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.

El Planeron - just for a lark!

There are probably a number of good reasons why you might visit El Planeron, the scenery is good, but probably no better than other neighbouring areas. For the majority, myself included and the Dutch and Danish couples who I met there, there is only one reason; Dupont's Lark, El Planeron is one of the best sites to see it.

El Planeron Dupont's Lark sign

Dupont's Lark has a reasonably wide distribution in the Saragossa area and is shown on the distribution maps as also occurring in pockets further south including Ronda, although talking to Peter Jones he thought that these populations were gone. Dupont's Lark has suffered significant declines in past decades, it's classified as Near Threatened by Birdlife due to a 20% population decline 1970-1990. The Spanish Population is estimated at 2000-3000 males.

El Planeron Dupont's Lark habitat

I have never seen Dupont's Lark before so was keen to correct that, but I knew seeing the bird could be difficult. I arrived at the site around 16:00 yesterday and walked the areas listening intently until dark at 20:00. I thought I had heard one or two short bursts of its very melancholy song but wasn't sure. I decided to stay in the area overnight and in darkness at 20:30 I heard two clear bursts of song near where I was parked.
I was up at 05:30 although it wasn't light until about 07:30. At 05:45 I heard one bird singing strongly and by 06:30 there were at least three birds in the same area. As it became light I parked myself reasonably close to where I thought the song was coming from and waited. The singing reduced as it became light but still continued intermittently. The song had a mysterious habit of moving although there was no sign of anything in the steppe vegetation. Two hours later still nothing. I walked the area again and picked up several more birds singing, probably 7 males by now. This was frustrating I could hear them but not see them. I was starting to think they had an underground tunnel system to move from place to place!
By 11:00 I had given it 8 hours of solid searching and it was decision time, did I leave the larks and head for the Pyrenees as planned or stay with the larks and abandon the Pyrenees leg of the journey? I decided to stay and would have stayed until at least the following morning if necessary. I wanted to see this bird!
Occasionally the song was very close and contained some popping notes, a bit like Raven do sometimes. I caught a brief view of a bird landing after one episode of close calls and it occurred to me that they could be giving a song flight. The next time I heard the call close I looked up and saw a lark plummeting out of the sky, I can only think that it had been singing at a height that it was not visible to the naked eye. It came down quickly but I managed to see where it landed, and then it appeared, for about 20 seconds it was in view before running in to the vegetation. I grabbed the camera and fired off as many shots as I could. 

Dupont's Lark

Pam often says why don't I take the time to enjoy the bird rather than looking through a camera lens. Well this is the answer, I could have had 20 seconds of distant binocular views but now after writing this blog I will fill a glass of wine and study the photos. I may then have a second glass and look at them again, I have a permanent record of the moment the Dupont's Lark stepped out infront of me.
There were other birds in the area, plenty of Lesser Short-toed Larks, plus Calandra and a few Short-toed Larks. I saw two pairs of Stone Curlew, which were calling through the night.

Lesser Short-toed Lark

Short-toed Lark

Four Pin-tailed Sandgrouse flew over giving their characteristic kaa-kaa calls but they had almost gone by the time I got them in the camera.The Dutch couple had a party of 16 fly over yesterday.

Pin-tailed Sandgrouse - you can just about tell what they are!

So, I am heading for France now, hopefully I can pick up the Pyrenean mountain species in the French Alps.