My parents in law have an apartment between Murcia and Alicante. We have been there for a couple of family holidays and I have done some birding before the family gets up which meant I could not go far or spend long anywhere. Trips in June and August had both produced just over 80 species. I now had a chance of 5 days solid birding on my own at a prime time of year. I wanted to see as many areas as possible and so covered a lot of ground. Santa Pola Salinas and La Mata at Torrevieja are both great wetlands but as I had been to these before I only paid a brief visit to Santa Pola and got most of the wetland species at El Hondo. I usually left the apartment before sunrise to be at sites around sunrise and would leave quite late so I was usually back at the apartment after dark. The high pressure over Britain that was to bring the volcanic ash cloud over Britain and extend my holiday by 3 and half days was also pushing Atlantic weather fronts into Spain so the weather was often cloudy with outbreaks of light rain with some heavy showers. This didn’t stop me birding and removed the heat haze problem that the sun brings. When the sun did come out, as it did sometimes, particularly after I was supposed to be at home, it was warm and very pleasant.
There are some great reserves in this part of the world with some very modern visitor centres. Sadly the visitor centres lack any interesting displays or information on the wildlife, or Spanish wildlife books or guides for sale. The staff are, however, very helpful and the Generalitat Valenciana’s booklets on their Parc naturel are very good and can be downloaded from their website. The hides, however, are often quite unusual, not conforming to the tried and tested British style, sometimes they are fantastic, like the raised platform hide at EL Hondo and sometimes, like at Calbalnque, they are designed for people of a strange shape.
Directions to all these sites and further details of the birds you might see can be found in Graham Critchell’s book “Where to Watch Birds in Southern Costa Blanca and Surrounding Areas”. This can be purchased from Graham via his website http://spainbirdwatching.com and I would recommend it. There will be a new edition that I am helping to produce the maps for, sometime in the winter 10-11, but for now the old version is fine. Graham is also a professiona bird guide if you want to be shown round any of these sites. His recent sightings page is also good for finding out what has been about recently.
Wednesday 14th April - EL Hondo
I had arrived in Alicante airport on Tuesday evening, but although I made it Clot De Galvany before dark there was not enough light to see anything. In the morning I got to the El Hondo visitor centre for sunrise in the rain. There are three areas at El Hondo, a trail near the visitor centre that is always open and is very good, a couple of hides on the south side which are quite some distance away but are always open and the north gate, which is the best, but only open Wednesday and Saturday 8.15 to 11.15 and you are supposed to make a reservation beforehand, you can email them.
When the rain stopped I walked along track to wooden hide. From the hide I saw white headed duck and a great white egret flying over. The track is made of a clay that gets very claggy when wet which caked my shoes and trousers.
I went to North gate for 8.15 and met Graham Critchell. There were 4 or 5 other cars too. I was quite excited to see at least 5 or 6 Montagu’s harriers over the reeebed. When chatting I looked up and noticed a much larger bird of prey hovering above them. I scoped it and saw a barred tail and plain brownish back with little sign of a white rump. Graham immediately said short toed eagle, but someone said no. We then lost it the Montague’s harriers and I concluded that it must have been a female monty’s but on reflection it was actually my first short toed eagle. Then the Ranger arrived and people got into their cars to follow her down; this surprised me as when I had been before, when there was only one other person there, we walked in.
We parked at the end of the track and walked up the raised platform hide and where there was a raptor sitting in the tree, a pale phase booted eagle. Before I had a chance to sketch it disappeared. A male little bittern flew over and dived into the reeds. There were moustached, reed and great reed warblers signing and house sparrows flitting around. On the water amongst other things were black necked grebes, female marsh harriers and red crested pochards.
After chatting with Graham I went to the other hides. Not much was showing from the two hides on the track, but the marsh hide was fantastic. It was full of mosquitoes, but they settled down after I had been in there a while and didn’t bother me. There were really close greater flamingos and all sorts of duck including pintail, shoveler and RC pochard, herons including a great white egret, purple herons in flight, little egret and my favourite, the squacco heron. There were waders too like black winged stilt, avocet and a flock of black tailed godwit.
After sketching the flamingos and great reed warblers I walked back to the car and saw a female pied flycatcher and lots of Spanish yellow wagtails. I drove to the tower hide. From here the waders at the shore line were much closer and included redshank and greenshank, spotted redshank, 3 little stint, curlew sandpiper, dunlin, Kentish plover and common sandpiper. Whiskered terns flitted over the water. Just as it was time to go I found a booted eagle but did not have time to watch him.
We left the reserve at 11.15 after getting directions for the trumpeter finch site at Monegre I went to the visitor centre. I had intended to have lunch in a restaurant, but because of my very muddy shoes and trousers I decided to just pop in San Filipe Neri and, using my basic Spanish, get some bread and stuff for lunch. I had lunch in the rain in the hide watching thousands of swifts and swallows who, because of the poor weather, were concentrated at El Hondo. In amongst these hordes were a few house and sand martins, red rumped swallow and pallid swift. The rain stopped and I walked round the path back to the visitor centre. There were huge numbers of Spanish yellow wagtails. Graham said he had seen spectacled warbler near the visitor centre and I found a whitethroat like bird just outside the vc, so whitethroat like that I decided it was in fact, a whitethroat. There was also a willow warbler and a redstart flitting out, quite a fall of British migrants.
With the sun coming out I went to the south hides. As I parked my car I found a male blackcap. I found a concrete beam crossing the ditch by a sluice gate that was just 5 minutes walk from a hide. From the hide were several black necked grebes, pochards and 3 female and 4 male white headed ducks. I knew there were two hides but I did not know in which direction the other one was. Looking at Google Earth I think it is about 1.2 km to the east. I expect this end of the reserve would be good in late summer when the rest of the reserve has dried out as I think the water is deeper here and so is less likely to dry out completely and should at least have some muddy margins.
Santa Pola Salinas
I then went via Santa Pola Salinas and the supermarket to the Santa Pola headland. The Salinas were not a full of flamingos as on previous visits but there were slender billed gulls, glossy ibis, squacco heron, and sandwich, common and little terns.
Santa Pola Headland
Although sunny it was getting windy on the headland. The headland is a bit too high for seawatching as there is so much sea to watch! I did try but I saw nothing. There were a couple of hoopoes and a redstart as well as south grey shrike, Sardinian warbler, serin and willow warbler.
Thursday 15th April - Petrola
Today would have potentially the most number of lifers for me so I was rather disappointed to arrive in thick fog after driving for an hour and a half. I parked at Estacion the old train station north of Bonete and got out my car. There were a few sparrows flying around and when checking them out I found they were rock sparrows, my first lifer of the day, but I was till fed up. I decided to drive south. A few yards from the old station a little bustard flew over the road, a second lifer and the fog seemed to be getting thinner. I drove through Bonete and joined the road to Petrola. I drove slowly along stopping by a pool with some bw stilts. A bit further along I stopped to scan some fields and found a hobby. Why he was here where it was freezing cold and not 900 metres (3,000 feet) lower down in El Hondo where there were loads of hirundines and insects I don’t know. I went on through El Bachiller. I kept stopping to scan the green fields where Graham had said they would be. There were lots of larks and I got some good views of my third lifer of the morning Calandra lark in flight. Then just outside El Bachiller I found them, well one a first, a male great bustard. I did a quick sketch as it walked around the field puffing itself up occasionally. I drive back to get a better view and found about 7 birds: several spaced out a males and a group of females. The males were displaying occasionally. I did some sketching until I was too cold. I also noted that the sparrows among the farm buildings at El Bachiller included rock sparrows. Just outside El Bachiller is a rocky area of scrub where I found a male subalpine warbler.
Along the road to Petrola there were several shallow lakes. Around the edges were sandpipers and stilts and just outside Coral Rubio there was one large lake with several great bustards. In fact there seemed to be bustards everywhere I looked between El Baciller and Petrola. I reckon I saw at least 50 birds. On the other side of the field were two white storks. I did a sketch of these birds and then looked up and they had completely vanished.
At Coral Rubio I left the main road to follow some tracks I had found on Google Earth. There were some more interesting pools here; one blocked the track while another had black tern, ruff, and bw stilt as well as other stuff.
I had planned to have lunch in Petrola but had brought sandwiches just in case and I decided I didn’t have time to waste in a restaurant. The sun was out now and so I went to the laguna where there were various waders including wood sandpiper as well as flamingo and a pair of teal.
From Petrola I went north stopping for lunch and seeing buzzard, stone curlew and subalpine warbler but not the great spotted cuckoo which one guide book said I might see. I then drove along the motorway back to Bonete and then north to the estacion. From the bridge over the old railway I scanned to fields. There were a lot more ploughed fields and much less grass here than between El Baciller and Petrola and I only found two great bustards. I was looking for little bustards when I found a flock of birds in a grassy field. I drive along the road to investigate. They were one of the best birds of the trip: pin tailed sandgrouse. This was the only area I could possibly see them on this trip and Graham had said they were pretty hard to find so I was really excited with my fifth lifer of the day. I watched them for some time until they disappeared into the longer grass. I then drove along and scanned for little bustard. On three or four occasions I heard the “phantom raspberry blower” but could not find the maker of this unusual sound. I would have to wait until tomorrow.
Sierra de Salinas
I then got back on the motorway heading for Sierra de Salinas. I had tea here and found a cirl bunting. I followed the road up into the hills. The Google maps map showed that this road was dead end but the Michelin map and a guide book said it does come down. It was a fantastically scenic drive to the top and down, evening was approaching but the sun was out but didn’t see many birds other than a crested tit but the area looked really good. It was nearly dark and so I drove home.
Friday 16th April - Guadalentin Valley
I arrived about 7.30, it just was light. There was high cloud but the sun occasionally almost burst through. The high mountain tops I could see from the plain were mist covered. There were a couple of male Montague’s harriers flying around. I drove down parallel to the new dual carriageway and scanned the flat expense of dwarf scrub. A little bustard flew passed, it kept going a long way and I lost it. I then walked over to a raised reservoir and scanned where a flock of three little bustards flew a round; this was just what I had come for. They split up and landed in various places. The closest one was some distance away but I located in the scrub, well its head, neck and shoulders. I sketched it for a while as it displayed. I must have been too far away to hear its phantom raspberry blowing. They make a very unusual sound. A quail was calling below and to the left and I tried to locate it, I saw something scuttle across a clear patch of ground, that must have been the quail, then something else moved, a great spotted cuckoo, my first lifer of the day. It hopped around in the short scrub for quite a while eating grubs. I wasn’t sure what to watch.
The larks were also performing well and I had crested, short toed, lesser short toed and calandra all giving good views, far better than at Petrola where they disappeared into thick grass, here the vegetation was more open allowing good views. The lesser short toed was my second lifer of the morning. However, given how well hidden the pin tailed sandgrouse were at Petrola I was not confident of finding my third lifer, black bellied sandgrouse, here unless they were in flight.
I moved to the other side of the reservoir so that light was behind me. Another quail was in front of me, hidden in the vegetation. Then I caught sight of some birds, flying 3 black bellied sandgrouse; they came into land, not in the dense vegetation but in a open field of bare earth. There were several of these scattered around and I wondered if they were actually provided for the sandgrouse as they were quite happy mooching around this area. This was turning into quite a morning's birding and things were just about to get even better. After sketching the sandgrouse for a while I scanned the plains and watched the male Montague’s harrier hunting as well as female marsh harrier. I then caught sight of an even bigger bird of prey; enormous, light underneath with a barred tail, a short toed eagle, it drifted over the plain giving some very good views. I then lost it in the murky distance. A couple of minutes later I noticed something landing in top of a pylon, a large headed raptor with a barred tail, plain brown back, was this the same or another short toed eagle? I watched and sketched it while it preened and was mobbed by some gulls. It then flew to the other pylon. Just one more lifer would make this morning a perfect morning. The books said there were spectacled warblers in the scrub so I wandered onto the plain, and yes there were several male spectacled warblers singing and flitting around. I was getting closer to the eagle and got some very good views. The sun then came out and the eagle then took off and soared lazily right over my head and disappeared westwards.
I returned to my car and as I drove towards the river two booted eagles floated low over head, they then flushed about 20 BB sandgrouse. I had lunch overlooking the river, where bee eaters hawked around the reeds and a pair of great spotted cuckoos flew along the valley.
I explored the valley looking for rollers, but perhaps they had not arrived yet. I could spend all day here, but decided to move onto the mountains east of Murcia where I might find golden and Bonelli’s eagle and chough.
Sierra Altaona
Although not very high the Sierra de Columbares and de Altaona have some very large, shear cliffs and so look good for cliff nesting birds. There are two roads that go through them, the F13 and the F48 which give great views. Unfortunately when I got there it was spitting with rain and the tops of the hills were mist covered. I explored the woods on a track and added some common species like wren, chaffinch and jackdaw to my list. Also had a chough and while driving down saw black wheatear and woodchat shrike. It then came onto rain as I went round the Embassament de la Pedera and so I went to the supermarket.
Benejuzar
When I got back to apartment in the evening the rain had stopped and so I went up the hills in Benjuzar. I walked to the very top but didn’t see much, until I scanned the hideous golf course and urbanizacion and noticed a big bird on a pylon, another short toed eagle, this time a scruffy looking immature bird. On the wires sat some jackdaws which were tiny in comparison. What a great ending to a great day. I then walked down the hill as it got dark. I was hoping for red necked nightjar and owls. I was surprised to hear European nightjar and two owl species, long eared and little owl but didn’t see either.
Saturday 17th - Monegre
Graham had given me some directions to a trumpeter finch site at Monegre. On the way a pair of small birds got up from the road side and one disappeared into a small bush while the other sat on a tree, my first lifer of the day, a pair of rock buntings, and I think the bird in the bush may have been entering its nest. On the way I also stopped to look at Bonelli’s eagle sitting on eggs, but could not see much of the bird. At the finch site there were plenty of rock sparrows but no trumpeter finches. I waited for a while and decided that as the mist was covering the high peaks I it was not worth going to Font Roja as planned as at 1300 m that was probably covered in mist too. It was cloudy with some brightness. I walked around the valley seeing black eared and black wheatear and blue rock thrush. I also went down into the valley where I had a migrant willow warbler and female Dartford warbler. In the afternoon I decided to go back to Bonelli’s eagle’s nest and then to El Hondo. The eagle was still sat on eggs and wasn’t doing much, but there were crag martins around.
El Hondo
At El Hondo I was looking for rollers that Graham had seen that morning, but without success. However, the Montague’s harriers were everywhere and I got some superb views of pale and dark phase booted eagles. At the entrance to the visitor centre a tractor was ploughing a field with 50 cattle egrets, 2 gull billed terns and 2 Med gulls following him, quite a sight.
I went back to north gate to watch the harriers. While there my wife rang and told me my flight had been cancelled due to the Icelandic volcano’s ash cloud. As she spoke a wood warbler appeared in the tree in front of me. I then abandoned my plans to see night heron and arranged to extend my car hire and then try and book a flight home. I eventually worked out how to do the handsfree automatic redial on the apartment phone and rang the freephone Monarch airlines number all evening. However, what I thought was the Spanish engaged tone was, I think, a number unobtainable noise. I did get through on another number but the office was closed and so I left a message.
Sunday 18th - Alicante Airport
Next morning it was raining but I had to go to the airport to sign for my hire car extension. As there was no Monarch desk at the airport I went back to the apartment and phoned my wife. Over the internet she booked a flight for midday Thursday, assuming the ash cloud had gone by then. That meant an extra three days birding. So I drove to Calblanque.
Calblanque
At the Calblanque Visitor centre I asked, in Spanish, where it could see trumpeter finches. They said, in English, that they were not on the reserve and were very difficult to see in an area of mining and they did not recommend visiting it. I didn’t expect to see them here and so I wandered down to the coast. This is an unspoilt stretch of wild and beautiful coast. While there I had all three Med scrub warblers: Sardinian, subalpine and spectacled. I then went down to the Salinas where there a two hides. On the way I flushed a quail. Spain does not have a great tradition for building hides and these were the most awkward of all with a very narrow slit about 80cm off the floor and no seat, unlike the wooden hide at El Hondo visitor centre trail that has a wider slit at about 1.5 metres but a seat only about 30cm high. From the hide I saw the Audouin’s gull the lady in the visitor centre had promised me but little ringed and Kentish plover and black winged stilts were the only other birds of note.
La Manga Salt pans and Cabo De Palos
At the La Manga saltpan where there were at least 8 Audouin’s gulls, but little else. Although the weather was sunny with almost no wind I decided to go sea watching at the Cabo de Palos headland. First I walked round the light house where there was a whinchat. I then got out my sandwiches and sat on the southern headland and began what I expected to be a pretty dull seawatch. The first birds of note were a line of 12 flamingos going west, what a strange sight! Next was a shag. I was hoping for shearwaters but because the weather was so nice I didn’t expect to see any. An auk species flying west reminded me I was sea watching and then a bird going east, quite far out and I zoomed in; white underside and brownish back and darker wings, flapping and gliding: a Cory’s shearwater, but not just one a whole line, in fact 56 Cory’s making their way into the Med. I had seen these from boat cruises from Majorca and Crete, but not from land before. An immature gannet flew west and then another two Cory’s shearwaters. A bit later another shearwater, this one much smaller, faster flying with a less white belly was obviously a Balearic shearwater. Finally, still in bright sunshine a group of three auks flew west. What an amazing seawatch. I wasn’t freezing cold, or wet, or struggling to stand in a force 9 gale but had still seen a pretty decent haul in about an hour.
Monday 19th Aril - Monegre
Today was my first extra day. I was up early again and on the road before sunrise on the way to find trumpeter finches again at Monegre. I checked the Bonelli’s eagle’s nest of the way; still sitting tight. Through the village of Monegre a dozen bee eaters were resting in the trees and I managed to take a few pictures. At the trumpeter finch site there were still just lots of rock sparrows and serins. A blue rock thrush provided a good sketching opportunity. I gave the finches just half an hour before moving north in glorious sunshine towards Alcoy. The road north of Monegre goes past some very precipitous peaks but all I could pick out was a chough.
Font Roja
Font Roja is a large rounded mountain with some sort of old monastery over half way up. It is obviously a meeca for school trips and the car park was very noisy so I quickly made my way to the yellow trail that leads to the top of the 1300 metre high mountain. There is a loop trail; one part going straight up through the woods on a very steep but well made path with plenty of steps. The other part is much longer and goes along the contours. I was thinking I would take the part of the trail that leads up the longer gentler slope first but I saw a camera sign pointing to the left and went that way thinking there was a view point, but this was actually the short steep route to the top. The woodland is mixed broadleaved woodland with holm oak, acers and some deciduous oak and ash, it was a pleasant change from the rather sterile terraced pine plantations found on most Spanish mountains and the birdlife here was very rich. Rich but not particularly exotic; robins, chaffinches, great, coal and long tailed tit made if feel more like an English woodland. However, the treecreepers, which were quite common, were short toed treecreepers and a group of three firecrests, not goldcrests, were flitting through the trees. The warblers I could hear singing were Bonelli’s warbler. I reached the very top of the mountain and found a blackbird singing. The top is an open heathland, this extends down the sunny, south facing slope, while the woodland is on the shadier north facing slope. As well as the blackbird on the top was a pair of black redstarts, subalpine warblers, a pair of rock bunting, stonechat, singing woodlark and red legged partridge as well as chaffinch. I was hoping for raptors but because you are so high and the nearest mountains are so far away it is hard to use my usual raptor detection technique of scanning the horizon as there is so much sky above the horizon and space below it, also although there are booted, Bonelli’s and golden eagle here the cliffs didn’t look precipitous enough for the last two species to be very common. I walked along the ridge and then down the gentler path. The gentler path is actually a track and although I did get views of Bonelli’s and subalpine warbler on the way down you are not actually walking in the wood, as you are on the steep path. Therefore I think a better tactic would be to walk up the steep path, along the ridge and then come back down the same way. When I got back to the car park the school children were still there, but their coach was arriving so I quickly departed for Mariola.
Parc Natural Serra Mariola
Graham’s book directs you to Mariola via a tunnel that avoids Alcoy. The route is longer than going through Alcoy. However, when I got to the tunnel there was a sign saying to just use it in emergencies, so being English I turned back and went through Alcoy. I could not have done so without the sat nav as Alcoy is a maze of very narrow streets with a one way system in operation and the Parc is not signposted.
As I got out of the car I saw two enormous birds circling over the gorge; griffon vultures. They have been re-introduced here. I set up my scope on a mound that looks down the gorge. I watched the birds and noticed that they seemed to disappear behind a large rock that was in the centre of the gorge so I walked down the gorge to beyond the rock where I found about 12 griffon vultures sitting on the cliffs while others circled above. The gorge is breath taking, the type of cliff you would think would hold many cliff nesting species, and perhaps it does. It does have peregrine as I saw one harassing the vultures, it was tiny in comparison. I also heard blue rock thrush, subalpine and Bonelli’s warbler and crag martin. I expect there is a lot more in this valley and I would suggest arriving here in the morning when the sun will be on the vulture cliffs and spending longer here than at Font Roja.
Tuesday 20th - Cazorla
This was a definite bonus of the volcanic ash cloud. I had done quite a bit Google Earth research and had worked out a route through the mountains of this place that promised many raptors and was the last breeding place of Lammergier in Southern Spain. They have been re-introduced here and I read that they have been joined by at least one wild bird. Spanish Imperial eagle has also been re-introduced. This is a really wild and remote mountainous area with many precipitous cliffs ideal for cliff nesting birds. It is also a three hour drive and so I had decided not go here on my short trip but now with longer it decided to make the journey. I even considered staying the night and spending two days exploring the area and might do so on a future visit.
On the way I stopped at Embalse de Megratin, not a very remarkable reservoir, however, in the valley below the dam the song of nightingales, serins and cetti’s warblers was almost deafening. 25 bee eaters perched on the overhead wires.
My route into Sierra de Segura was from the south leaving the A 6206 between Pozo Alcon and Tiscar on the JF 7092. The CF 7092 is a stone track, however, it is well made and with remarkably few pot holes and so you can drive along at about 25km/h, although you do get rattled around and you do need to look out for pot holes and sharp corners. However, the views over the woodlands and up to the cliff are tremendous.
I stopped a short way along the 7092 where I had crossbill and short toed treecreeper. I scanned for raptors and found two Griffon vultures and some alpine swifts. I then found another raptor. Although I long way off I think it was a golden eagle. I continued along the road stopping to scan the cliffs but apart from chough and raven there wasn’t much on the cliffs. The sky was, however, often filled with Griffon vultures, at one point there were 20 in a column and because the road climbs so very high they were about eye level giving great views. In fact there were so many vultures that I almost gave up looking stopping to check the id of large raptors.
There were plenty of woodland birds like chaffinch, coal, great and crested tit, robin, wren, blackbird, mistle thrush, crossbill and Bonelli’s warbler. The road climbs to 1800 metres where the pines thin out and become more contorted and stunted. There are some good areas of limestone pavements and I imagine this is where the rock thrushes are, but I just had black redstarts.
At 1800 metres I stopped and walked up to the highest point Cabanas which is over 2000 metres and quite an easy walk. There were some nuthatches and a pair of rock buntings as well as a red fox. When I was almost at the top I looked back and saw a raptor sitting on a rock, an adult golden eagle. It sat for a while and the dropped off the rock and was replaced by a vulture. I then noticed that there were two eagles in the air and one then went into a rollercoaster display flight dropping like stone then zooming up only to drop again.
At the top of the mountain there were not alpine accentors or rock thrushes but there was some snow and black redstarts. On the way down I checked the golden eagle rock, no eagles but there was a mother and foal Spanish Ibex sitting on the rocks. What a great sight as these animals had been almost wiped out in this area by disease. I also flushed pair of rock buntings which as usual gave very brief views and sat just behind twigs.
I had hoped to continue onto the Nacimento de Rio Guadalaquivir but was nearly 4 pm and so I decided to scan the cliff below Cabanas and the make my way back on the route I had come. I found two young male Iberian ibex feeding at the top of the cliffs. On the way back I stopped at a rocky promontory that sticks out into the valley. From here I could look up to the summit of Cabanas and in the other direction to the snow covered Sierra Nevada. This was a great place to search for raptors over the woods and I was rewarded for amongst the vultures there was a smaller raptor, a male goshawk that also start a rollercoaster display flight. There were also three red deer feeding in a clearing. I also found a deer skeleton presumably picked clean by vultures but not found a Lammergier. At the end of the 7092 I found my 12th and final raptor species of the trip: a male sparrowhawk, which came right towards me. A few moments later a female sparrowhawk flew past. You wait 7 days for one and then two come along at the same time. Along with kestrel that made 5 raptor species for the day, not quite a many as I had hoped for but some very good views of golden eagle, goshawk and vultures made it a very worthwhile day, an area I will return to explore more in the future. I didn’t have time to look for azure winged magpie but they do occur in this area.
Wednesday 21st - El Hondo
I gave myself a lie in, up 6.50, as I had had such a long drive the day before. The gates at north gate at El Hondo open at 8.15 so I arrived a little bit early to look for rollers, however, I didn’t find any. I had not booked this time, but the ranger didn’t take names or numbers, so I just drove in. I went to the end and elevated platform hide. From here I saw a male little bittern and added bearded tit to the trip list. The two best hides are, however, the Marsh hide and the tower hide. Normally everyone drives straight to the end of the road. I think a better tactic would be to stop at the tower hide and then the marsh hide then finally the raised platform hide. After sometime here I decided to move on. There were some cars parked by the marsh hide and as it is small I decided it was probably full so went onto the tower hide. There, to my amazement were two pale phase booted eagles sitting on some posts, what a marvellous site, this will definitely be made into a painting and I spent ages drawing them as they preened and flew around a bit. In fact there were more than two as I also noticed a intermediate phase and then as it warmed up they began to circle up on thermals there were at least four. I didn’t spend long looking for other birds here but did get a glossy ibis and several waders like redshank and greenshank, but not the variety of last week. I then went to the marsh hide where someone pointed out the pair of marbled teal and garganey. From being strong hold with several hundred marbled teal these are now quite a rarity here. There were also collared pratincoles flying over the hide and a white stork also sailed over.
At 11.15 I left. Graham took me to where he had seen rollers that morning and where they had nested last year in the palms, but someone was cutting palms and there was no sign of rollers. I went to the visitor centre trail. I scanned the plain looking at the collared pratincoles until I found a very large raptor. I scoped as it began to hover, a very jerky hovering with its legs moving backwards and forwards as it tried to stay still, light underneath, this was another short toed eagle. It glided over the plain then went into a fast and steep stoop and disappeared from view on amongst the vegetation. I continued on y way. From the top of the building I found a pair of marbled teal and searched without success for yesterday’s marsh sandpiper. I then walked to the wooden hide. As I rounded corner a great spotted cuckoo flew from a tree and disappeared behind the hide. Over the hide and resting on the ploughed field were collared pratincoles and I sketched these for sometime. I had heard that the Bonelli’s eagles at Crevillent had got young so in brilliant sunshine I decided to spend the rest of afternoon watching them and what a treat that was.
Crevillent
Almost as soon as I got there I saw an adult Bonelli’s eagle flying in with some prey which it dropped by the nest and then flew around for a bit. A second bird appeared and then went to the nest. There were two young with three enormous nests on the same ledge. The youngest bird was in the middle nest and the older one in the right hand nest. The female didn’t seem to feed the food to the young so I assume they could feed themselves out of view from me. The female then flew up and around the cliffs sitting on a rock away from the nest. She disappeared. While she was gone I noticed a woodchat shrike. When she reappeared she had prey which she brought to the nest. This time she spent quite a lot of time standing near where I think she had left the prey. These birds gave great views.
About 6pm a large dark cloud came over which reduced the heat haze but also threatened rain. While at El Hondo I had been given directions to an eagle owl’s nest so decided to try for my 12th lifer of the trip.
Rincon de Morera
The directions were pretty good and he had drawn me a map and showed me on the Michelin map. However, as always I underestimated the distance. What he didn’t say was that the distance between the last landmark, a bridge, and the nest site was over 10 miles therefore I was not entirely sure I was on the right road and had to turn back to get petrol as I had been trying to run down the petrol because the hire car was a supplied full, return empty type of agreement. This is a rip off as you think you are getting a cheap deal but they then charge $65 for a tank full while it actually costs less than 50 to fill it and it is very risky to have to drive on empty when you are trying to catch a plane and as can’t afford to run out of petrol.
Anyway I got to the place before dark. A little owl appeared and sat on the wires in front of me. It had started to rain a bit on and off and then, as it was getting quite dark, I saw 4 things fluttering about at the top of the cliffs, a family of eagle owls. I watched them until it was dark and then rain started to fall more heavily and then left.
When I got back to the apartment I was greeted by the sound of red necked nightjars in the adjacent fields.
Thursday 22nd April
My last day. I had not had roller, purple gallinule or night heron. All species I had seen before in Spain but interesting ones I wanted to see again. Graham had told where a night heron roost was so I drove there first. It was raining and I saw one fly over the road. I then went for the rollers by the football pitch but nothing was showing so I drove along the north gate road looking for rollers. I didn’t see any bit did see 11 night herons perched in the trees along the north gate track and some Montague’s harriers. I went to the visitor centre and although it had stopped raining the paths were that claggy mud again and I got my clean trousers and shoes that I was to wear on the aeroplane rather muddy and didn’t see a purple gallinule. I drove back past the roller’s football pitch, but again no rollers, and onto the La Marina by the Santa Pola Salinas where I had had a juvenile roller in August 2008, but again nothing. I then went off in a drizzle to the airport after an extended, eventful and satisfying trip. I had seen 164 species and heard five others. This included 12 raptor species, 4 of which were eagles as well as both bustards and both sandgrouse, all the Med scrub warblers and 12 European lifers and many more for my Spanish list. I could not have hoped for much more, but still leaving stuff for another trip. The top five highlights were
1. The pintailed sandgrouse,
2. Short toed eagles on four occasions,
3. Bonelli’s eagles feeding young,
4. Booted eagles on the posts
5. and the displaying golden eagles,
Great spotted cuckoo, warblers, cory’s shearwaters, vultures and bustards would feature in a top 10 and the Iberian Ibex would need to be mentioned too.
Great crested grebe El Hondo, several pairs
Little Grebe El Hondo, several pairs
Black-necked Grebe El Hondo North gate and south side
Cory's Shearwater Flock of 57 plus two other passed Cabo de Palos 18 April
Shag One Cabo De Palos 18 April
Cormorant El Hondo flock of about 9
Little Egret Common at El Hondo
Cattle egret Common at El Hondo
Squacco heron 1 El Hondo 14 April, 1 Santa Pola salinas
little bittern Male at El Hondo north gate raised platform hide on both 14 and 21 April
night heron 1 near Marina Oasis, 11 North gate track 22 April
Purple Heron Several around El Hondo
Grey heron Several around El Hondo
Gtr flamingo Loads el Hondo, only a few at Santa Pola Salinas, Petrola Lagoon
Glossy Ibis I Santa Pola
White stork 2 near Coral rubio and one flying over El Hondo 21st April
Shelduck El Hondo and Santa Pola, Petrola Lagoon
Marbled Duck 2 El Hondo North gate, 2 El Hondo visitor centre 21 April
Teal Pair at Petrola Lagoon
Garganey Pair at El Hondo
Pintail Pair at El Hondo
Gadwall EL Hondo
RC pochard EL Hondo, Santa Pola Salinas
White headed duck I EL Hondo VC, 6 south side 14 April, 2 El Hondo VC 21 April
Mallard El Hondo Santa Pola, Petrola
Shoveler El Hondo
Pochard El Hondo
Griffon vulture At least 20 birds with wing tags Mariola 19th April. At least 20 Cazorla 20th April
Short-toed Eagle 1 possibly 2 Gudalentin and one juv Benejuzar 16th April, one EL Hondo VC 21st April
Golden eagle 2 dispalying Cabanas, Cazorla 20th April
Booted Eagle 1 El Hondo north gate 14th April, 2 El Hondo 17th, 4 El Hondo north gate 21st
Bonelli's Eagle 1 Monegre on nest 17th and 19th. Two adults and two yopung at nest Crevillent
Marsh harrier Several mostly females El Hondo north gate, pair south side
Montagu's harrier Very common, El Hondo north gate reedbeds, two males Guadalentin valley 16th April
Sparrowhawk Male and female Cazorla 20th
Goshawk Male displaying Cazolra 20th
Common Buzzard 2 near Petrola 15th April
Common Kestrel common
Hobby I near Bonete 15th April
Peregrine Falcon 1 Mariola 19th April
Red-legged Partridge common
Quail At least 2 calling at Guadlentin and one flushed at Calblanque
Water Rail Heard at El Hondo
Moorhen Common
Coot Common
Great Bustard At least 50 on the road from EL Bachiller to Petrola. 2 at Estacion.
Little Bustard One near Estacion fying over, one here near Estacion and three fying and displaying at Guadalention
Avocet Common at El Hondo and around Petrola wetlands
Black winged stilt Common at El Hondo and around Petrola wetlands
Stone curlew El Hondo, Guadalentin, Petrola
Collared Pratincole EL Hondo 21 April
Little Ringed Plover Calblanque, Petrola
Kentish Plover Calblanque, Petrola, El Hondo
Spotted redshank EL Hondo 14 April
Common Redshank EL Hondo
Lapwing Petrola
Little stint EL Hondo 14th April
Dunlin EL Hondo 14th April
Greenshank EL Hondo
Curlew sandpiper About 10 El Hondo 14th April
Green sandpiper Coral Rubio
Black tailed godwit EL Hondo
common sandpiper EL Hondo
Wood sandpiper Petrola Lagoon
Razorbill 4 presumably this species at Cabo de Palos
Mediterranean Gull EL Hondo
BH Gull EL Hondo
Audouin's Gull Calblanque Salinas and La manga salt pans
Yellow-legged Gull common
slender billed gull Santa Pola salinas
Gull billed tern El Hondo 17 April
common tern Santa Pola
Sandwich tern Santa Pola
Whiskered tern Very coomon at El Hondo
Black tern Lagoon near Carol Rubio and EL Hondo
Little Tern Santa Pola
Pin tailed sandgrouse 20 near Estacion north of Bonete
Black-bellied Sandgrouse 20 Guadelentin
Rock Dove Cabos De Palos
Stock dove Petrola
Wood Pigeon V common
Collared Dove Common
Turtle Dove Petrola
Great Spotted Cuckoo Tow feeding in low veg and one pair flying Guadalentin16 April and one at El Hondo 21 April
Cuckoo El Hondo north gate 14th April
Eagle Owl At least 4 at Rincon de Morera 21 April 8.50pm
Little Owl On way home from Sierra De Salinas, heard at Benejuzar hills and one at Rincon de Morera
Long-eared Owl One heard in hills above Benejuzar16 April
Nightjar Heard in hills above Benejuzar16 April
Red-necked Nightjar Heard from apartment 21 April
Common Swift V common, huge humbers at El Hondo 14th April
Pallid Swift A few amongst swifts at EL Hondo 14th April
Alpine Swift 2 Cazorla 20 April, several at Crevillent 21 April
European Bee-eater Guadalentin, Monegre, on way to Cazorla, Font Roja, Calblanque heard in other places
Hoopoe El Hondo, Guadalention, Petrola and from car several times
Green Woodpecker Heard almost everywhere, but not seen this time
Great Spotted Woodpecker One atop of Cabanas, Cazorla
Calandra Lark Common around Petrola and at Guadalentin
Short-toed Lark around Petrola and at Guadalentin
Lesser Short-toed Lark around Petrola and at Guadalentin
Crested Lark common
Thekla Lark Monegre and other places
Woodlark Sierra De Salinas and Font Roja
Skylark Petrola
Sand Martin EL Hondo
Crag Martin Monegre, Mariola, Crevillent
Swallow V common
Red-rumped Swallow A few amongst thousands of swallows at EL Hondo on 14th April
House Martin common
Yellow wagtail Common at EL Hondo, esp on 14th and around Petrola
pied wagtail Several palces
Wren Font Roja, Cazorla
Robin Font Roja, Cazorla
Nightingale Many places two seen sining at EL Hondo north gate
Black Redstart Top of Font Roja and Cazorla
Redstart Santa Pola headland, El Hondo VC
Stonechat Font Roja, monegre,
Whinchat Cabo De Palos, EL Hondo 21 april
Northern Wheatear El Hondo, Petrola, Guadalentin
Black-eared Wheatear Monegre, Petrola, Guadalentin
Black Wheatear Sierra De Altana
Blue Rock Thrush Monegre, heard cazolra and Mariola
Blackbird common
Mistle Thrush Cazorla, Font Roja, Sierra De Salinas
Cetti's Warbler EL Hondo, on way to Cazorla
Fan-tailed Warbler common
Moustached Warbler Several singing at El Hondo
Reed Warbler Several singing at El Hondo
Great Reed Warbler El Hondo, Guadalentin,
Dartford Warbler One female Monegre
Spectacled Warbler Two males at Guadalention, Calblanque
Subalpine Warbler Petrola, Font Roja, Mariola
Sardinian Warbler V common everywhere
Whitethroat El Hondo VC
Blackcap Male south part of El Hondo 14 April
Bonelli's Warbler Font Roja, Mariola and Cazorla
Chiffchaff Several places
Willow warbler Many places
Wood warbler Calblanque, EL Hondo north gate
Firecrest 3 Font Roja
Pied Flycatcher Female el Hondo North gate 14 April
Long-tailed Tit Font Roja, Cazorla, Sierra de Altaona
Crested Tit Monegre, Sierra de Salinas, Cazorla
Coal Tit Font Roja, Cazorla, Sierra de Altaona
Great Tit Benejuzar, Font Roja, Cazorla
Bearded tit One El Hondo north gate 21st April
Nuthatch 2 Cazorla
Short-toed Treecreeper Common at Font Roja and Cazorla
Southern Grey Shrike common
Woodchat Shrike Calblanque and Crevillent
Jay Cazorla
Magpie common
Chough Sierra de Altaona, Cazorla, Crevillent
Jackdaw Common
Crow Petrola
Raven Cazorla, monegre, Crevillent,
Spotless Starling Common
House Sparrow common
Tree Sparrow Can’t remember where
Rock Sparrow Estacion, EL Baciller, Monegre
Chaffinch Font Roja, Cazorla
Serin common
Greenfinch Several places
Goldfinch common
Linnet Petrol and other places
Common Crossbill Cazorla
Cirl Bunting Sierra De Salinas
Rock Bunting Monegre, Font Roja and Cazorla
Corn Bunting common
169 inc 5 heard
Mammals
Iberian Ibex 2 males, 1 female, 1 calf Cazorla
Red deer 1 male, 2 females Cazorla
Red fox Cazorla
Rabbits Common
Dermot Smith 30th April 2010 (dermot.smith@fsmail.net)