Regreso a España... Emporda and its many marvels ..Bluethroat, Penduline Tits and the biggest bird hide ever!

First post from my second road trip to Spain, and about time ... been giving it the big easy since leaving my sisters house in Montmorillon, France and 4 days of merriment and music making over New Year. Before crossing over into Spain I spent a few days around the wetland areas around Narbonne and filled my boots with some nice Flamingoes

Greater Flamingoes, St Pierre, nr Narbonne

Plenty of birds about and some great weather once I cleared a belt of mist and rain across central France, lovely light and a chance for some landscape pics nr port Leucate

Port Leucate, with the Pyrenees in the background



Dartford Warbler, early morning shot.

My best effort yet of a Dartford Warbler and some nice flying Great White Egrets were useful sign off pics from my last good outing in the south of France, but I could sense Spain beckoning, and I crossed the Pyrenees on the 5th Jan. Didn't stop ... it was dark and just too cold and bitter this time of year, be better on the way back!




Great White Egret

...and so to my first landing spot in Spain - Aiguamolls D'Emporda.

Been here 5 days now (so it must be good!)... just exploring this rich and varied coastal area in Catalunya. There's a major 'parc naturel' at 'El Cortalet' but the whole area between the 2 rivers Muga and Fluvia is impressive, well managed and in this part of Spain second only to the Ebro Delta in terms of wildlife importance.



Marsh Harrier, El Cortalet

El Cortalet is a wetland area to rival the best ... all the usual suspects I guess but I never tire of watching Marsh Harriers do their stuff...


Marsh Harrier, El Cortalet

....Water Rails all over the place but as ever - the devils own business to photograph! Of half a dozen seen and more than treble that heard, these were my best efforts -

Water Rail, El Cortalet

Water Rail, El Cortalet

The White Storks here are just about to start breeding and making a right racket with all that bill rattling! There was a big nest just above my van in the car park at the reserve but right across the patch they weren't exactly difficult to photograph!

Like I say, tis the breeding season here for storks ... think she's giving the nudge to a slow starter?!



Penduline Tit, El Cortalet

Last time I was in Spain (Nov/Dec 2013) I was totally thrilled to get my first ever Penduline Tit in the Brazo del Este. It was a good view, but fleeting and no chance to get the camera out. Double, nay treble my thrills, add ecstasy and a bar of Cadbury's Whisper Gold for good measure and what you get is not one but a flock of said Tits... and I got to take pictures!



Penduline Tit2, El Cortalet

Penduline Tit3, El Cortalet

Penduline Tit4, El Cortalet

 I was totally captivated by these fantastic wee birds, counted 8 in total, feeding on mast heads and actually stripping some kind of goodness out of the reed stalks (pic3). At the risk of sounding like David Attenborough, as I watched them flit from reed to reed, I was struck by how totally adapted they are to this environment.. swaying and sinking down on mast heads (like a pendulum doh!) and the way their feet fit the exact diameter of a reed stem... awesome!

Bluethroat, El Cortalet

First day in Spain was already beyond expectations and it kept going.... fancy a bit of Bluethroat?




Bluethroat2, El Cortalet

Bluethroat3, El Cortalet

Amazingly, my dear mother had given me a framed picture of a pretty bird she stumbled across in an antique store ... turned out to be a limited edition print of a Bluethroat! She wasn't to know but I love these cunning little birds ...aren't mums brilliant!



Chiff Chaff, El Cortalet

Sticking with wee birds and as with the last time I was in Spain, the wintering numbers of Chiff Chaffs here is as staggering as ever, along with Starlings, Stonechats and Reed Buntings they are the most populous bird out here.

A few more Willow Warblers than last time too but not got a decent pic yet!


















Every remaining fruit bearing bush and tree has some kind of bird in it and if its not a Blackbird its a Blackcap ... here's a female devouring a fruit I should be familiar with. Blueberry?

Female Blackcap, El Cortalet

The terrain is dominated by salt loving shrubs and plants, with lots of saltmarsh rocket, sea bindweed and tree-wise the short and stubby Salt Cedar trees.

Great for Meadow Pipits, Linnets, Goldfinch, Wood & Crested Larks









Although there's an abundance of wet fields I've not had huge numbers of wading birds .. a few Spotted Redshank, Green & Common Sandpiper, Curlew and Lapwing

Lapwing, El Cortalet

and from the highest and most impressive bird hide I've ever clambered into, and I was breathless when I got to the top of this one ...

Mega bird hide at El Cortalet!

.....some cracking views of the reserve

El Cortalets from the tower hide



Not the prettiest, but of all the bird hides on all the reserves I've ever visited, this is certainly the tallest .. and with the Pyrenees behind mighty impressive!



Common Snipe flock, El Cortalets

.... and from the top of that very hide, a passing Marsh Harrier put up a ton of Common Snipe ... not the sharpest of pics by any means but as a spectacle I enjoyed every frame ... when was the last time you saw a flock of 200+ Snipe!

Common Snipe flock, El Cortalets

Wow, nearing the end of my first week in Spain and I haven't hardly moved from Emporda, believe me I could have doubled the number of pics in this post with worthwhile shots but not bad for a start and already topped 100 bird species.

Hoopoe, San Pere Pescadore



Winter begins around the Yorkshire Wolds... tricky thrushes, cunning hawks and peckers out of the window!

 At last a taste of real Winter .... early morning frosts, crisp sunshine and biting winds. I don't mind the first two bits of weather and just as well there hasn't been too much of the latter, I don't do wind of any sort!



Stoat_Cot Nab

 

So, with a road trip to Spain almost upon me, Otters in my back yard (so to speak) and some recording studio work to complete I've stayed very local and just tried to get a feel for December around my bit of the Yorkshire Wolds.

Scanning the beck at Fangfoss nearly every day in the hope of seeing those Otters again has proved predictably fruitless but I did get another mammalian shot recently - a nice Stoat during a splendid morning walk around Cot Nab and Swingling Moor.








Swingling Moor

Swingling Moor



Fieldfare_Fangfoss

I don't think I'm alone in finding both of our most attractive winter thrushes, Redwings and Fieldfares, seriously tricky to photograph. It was the same last year and I recall getting quite frustrated by their tendency to perch nicely but always just beyond reach of the lens!

Faired a bit better this year I think, mainly because they're all over the hedgerows here at Fangfoss so you can't miss them. Don't make em any easier though! This is a reasonable handful out of more than a hundred discards...

Fieldfare_Fangfoss

Fieldfare_Fangfoss

 

Fieldfare_Fangfoss

Redwing_Fangfoss

Redwings seem to be even skittier, the slightest movement of lens towards the bird and they're off!


This little bunch are all distance shots, and to my mind might as well have been digi scoped such is the poor quality, but at least the light was good on all 3

Redwing_Little Beck Woods

Redwing_Fangfoss

Seriously need to consider upgrading or getting a second hand 'full frame' camera with a faster shutter speed to stand me a better chance of sharper images when birds are in flight. Too many of my 'bird flying' pics have those annoying blurry wing tips goddammit!

 

No wing tip movement from this startlingly good looking male Yellowhammer I managed to get the other day though....

Yellowhammer_Fangfoss

What a beauty!

Not as immediately striking perhaps but smart nonetheless, closely related Reed Buntings are relatively scarce around here but there are quite a few around the numerous becks that run through many of the Wold valleys, this was one of several hanging around the natural springs near Bishop Wilton.

 Reed Bunting_Whitekeld Dyke

 

 Not a winter visitor as such but our UK numbers of Reed Buntings are swelled by continental birds at this time of the year. Golden Plovers are a totally different type of bird and one I always associate with cold weather days. These 'plump' waders form vast flocks across our remaining grasslands as they move in for the Winter. Although they do breed in upland areas of the UK (including the Yorkshire Dales and Moors) many more come here from the Arctic tundra and the way this smallish flock (there were 65 in total) flew in from a north easterly direction and settled in a winter wheat field on the highest point of the Wolds, maybe that's just where they'd come from ... they did look knackered!

 

 Golden Plover_Bishop Wilton Wold (Garrowby Top)

 Golden Plover_Bishop Wilton Wold (Garrowby Top)

 

 

 

 Common Buzzard_Fangfoss

My local Buzzards are looking as menacing as ever.... commonly photographed by all and sundry these days they still have the power to thrill me and always provide a challenge in terms of that perfect 'hawk shot'. This isn't it by any stretch of imagination but I decided to track this one and my patience was rewarded with a nice stoop shot .......

 

 

 

..........and some unusual images of the same bird hunting low down behind trees. Suitably 'menacing' I thought.

Back at the ranch and preparing lunch one day I got my first good pics using the Van as a hide. I heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling, one of a pair that hang around the site but right at the top of the trees behind my van. So these are out of my back window ...  

  

 
Great Spotted Woodpecker_Fangfoss Park
 

On the up apparently are GSPeckers, not sure why but any increase in woodpecker numbers is jolly good order and I just love that splash of red ... always reminds me of a coat I bought for a girlfriend many years ago in exactly the same shade of red!

 Great Spotted Woodpecker_Fangfoss Park

Ok! So that's my brief little round up of Winter fare around these parts, nothing out of the ordinary perhaps but I've really appreciated this corner of rural East Yorks, its wonderful wildlife and landscapes, and having this fabulous caravan site ( Fangfoss Caravan Park) as a base for the past 3 months has been a real bonus.... that's gotta be worth £50 off my ground rent for next year Simon!



So now its Spain a go go! I'm all ready, have everything I need and want for the trip except, bizarrely, my passport...don't ask, its a long story and it involves overblown bureaucracy, so very boring and it wont stop me ... Southwards here we go! Oh and Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Otter Surprise!

Apparently Otters are now present on the water courses of every county in the UK and back to something like their historic numbers before river pollution and agricultural pesticides in the post war years nearly wiped them out. Now, thanks to steady and sustained improvements in water quality and the use of less harmful pesticides over the past couple of decades, the chances of coming across these charming and iconic creatures on our waterways have vastly improved.

On the Western coasts of Scotland they have adapted to become semi marine and are relatively easy to see on the rocky beaches and secluded inlets up there, but in the rest of the UK, although more numerous, they remain elusive and its a real treat when you come across one. Well was I treated a couple of mornings ago or what! On my local patch here at Fangfoss Park on the Spittal Beck I'd just grabbed a new bird for the site, a Kingfisher darting down the beck, and then some dark shapes in the water caught my eye. For the next 20 minutes I was utterly transfixed, treated and smiled upon by the photographic gods as 2 Otters (cubs I think) played around on the beckside and swam in the water directly in front of me!

Less nattering from me, here's the pics more or less in sequence. My only slight regret is that I didn't get more of the 2 of them together but hey I won't see these delightful animals again at such close quarters for a very long time, so I have to be very satisfied with these images.

I'd welcome any suggestions about age/ sex but I'm guessing that these are relatively young cubs exploring. They're sighted often on both the Pocklington Canal and the River Derwent both of which this beck connects to in a roundabout sort of way, so maybe they've come upstream looking for potential breeding grounds?

Been down several times since in the hope of catching them again and every time the beck is 'utterly Otterless' and I tell myself  'wow you were lucky there Timbo!' .... right time, right place and I don't expect to see them again any time soon!

Want some great places to see Otters? Locally Tophill Low, Wheldrake Ings, Staveley and the aforementioned Pocklington Canal are all worth watching as well as these national sites - Great places to see Otters