Tarifa - 15th to 21st September

Pam and I returned to Tarifa in September, flying to Gibraltar for a change and a shorter drive. All was going to plan until an announcement that heavy cloud over Gibraltar might be a problem. As we flew down the Spanish Mediterranean coast the Captain announced that we would have to land at Malaga from where a bus would be arranged for the transfer to Gib. We landed and taxied to some far off part of the airport, waited for 20 mins then the Captain announced we were now cleared to land at Gibraltar so up we went again and finally landed at our intended destination, 3 hrs late including take-off delays at Manchester. Still it was only a short drive to Tarifa from here. We hired a car from Espacar at La Linea so we left Gibraltar on foot and soon found the man with our car in the designated underground car park.
Arriving in the town we saw a few Honey Buzzards heading out over the Straits, our first Spotless Starlings and a couple of Turnstone down by the Castle.
Los Lances the following morning produced 25 Kentish Plover, 7 Knot, 3 Whimbrel and 40 Calandra Larks with a few distant Audouin's Gull in the distance on the beach. Moving on to Cazalla there were a few raptors on the move in a light SW wind ; 35 Short-toed and 31 Booted with 30 Black Stork and 23 Pallid Swifts, not a bad start.
The following morning I started again at Los Lances and was just negotiating the collapsing footbridge when a Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin flew from the side of the bridge and landed in some scrub by the side of the river. The first I have seen in Spain, I walked back along the bridge and found a track close to the river and had brief views again as it flew out a landed on the top of a bush before diving in. Brief but reasonable views but no chance of a photo.
The wind was picking up a blowing a decent force 4 or 5 easterly so I headed up to Trafico where the birds appeared to be following the valley and heading just inland of the coastal watch point so I moved to the dirt track crossroads about 1km inland. Here birds were passing very close, mainly Booted Eagles (120) with a few Short-Toed Eagles and Black Kites. It provided a good opportunity to get photos of the variation in underparts colour in the Booted.

Colour variation in juvenile Booted Eagle

Moving back to the coast at La Pena had had the chance to have a good look at some of the larks on the hillside most were definitely Thekla but there also appeared to be 1 or 2 Crested. Having taken some photos I went back down to the beach near Los Lances where I had seen Crested earlier in the day to get some comparison photos. 

Thekla (left) v Crested Lark

Not the best comparison with a rather tatty Crested Lark but it shows the long curved culmen of Crested v the straight and shorter culmen of Thekla. I think it's sometimes easier to compare the shape of the culmen rather than the straight lower mandible of Crested with the slightly convex lower mandible of Thekla often quoted in books but this is more apparent in the photo below.. The breast and flank streaking of Thekla is also very obvious in this photo and is more restricted to the upper chest in Crested (see photo below).
In the afternoon I went up to La Pena and counted 12 Thekla and 2 Crested Larks allowing further comparison.

Thekla (left) v Crested Lark

In a reasonable flight view the orangey underwing of Crested Lark is usually fairly apparent compared with the greyish underwing of Thekla.

Thekla (left) v Crested Lark underwing

In the strong winds I went down to the beach to have a look at the Yellow-legged Gulls flying around the causeway to Tarifa Island. The birds were coming close and providing some good photo opportunities.

Yellow-legged Gull - moulting to 1st winter

The following day we went to La Janda which was very disappointing. Cotton appears to have been planted in many of the areas that used to be rice and the whole area is very dry, consequently there were very few herons, egrets or water birds. I did manage a single but distant Black-winged Kite, a distant juvenile Bonelli's Eagle, just two Montagu's Harriers and a more obliging juvenile Woodchat Shrike.

Woodchat Shrike juvenile

I made a few visits to the wooded valley by the Castle in Tarifa which leads up to El Olivar. It held a few common migrants such as Garden Warbler, Whitethroat and Blackcap and I also heard one of the few remaining Common Bulbul calling but failed to get any photos.

On the 19th we met our good friends Richard and Janet Hart, he and I went up to Cazalla which produced an amazing flock of 300 Alpine Swift, 62 Short-toed and 26 Booted Eagles plus singles of Spanish and Bonelli's Eagles.

Alpine Swifts

Spanish Eagle juvenile

The following day we went to Barbate, not an area I have visited too often but it proved to be a good choice, we went up the southern edge of the lagoons and soon found at least 6 Stone Curlew and a decent group of Calandra and Short-toed Larks in the neighbouring fields probably 40 or 50 Calandra and a dozen Short-toed. Audouin's and Yellow-legged Gulls were preening on the islands with at least 19 Audouin's. Several juvenile Woodchat Shrikes were sat along the fence posts and in the final patch of trees there appeared to be something of a fall of migrants with 2 Pied Flycatcher, male and female Redstart, Willow Warbler and at least 3 strikingly yellow Iberian Chiffchaff.

 

Iberian Chiffchaff - juv/1st winter

I came back the following morning when there were over 250 Calandra and 75 Short-toed Larks but only single Iberian Chiffchaff and Pied Flycatcher remained in the wood but a Tawny Pipit was an addition to the trip list.
Returning to Tarifa we drove the Santuario Road stopping for an hour at the high point. Several Griffon Vultures appeared in the distance drifting towards us and as they came closer one turned out to be an immature Ruppell's.

Ruppell's Vulture

It circled at some distance drifting north with the Griffon's but was soon lost to sight.
On my final morning I returned to Los Lances, crossing the listing wooden bridge and whilst looking at a Stonechat was surprised to see a small trip of 7 Dotterel sat in the field.

Dotterel

Our light back from Gibraltar was uneventful and it was certainly a much shorter drive then flying from Malaga so worth considering.