SPAIN:- Extremadura and Coto Donana with ORNITHOLIDAYS
21st to 28th October 2000
A very personal diary
Saturday 21st October
After a good nights sleep, I arose quietly at 0415, let out the cat and ate a frugal breakfast. I was all packed and organised ready for the taxi at 0515, which turned up on the dot,arriving at East Midlands airport at 0545. By this time it was raining so I took shelter until the coach arrived at 0605. The coach headed for Heath Row with intermediate stops at Coventry city centre and Warwick.
After we got going along the M40,we started to see fog which at times was very thick.
The first birds of the holiday were three RED KITES at the usual spot near High Wycombe, little realizing that these were only the first of very many in the subsequent week.
I arrived at the airport at 0915, ready for the 1130 Iberia flight to Madrid. Whilst wandering around I was greeted by the Ornitholidays rep. who ticked off my name and told me that there were four punters already around. I checked in my case and was accosted by a couple who were on the tour who introduced themselves as Wendy and Eric. I thought that she seemed a bit loud and snotty, but in fact the first impression was incorrect, She was certainly loud, but not in the least snotty .
Since I had to go to the toilet, and the terminal was extremely crowded, I promptly lost them and didn’t establish contact again until we arrived in Madrid.
After phoning Pat to announce my arrival, I left for the departure lounge, and settled down to read, rather disgruntled to hear that the flight was somewhat delayed. The plane; a A300 airbus ,was boarded at 1130, and we sat on the runway until we finally took off at 1200. I had a window seat with a Spanish lady who had no English, seated beside me. It was totally overcast, although the Isle of Jersey showed itself through a gap in the clouds just like the intro. to”Bergerac”. The clouds shortly clamped down again, and we didn’t see the ground again until the final ten minutes into Madrid. Although the ground looked very brown, bare, and parched, the sky was full of huge impressive mixed thunder clouds. This did not look too hopeful as the weather forecast for Central Spain for the start of the week was for heavy showers until Tuesday.
As we landed at the large impressive Madrid airport at 1530 local time, the tarmac was wet with large pools of water, which steamed in the warm sun. I got through the various checks and collected my case, and went into the arrivals lounge where I couldn’t spot any of the distinctive orange Ornitholidays labels, so I walked the length of the reception area to no avail. I returned to the baggage exit where I was greeted with some relief by the leaders and introduced to the other nine clients. I was a little nonplussed to note that the party consisted of five middle aged women, four elderly women and three middle aged(?) men. Now I like women but I do like some male company as well, especially since men are generally the better birders. It subsequently turned out that all of the women were into botany, and only Jaqui was interested in butterflies and even with her it was a poor third after flowers and birds, so it looked as though I was on my own where the butterflies were concerned.
We boarded two Mercedes eight seater mini buses in bright sunshine . I had Brian for driver, sharing the seats with Margot, Dorothy,Wendy and Eric. Following a document check by the guarda upon our exit from the airport we set off around the Madrid ring road in order to head west. The outskirts of the city appeared fairly tidy, and although the traffic was quite heavy we made good progress onto the motorway and into the one hundred and forty mile journey to Trujillo. The country was fairly scrubby and flat with jagged mountains always on the far horizon. To my surprise Brian told us that we were almost two thousand feet above sea level . The only birds visible were WOOD PIDGEONS, HOUSE SPARROWS and Starlings. When I asked when we were likely to see SPOTLESS STARLINGS, he said that we were already seeing them since Commons were extremely rare in this area. An invaluable identification tip he gave me was that Spotless always looked as though they had been smeared with Brylcream, i.e bright, shiny and greasy, which proved accurate when I managed a close look at them. Two distant raptors proved to be a BUZZARD, and a poorly seen Kite species. A poorly seen strange looking bird sitting on a bridge flapping it’s wings appeared to be a Black Shouldered Kite according to Brian, but it was impossible to stop at that point. A few miles further on we pulled into a service station near Oropesa at the hundred mile mark, this being a regular spot for Black Shouldered Kite.
The scopes were duly erected and everyone started scanning the fields and trees. Flocks of SKYLARKS and GOLDFINCHES flew round us, whilst the inevitable European CORN BUNTINGS sang from posts and bushes. A moments excitement was occasioned by a passing SPARROW HAWK, and then the second new bird of the day was spotted sitting on a bush in the person of a SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKE, which showed it’s pink breast rather well, but no Black Shouldered Kite.
We turned off onto a side road for another search, noting some thirty CATTLE EGRET feeding in the fields , plus fair numbers of CORN BUNTINGS and LAPWINGS, which were common in all parts of the area. Eric then spotted a “funny” Kestrel, which caught Brian’s attention. “That’s it” he yelled, and it was: a BLACK SHOULDERED KITE. Everyone had good views through the scopes and then it was joined by it’s mate.
When hovering they indeed looked like a strange Kestrel, but flapping their wings above the back and assuming a forty five degree to the ground posture with the body. This was a fortunate sighting since we did not have another good view. Another shriek from the ever vigilant Eric, produced a male HEN HARRIER gliding just above a ridge. It disappeared however before everyone saw it.
We returned to the motorway, which was only two lanes wide, and proceded westwards, noting many White Stork nests on buildings and pylons, but the birds had long flown.
We shortly passed into more rocky mountainous country, passing a steaming nuclear power station, and then through a mile long tunnel through a ridge. Once past the ridge, the country became more scrubby, later giving way to grassy steppes. A flock of large birds then appeared on our right, and I managed to get my binos on them. Before I could say anything Brian said he thought they were Cattle Egret. Jaqui’s bus got a slightly better view and later confirmed my own view that they were twenty five COMMON CRANES. I must be better at identification than I thought.
It was beginning to get dark when we arrived at the Hotel Ciguenas on the outskirts of Trujillo, which was dominated by a large Moorish castle. Although the Hotel appeared quiet luxurious, I have slept in better rooms. It was quite passable however, as was the dinner, also the excessive quantity of free wine, although the breakfasts proved to be rather sparse as is the Spanish way. Since there was a Wedding reception, I anticipated a noisy night, but after a rather watery beer and a huge brandy:- King Carlos III, I went to bed and slept like a log. All this time I had been practicing my Spanish since it seemed that no one appeared to speak English , and so it proved in both areas.
Sunday 22nd October
I awoke at 0700 to pitch darkness. The rather sparse breakfast was at 0800, and we were ready for the road at 0845. Everyone did a bit of a swop about with the buses, and I travelled in the green bus with Jaqui, and an all female load.
We drove for about ten miles on minor roads through Belen village to the south; and on to the Belen steppes. This was a barren area consisting of poor brown grassland, and stony heaths, used for hunting, interspersed by minor roads, with the occasional grove of scrubby trees or bushes. The horizon was about thirty miles away, with the usual jagged mountains in the far distance. It did not look too promising for birds, but turned out to be absolutely brilliant.
We dismounted at the top of a short hill with a downhill track heading down towards a small farm, with a number of small trees and bushes on both sides of the track. At the bottom of the rock strewn hill the steppes proper started. although the sun was out there was an extremely cold wind, and I soon discovered that acting macho and only wearing a tee and trousers shirt was a bit silly. At the top of the hill we spotted four very obliging HOOPOE,and a number of extremely tame CRESTED LARKS, which were a common feature of all areas. As we set off down the track it was non stop birding. Three WOODLARKS were seen in quick succession, followed by great excitement and much scoping as a flock of some thirty GREAT BUSTARD were noted feeding on the steppe about two hundred yards away. Much closer views than I have had before. Three RED KITE soaring above were duly admired when more excitement was caused by a flock of ten LITTLE BUSTARD were spotted feeding near the bottom of the hill. A couple of BUZZARDS gliding by were practically ignored, whilst the large numbers of STONECHAT, CORN BUNTING,and CRESTED LARK were totally ignored once they were identified. The next actors on stage were a SARDINIAN WARBLER and a couple of CHIFF CHAFF, whilst another SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKE was duly admired from close by. All the time we were surrounded by MEADOW PIPITS, CRESTED LARKS, and CORN BUNTING. There were so many of these last three species that by now they were being almost totally disregarded, as I shall in this account. They were virtually everywhere.
Back into the buses we headed out onto the steppes proper, coming to a screaming halt as the leaders spotted a flock of about ten BLACK BELLIED SAND GROUSE. We would have better views later.
A good view of three STONE CURLEW, was quickly curtailed as they headed for the horizon.
As we searched the steppe, good sightings of a male HEN HARRIER were had by everyone, quickly followed by a LITTLE OWL perched on a rock, a HOOPOE feeding on the steppe, together with the inevitable STONECHATS perched along the wire fences, and another LITTLE OWL.
As we travelled slowly towards the summit of the steppe we spotted eight RED KITE soaring, WHINCHAT,HOOPOE, NORTHERN WHEATEAR, and GREY HERON. Of more interest to myself, we got to grips with the identification of a number of CALANDRA LARKS, which proved to be fairly common. By the end of the holiday, I was getting quite expert at identifying the six members of this difficult group which were present. Upon gaining the summit we became aware that RED KITE really were a very common bird in Spain. Eight to ten in view at a time was about the average hereabouts.
As we got out of the vans on the summit to have our picnic, the first GRIFFON VULTURES appeared, eight of them spiralling close by, It was amazing however how such a huge bird could so abruptly disappear when they lost interest. I then noticed two BLACK VULTURES soaring close by on the other side of the track. Brian then proved his professionalism by finding a MERLIN feeding on the ground. As we ate our substantial picnic,with wine of course we saw our first Spanish butterflies; two LITTLE BLUES, fluttering around the buses.
Back on the road we headed back northwards through Belem and Trujillo to the Caceres steppes, about twenty miles north of Trujillo. The scenery was similar, but the distant mountains were both closer and more craggy.
Birds seen on the road on the way to Trujillo were the by now almost ignored SPOTLESS STARLINGS, as well as STONECHAT, JACKDAW and a group of eight RAVENS.
Howls of delight greeted our first sightings of AZURE WINGED MAGPIE,which proved to be extremely common in the plantations of cork oak. They really are a spectacularly beautiful bird, although decidedly jumpy, and not inclined to stay around whilst you admire them.
During the stop, I spotted a raptor on the other side of the road, soaring in the distance, which turned out to be the only SHORT TOED EAGLE of the holiday.
We shortly arrived at the steppe, which turned out to be flatter and more featurless than the Belem area, which meant that there wasn’t quite the variety, but it was still pretty good.
The steppe was infested with the usual STONECHAT, CRESTED, CALANDRA and SKYLARK as well as CORN BUNTING, BUZZARD ,and RED KITE soaring.
A superb fifty yard view of three GREAT BUSTARD, was the next highlight. They continued to feed quite happily for some time, and then hauled themselves into the air and flew quite athletically towards the horizon. Even the leaders were impressed by this
A small pond produced a new bird for the week in the form of two COMMON POCHARD A cry of “Raptors overhead”, produced good close scoping of two soaring BLACK VULTURES.
A walk up to the high point of the steppe was rather spoilt for our bus load, when we stopped to scan a large flock of what turned out to be CALANDRA, and SKYLARK. The other group had gone out of sight , and when we caught them up, we heard that they’d had superb close views of two soaring Bonnelli’s Eagles. By the time we arrived they had disappeared, but after scanning through the various soaring RED KITE, COMMON BUZZARD, GRIFFON and BLACK VULTURES, I spotted something different. It came closer and lower until it was directly overhead. It wasn’t a Bonelli’s, but it was the best view I have ever had of a GOLDEN EAGLE. Missing the Bonellis provoked some mumbling, especially from me, but we were soon cheered up when Brian and Eric found two feeding BLACK BELLIED SAND GROUSE, and then a flock of fifty PIN TAILED SAND GROUSE, which we admired for some time until they landed out of sight behind a nearby ridge.
Back on the road we saw nothing noteworthy by Extremadura standards until we arrived at a small mountainous area containing a river gorge, rather resembling Dovedale. As we walked along the gorge however, some of the birds would not be found in Dovedale, but others certainly would. The target bird was Black Wheatear which I’m sorry to say we failed to find, however a closely soaring GOLDEN EAGLE together with good views of GREY HERON, BLACKBIRD, ROBIN, GREEN SANDPIPER, SERIN, and a superb male CIRL BUNTING, topped off by an extremely tame KINGFISHER, and a butterfly in the shape of a RED ADMIRAL was some compensation.
Into the buses and back on the steppe we drove around for some two hours seeing nothing new, but we had good sightings of a male HEN HARRIER,a HOOPOE,LITTLE OWL, and a long stop to watch a close feeding flock of approx. a hundred PIN TAILED SAND GROUSE. Then it was back to the hotel for a meal and the usual excessive amount of excellent free red wine, and so to bed at ten thirty.
Monday 23rd October
Awakened after a good nights sleep at 0730. Still pitch dark, but daylight arrived rapidly as I descended for my sumptuous Spanish breakfast, dispensing my Spanish greetings to the staff.
I was looking forward to this day which is when we visit the Monfrague National Park. I was once more in Jaqui’s bus, as we headed north westwards in bright sunshine. The countryside was fairly flat mainly consisting of cork oak plantations, with their attendant flocks of AZURE WINGED MAGPIES, herds of small black pigs feeding on the acorns, and occasional herds of Spanish cattle. Incidentally on the subject of cork oaks, when the bark is stripped off to make corks, the trunks appear bright orange.
As well as the oaks there were also orange and olive orchards, plus hunting estates composed of scrubland and stands of strange looking Stone or Umbrella Pines.
We got onto a newly surfaced dead straight narrow tarmac road; making good time on the forty mile journey to Monfrague, with the occasional halt for birds. Nothing out of the ordinary for the area was seen. A short diversion for Rock Sparrow and Black Shouldered Kite proved fruitless, and we returned to the main road, where the tarmac suddenly ended with a mass of roadworks in the middle of nowhere and the road became rougher with potholes, and more hilly. Birds observed ,omitting the obvious were BULLFINCH, CHAFFINCH,ROBIN,GREAT TIT, BLUE TIT and amazingly our first BLACK REDSTART, which became more common as the week went on. We also saw a couple of soaring GRIFFON VULTURES, and a number of BUZZARDS , and RED KITES.
As we descended a steep hill into a river valley a ROCK SPARROW flew alongside our bus, but only two of us saw it.
We stopped and alighted at the bridge over the Rio Almonte. There was not a great deal of water, but there were mud and shingle banks and masses of birds. Our first hirundines were seen here; CRAG MARTINS, in large numbers, both wheeling through the air drinking in the river, and perched on the vertical sides of the bridge. A few SWALLOWS and HOUSE MARTINS were flying around, and some of our number caught a swift glimpse of a RED RUMPED SWALLOW which I missed. A scan along the banks and the surrounding area produced good views of large numbers of WHITE WAGTAIL,GOLDFINCH, HOUSE SPARROWS and SERIN plus lesser numbers of SARDINIAN WARBLER,GREY WAGTAIL, and ROCK SPARROW to many peoples relief, whilst two BLACK VULTURES, a BUZZARD, and three RED KITES soared overhead. We learned that Brians bus had seen a Dartford Warbler along the road, much to our disgust.
As we went to reboard the buses, I spotted a BLACK REDSTART on a ruined building. As we watched it, a SARDINIAN WARBLER appeared, followed by a loud cheer as a gorgeous male BLUE ROCK THRUSH arrived to pose on the remains of the roof, and sing it’s little heart out.
We took to the road again in a cheerful mood, with instructions to keep an eye on the line of electricity pylons on our left, which regularly provide perches for Spanish Imperial Eagle. We were out of luck however since workmen were retensioning the wires in places. The country was getting progressively hillier, and we learned later that Brians bus in lead position saw another Dartford Warbler.
Jaqui stopped our bus by an orchard to scan a large flock of small birds. These proved to be a mixed flock of LINNETS, TREE SPARROWS, and GOLDFINCHES, with a supporting cast of male and female CIRL BUNTINGS. As we prepared to move off, I spotted a male ROCK SPARROW feeding barely three metres from the bus, which everyone enjoyed. I must be getting observant.
As we arrived at the village of Monroy we espied a flock of eighteen MALLARD on the reservoir,but nothing else.
A few miles further on we stopped for a “bush stop”at the summit of a hill among a stand of huge Umbrella Pines . This proved both beneficial to both comfort and birding, since we spotted three WOODLARK, some SARDINIAN WARBLER,and STONECHAT, whilst I contrived to miss GOLDCREST, which everyone else saw. As I idly scanned the sky I noted four GRIFFON VULTURE,four RED KITE and two other black and white raptors which I didn’t recognise. Brian was
paged and quickly scoped the birds, which he declared BONELLIS EAGLE, now getting somewhat distant but definitely Bonellis. This cheered up those who had missed the previous sighting. I was beginning to preen myself by now, and some of the ladies wanted to ride in my bus, since they would see more. I presume they meant birds. This incredible streak of luck on my part continued all week as you will see, prompting some mumbling about black magic,and lucky sods who improved their observation by drinking excessive quantities of wine. Incidentally the local red wine;” Pitarra-Sierra de los Lagares” from Caceres at 200 pesetas per bottle, was one of the best I’ve ever drunk.
Our bus pointed steeply downhill into the gorge containing the Rio Vid, which is the start of the Montfrague National Park. As we descended the hill into the gorge we spotted several GRIFFON and BLACK VULTURES, together with a surprising number of STONECHAT.
At the bridge over the river we alighted for a look around. Trish spotted what appeared to be an old Red Rumped Swallow’s nest under a bridge arch. As we looked at it a small bird flew into an adjacent hole in the brickwork, which proved to be another ROCK SPARROW. Whilst at this rocky spot we also recorded several SERIN,BLACKBIRD,ROBIN, a gorgeous male CIRL BUNTING, and oddly enough two AZURE WINGED MAGPIES, which were obviously trying to wean themselves off Cork Oak.
A CLOUDED YELLOW butterfly provided good views for everyone as it settled and flexed it’s wings.
Butterflies had proved somewhat sparse up to now except for the occasional Small White type which I was unable to get to grips with.
The buses then climbed up to the famous Salta de Gitana or Gypsy’s Leap where the road runs through a gorge alongside and about thirty foot above a long narrow reservoir formed by damming the Rio Tajo (Tagus). We stopped for our picnic; with wine of course to improve my eyesight, opposite the crag of Penfalcon. This is a famous raptor breeding site about three hundred feet high on the other side of the very narrow stretch of reservoir. On our side was another series of mainly wooded rock faces some five hundred feet high, surmounted by the famous ruined Monfrague Castle, which we visited later. Although there were a few tourists hereabouts, they didn’t distract us from the birding in any way.
This really was bird watching par excellence, with possibly a hundred GRIFFON VULTURES; both perched and circling very close to us, four or five BLACK VULTURES, a PEREGRINE, a SPARROW HAWK, large numers of CRAG MARTIN, a few SWALLOW,and HOUSE MARTIN, plus a half glimpsed RED RUMPED SWALLOW, which did not reappear. Fifty CORMORANT were perched by the water .and ROBIN, BLACKBIRD, and a number of BLACK REDSTART flitted about. Butterflies noted were a couple of LITTLE BLUES and appropriately a QUEEN OF SPAIN FRITILLARY. A KINGFISHER did a couple of fly pasts and a SARDINIAN WARBLER flitted about amongst the rocks. Jaqui then heard a Rock Bunting,calling, which of course put me into single minded mode, occupying me for ten minutes rock scanning. Persistence paid off for Jaqui, myself, and Betty, as we had good if brief views of the male ROCK BUNTING. Everyone else missed it however, being too occupied with watching a Kingfisher, which of course provoked more grumbling, and making the sign of the cross in my direction.
This was to my mind the best hour of the holiday, and all the time the sun was shining down of course.
We then drove up a rough road, as near as we could get to the castle, whereupon we alighted and commenced walking, up a steep rough track through the trees. This being a favoured spot for Hawfinch and Black Wheatear, neither of which were seen on this occasion.
As we reached the first hairpin bend, I spotted a huge green and gold lizard dive under a rock. Fortunately, it couldn’t get very far under due to it’s size, so I called attention to it. Everyone duly admired it from about ten feet away, and Betty said in her deep voice,”He’s at it again”. It really was a beautiful creature, about three feet long and dark green and gold. It didn’t attempt to move until we moved away. Jaqui declared it an OSCEOLATED LIZARD, and although she had seen them before, this was by far the largest she had ever seen. As we toiled up the steep track in the heat, most of the ladies dropped out, and by the time we arrived at the final stretch consisting of one hundred and fifty steps, we were down to the three males: Eric, Brian, and myself in the lead.
Birds observed on the way up were BLACK REDSTART, BLUE ROCK THRUSH, CRAG MARTIN, CHAFFINCH, BLUE TIT, and GREAT TIT, with GRIFFON, BLACK VULTURE, and RED KITES overhead.
The final climb was up to the top of the castle via a very dark and steep spiral staircase. The top was a flat platform, with absolutely nothing to stop you falling off. Brian performed his own magic trick spotting what turned out to be a GOLDEN EAGLE perched well back along the summit of PENFALCON on the other side of Gypsy’s Leap. By this time Wendy and Betty had joined us refusing to be beaten ,giving us amongst some badinage about macho men etc.
The way down was much easier of course, and just as we joined the others,I managed to miss a Firecrest. Jaqui then drew our attention to a gorgeous yellow and orange male CLEOPATRA butterfly fluttering across the track. Another ”butterfly” caused some consternation until we realised it was a “MAGPIE MOTH”.
Back to the buses we followed the reservoired river to a rather tatty village in the middle of nowhere, called grandeously Villarreal de San Carlos, which was like a wild west town with sand streets, providing in the main, accommodation for the park wardens.
In the rather tatty bar, containing a surprisingly large number of customers, postcards were purchased, and drinks were consumed. As we waited outside for the laggards three CLOUDED YELLOWS, a BERGERS CLOUDED YELLOW and a RED ADMIRAL flew past. There was nothing out of the ordinary birdwise, until we made a stop above the dam over the Rio Tietar, The target bird here was Crested Tit. Despite scanning the tree tops all we could turn up were BLUE TIT, GREAT TIT , BLACKBIRD and ROBIN. Some of the ladies of the party were lying down flat sunbathing, obviously trying to attract vultures. All but the four older ladies climbed sixty rather uneven stone steps up to a higher wooded flat area. It was now Eric’s turn to do a party trick when he found a HAWFINCH perched on a branch some twenty feet up a tree. In spite of extensive scoping , the bird never stirred, leading Trish to suggest that it might be stuffed. A feature of this pretty wooded area was the numbers of RED ADMIRAL butterflies hereabouts. We regained the road a little way up the hill whilst the drivers volunteered to fetch the buses and pick us up further up the hill. Eric and I were mooching about around some disused buildings watching a SARDINIAN WARBLER, when a large deer suddenly materialised from almost under our feet, and trotted away. It didn’t get far having chosen a dead end culminating at an angle in a high chain link fence . By the time the buses arrived the deer was trying to look unconcerned since it couldn’t go anywhere without passing us.
Everyone had a good look at the animal which proved to be a young RED DEER stag with short pointed antlers. It looked somewhat larger than the British version standing some five feet high at the shoulder. At the top of the long hill we alighted at a high point for a scan around, this being a good spot for Imperial Eagle. Once again we failed, and it was now becoming something of a worry. We did however see many AZURE WINGED MAGPIES, flitting about the cork oaks, and I counted eighty three GRIFFON VULTURES spiralling above the valley. Another raptor was declared to be a SPARROWHAWK rather than a Goshawk, after comparing it ‘s size to a nearby Griffon. Due to the black storm clouds building up a few miles away, Brian wondered if they knew something that we didn’t.
The next stop was at a mirador (viewpoint) on the road overlooking another cliff face on the other side of the river called Portilla del Tietar. This cliff was another somewhat smaller Griffon nest site, and more importantly an Eagle Owl site. Brian offered to wait until nightfall with any volunteers to try to see the owls. There were only three takers; myself, Trish, and Betty. So the rest piled into Jaqui’s bus and headed for home, leaving us there. Although we had a two hour wait it was fairly eventful. The crag held a number of GRIFFONS plus a pair of BLUE ROCK THRUSH. There were a number of MALLARD and some fifty CORMORANT on the river, whilst a KINGFISHER kept us entertained flying back and forth. A white butterfly settling on a bush proved to be a MOUNTAIN SMALL WHITE, whilst a loud whooshing sound announced a flock of CORMORANT, some two hundred strong passing low overhead. A JAY was a new bird for the week, whilst a BLACK REDSTART, was about the hundredth for the week.
There was then a very strange occurrence. A very well groomed fox trotted into the enclosure and approached us. Brian shooed it away rather violently warning us that it was certainly rabid due to it’s behaviour. Despite our lack of a welcome it hung about the area until we departed . A few minutes later a large RED DEER doe wandered by , having a look at us over the fence. Trish said “Don’t tell us that’s rabid as well”.It was a bit odd in view of the amount of hunting in Spain.
We then had a series of separate large flocks of approx two hundred ,first STOCK DOVES, then WOOD PIDGEONS, and finally what Brian was certain were pure bred ROCK DOVES passing over.
Betty then walked some way up the road for a “bush stop”. When she hadn’t returned some ten minutes later, Brian suggested that her sister should go and look for her. She set off, and a few minutes later we heard a plaintive cry for help. When we looked up the road, the ladies were approaching, but had been cut off by the fox sitting in the road between us., so Brian had to throw some stones to get rid of it, nearly hitting Betty in the process. Back at the cliff, a small party of CRAG MARTINS had arrived, and were flying around the crag. A superb BONELLIS EAGLE then appeared giving us our best view yet of this species. As a small flock of WOODPIDGEONS flew overhead , they were scattered by a stooping PEREGRINE. A COMMON SANDPIPER then flew along the water, followed by a small flock of seven CATTLE EGRET.Then as darkness approached, a gigantic EAGLE OWL appeared as if by magic in a nearby tree. After a few minutes it flew low over our heads onto the cliff face. Darkness now having fallen, we set off home to Trujillo, dodging three RED DEER en route, completing the fifty miles in fifty minutes. Although Brian is a very good driver, I was for once sitting in the front and was not a happy bunny.
Upon arrival at the hotel, we found that the early shift were just finishing their meal.After a quick shower etc the late shift had our own meal whilst the others left to pack for the morrows transfer.
I had already got myself a beer and the usual enormous measure of brandy, when Brian informed me that there were five bottles of wine to drink or they would go to waste. Needless to add, we did them full justice. Brian was staggering and could hardly speak, and I wasn’t a lot better, I found my way to bed o.k, but did not feel like packing my case which I decided to leave until morning.
Tuesday. 23rd October-Transfer Day
I slept like the proverbial dead, and awoke to my horror at 0800, lift off being 0830! I quickly washed, and threw my stuff into the cases to the accompaniment of Brians hammering on the door, and arrived downstairs on the dot of 0830, feeling very slightly fragile. Jaqui, kind soul told me to grab some food from the breakfast table to eat on the hoof, which I quickly did. I got into the white bus; Brians, with the same personnel as I travelled with from Madrid. i.e Margot, Dorothy, Wendy and Eric.
As we set off southwards over the Belem steppes on the first stage of our three hundred mile journey, we had an excellent view of three GREAT BUSTARDS taking to the air, only a few yards away from the bus. Other birds seen in the next few miles were large numbers of STONECHAT,CORN BUNTING, as well as several BUZZARDS and RED KITE. After approx. thirty miles we ran into a rice growing area, and alighted. The area consisted of sunken rice paddies intersected by slightly higher banks with reed filled ditches on either side. The place was alive with mixed flocks of birds, which consisted of mainly CALANDRA, CRESTED and SKYLARKS, GOLDFINCH, LINNET, CORN BUNTING ,SERIN, HOUSE SPARROW and SPANISH SPARROW. although I didn’t manage to identify any of the latter. Along the banks we had excellent views of three DARTFORD WARBLERS, and the place was absolutely alive with FAN TAILED WARBLERS; I can’t bring myself to call them Zitting Cisticolas. I was suddenly passed at high speed by a vivid tiny red bird. Everyone stopped in their tracks to look at a small flock of tiny yellowish birds: female and juvenile AVADAVATS, and the bright red male, totally justifying the sobriquet of”Flying Strawberries”. On our way back to the buses we saw several more males, a HOOPOE, and a flock of twenty CATTLE EGRET. Jaqui, who had waited beside the buses was convinced that we were parked near a Avadavat nest. They are extremely late breeders and she kept getting dive bombed by a male. In view of this we quickly boarded and set off south once more.
The rice gradually gave way to orchards, olives, and vineyards; being fairly flat, but with the inevitable jagged mountains not too far away, they don’t have hills in Spain.
Five minutes onto the road the other bus saw two WHITE STORKS, which we did not notice for some reason.
Along the road, birds became somewhat sparse,recording only two HOOPOE, three GREY HERON, six CATTLE EGRET, and half a dozen BUZZARD and RED KITE.
As we approached the town of Merida our buses were stopped by the guarda, who discovered that our driver ; Brian, did not have the correct documentation. After half an hour of questioning in Spanish, various calls on mobile phones, Brian beginning to get hot under the collar, and the sun beating down on the roof , they allowed us to proceed ,after issuing Brian with a summons.
The next eighty miles produced little of note except for the traffic getting heavier, with a large share of heavy lorries. The only birds of note were thirteen RED KITE, four BUZZARD, and two RAVEN, as well as the usual Spotless Starling ,Corn Buntings,Meadow Pipits, Stonechat, Mixed Larks, Magpies and House Sparrows,as well as an enormous flock of about three hundred plus of what Brian assured us were BLACK HEADED GULLS, on a beach by a wide river, although we didn’t actually stop.
At about 1330 we alighted at a picnic site by a small river, at about the two hundred mile mark. Whilst there we saw a FAN TAILED WARBLER, four RED KITE , some RAVENS,and a BUZZARD. On the road again, we passed through a range of hills called the Sierra Morena. These only produced the usual raptors and even more lorries. At this point I fell asleep and missed Seville, only waking up as we crossed the huge bridge over the Rio Guadalquivir, on the southern boundary of the city. Seville appears to be surrounded by a grotty, marshy, partly industrialised hinterland about three miles wide, and very unattractive. At this point we joined the toll motorway to Cadiz. This was a proper motorway, six lanes wide, but very little traffic.
The countryside was totally flat hereabouts and used mainly for cotton growing, provoking some bursts of song from Eric and myself, i.e “Pick a bale of cotton” etc. Over to the east was a range of low hills, and a mass of jet black storm clouds right across the horizon. We left the motorway and headed east through the very pretty village of Las Cabezas. We then got into a range of low rounded hills, which at first were fairly thickly wooded, along minor roads until we arrived at the usual White Headed Duck site of Lago (Lake) P’lon. Unfortunately the lake was almost totally dried out, and all that could be seen were twenty WHITE WAGTAIL, five GREEN SANDPIPER, and three LITTLE RINGED PLOVER.
In fact the whole area seemed very dry and parched. We next took to a long winding rough track through bare,pale, rounded hills in search of Crested Coot, another failure. This area was a Parque Natural called the Zorilla Lagoons. All of the ponds seemed virtually dry, although a walk around did produce some interesting flowers such as Autumn Mandrake, Squill, and a solitary SCARCE SWALLOWTAIL butterfly. The hills produced a surprising number of both RED LEGGED PARTRIDGE, and KESTREL, plus a lone MERLIN, as well as a pair of IBERIAN HARE. Whilst the dry weedy lagoons produced only CETTI’S and FAN TAILED WARBLER. Jaqui had a word with the resident warden who had not seen any Crested Coot for months, also more disturbingly that the last rain of any consequence was four months previously, and that all the wetlands were drying out. He recommended that we look at a small lake about five miles away, to which access could not be obtained, but could be viewed through ‘scopes from a road about a quarter of a mile away. We had seen this lake earlier, but hadn’t bothered to stop due to the distance away and the difficulty in parking. However, beggars can’t be choosers, so we quickly returned and set up the ‘scopes and Bingo! six WHITE HEADED DUCKS, fifty MALLARD, several CORMORANT, four POCHARD, and three BLACK NECKED GREBE, all of which were well identifiable. Although there were plenty of COOT present, we were too far away to see whether they were Crested or Common.
We dashed back to Seville around the hectic ring road and onto the road to El Rocio seeing only the usual raptors etc. We were all very tired and had the scent of dinner in our nostrils. Wearrived at El Rocio, and despite all we had heard, we were amazed at the place. It’s like a wild west film set. The tarmac ends when you leave the main road, a few hundred yards west of the village, and from then on the streets are sand. Many of the streets are extremely wide, like fifty yards, although there were a few very narrow streets. Buildings were mainly of the wild west type painted in pastel shades,very many of which were lodges owned by church organizations from all over Spain to provide accommodation for the annual pilgrimage to church of The Virgin of the Marshes. This was a huge wedding cake like structure wherein the statue to the eponymous virgin resides. As long as she remains there, there will always be water in the marshes. During our visit someone commented that she’d obviously been misbehaving, since the marshes were virtually dry. The Hotel Toruno was much better than the Hotel La Siguenas, although not as large or luxurious appearing. My room overlooked the huge marsh to the south, which was about a mile wide, started at the main road over to the right, and continued out of sight to the left. In fact the marsh should have started about twenty feet from my first floor window, but it was almost totally dry. However the locals took the opportunity to graze their many horses on the marsh, which mixed quite happily with a fair number of both ROE and FALLOW DEER. The only birds visible on the marsh were around two hundred GREATER FLAMINGO’S and one hundred GREY LAG GEESEand even they kept well away from the village. The bushes and trees along the edge however, held many “small brown jobs” and there were always raptors in view. In normal times the marsh should have been teeming with waders, but in view of the parched conditions we saw very few waders during the entire week. One peculiarity of the hotel was that there was no restaurant. We had to walk a few yards across the square for that, where we were served with excellent food, and collected our picnics; although the wine was not as good, but fortunately our leaders were well aware of this and had bought a supply from Trujillo.. Outside the restaurant was an allegedly four hundred year old olive tree. Someone suggested that Olive should have her photo taken against it. Two old Olives side by side. Whilst walking about you had to avoid a few cars and a lot of people on horseback. The locals tied their horses to hitching rails outside their houses incidentally.
The whole town was great fun and quite unique.
The worrying thing was the lack of water, and our leaders were somewhat worried about where to find both wetland and birds.
Anyway by the time we had eaten it was pitch dark, so bed was the only thing on the agenda, and after our long day I slept like the proverbial log.
The day dawned bright and sunny, breakfast was consumed and we all moved to the edge of the marsh for a scan around. ‘Scoping the marsh yielded two hundred and eighty GREAT FLAMINGO,one hundred and three GREY LAG GEESE,three CATTLE EGRET,and even some waders in the shape of seven LAPWING, three LITTLE RINGED PLOVER and two SNIPE, big deal! In addition; eleven FALLOW DEER, six ROE DEER, and thirty four domestic horses. A short walk westwards beyond the village to an area known as Boca de Lobo (Field of the Wolf), to scan for raptors, produced eleven CHIFF CHAFF and three BLACK REDSTART in the trees,four RED KITE and a BUZZARD soaring, and a large eagle perched on a pylon about a mile away. Despite frantic scoping, the bird refused to move, although Brian thought it was a Spotted Eagle.The solution was to try to get nearer the pylon, so we dived into the buses and drove to the site, but in the intervening ten minutes it took us to reach it, the bird had flown.
We then set off for the La Rocina reserve about a mile from the village, but as our leaders suspected, the wetland areas had little water in them although there were good areas of reed bed
The entire huge reserve was laid with board walks from which you must not stray. A bit too over organized for my liking, however the birds weren’t bad. The initial woodland area produced TREE SPARROW, GOLDFINCH, BLUE TIT, GREAT TIT,AZURE WINGED MAGPIE,in the cork oaks of course, SPOTTED FLYCATCHER, SERIN in large numbers, HOOPOE, BLACKCAP, NUTHATCH, SHORT TOED TREECREEPER and LONG TAILED TIT. The dryish “wetland” area produced many MALLARD and TEAL, plus GREY HERON,REED BUNTING,MOORHEN,COMMON COOT,SHOVELER,and a solitary partly eclipse drake RED CRESTED POCHARD.
One of the ladies said that she had a glimpse of a bird with bright red legs and bill disappear into the reeds but in spite of much patient scanning it did not reappear. This area also produced two South European SPECKLED WOOD butterflies. We then walked into a part of the reserve consisting of a type of garigue heathland consisting of scrub and small bushes. This was a bit short on birds but we did have good views of DARTFORD WARBLER, as well as STONECHATand SARDINIAN WARBLER. Other forms of wildlife provided more interest however.Tiny SPINY FOOTED LIZARDS ran along the boardwalks, whilst butterflies seen were PROVENCAL SHORT TAILED BLUE,LANGS SHORT TAILED BLUE,COMMON BLUE,CLEOPATRA, and BRIMSTONE.
We then drove a short distance to a small car park near to the Pallacio del Acebron, and walked into a wood for our picnic. Birds were uninspiring but SPECKLED WOOD, and many BRIMSTONE butterflies were a happy feature. We returned to the car park and the older ladies decided to have a snooze in the buses, whilst the rest of us walked down the drive to look at the Palace. Apart from HOOPOE, STONECHAT and SARDINIAN WARBLER, plus the usual tit species,birds were at a premium, however BRIMSTONE, and RED ADMIRAL butterflies were plentiful. As I walked back into the car park followed by Brian a huge brown and white butterfly zoomed over the buses and past my ear. I knew what it was immediately; TWO TAILED PASHA, I yelled to Brian, whereupon the recently slumbering elderly ladies came tumbling out of the buses binoculars at the ready, thinking we had spotted a rare bird. Needless to say I received a certain amount of ribbing over this episode.
As we stopped at the entrance lodge for toilets we saw more LITTLE BLUE, PROVENCAL SHORT TAILED BLUE and LANGS SHORT TAILED BLUE butterflies.Jaqui decided that the only thing to do, due to the dry conditions was to head eight miles down the road to Acebuche, a mainly wetland reserve and see if there was any water.
Acebuche was to say the least a bit commercialized. With a large car park, with a fair few cars , a couple of tour buses and a picnic area as well as a huge visitors centre, things didn’t look terribly promising. The tourists however provided no problems since they rarely strayed more than two hundred yards from the visitors centre. This is the embarkation point for the tours of the Donana national park and a number of the twenty two seater buses used for the tours could be seen. they stood about fifteen feet high with wheels of four feet diameter, in order to get through the hugh dune system and along the beach. Needless to add they were also four wheeled drive. Our tour company incidentally, had to book in May, such is the demand for the tours. The hugh picnic site consisted of benches and tables scattered around a cork oak plantation, which of course had it’s resident flocks of AZURE WINGED MAGPIES, as well as the occasional SHORT TOED TREECREEPER,SARDINIAN WARBLER, and HOOPOE.
After passing through the ornate visitors centre you entered the reserve proper. The accessible area consists of a strip of garigue scrub and bush, with scattered trees approx one mile long, and a half a mile wide, verging onto a mile wide series of quite large pools and reed beds with seven observation hides, intersected by the inevitable board walks, off which you must not stray at pain of death. The far side of the pools was not accessible to the public. The centre is mainly staffed by the local farmers co-operative, and like most farmers everywhere, a more unhelpful morose bunch it would be hard to find.
Even the park wardens were miserable. Trying to buy something was difficult, since no one wanted to serve, and the barman even to tried to short change me to the tune of eight hundred pesetas. It must be an unpopular posting for the wardens, since we found them extremely helpful elsewhere. We did at least manage to elicit the information that there was plenty of water in the pools, to the relief of our leaders.
Although first impressions were unpromising, it certainly came up with the wildlife, with the scrub possibly being marginally more interesting than the wetland.
The bushes around the centre held many BLACK REDSTART, CHIFF CHAFF, and SARDINIAN WARBLER, and as we headed out of the centre, Eric spotted our only SPOTTED and PIED FLYCATCHERS perched on the roof. We only covered the four southernmost hides on this occasion due to lack of time.
A German couple told us that they had seen a Lynx only five minutes earlier, but all we could find were it’s paw prints, in spite of Brians efforts. As well as the usual species, we identified SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKE, BLACKCAP, and GREAT TIT. Other wildlife seen in the bushes were LITTLE BLUE, LANGS SHORT TAILED BLUE, all in fair numbers, and a BROWN ARGUS butterfly,with a PRAYING MANTIS and many SPINY FOOTED LIZARDS on the boardwalks. The pools and reedbeds produced CETTIS WARBLER, FANTAILED WARBLER, COMMON COOT, MOORHEN, LITTLE GREBE, COMMON POCHARD, MALLARD, SHOVELER, and GADWALL, in fair to large numbers, plus two FERRUGINOUS DUCK, two LITTLE EGRET, and two very tidy male RED CRESTED POCHARD , as well as a few FLORIDA TERRAPINS.
I had been mooching about looking for butterflies when I went to join the others in one of the hides. They were all watching a fishing KINGFISHER on the left hand side of the pool. I was alone in scanning the reed bed on the right when I noticed a pair of vivid red legs heading through the reeds towards the edge. Since there had been comments that my psychic powers were beginning to fade, I decided to enhance them somewhat and bided my time until the Kingfisher flew away. I then said “What we could do with now is a PURPLE GALLINULE”. Almost on cue it emerged from the reeds and paddled across an area of open water about twenty feet away. Despite the excitement of a good view of a very awkward species, everyone started to edge away from me and make the sign of the cross.
Having enhanced my reputation, we took to the mini buses and headed back to El Rocio, seeing only three RED KITE en route.
Since we had an hour before dinner Brian suggested that we took one of the buses half a mile to Boca del Lobo to see if the suspected Spotted Eagle had returned. Only Eric and myself were interested, and we could see no sign of the object of our visit ,which has to be marked down as a mystery. Some of the trees about half a mile away produced largish birds however, going to roost. Eric discovered nine RED KITES in one dead tree, and another five in another one. Brian however suddenly straightened up from his ’scope and said “What about that then”, pointing to his ‘scope. He had found a perched SPANISH IMPERIAL EAGLE. It was truly enormous, and kept shuffling about showing all it’s identification features. After duly admiring it for some time he decide we’d better fetch the rest of the party, since this species was beginning to worry us ,as we should have seen them in the Extremadura. On the way back we met Betty and Trish heading towards the spot. When we told them, Trish said darkly to me “It’s nothing to do with you is it?. I had to admit it wasn’t. Everyone eventually had their fill of this very obliging monster. So we had our dinner in very cheerful mood, with lots of wine. Betty thought that some garlic ought to sort me out,but Brian said “Don’t tell the staff about it, they’re a superstitious bunch hereabouts. They’ll burn him at the stake”. With that we all went to bed.
The day dawned fairly bright with banks of fog here and there across the marshes, although it had cleared completely by 1000. A quick walk along the Marsh to see if the eagle was still visible was fruitless, due to low lying mist, So we boarded the buses for Acebuche for the eagerly anticipated trip on the dune buses.
We headed straight to Acebuche, seeing only BUZZARD and CATTLE EGRET en route. In the reserve we headed straight for the northernmost hides.The scrub produced SARDINIAN WARBLER,numerous CHIFF CHAFF, DARTFORD WARBLER,BLACKCAP and a magnificent male SUB ALPINE WARBLER. It took a lot of patience before everyone saw it, but we were eventually succesful. The pool hides produced numerous MALLARD, TEAL, GADWALL, COOT,a few SHOVELER,and the usual KINGFISHER playing to the gallery. The northernmost hide was blocked off and closed to the public, so we didn’t bother going. Jaqui said cynically, “I’ll bet there’s something good in there,that’s why they’re keeping the public away”. She also said that it was the most likely location for Marbled Duck, due to the dense reed growth at that point. This species as well as being very rare, is also a notorious skulker, and has only been seen once in twelve tours, and that was five years ago.
We then returned to the buses to go to the nearby beach for a sea watch. This took place at the eastern end of a new holiday town called Matalascanas. Quite a tidy looking place,although brand new, and definitely built in the wrong place adjoining the Donana Reserves, but as usual money talks.
The sea watch produced Margot and Anne having a paddle plus LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL, BLACK HEADED GULL, SANDWICH TERN, OYSTERCATCHER, SANDERLING, CORMORANT, and a BLACK REDSTART grubbing about in a waste bin. In all a pretty poor return.
Upon our return to Acabuche, we ate and drank our picnic beneath the cork oaks, with the accompaniment of the usual AZURE WINGED MAGPIES, CHIFF CHAFF, SHORT TOED TREECREEPER and HOOPOE.Since we had an hour before the park dune buses left we went back to the wetland hides. We found two more SUB ALPINE WARBLERS and had our only WATER RAIL of the holiday. We then saw amazingly, our first MARSH HARRIER of the holiday. It was certainly not our last however.Then I had another amazing stroke of luck. Since no one else seemed interested, I took a lone walk to the closed northernmost hide. The door was criss crossed with tape and a heavy wooden barrier placed against the inside of the door opening, however the viewing hatch straight ahead was propped open. There was a duck dabbling about in some thin reeds, which I thought at first glance was a Gadwall until it came into the open. I could hardly believe my eyes, it was a male MARBLED DUCK. It was now 1445 and I had to run back to the car park to board the dune bus. I hardly dare tell anyone, but they were all very nice and appeared to believe me, which is more than I would have done under different circumstances. Brian suggested that after the three hour trip, we should all go back to see if it could be found. I sincerely hoped that we could find it again. Our twelve plus six Spanish tourists were in one bus, and there were three other busloads in the convoy. The driver was an amiable middle aged Spaniard, and a birder to boot. Unfortunately he couldn’t speak English, so Jaqui translated in schoolteacher mode. He told her to shout if we wanted to stop to see something.
The convoy headed for Matalascanas, and then took to the beach heading east. We could see a number of flocks of birds on the beach, and our driver slowed and stopped as we neared them. The other buses of course didn’t, but we did our best. The flocks consisted of mainly LESSER BLACK BACKED GULLS, with a surprisingly large number of AUDOUINS GULL, round about five hundred in fact, plus a few YELLOW LEGGED GULLS, SANDWICH TERN, SANDERLING, OYSTER CATCHER, KENTISH PLOVER, and BAR TAILED GODWIT. Our driver also claimed that there were two or three Slender Billed Gulls , but we didn’t see them. We also saw two deceased LEATHER BACKED TURTLES. After about three miles we turned into the enormous dune system. This was amazing and we really needed the four wheeled drive and the four foot wheels. After a mile or so we stopped to let the punters to see what the desert was really like, and there was of course much clicking of cameras. The dunes were pretty well birdless, until we reached the more wooded areas, where AZURE WINGED MAGPIES were present in large numbers. We stopped a few times in the forest for the punters to see the surprisingly tame FALLOW, ROE , and RED DEER. We also came across a female WILD BOAR with three striped piglets. By lying across Olive’s knee, I managed to take a photograph of them. We shortly moved onto an enormous marsh bounding the river. Although we a saw a huge male WILD BOAR on the marsh ,it did not allow anything like a close approach. We eventually stopped at a flat roofed building on an island in the marsh. Whilst the tourists headed for drinks and toilets, our lot headed for the flat roof, where telescopes were erected. There were numerous WHITE WAGTAIL , SARDINIAN WARBLER and DARTFORD WARBLER in the scrub around the building, and our Spanish birding bus driver pointed out a SPANISH IMPERIAL EAGLE, perched in a tree near the edge of the marsh, which gave us good ‘ scope views. Many interested Spanish tourists were also invited to have a look, for which they were most grateful.
Then we headed back into the forest, with a stop for a much closer look at the perched Eagle.
We then stopped at a charcoal burners village adjacent to the bank of the Rio Quadalquivir. Spurning education into charcoal production, we philistines ran for the river bank, and set up the ‘scopes. A strange sight was a COMMON SANDPIPER perched on a fence jutting into the river, which being close to the estuary, was about half a mile wide at this point. Birds spotted at the river were LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL,YELLOW LEGGED GULL, SANDWICH TERN, GREY PLOVER, CURLEW, AVOCET and a solitary fishing OSPREY.
Back in the dune buses, we followed the river down to the estuary, and then turned west again along the beach . This was the highlight for the tourists; a high speed sprint back to Matalascanas in the shallow sea along the beach ,which didn’t do a great deal for the bird watching ,but was quite thrilling nevertheless. As we scattered one of the bird flocks I had a good view of a fleeing SLENDER BILLED GULLwheeling past the back of the bus. As we turned off the beach and headed back to Acabuche. Jaqui said that she had identified two Slender Billed Gulls during our sprint along the beach.It was no good shouting however as the birds were scattering and could not have been relocated anyway.
Back at the Acabuche reserve we headed straight for the closed hide. Betty was nothing if not determined, and crawled in on her stomach whilst I held the wooden barrier up. She opened all the hatches, but GADWALL, MALLARD and a MOORHEN were all we could see. After we extracted her and went back to our buses we heard that Brian had seen a WATER RAIL,in one of the other hides.
He suggested that we should return for one last try on Saturday morning, before we left for the airport.
Although he claimed that he wasn’t a twitcher, he was certainly very determined about the Marbled Duck, and Jaqui said that she didn’t think he’d ever seen one, although he wouldn’t admit it.
Upon our arrival at El Rocio we went down to Boca Del Lobo, to search for raptors. As well as twenty two RED KITES and a BUZZARD, Eric found our friendly local SPANISH IMPERIAL EAGLE perched in a much closer tree on this occasion. We slogged through the sand for a quarter of a mile and got even closer, where we had really magnificent views . Since it was now getting dark there was little else to do but eat, drink and sleep, after of course I had phoned Pat to let her know that I was so far accident free.
This was our last full day and awakened to a somewhat foggy morning, with the sun trying to break through. After breakfast we headed north east in order to visit the Valverde centre which was actually situated ten miles south east of El Rocio, but the track was only passable to four wheeled drive vehicles, as Brian had found to his cost last year, and in any case there were birds to be seen on the longer way round. This consisted of minor metalled roads for ten miles,and then twenty miles of rough potholed track. As we climbed into the buses a BLACKCAP sang in the old olive tree, On this occasion I was in the white bus with Brian, Eric, Wendy, Margaret,Trish ,and Betty, who said that they would ride with me so that they could take advantage of my psychic birding powers. I had one more piece of luck to come, but unfortunately they were unable to appreciate it.
Our first stop was by a stream at a raptor friendly spot, which we had nicknamed Moron, since there was a sign on a field gate bearing this word. Hereabouts , we recorded two BUZZARDS perched on pylons, three RED KITES soaring, four CATTLE EGRET feeding in a field, three GREEN SANDPIPER,in the stream, plus two GREY WAGTAIL, and a flock of mixed CALANDRA and CRESTED LARKS.
As we passed through the village of Villamanrique de la Condessa; not half as impressive as it sounds, a SPARROWHAWK soared over an orchard. A short distance further on we started on the rough track, where the fog got quite thick, with visibility of about thirty yards. We disembarked at a spot famous for it’s Spanish Sparrows. Although we could hear them we could not see them in the murk. We did however discern STONECHAT, GREENFINCH, SERIN, GOLDFINCH, HOUSE SPARROW, CORN BUNTING and FAN TAILED WARBLER through the fog. A feature of this spot was a vast carpet of a small star shaped white flower called Narcissi Tarzetta, which the ladies went into raptures over. The males however were of course less impressed.
Crashing through the potholes heading south, into the marsh ,the sun quickly dispersed the fog and we proceeded through marshy bare fields, with the track on a somewhat higher bank bounded by broad water filled reedy ditches. A feature of the first couple of miles was the huge numbers of FAN TAILED WARBLERS dashing about.
This was lark country, and we kept a close eye on the large numbers of CALANDRA, SKY and CRESTED LARKS. Brian quickly found , and instructed us on identifying LESSER SHORT TOED LARK, which were present in fair numbers.
Next on the agenda were three STONE CURLEW, which allowed close views from the bus. Next Brian spotted and instructed us on the identification of THEKLA LARK. He really is a very good teacher and made identification of these very difficult lark species almost easy. He must have been good because even I could recognise them after this lesson. From this point on Thekla and Lesser Short Toed became the commonest larks.
As we proceeded, we saw our first WHITE STORKS of the holiday; seventy five feeding in a field, then the first of many MARSH HARRIERS soaring over the marshes. Some flooded fields some two hundred yards to the east produced one hundred and fifty plus GREY LAG GEESE, plus a solitary GREAT WHITE EGRET; the only one of the holiday, as well as another two hundred WHITE STORK.
A COMMON SANDPIPER perched on a post refused to fly away even when we stopped next to it, and we started to see almost continual MARSH HARRIERS both soaring and on the ground.
As well as the species already mentioned we also saw several CATTLE EGRET, GREEN SANDPIPER, BLACK REDSTART, STONECHAT, and NORTHERN WHEATEAR, plus a “spiral” of fifteen GRIFFON VULTURE, before arriving at the Valverde centre. This was a large impressive modern building in the middle of nowhere, with a shop, cafe, and museum, as well as a hugh picture window with fixed telescopes overlooking a series of huge pools and reed beds. We were the only punters of the day and the staff fell upon us with gratitude. It was now getting very hot as we ate our picnics outside the centre, where some one discovered a deceased ADDER.
The pools produced large numbers of MALLARD, some twelve GREY LAG GEESE, a single lonely looking AVOCET, a KESTREL, five or six MARSH HARRIER, and more interestingly three PURPLE GALLINULES, on the far side of the ponds although well seen through the ‘Scopes,
Feeling somewhat podged with the wine and food I went for a short walk, seeing the inevitable CORN BUNTING and THEKLA LARK, and very nearly becoming decapitated by a six inch log MIGRATORY LOCUST which clipped the side of my head.
Back to the buses, Dinah approached me and asked if I could swap and go in the other bus since she said that I could give Jaqui some support since all the expert birders were in the same bus. How could I refuse after that dose of flattery, so we headed onwards towards the water works which can yield some waders.
At the waterworks we were delighted to find five COMMON CRANES feeding , together with a pond containing about two hundred MALLARD, but not a wader in sight. Another small reedy pond produced a solitary BLACK NECKED GREBE, which promptly dived and presumably drowned since it didn’t resurface, whilst we watched for five minutes. The fields on the right hand side once more came up with the goods as the buses stopped with a squeal of brakes where Brian had spotted three BLACK STORK feeding very close to the road. We gloated over them for three or four minutes when they decided to fly. All the time we were watching for Spectacled Warbler in the trackside salicornia scrub. We were to be unlucky; and thought we had scored but the sylvia warbler we tracked for some ten minutes turned out to be a DARTFORD WARBLER.
Along the road we saw many MARSH HARRIER, RED KITE, a few RAVEN, CORMORANT, and another DARTFORD WARBLER, as well as the various larks ,chats etc mentioned previously. We rejoined the inward track and once more stopped to survey some flooded fields which we hadn’t noticed on the inward journey, where we were joined by a Dutch birder and his girlfriend as well as a park warden.
The flood contained a mass of birds, but due to it being about a quarter of a mile away, we couldn’t identify the smaller birds and waders. We did however ‘scope twenty five AVOCET, ten COMMON CRANE, twenty five GREATER FLAMINGO, thirty GREY LAG GEESE, and three BLACK STORKS, probably the ones from a mile back, and then a ring tail HEN HARRIER came gliding over the marsh
Brian decided that their bus had seen enough and disappeared over the horizon, but Olive gave me the opportunity to use my psychic birding powers again, when she asked Jaqui very humbly if she could fix up a ‘scope for her to have a good look at the Avocets. You could almost see that everyone was thinking; “What does she want to look at ruddy Avocets for”. We all clambered out of the bus again and as Olive was enjoying her Avocets, the sky suddenly erupted with large birds all panicking. Jaqui said “What the hell’s upset them”
The sky was full of CRANES, GREATER FLAMINGO, GREY LAG GEESE, WHITE STORK, BLACK STORK, the usual MARSH HARRIERS and RED KITES, Plus half a dozen GRIFFON VULTURE, which had true to form appeared out of nowhere. This was topped off with three BUZZARDS. We couldn’t believe that the Vultures or Buzzards had caused the trouble, since they do not attack other birds. As we scanned the sky for the cause of the mayhem, I spotted a rather strange looking “Buzzard” heading towards us. I said to Jaqui,”That’s not a Buzzard”. It was a fairly large athletic looking raptor, generally red brown in colour, with black trailing edges and a fanned orange tail. As it came low overhead Jaqui said “What the hell is it” . The shape rang a bell but it should have been white, not red brown. “It’s a Booted” I said ,and that’s all it could have been when you thought about it. “ Of course”, said Jaqui,” It’s a dark phase juvenile”. She got her book out and produced an illustration the spitting image of our bird. There it was a juvenile BOOTED EAGLE, which all of us saw before the sky suddenly emptied, and the vultures quickly dematerialised. As we set off, feeling pleased with ourselves, we registered four GREENSHANK, and two BLACK STORK, feeding in the fields.
We caught the others up at the flower and Spanish Sparrow spot. When we told them about the Booted Eagle, Betty muttered “He’s at it again, and he should have been in our bus”.
The sea of narcissi flowers were much more extensive than we had seen in the fog, and the wonderful scent was almost overpowering. There were still no Spanish Sparrows to be seen ,but an adequate recompense was a lone LITTLE BUSTARD gliding round the field gave good views. This was topped off by a male HEN HARRIER, which glided low over our heads and commenced to quarter the field.
Apart from SERIN, GOLDFINCH etc and a passing CLEOPATRA butterfly ;there was nothing else in evidence, so we headed for home.
En route for El Rocio we saw a classic scene of some CATTLE EGRET, feeding with cattle in an orchard. One or two were perched on the cows backs, but I noticed that they left the bull strictly alone.
Back at Boca del Lobo, we a had an even better view of our friendly local SPANISH IMPERIAL EAGLE, as well as the usual twelve RED KITE, and a couple of BUZZARDS.
The final dinner was consumed with relish, and Brian and myself set out to finish off the five bottles of wine topped off by two very large brandies. Brian was well oiled, and having difficulty in speaking. He started to get maudlin and commenced to tell me his life story, which was rather tragic. He is well settled now however living with Jaqui in the south of France.And so to our last nights sleep in El Rocio.
Arose before the lark, and consumed breakfast by which time the sun had risen, promising a fine hot day. Brian took the early shift to Acabuche to look for the Marbled Duck, whilst the rest of us looked at Boca del Lobo. Plenty of RED KITE and the odd BUZZARD floating about ,but no Eagle. We had our last GREATER FLAMINGO count which totalled two hundred and forty eight. At this point Brians bus returned, highly excited since they had good views of the Marbled Duck , so I was vindicated much to my relief.
We set out for Seville airport on what was undoubtedly the hottest day of the holiday. An uneventful journey produced only a couple of BUZZARDS and a dozen or so RED KITE. As we arrived at the airport an Air France jet landed. This was the only movement we saw until our flight took off three hours later. Seville is a large airport with an impressive cavernous terminal building with very little traffic in evidence. Talk about Sleepy Hollow! We bade our farewells and tendered our thanks to Jaqui and Brian, and also to Dinah who was travelling with them as far as Andorra, and made ourselves comfortable, only to learn that our flight was delayed for an hour. We eventually boarded our MD 88 and arrived at Heath Row just in time to miss my bus. I had a three hour wait for the next one and finally arrived home at about ten o’clock.
A wonderful holiday with lots of good birds. General impressions; Extramadura, big skies, barren steppes and jagged mountains. The Donana; more commercialized, and not as impressive, but the town of El Rocio will definitely live on in my memory.
Colin Barker
November 2000 |
