Back to Spain 4th September - 8th October 2017 Part 2 Tarifa to the French Alps

From Tarifa on the 17th we headed north for Granada, we made a few stops and added Dipper, Grey Wagtail and 4 Rock Bunting to our trip list. on the 18th we drove up to the ski village of Sierra Nevada. Not many birds here but much cooler and great views also plenty of Crag Martins feeding around the ski village.
Continuing our northward journey we next stopped at Motril where I visited the small reserve of Charco Suarez which is still one of the best places in Spain for Crested Coot, thanks to a reintroduction programme. There was some interaction between the two species of coot and it seemed to be the Cresteds that were chasing the Eurasians. The photo shows the pale trailing edge to the wing due to the paler secondaries which is restricted to just the secondary tips in Crested, Also has Purple Swamphen, a single male Ferruginous Duck and several Spoonbill.

Crested Coot chasing Eurasian Coot

Crested Coot

Next stop was the rocky headland of Cabo de Gata, a place I had heard of but never visited before. It is famous as one of the only places in Spain and Europe where Trumpeter Finch can be found. I searched the headland around the lighthouse but without success although a Black Wheatear showed nicely. I always think of them as birds of the mountains but they are just as happy on the coast.

There is a large hill just inland from the lighthouse, the vegetation on the coastal side had clearly been damaged by fire which didn't look good but as I started to walk around its lower slopes I disturbed a small finch, a Trumpeter Finch. I remained motionless and scanned the hillside picking up several more until I had counted 20 of them!

Trumpeter Finch

We stayed on a campsite a few kilometres inland and from there I could walk over some rough ground to a coastal pool called Rambla Morales. Here I saw Southern Grey Shrike, Subalpine and Spectacled Warblers, Black-necked Grebe, White-headed Duck and several Red-rumped Swallows. Gulls were coming to bath in the fresh water and as I got closer I could see that they were all Slender-billed. Almost all were adults and some were very pink on the breast and outer primaries.

Slender-billed Gull - adult

Continuing up the coast for another 150km we stopped at Mazarron, just short of Cartagena. The rough dry scrub between the town and the coastal port was typical of the area and produced more Black Wheatears and at least a dozen Subalpine as well as 4 or 5 Spectacled Warblers which I spent some time trying to photograph.

Subalpine Warbler juv - they yellow flowers have given this bird a yellowish cast to mantle

Spectacled Warbler - juvenile

Spectacled (left) and Subalpine Warblers

Spectacled Warbler

Black Wheatear

We did the short distance from Mazzaron to Cartagena on the 24th September and stayed in the town for a couple of nights. From here we visited the lagoon at San Pedro del Pinatar. This was amazing for Black-necked Grebe I estimated 600 on the first visit and then counted 740 on my second visit which included two leucistic birds.

Black-necked Grebe including leucistic bird

The area was also very good for Slender-billed Gulls with some birds very close to the promenade which crosses the lagoon. 

I counted 30 on the first day but over 100 on the second but surprisingly I only saw 2 birds in first summer plumage which are pictured below.

Slender-billed Gulls - both first summer

There were a few shorebirds, mainly Sanderling which again were very confiding but I also had Little Stint and Kentish Plover.

Kentish Plover

Next stop Calpe, similar birds with plenty of migrant Subalpine Warblers in the scrub on the outskirts of town. Alpine Accentors move down from the mountains to winter here but it will be sometime yet before they arrive. A flock of Yellow-collared Lovebirds were in the trees by the campsite when I arrived, I'd seen Monk Parakeets in most of the towns on the Mediterranean coast but these were new for me.

Yellow-collared Lovebirds - I think the blue one is a colour morph

We carried on the Ebro Delta, I was here in Spring 2016 and it's a fantastic area with a huge breeding colony of Audouin's Gulls but by 27th September when I arrived I only saw about a dozen birds and all adults. At least 500 Greater Flamingo were a real spectacle, especially as they left the lagoons in small groups on a morning presumably to feeding grounds on the coast.

Greater Flamingo

In the bushes there were a few migrant Pied Flycatchers and Common Redstarts and in the evening Scops Owls called from the small wooded campsite where we stayed but day-time searches failed to reveal them. I looked for a Pacific Golden Plover which had been seen in recent days but the weather had turned and it was raining and I couldn't find it so spent some time photographing a yellow wagtail. I think this is a 1st winter male Blue-headed Wagtail.

Blue-headed Wagtail - 1st winter male

Pam was flying home from Barcelona on 2nd October and we had planned to stay over in the city before she left but with the Catalonian independence election taking place on 1st October and demonstrations planned we decided to stay over in Tossa de Mar. The was quite a bit of trouble in Barcelona but the elections went off peacefully in the smaller villages we visited. Not many birds to add here but nice views of Firecrest and I caught up with a Two-tailed Pasha in the hills above Tossa. Not the freshest example but they are superb butterflies.

Two-tailed Pasha

Having dropped Pam at the airport I headed north in to France finally stopping on the top of the Col du Galibier. After the heat of Spain it was quite a contrast to be in the French Alps. The temperature dropped to a frosty -3°C overnight which made quite a pleasant change! As I drove up to the col a small group of passerines flew across the road and proved to be Alpine Accentors and with the sun shining I managed some decent photos.

Alpine Accentor

I also had a group of 20 White-winged Snowfinch but they remained distant on inaccesible slopes so sadly no photos. The only other birds on the col were Water Pipits which appeared to be crossing the col and Alpine Chough. Leaving the col and after a coffee and croissant at the restaurant I stopped in the valley at Bonnenuit and had barely exited the van when a Lammergier crossed overhead.

Lammergier or Bearded Vulture

I stopped for a few days at my brothers just outside Samoens before the final drive to Calais and the ferry back to Dover getting home on 8th October after another great trip.

Southern Spain 17th - 24th September - Part 1 Los Palacios to Ronda

I have just returned from a fantastic week in Spain with Bird Holidays and a group from Cambridge U3A. We flew to Malaga then drove across to our base for three nights at Los Palacios south of Seville. We stayed at the Manolo Mayo hotel in the town centre which was very nice and well located for the local birding sites.
On the 18th we visited the mixed habitat bordering the River Guadalquivir at Trebujena then drove down to the Bonanza salt pans ending the day on the coast at Chipiona. 
Along the river we had several Wild Boar with young digging around in the soft mud on the riverbank.
Common birds included Fantailed and Sardinian Warblers with a few Chiffchaff, we also had 4 or 5 Spectacled Warblers  in the Suaeda type habitat and several Lesser Short-toed Lark. An Osprey with a blue darvic ring was probably ringed in the UK! 

Osprey

At the Bonanza salt pans we had our first party of Black Stork passing overhead and a handful of Griffon Vulture. There was a nice group of about 60 Slender-billed Gulls in one area.

There was a very confiding Bar-tailed Godwit which appeared healthy but fed unconcernedly whilst we took photos. 

Bar-tailed Godwit

Other waders were Greenshank, Dunlin and a few Little Stint plus a single Curlew Sandpiper. At least 2 Caspian Tern patrolled the salt pans and I should mention that there were at least 200 Greater Flamingo.
As we left the area we called in at the small pools in Bonanza which provided great views of White-headed Duck plus a single Marbled Teal which was unexpected.

White-headed Duck

Marbled Duck

Chipiona marina is famous for its small colony of Little Swifts and that was our next stop. The birds were still visiting the nests under a loading canopy and we didn't have long to wait until the first bird flew in, this bird and several others were carrying feathers in to the nest which seems odd in late September. A single Pallid Swift was also still visiting a nest and we saw several more of the town. Lance Degnan with another Bird Holidays group saw 20 Little Swifts the following day, so they are clearly well established here.

Little Swift & nest

The following morning we drove to the southern end of the Brazo del Este marshes which comprises of drainage channels, pools and reedbeds. The area is known for the adventive species that have become established here from Africa and we saw Yellow Bishop, Black-headed Weaver, Red Adavadat and Common Waxbill all in reasonable numbers. 

Yellow Bishop

The behaviour of the male Yellow Bishop was striking, he stood atop a tall reed then launched in to the air, appearing to inflate his body by fluffing his feathers then 'buzzed' around looking like a large bee!
The weavers were nest building along one of the drainage channels.

Black-headed Weaver

I have never seen so many Glossy Ibis, they were everywhere and there must have been several thousand. They shared the pools with Spoonbill whilst Cattle Egrets fed on the margins. 

Brazo del Este

Spoonbill

A group of 30 Collared Pratincole landed on the muddy edge of one of the larger pools and hawked over head with several Whiskered Terns including a nice dark backed juvenile. A couple of Bluethroat were seen briefly by some members of the group but eluded me but one of several Penduline Tits paused briefly on top of the reeds posing nicely. 

Penduline Tit

Later we visited the northern part of the same marshes and I got some nice photos of the striking Crimson Speckled moth and Banded Groundling which has a very restricted range in Europe. Here rice paddies bordered the pools and drainage channels and there were many crayfish visible in the murky pools. 

Crimson Speckled

Banded Groundling

Butterflies were not common but in one area I came across several Swallow-tails.

Swallow-tail

That evening we visited an area of open grassland and Parasol Pines waiting until dusk when first one, then a second Red-necked Nightjar took to the wing and briefly calling. 

Red-necked Nightjar site

A largish owl flew by and was probably Long-eared but it was by then too dark to be certain.
The following morning we set off for Tarifa but went via Ronda and stopped nearby for some upland birds. In Ronda itself we encountered several Crossbill during a refuelling stop plus Red-billed Chough over the cliffs.

Ronda

A few kilometres outside Ronda we stopped in a rocky valley and almost immediately saw a couple of Black Wheatear on top of a ridge. 
A distant Golden Eagle circled above shortly to be joined by a second bird and we were treated to some superb display with the eagle stooping and rolling high above the hillside. 

Golden Eagle

A closer scan of the immediate area produced a couple of Black-eared and single male Northern Wheatear and Blue Rockthrush with several Crag Martin overhead.
We departed for Tarifa - see above

The Camargue

The Camargue was rather spoilt by the weather, it was blowing a gale,overcast and cool when I arrived and the following day it rained until mid-afternoon. I met a Belgian couple who were leaving for Spain having had 10 days of poor weather. They have spent a month in the Camargue at this time for the past 10 years and this is the worst weather they had experienced.
Consequently it didn't feel much like Spring and it looks like the weather has held the birds back. There were no marsh terns in sight and although I had my first Nightingale, Willow Warbler and Pied Flycatcher at the lovely La Capeliere Reserve migrants were hard to find. I did manage a nice portrait of Fan-tailed Warbler there, along with Cetti's these are the two most conspicuous passerines in the area.

Fan-tailed Warbler

I stayed 2 nights at Saintes Maries-de-la-Mer on the Med coast but visited most of the recommended sites on the Camargue.
There were plenty of Greater Flamingos and much more confiding than in Spain allowing me to get some nice close up shots of this remarkable bird.

Greater Flamingo preening

Marsh Harriers and Black Kites were on show for much of the time but I didn't see any other birds of prey.
Highlight for me was a party of about 25 Slender-billed Gulls sat together preening on one of the lakes. The breeding adults looked superb with the pink cast to their breasts.

Slender-billed Gulls

When it was very windy there was a large movement of Sandwich Terns along the Med coast and also on the Camargue itself, several thousand birds must have been involved and I only saw a handful the following day when the wind had reduced a bit.

I did see Coypu which is an animal I have not encountered before, I don't know where the original animals came from but they are apparently well establish, the Carmargue obviously providing similar habitat to their native South America.

Coypu

I left the Camargue this morning and paid a visit to La Crau, it's an area of flat grassland that holds Frances only Little Bustard and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse. It was still very windy so I didn't venture on to the plains but checked the canal which borders the Peau De Meau Reserve but without success, looks like I've had it for Melodious Warbler.
I'm heading for the Alps next and will have a look for the birds I missed by not going to the Pyrenees.

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.