6th February Thursday
Decided as i had a few days holiday still to take from last year i booked a short break to Spain, flying into Malaga, hiring a car to drive to La Alcaidesa near Gibraltar, where i will base myself till Sunday. I arrived Malaga by 12pm so by 1230 i was heading straight to Parque Del Guadalhorce. A great little reserve Got out the car to singing Chiffchaff then i was able to pick up multiple Black Redstarts, Flamingos, Pintail, and a single Slender billed gull. I visited this site last November and had a group of 15 Black necked grebes, there were still 8 here today. A sleeping Spoonbill was a bonus.
I moved around to a deeper lagoon and managed 6 White headed ducks, a target species from November which i dipped on. This time they were showing very well. Parrots were the usual Monk Parakeet and then 3 Rosey faced Lovebirds, 1 actually being blue.
A hoopoe flashed by and 4 Swallows went over, Crag Martin were regular. My first Booted eagle was a pale faze maybe a resident or wintering individual seen in November too. Further round many Spotless Starlings. A few waders included Ruff, Redshank, Avocet, Greenshank, Grey Plover and Common Sandpiper. A nice summer plumaged Little Ringed Plover was a surprise. Marbled duck were harder to see as they were asleep in the reeds. A few buterflies on the wing with Clouded Yellow and Green Striped White.
Continued around to the sea and looked out to a flat calm sea, Balearic Shearwater were sat on the sea in small numbers but over 50 Razorbill in small groups was great. The highlight for the day though was a pod of 50 Common Dolphins showing distantly but nice through the scope. On the way back a few Spanish Sparrows and Common Waxbills.
Had an absolutely brilliant day and felt it was just going too well, how right unfortunately was I, got back to my hire car to find it had been broken into and my rucksack nicked, nothing of real value in it fortunately but it did have my UK car keys in it Grrrrrr. I wasnt gonna let this ruin what had been a brilliant day.
Headed to La Alcaidesa where i met up with Good friends Jeff and Antonio.
7th February Friday
Early rise to get to La Janda by first light, unfortunately it was thick fog, but could just make out the 2 male singing Calandra Larks, Couldn't get any pictures but hoped id see some more later once the fog had cleared but they were the only ones. The Fog soon cleared to a group of Spoonbill in a ditch, many jackdaws and a few White Stork. Blackcaps were in every bush and had to be the commonest bird here so far.
Further along the track a Common Quail calling (maybe one that's been released for shooting) as were a few Red legged Partridge. In the flooded fields waders were few and far between but a few Little ringed plovers displaying, many Snipe and a few Green sandpipers. Finally found some Common Cranes with initially 6 birds present on fields with many more heard distantly. Then found well over 100. Arrived at the farm which was absolutely amazing with a showy Hoopoe then no less than 8 Great Spotted Cuckoos feeding on Caterpillars that were on the Thistle leaves, they were very mobile but could show well at times, never seen this many in one place.
Another spectacle were over 80 Griffon Vultures and 300 White Storks using the thermals. 2 Redwing was a Spanish tick for me. A yellow Wagtail was a early bird. Continued to the flooded areas further down the tracks to 70-100 Glossy Ibis 80 Spoonbills and 2 Western Swamphens, a Wryneck was heard but not seen, the list was climbing fast. A few Painted Lady butterflies too.
By the time i reached the plains of the area id seen 20 Common Buzzard, 3 Marsh Harrier, 6 Booted eagles, 40 Common Kestrels and 20 Red kites. A Cuckoo which i had a few times as i couldn't really believe what i was seeing, i had to make sure and followed it for a hundred meters or so. On the return leg an Iberian Green Woodpecker was seen a few times and then another target species was spotted, a Black Winged Kite, seen well initially in flight but flew to a distant fence post. Still nice through the scope. Swallows were now on the move with at least 20 feeding over pools and 2 House Martins with them. It was getting late so retuned home for some dinner with friends. Another great day.
8th February Saturday
Early start down at Jeffs hide hoping for the regularly seen Goshawk, it took from 7am to 11am for the bird to appear but boy was it worth it. The bird was too close for digiscoping but i gave it a go and got some nice pictures. Never seen a Goshawk this close before and never seen such a nice looking individual. Had about 20 minutes with the bird before it moved off down the valley.
Need a gallery just for the Goshawk shots.
I headed for the hills just past La Alcaidesa, where i had lunch watching more flocks of Griffon Vultures, with some feeding off a dead cow and some starting to nest. A couple of Dartford Warblers were in the heather areas, and a close but brief Cirl Bunting by the road.
Did an 8 mile walk through the hills and woods from here picking up birds such as Crested tits, Firecrests a Great Spotted Woodpecker and 2 Jays, Woodlarks Theckla and Crested Larks too. Short toed treecreeper were common but a single Nuthatch wasn't. 2 Male Blue Rock Thrush were great in the rocky areas of the walk. Finally Crossbills were heard but never seen and my only dip was Hawfinch, a good area them but seems it was just to windy.
Lifer for the day was however a Larva of the Fire Salamander in the puddles of the mostly dried up river. Took a few pics of the plants such as Asphodel, Wild Daffodil (Narcissus tazetta papyraceus) i think and Wild Lavender.
Finally 3 Migrant Black Stork flew over and more Black Redstarts in the nice light.
Time to head back my accommodation for dinner out, on the way back in the dark a huge male Wild Bore ran across the road in front of my car, a nice bonus to finish the day.
9th February Sunday
Time for home but got up early to take in the sunrise singing and calling Dartford Warblers with a flyby Peregrine to finish off a remarkable February trip to Southern Spain.
Thanks to Jeff and Antonio for there great hospitality.
115 species seen including the Rosey faced Lovebirds List HERE
