El Rocio, Donana .... still a place for cowboys and the mad Spanglais birders!

Ok so I've been travelling through Extramadura, wonderful place and more in a post or two, but the thing is since I lost all satnav capability its actually been more fun .... almost forgotten how good it is to study a map, figure out where you have to go and well .. just go! Certainly it makes take note of where you're goin!



Hotel Cristina, El Rocio

I rested up in El Rocio for 4 days in total but made good use of my excellent base at the Hotel Cristina (its a place I know well ... stayed there a few times over the years with me old mucker n birdin pal, Mark). Nothing much changed thank goodness, still a cowboy town ... I took a few pics but El Rocio is a well photographed place. Here's my pad for 2 of the nights I spent there...








..... and here's a pic of a super helpful and nice lady on the staff - Nicoletta, who very kindly removed my filthy clothes from the bottom of the shower where I'd left them, fully intending to do something with them until found by said lady whilst I was out birdin ... she took the lot and they were washed, dried and ironed on my return ..... felt a bit guilty on my return, bit like a naughty schoolboy (man I had pants and 5 day old socks in there!) ... but of course very grateful!

Nicoletta .... she washed all these clothes for me!

El Rocio

Check out any photo base site for pics of El Rocio or better still go there .... its real cowboy, there's saddle shops, flamenco boutiques, sandy roads and yes hombres riding around on horses!

Above all, it's a super base for exploring the Donana national nature reserve, and although I did get a bit lazy down here I still did ok. As well as the superb and possibly best waterfront walk in Europe in El Rocio itself, there's a variety of access points to Donana itself such as Acebuche and Rocina, both of which I popped into, but my most profitable day down here was a new site to me ... the Jose Valverde reserve nr Villamanrique. Got some cracking pics on the day I spent around there. I met some Spanish birders who told me there was Pallid Harrier knocking about and a Lesser Spotted Eagle too. Not a sight of either of course but I did get reasonable views of Black Shouldered Kite and all the usual wetland birds including another good Bluethroat pic.... all of which you'll have to wait for because I'm sitting in a bar having forgotten the memory card from the good camera so these pics from the Iphone will have to do!

Here's some good Autumn trees at Rocina, nr El Rocio

 

and one of my hotel room with gear and stuff!!

Extramadura next and promise to post pics of Donana too in next post (there's some good uns) ....but for now I'm getting kicked out of a bar in Zafra so toodle pip my friends. On my way back up North now!

The wild Southwest of Bonanza and Brazo Del Este... thousands of birds, a fab tractor and some stunning location shots.

'Tis with a slight tinge of sadness that I leave Tarifa and begin my northward journey back, but its a fool who dashes away when the riches abound and its the wetlands where most of the action seems to be occurring, so rather than head due North, I dally awhile around the Rio Guadalquivir and my first port of call is Bonanza, just outside Sanlucar de Barameda and now part of the Donana nature reserve. Been here before many times in the Spring but never at this time of the year. Surrounded by Parcel Pine forest on one side and salt pans on the other, Bonanza never disappoints!!

Booted Eagle, Bonanza



Booted Eagle, Bonanza

These shots of a Booted Eagle flying over the pine trees was my first of the morning ... no idea what its doing on the 2nd shot!



Black Stork, Bonanza

I'd seen my first Black Storks over La Janda the day before and boy are they wary! Unlike the White Storks they fly at the first hint of camera movement ... one distant shot here followed by one flying away .... I do manage a few better shots later.... ugly critters really aren't they!

Black Stork, Bonanza

It's difficult to convey the sheer number of birds here in Spain in the Winter, on a daily basis down here I witness massive flocks of Meadow Pipits, White Wagtails, Larks, Finches as well as huge numbers of Chiff Chaffs, Black Redstarts, Robins, Stonechats ... and that's without mentioning raptors, storks, egrets, ducks and waders! Almost too much to take in sometimes. Here's a bit more of Bonanza and then its on to Brazo Del Este.

Banks of the Guadalquivir, Bonanza

 

Bar Tailed Godwit, Bonanza

Caspian Tern, Bonanza

Chiff Chaffs galore... not the best of pictures but this is typical. Point your bins or camera just about anywhere and there'll be up to half a dozen around .... only 3 in the pic below but you get the picture! 

Chiff Chaffs.... typical vista!

Common Waxbill, Bonanza



Greater Flamingoe, Bonanza ... off centre, dammit!!

 
A little further North and on the East of the Guadalquivir lies Brazo Del Este - a subsidiary river and system of drainage dykes that again hold huge numbers of Storks, Waders, Raptors as well as smaller birds in the many wet fields, many of them rice paddies .... its yet another birding heaven!

I kid you not, when I arrived in the late afternoon, the first thing I witnessed was a field full of about 300 White Storks .... and then I realised this was just one of many fields, with just as many Storks, some Black Storks, Glossy Ibis, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed & Black Headed Gulls, Marsh Harriers everywhere... even had a flock of Golden Plover (new bird for the trip!)

Here's a photo montage because time is short for blogging and I'm doing this in bed in a hotel in El Rocio and its already gone midnight!!

One White Stork ...

 



Lots of White Storks!! Brazo Del Este

In total, I don't know, but over 2500 White Storks at Brazo alone.

Black Stork, Brazo Del Este

Several Black Storks here too... maybe 15 in total.


Black Storks, Brazo Del Este

 ........ nice Spoonbill pic

Spoonbill, Brazo Del Este

Always been drawn by birds following the plough in the UK .... usually its looking for something different amongst Black Headed Gulls (almost always to find just that), but how about this for something different .....ace retro tractor for a start! Sky in the background is a bit weak but still a good action shot ....


Storks, Ibis & Gulls following the plough, Brazo Del Este




Wet field, Eucalyptus Tree, Pumping station and van pic! Brazo Del Este

Talking about 'locations' - this was not staged, just where I happened to park the van for a stroll, but what pic for the scrapbook!













I'd stopped to scan for Bluethroats, seeing this as a likely old spot .....

Likely Bluethroat location



Bluethroat from loads away!

.... and sure enough if I zoom in on one particular spot on the above (can you see it?!) there was indeed a Bluethroat. Slight cheat involved here because admittedly, I knew there was one there somewhere, but again its the sheer numbers of birds here that continues to astound ... I must have had 20 Bluethroats at Brazo!

Rubbish image of course and highly cropped but here's the zoom in on the right.






Interesting irrigation structures around here, shame I didn't get the birds in focus.....!

Irrigation and Cormorants, Brazo Del Este

Nowt much to write home about, neither bird and certainly not the photograph, but this has to be one of the most difficult birds to get anywhere near to even a distance shot ..... its a Lesser Short Toed Lark, only included here as a record shot and my first ever pic of one. At least you can make out the diagnostic eye ring!

 

 

 

Drainage dyke & Penduline Tit location

This is where I had my 2nd 'lifer' of the trip, a smashing view of a Penduline Tit ... just on the top of one of the nearest mast heads!










Dragonfly species, Brazo Del Este

Lots of dragonflies about here still, maybe they last right through the year? Have to get the field guide out to this one .....

















Nice female Marsh Harrier coming down a drain, just before she clocked me!



Female Marsh Harrier, Brazo Del Este

2 awesome and bird filled locations in 2 days and then I hit the Donana national nature reserve proper and El Rocio is my base for another couple of days before I head up to Extramadura. More from here in my next post.