb a great experience and a thrill to be out there!

I left Gauncin at 8:15am and collected Jane, a regular day-tour client, at the coast at 9am. We drove to San Enrique Woods to start our search for migrating birds. On the football pitch we saw lots of Yellow Wagtails, a couple of White Wagtails, some Linnets and small flocks of both Common and Spotless Starlings and a few Collared Doves.

On the fence along the perimeter of San Enrique Woods we found several Pied Flycatchers, Spotted Flycatcher and a flock of Serins. A few Monarch butterflies elegantly drifted by and a single Hobby flew over us just as we got there. In the woods we never added much else but the river produced, Green Sandpiper, Night Heron, Cetti’s Warbler, Mallard and a flock of Long-tailed Tits.


Pied Flycatcher

Driving through Algerciras we noted Booted Eagle and as we approached El Garrobo watch-point we saw Griffon Vultures. We stayed at the watch point for a couple of hours and although the sky was barren at times there was plenty to watch. Booted Eagles numbered in their tens, whilst Short-toed Eagles were less and Eurasian Sparrowhawks came over singularly.

At Cazalla there were a lot more birds, we stayed longer and enjoyed a good range of species, some came pretty close whilst others were just dots. Again Booted Eagles dominated our sightings list, a hundred or more came over, but Short-toed Eagles, Black Kites, Marsh & Montagu’s Harriers were also passing. We had singles of Goshawk and Egyptian Vulture and plenty more Griffon Vultures. A flock of about 100 House Martins came over in a swirling mass and Barn Swallows trickled through in a constant stream.

By 2:30pm the migrant passage began to ease off so we set out for La Janda, it was 3pm by the time we reached there. I drove us straight to the open water about half-way along the central track where hundreds of Cattle Egret and Glossy Ibis were feeding. We found a single Squacco Heron, hundreds of White Storks, seven Eurasian Spoonbills and large numbers of Jackdaws.


Squacco Heron

Wader numbers were generally down on last week’s count but we saw Common Snipe, Ringed Plover, Ruff, Black-winged Stilt, Green Sandpiper and not much more. Further along the track we searched for Purple Heron without success but about a thousand White Storks was an impressive sight.


Ruff in the rice fields

In the distance we noticed huge flocks of Cattle Egrets and Wood Pigeons in the air because Marsh Harriers were drifting over them, however on closer inspection we also found SPANISH IMPERIAL EAGLE (2cy), Black-winged Kite and half a dozen Lesser Kestrels.




The spectacle of so many birds in the air was enthralling, the afternoon light added a magical touch to the scene. It was a terrific couple of hours’ birding and an experience I will never forget