Back to Spain 4th September - 8th October 2017 Part 1 Drive to Tarifa

I left the UK in the camper late on Monday 4th September and caught the 01:45 ferry from Dover to Calais. From Calais I headed south past Le Mans, Tours and Bordeaux stopping at Bayonne close to the Spanish border. 
The following day I drove to Villafafila and was soon watching flocks of Great Bustards, some quite close on the Villalpandol road.

Great Bustard

I stopped overnight at Otero de Sariegos where I had watched Lesser Kestrels the previous Spring. There were still one or two Lesser Kestrels around but most had already left the breeding site. Some nice Booted (including adult and juv dark phases which made a nice comparison) and Short-toed Eagles passed over and I took photos of the Spotless Starlings which now included some fairly spotty juveniles.

Booted Eagle adult (left) and juvenile (right)

Spotless Starling juv moulting to 1st winter

Parties of Bee-eaters passed overhead, mostly heard rather than seen. 

Sunset Otero de Sariegos

At dusk both Barn and Little Owls were calling and I caught up with the Little as the sun rose the following morning.

Little Owl at dawn

Rock Sparrows were coming to drink at a small pool and I counted at least 15 but they were surprisingly flighty. 
As the sun rose so did the temperature and it was 37℃ by early afternoon when I headed off for Monfrague. Several Two-tailed Pasha butterflies crossed the road in the National Park and I was soon watching large groups of Griffon Vultures (50+) and a handful of Blacks. At the Pena Falcon a pair of Black Stork still occupied a nest cave but were two far away to see whether these were adults or young. A Blue Rock Thrush  came out of the shade briefly to snatch some scraps from the footpath but the Western Subalpine Warbler feeding in the bushes stuck to the shade.

Blue Rock Thrush

I drove on to Trujillo and spent the night by the Bull Ring but this time all the Lesser Kestrels and Pallid Swifts were gone so the area was much quieter. Thousands of Spotless Starlings came in at dusk to roost much as our Starling does in the UK.
I spent a few days exploring the Steppes around Trujillo and saw several parties of both Black-bellied and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse and managed some flight photos once I had worked out which pools they were drinking at. 

Black-bellied Sandgrouse - female

Pin-tailed Sandgrouse - male

Two Little Bustards were the only ones I saw but there were more Greats. The plains were full of larks with several hundred Calandra and lesser numbers of Short-toed. A Dotterel flying over calling was unexpected.
From Trujillo I drove to Malaga where I was due to pick up Pam from the airport on 9th September. With time to spare I went to the conveniently located Guadalhorce reserve where again I had good views of White-headed Ducks plus a few migrants including a nice male Bluethroat. Pallid Swifts and Red-rumped Swallows were passing through here as were several Booted Eagles. Red Avadavats and Monk Parakeets gave the area an exotic feel.

White-headed Duck - male and female

Having collected Pam from the airport we continued south down the coast to the Meson de Sancho hotel close to Tarifa.
Tarifa in the autumn is a fantastic place for birding. There is always evidence of some birds moving south and if you are lucky with the winds the birds of prey can pass vary close. Most days started at the Cazalla watchpoint above Tarifa but then depending whether the raptors were moving and their line of flight we might move to one of the other watch points. The Trafico watchpoint where the Spanish Fundacion Migres is based can be the best for photography as birds are funnelled down the coast before starting the crossing to Morocco. Around 50 to 100 each of Booted and Short-toed Eagles were seen most days plus smaller numbers of Honey and Common Buzzards, Black Kites plus 1 or 2 Montagu's Harriers. One day we had 46 Egyptian Vulture which was amazing.

Egyptian Vultures - adult and juvenile

In addition to the raptors parties of Bee-eaters passed overhead and several groups of Black Stork.
The beach at Los Lances is covered with people flying kites but visits early morning generally produced a few Audouins's Gulls and a few waders including Kentish Plover, Sanderling and Bar-tailed Godwit.

Audouin's Gull - moulting adult

In Tarifa itself I added Common Bulbul to my European bird list where there is a small population of this North African species.
We met Mick and Viv Cunningham who are birding friends from the UK and I was pleased to get a call from Mick to say he had found a roosting Red-necked Nightjar at La Janda. This bird has roosted in more or less the same spot for several years and is quite famous but still is very difficult to locate amongst the fallen leaves.

Red-necked Nightjar

It was general windy at La Janda making birding difficult but it did help me to get some nice photos of juvenile Montagu's Harriers as the wind held them almost stationary over the track.

Montagu's Harrier  - juvenile

Part 2 covers Tarifa to the French Alps.

Southern Spain Part II - Tarifa

We arrived at Tarifa late in the afternoon and checked in to the delightful Meson de Sancho hotel, as I locked up the van I noticed several Short-toed Eagles flying back inland from the nearby coast, presumably to roost overnight having decided not to make the crossing today. I ended up standing next to the van for over an hour and counted 50 Short-toed and 10 Booted Eagles,10 Black Kite, 6 Honey Buzzards, 4 Griffon and single Egyptian Vulture plus 6 Black Stork, 4 Alpine and 15 Pallid Swift all crossing the road above the hotel. A fantastic welcome to Tarifa!

Short-toed Eagle

I was up early the following morning, although it was almost 8:00 before it was properly light. I caught several Short-toed Eagles heading back towards the coast whilst Serin and Robins called from the hotel garden.

Plenty of decent habitat around the hotel pool

After breakfast we headed a few kilometres down the coast to the Cazalla raptor watchpoint. Between 09:45 and 13:00 we recorded the following;
Short-toed Eagle 106
Booted Eagle 104
Black Kite 10
Common Buzzard 1
Honey Buzzard 2
Spanish Imperial Eagle 1 immature
Lesser Spotted Eagle 1
Egyptian Vulture 12
Griffon Vulture 15
White Stork 100+
Black Stork 150

Raptor watching at Cazalla

Booted Eagle

Black Storks

Honey Buzzard - juvenile

Unfortunately the Spanish Imperial and Lesser Spot were distant but had some great views of everything else.
In the afternoon we took the boat trip into the Straits. The Bottle-nosed Dolphins came right up to the boat and included at least one calf, they looked to be enjoying themselves and several animals had a spell of breeching. 

Bottle-nosed Dolphin - adult with calf

Bottle-nosed Dolphin breeching

A pod of Pilot Whales appeared next and again we were treated to boat side views of these superb animals.

Pilot Whale

Birds were few and far between but we managed 4 or 5 Scopoli's Shearwaters and a small flock of terns which looked like Black but were rather distant.
The following morning we went down to the hide at Los Lances beach just West of Tarifa. We had great views of Knot, Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit and a single Curlew Sandpiper in with the Dunlin. The Kentish Plovers were a little distant as was a group of around 20 Audouin's Gulls with  a similar number of Yellow-legged.
Across the road we had several Tawny Pipits along with the common Stonechats and Corn Bunting.
Returning to the hotel for lunch we added Short-toed Treecreeper and Firecrest to the holiday list and I had nice views of a female Sardinian Warbler before heading to the flooded rice fields of La Janda. 

Sardinian Warbler

We made a slight, but unsuccessful, diversion to the cliffs behind Bolonia following a call from Mick Cunningham to alert us to a Ruppell's Vulture on the cliffs but it left before we got there.
There were large numbers of Glossy Ibis and White Storks in the paddy fields and we had 3 Black-winged Kites along the dirt track that dissects the area, one was reasonably close and peared down at us looking almost cat like, but the other 2 were rather distant and heat haze can be a problem with distant birds.

Black-winged Kite

Further on a small river passed under the track and we had several Red-rumped Swallows hawking overhead.
I got up early the following morning and went down to Tarifa beach with a view to photographing the Audouin's Gulls. They were not quite where they had been yesterday so I had a long walk up the beach but got some photos just after the sun rose.

Audouin's Gull - adult and 2cy

On the walk back I came across two Iberian Chiffchaff fly catching from some stunted pines close to the beach. I was surprised how yellow they looked and wondered if I had misidentified some earlier birds around Los Palacios as Willow Warbler at the start of the week.

Iberian Chiffchaff

We returned to Cabala after breakfast. Birds were a bit higher than our previous visit but we had several hundred Booted and Short-toed Eagles with Booted the commonest. Several parties of Alpine Swift appeared overhead and disappeared just as quickly. A few more Honey Buzzard and some close Griffon Vulture and a single Goshawk gave us some variety before heading back for lunch.

Griffon Vulture

In the afternoon we returned to La Janda and were quickly rewarded with a female Montagu's Harrier and, surprisingly, my first Squacco Heron of the trip. A large flock of Woodpigeon numbering several hundred had not been there two days ago. Further on we found a nice Purple Heron and superb juvenile Woodchat Shrike amongst a scattering of migrants including Whinchat, Redstart and Pied Flycatcher.
On our final morning Phil and I went down to Tarifa beach, a change in wind direction had brought Scopoli's Shearwaters much closer inshore but still distant for photos. 

Scopoli's Shearwater

All too soon we were heading for Malaga airport and our flight home. It was a fantastic trip and I won't forget the circling raptors over Cazalla or Little Swifts at Chipiona. Thanks to all the members of Cambridge U3A for making it such an enjoyable adventure.

Ebro Delta - home of the Audouin's Gull

It was a long drive yesterday from Motril to the Ebro Delta, about 750Km and it took about eight hours. The roads are very good, so far and no problems with navigation with SatNav. I stopped on the way at some pools near Vera, British birder Andrew Allport had found a Solitary Sandpiper there about a month ago. I wasn't expecting it to still be around but the pools looked quite good from photos and it was only slightly out of the way. I didn't see the Solitary Sandpiper but the pools were superb and right by the roadside. At least 4 Temminck's Stints plus around a dozen Little Stints, Wood and Green Sandpipers a dozen Water Pipit and 20 'fava' which looked like the Spanish race iberiae.

Temminck's Stint

Yellow Wagtail of the Spanish race iberia

I stayed at the Eucalyptus Camp Site which is ideally placed for the delta and had calling Scops Owls on the site, although I couldn't locate them in daylight.
I soon saw distant groups of Audouin's Gulls on the raised banks in the centre of the pools but they were constantly coming and going presumably to feed in the Med. There were also several loafing around on the spit which runs south from the delta, these were very approachable giving superb views.

Audouins' Gull

Lake Tancada - all the white dots are Audouin's

I also had several Slender-billed Gulls fly over and Caspian Terns were feeding along the coastal marsh with a few Sandwich Terns.

Slender-billed Gull

Caspian Tern

There is good access around the various lakes and dykes and plenty of waders, around 100 Little Stint, 20 Kentish Plover and a dozen Greenshank just on the few pools I looked at. Marsh Harriers were hunting over the reedbeds  and I could hear Little Bittern but didn't see it.
One of the pools had a small group of about ten Whiskered Terns, my first of the trip, and more birds joined them and then departed. I think there were probably around 50 went north.

Whiskered Tern

There is a single bush at the northern end of the spit that runs south where I met a local birdwatcher looking at it intently, his English was poor, but better than my Spanish. He said the bushy area was good for migrants but there were very few today. I stood at the bush with him and counted at least 4 Subalpine Warblers and a similar number of Chiffchaff (not sure whether these are Iberian, none are singing). I could easily imagine this area would be amazing in fall conditions.

Chiffchaff - possibly Iberian supercilium very yellow - if only I could read the ring!

What a fantastic place, definitely worth another visit. 
My plan is to head for the Pyrenees via the Saragossa area and then in to France.