This was mainly a relaxing holiday; the first time that I have been able to get away, since the birth of my son last year. So, whilst birdwatching was certainly on the menu, I really wanted to relax, explore & enjoy good food & local wines.
I stayed at the highly recommended Finca Santa Marta, 14 km outside of Trujillo & found it to be rustic & charming. It was lovely to be surrounded by Azure-winged Magpies & Hoopoes. Whilst the place is very nice, the cleanliness & service leaves a bit to be desired. The staff are Romanian; nice & friendly, but a few times dinner was cancelled due to 'local fiesta; we don't work today'. When dinner was served there, it was basic, but nice; wine included & the tables set up in a romantically lit courtyard. To be fair, I did take the dinner cancellations up with the owner, Henri, as I didn't want to drive into Trujillo & back every night, and he did try to address the issue. Suffice to say, I can recommend Finca Santa Marta to visiting birdwatchers; just bear in mind that you may have to eat in town, even if you have booked a relaxing dinner at the Finca.
Trujillo is lovely & well preserved, with a gentle atmosphere. The main square is surrounded by terrace cafes, restaurants & tapas bars. The spanish do eat late & the restaurants don't open until at least 9pm; the food is very good & we enjoyed the local wines. La Pilette was my favourite, with great food & friendly staff, who were very helpful with my phrasebook spanish.
I know that spring is the time to come here, but I could not get away earlier. The temperature was always hot & rose to between 37 & 40 degrees dry heat in the afternoons & I went out looking for Raptors etc.
Now the important part: I had around 10 target species for my life list plus I wanted to get some good photos for my website www.andylovering.com. I have also just published my first book: Wildlife In Wild Places (see www.lulu.com/andylovering ) & I wanted to try & get some good photographs for a possible follow up.
In all, I managed to see 86 species of birds, 5 of which were new for me: Azure-winged Magpie, Great Bustard, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Red Avadavat & Spanish Imperial Eagle. I used John Muddeman's Birdwatching Guide to Extremadura, plus Dave Gosney's booklet Finding Birds in Northern Spain.
I spent one day in Monfrague Parc Naturel, stopping at all the recommended viewpoints. The Griffon Vultures at Penafalcon were stunning & flew close enough to photograph with a 300mm lens & one Black Stork was still there. Egyptian Vultures showed well at the Mirador de la Trajadilla and I had an adult Spanish Imperial Eagle fly past at Mirador de la Bascula.
I made a visit to the Madrigalejo rice fields where Red Avadavat & Common Waxbill were quite easily found in the bullrush-filled ditches & streams. There were still two occupied White Stork's nests here; they had all gone from elsewhere in the area, as had all the Montagu's Harriers & all but one Lesser Kestrel.
The hire car broke down one afternoon & I managed to pull in to a garage not far from the Finca. While I was waiting for the replacement car, around 7pm, I had one small flock of Black-bellied Sandgrouse fly over towards Trujillo, followed by 2 flocks of Pin-tailed Sandgrouse. They were flying very high & it was the only time I saw them.
The rest of my birdwatching time was spent driving around the steppe. I didn't see much over the Belen Plains, except one large vortex of circling Black, Griffon & Egyptian Vultures with 4 Black Storks. The two most productive areas were:
a) The fields right next to la Cumbre, about 5 km from Trujillo. I took a farm track past that birdwatchers' favourite, the rubbish dump, and had one group of 4 Great Bustards to my right & a group of 8 to my left.
b) The area of steppe between Cacares & Santa Marta de Magasca. 4 Great Bustards by a waterhole, many Black & Griffon Vultures, Booted & Short-toed Eagles, Red Kites plus one immature Spanish Imperial Eagle.
I must admit that I expected to find a much 'wilder' area with nice nature trails for hiking & picnics etc, but it really was a case of birdwatching by car most of the time. I can imagine that this area is much more productive in the spring, but I still found much of what I was looking for and really enjoyed it in Extremadura.
Regards
Andy
www.andylovering.com
Great Cormorant
Cattle Egret
Little Egret
Grey Heron
Black Stork
White Stork
Mallard
Black Kite
Red Kite
Egyptian Vulture
Griffon Vulture
Black Vulture
Short-toed Eagle
Common Buzzard
Spanish Imperial Eagle
Booted Eagle
Lesser Kestrel
Kestrel
Red-legged Partridge
Great Bustard
Black-winged Stilt
Little Ringed Plover
Kentish Plover
Lapwing
Green Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
Black-headed Gull
Black-bellied Sandgrouse
Pin-tailed Sandgrouse
Feral Pigeon
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Turtle Dove
Great Spotted Cuckoo
Little Owl
Swift
Pallid Swift
Kingfisher
Bee Eater
Hoopoe
Calandra Lark
Short-toed Lark
Crested Lark
Thekla Lark
Skylark
Crag Martin
Barn Swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
House Martin
Tawny Pipit
White Wagtail
Redstart
Whinchat
Stonechat
Wheatear
Black-eared Wheatear
Blue Rock Thrush
Blackbird
Cetti's Warbler
Zitting Cisticola
Melodious Warbler
Sardinian Warbler
Whitethroat
Blackcap
Willow Warbler
Spotted Flycatcher
Pied Flycatcher
Long-tailed Tit
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Short-toed Treecreeper
Southern Grey Shrike
Azure-winged Magpie
Magpie
Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
Raven
Starling
Spotless Starling
House Sparrow
Tree Sparrow
Spanish Sparrow
Common Waxbill
Red Avadavat
Serin
Corn Bunting
Plus Iberian Hare & European Pond Terrapin ( not a reptile in sight - bizarre! )