Spain Costa del Sol November 11th to 15th

Finally arrived for out cheap 5 days holiday to Costa del sol stopping in Mijas flying into Malaga.

Monday 11th

Flew in Monday at just after 12oclock so had lunch in Malaga near the Guaadalhorce reservoir, then jumed straight on the reserve for the afteroon here. The hides were great holding a few juvenile Flamingos and no fewer than 13 Black necked Grebes, the Black redstarts seemed everywhere and the Monk Parakeet were as noisy as ever.  Raptors over were a Pale phase Booted Eagle and 2 Osprey. Crag Martins were my only Herundine here. Gulls were plenty full, mainly LBBG and YLG, 2 Slender billed Gulls and a Med Gull joined the Black headed gulls. Waders on site were Turnstone, Sanderling and a Green Sandpiper. Ducks on display were 10 Marble Ducks, 5 Pintail and a good number of Shoveler. 

All in all a nice selection of 63 Species 

Tuesday 12th

A really nice visit to Ronda, it was very busy and at first i was struggling to find any decent birds including the Chough, but whilst having lunch on the edge of the gorge 4 Chough landed on roofs, after lunch whilst watching  the 4 Chough the flocks of 50 started coming in landing on the window bars of the nearby buildings. I only had bins on me at this time so digi binned some of the birds. The Vultures also started turning up 50 birds in the air, again with bins i could see most were Griffons but couldn't find a close Black Vulture. I moved to the lower valley with my scope and camera and manged better digiscoped shots of the Chough. Other birds of note, still more Black Redstart, More Crag Martins, a Dartford Warbler, Firecrest, Crested Tits, and a couple of Song Thrush. Meadow pipit with the chough and a couple of Blue Rock Thrush.

Wednesday 13th 

Felt like the world was ending today, weather warning for all the malaga costa del sol area had a major warning over the phone in the form of an alarm with a warning from the civil guard to not leave the hotel and dont go outside, so we lost pretty much all of Wednesday, it was nice to just sit in the hotel catching up on some sleep and visiting the bar a few times. From the Hotel good views of Black Redstart, Firecrest and Crossbills. 2 Grey wagtail with plenty of White Wagtails over. A Sparrowhawk was a surprise.

Late afternoon we did get out once the storm had passed to do a little sea watch. A Swift sp was brought down, double figure Balearic Shearwaters 1 Corys/Scopolis, and plenty of gulls with many med Gulls and plenty of Sandwich Terns and Gannets.

Thursday 14th

Rachels birthday so a quick trip up the mountains to the ruined castle of de la Mota. Birds were 2 Raven, More Black Redstarts and 6 Crag Martin, a Dartford Warbler was the last bird of the day. 

The rest of the day was spent doing the tourist stuff on the coast of Malaga and then to Mijas. The Monk Parakeet put on a great show.

Friday 15th

Last day already our flight was just after lunch so a visit into Mijas again as yesterday we visited late afternoon. Anyway the Firecrest and Crested tits showed really well. That ended our week in Spain, not as much birding done with my scope this time around so fewer pics to show.

Clocked just 87 Species in total. List HERE

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