Beating it South, 15,000 Cranes, fab Hen Harriers and resting up time in Alicante.

For the first time in my so far fantastic journey through Spain, I felt a bit of time pressure and the need to head South. Having thoroughly enjoyed the high peaks of the Pyrenees and the splendour of the Sierra Guarra, I realise that if I want to have some quality time in Extramadura I have to beat it down through Spain with a bit more purpose!



Good progress South!

So, Satnav set for beyond Zaragoza and away we go ....

Couple of places on my itinerary I wanted to stop off at on the way, the first of which is the Belchite Steppes, a place that had been recommended to me as a useful spot for picking up Sandgrouse, Dupont's Lark and Golden Eagle. Fat chance! The wind that's been picking up in these parts for days must have reached near on a gale force northeasterly when I arrived in Belchite and it fair rocked my van around in the night. The morning, though bright and sunny brought no relief, Crikey oh Riley it was windy! ..... yes there were birds about, several larks and finches but all too fleeting and everything going to ground real fast, too fast for my hand eye binoc co-ordination. Hopeless for birding ... I was both staggering and staggered -  what a spectacular place!


The Belchite Steppes





Awesome place for a van pic!



Windy on the Steppes of Belchite

I did see a Sandgrouse here, which one - black bellied or pin tailed I'm not sure as it was one of those 'flying away and getting smaller' birding moments and all I was left with was an image of extreme windiness!









Further south and east I ventured, on through Aragon and towards Valencia, and the vast inland plains ringed by mountain ranges that typify this part of Spain, stopping now and again for food & succour.... bread, cheese, chorizo and here's a tip travellers - check out the many truck cafes on the motorways ... good grub and cheap as chips - Spanish Omelette, huge slice of, some kind of apple cake (huge slice of!) and coffee to go for only 3.50euro!



Laguna de Gallocanta

I was heading for Valencia and the Marjol del Morro reserve but seeing a signpost for Gallocanta I decided on a detour to take in the big salt lagoon there. Another visually awesome place, the huge lagoon, although at an altitude of 1000m, is set in a natural depression and ringed on all sides by mountain ranges. Difficult to get a feel for the place from a photograph but if you think 'film sets' and a combination of valley of the dinosaurs and spaghetti western you'll get the idea!





Its renowned as a wintering and staging post for thousands of Common Cranes - my reason for visiting, and at any one point in the Autumn it can hold up to 50,000 of them! Well I've no idea how many were there on the late afternoon I arrived but my best guess was 15,000. Staggering numbers and all around me as I sat in a one man hide on the grassy shores.

Common Cranes across Gallocanta

Spot the gangly teenager!

Have to be my best Crane pics to date and not looked at them all yet, mainly because I've been too busy drooling over a host of my best ever Hen Harrier pics ... I reckon there were 3 females quartering the shores and dykes around the lagoon. Here's 3 of the best....

Female Hen Harrier, Gallocanta

Female Hen Harrier, Gallocanta



Female Hen Harrier, Gallocanta



Marsh Harrier, Gallocanta

Couple of Marsh Harriers here too, in fact there are a lot of Marsh Harriers around generally, Red Kites and Griffons aside, these are the most common raptors I'm seeing as I drive through Spain.












I added Tree Sparrow to the species list here (big flock of 200 or so!) and will do tally up of species seen soon but for now I'm resting up on a camp site at Crevillant, nr Alicante, before heading on into Murcia. Couldn't believe the difference in temperature as I came down from inland Spain (most of which is over 1000m) to the coast ... 22c in Valencia as I drove through (lovely city but not for the faint hearted by the way, unless you just love 7 lanes of traffic!!



Resting van, resting man, Crevillent

Lots of flowers still in bloom here and a perfect place to get myself together, wash a few clothes and recharge my various batteries.

Begonias?

No idea, but looks great around the van!

and then there was Earnie and Linda from Huddersfield .... the first English people I've met since arriving in Spain. Nice people and a lovely couple, doing the right thing with their retirement just like me!





Earnie, Linda and the Hymer!

Got my Lammergeiers!

Finally, and it really does feel like its been a quest, I got my Lammergeiers! One of Europe's most threatened birds of prey, the Lammergeier (or Bearded Vulture) exists in only small and isolated colonies in the Pyrenees, Alps, Crete and a few sites in Turkey. If you want to go somewhere where it's relatively common - go to Ethiopia! (not for me ... suspect wi fi may be an issue!)

So I woke up this morning halfway up a mountain in a tiny lay by in the magnificent peaks of the Sierra de Guara, nr Huesca ..... woke up to gorgeous sunshine and ice on the windscreen! Windy too ....no worries, it's the bright, crisp light I'm after and I decide to walk right to the top of 'Pena San Miguel' - took me close on 3 hrs to get to the top, but have to say that after stopping smoking these past few weeks, it was a breeze and I was rewarded by some decent views of my first ever Lammergeier Vultures.

As I climbed the vistas improved and all looked good, many Griffons about, several flocks of finches I couldn't identify, a splendid but brief view of Dartford Warbler (new species for the trip) .... and if this ain't high raptor country, nothing ain't!

Sierra De Guarra



Sierra de Guarra


Don't get too excited, I rate these as 'record pics' only. Unlike Griffons, these birds are wary of any human presence and once they clock you they're off! Still, like the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot to boot, rare things are sometime best with an 'imperfect' and distant view ... that's my excuse anyway!

Lammegeier, Sierra Guarra

Lammegeier, Sierra de Guarra

Lammegeier, Sierra de Guarra

Down into Aragon and the warmth of the sun! Rocks, Ravens n more Cranes.

Here's a quick little post to celebrate the cloud and the rain behind me .... just reviewed a few shots I thought were going to be good but turned out to be pants because of the bad light. All change as I came down out of the Pyrenees and into the beautiful province of 'Aragon'... literally all change, soon as I came down I was into bright sunlit steppe land had to stop just to get out and get some of that warmth on my face!

So, from this unlikely spot to leave a van the night before ......

First thing in the Bardenas Reales

Marsh Harrier (male), Bardenas Reales

.... and this distinctly 'smudgy' male Marsh Harrier cruising over one of the lagoons in this strange landscape, suddenly, 1500m lower down and a couple of kilometres along the road I was in a seemingly different weather zone altogether ....... just across the provincial border and into 'Aragon' I was once again back into migrating Cranes but this time in bright sunshine .....

Common Cranes over Aragon





Raven ... dancing in the sun?!

Suddenly everything was looking much better through my lens!



 

Still searching the quite significant flocks of Griffon Vultures for that elusive Lammergeier and apart from Extramadura, the region I'm in now ....  the Sierra Guara, is my best bet I reckon. Just arrived here this evening and doing this from a bar in Huesca but took a drive a little way up to the sierra earlier and must say it looks rather promising..... lots of vultures about anyway!

Sierra Guarra




Griffons galore at the Foz de Lumbier, snow around the Irati forests, Northern thrushes mingling with warblers and a rip off camp site but at least I got a shower!



Progress , though I ain't gone far!

Posting from a public library in Arguedas because the wifi signal in the local bar here was just too feeble. I've made decent progress through Northern Spain and now find myself just outside the Bardenas Reales ... just done a quick reckie and have to say this is one of the most surreal places I've ever been! I can see now where the Spanish Steppes got their name and perhaps also where Salvador Dali got some of his inspiration! That's all to come tomorrow and for a later post so here's a bit of catch up.

The day after I last posted I woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the ground, it didn't last for long but while it did the countryside views were dazzling!

Redwing, Roncesvalles

I did't much fancy venturing too far away from Roncesvallles in case the weather got worse so I spent a morning tramping the woods again ... it was bloody freezing! One or two good birds about though, plus a Red Squirrel across the road.

Best birds of the morning was a huge flock of 300 Bramblings in the forests around Roncesvalles and some great looking Redwings, quite a few thrushes here in fact with both Song & Mistle Thrushes in amongst the Blackbirds. No Fieldfares though.







Bullfinch, Roncesvalles

Now here's a bird I've never seen in Spain before, its just a Bullfinch but hey 2 cracking males in a forest in the Pyrenees with snow on the ground and the sun coming out was just magic! Had a couple of Chiff Chaffs and a strange sounding woodpecker in the same sheltered spot..... bit like a Lesser pecker, but not quite?? We'll never know!

Chiff Chaff, Roncesvalles

Black Redstart, Roncesvalles

Black Redstarts all over the place as expected, but none more handsome than this one in the car park at Roncesvalles


　

　

　
















Eating quite a lot of this ... very nice with a hunk of cheese and some decent bread!

Chorizo Sausage

The weather cleared up in the afternoon so I headed off to my next destination - the Foz de Lumbier, one of two massive gorges around here that are said to be good for Lammegeir and Wallcreeper. No joy with either as it turned out but I did find a half decent camp site, so was able to wash and get my tackle together with some degree of much needed civilised order!



Foz de Lumbier

The gorge at Lumbier was spectacular to say the least, hence the tourists ... hence I suspect no Wallcreepers but if you like to see Griffon Vultures this is the place to come. I counted just shy of 250 on the cliffs. I had Dipper and Firecrest here too to take my species list over 100 but generally I'm finding the birds very tricky to see let alone photograph! The Griffons were reasonably easy though ... so I filled my boots!

Here's a couple of the Gorge itself ..







Foz de Lumbier





Griffon pose ... some say these are the ugliest birds going?

Griffon fly past

Perfect metropolis for Griffons!

Griffon fly past2

Griffon fly past3

Griffon party ... almost a caption contest here!

Like I said, the Griffons were easy ... perched around on the cliff faces and floating over the gorge all of the time.



Camp site cost me close on 40 euros for 2 nights ... yes I had electric hook up but still that's a bit steep I thought for what must be low season, got charged VAT, some other 10% tax ....felt ripped off and it was some time before I regained my normal cheery self!



En route ... somewhere in the Navarre!

At some point the sun came out as I was driving and as luck would have it I was passing some lovely looking cliff faces and outcrops in the Navarre ... surely the prettiest part of the Pyrenees...













Next up was Las Canas, a wetland area just outside of Lograno. Not a bad little spot and I had some good birds there, just a shame it drizzled all day and with black clouds overhead the light was appalling ..... too bad, I had cracking views of 2 male Hen Harriers, so good in fact I could see the bright yellow legs on one when it conveniently perched in the middle of a stubble field (with hindsight I should just have forgotten it was dusk and taken a picture anyway because I didn't see 'em again the next day!). Not processed any pics from the last 2 days yet but with this gloomy light and persistent drizzle I'm not expecting much.

New birds for the trip here were Lesser Short Toed Larks .... stack of them (200 I reckon), Woodlarks (20+), Red Crested Pochard, Merlin and some probable Citril Finches but they do look so vedry much like Siskins!

I'm in good spirits, and so I should be ... what a wonderful adventure I'm having and its only lack of time and opportunity to post that prevents me from including more of my experiences over here. Maybe I need a camp site with wi fi access so I can sit down and do this from the van.... ah the luxury of that thought!

Bomb through France, Le Teiche, Cap Ferret and the Navarre Pyrenees ... stunningly beautiful Autumn colurs and Cranes a plenty!

Ok so here's the first of several updates during my road trip to Spain.

Thought my first bird on the trip was bound to be some kind of gull at Le Havre but no .... 6.00 am and by the lights of the ferry I spotted a flock of about 15 Meadow Pipits gainfully following the boat in the wind and the rain ... they looked buoyant enough so good look to em, and good luck to me too as I point Southwards for a spell!

Feels great to be on the road again and with 5 weeks of travelling, birding and photography to come. I expect these 'bulletins' from Spain to be brief due to limited internet access ....no way am I gonna get stung with using my iphone!

So, Le Havre and the usual beat down through France - nothing much to report apart from biggish flocks of Lapwing. I drove on all day, determined to get somewhere half decent and arrived in the Gironde area by 9.00pm. Next day I explored Cap Ferret and the Le Teiche reserve and had a good day. Plenty of waders about, including c450 Black Tailed Godwits, c330 Avocet, 12 Spotted Redshank, 6 Greenshank, 3 Spoonbill & 3 Glossy Ibis, plus good numbers of Dunlin, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Turnstone, Grey Plover and Curlew.

Unexpected birds here included a single Audouins and Little Gull and a Great Skua harrying gulls across the sand dunes at Cap Ferret.

Good selection of wildfowl at Le Teiche too ...including Pintail (unexpected), Wigeon and 1 Black Necked Grebe.


Pintail, Le Teiche

Black Necked Grebe, Le Teiche

Black Tailed Godwits, Le Teiche

I should have expected Common Cranes of course but wasn't ready for maybe 2000 overhead in the day!

Common Cranes over Le Teiche.

Wee birds in short supply but 1 Chiff Chaff at Cap Ferret and several others at Le Teiche were welcome, as were 5 Marsh Harriers at the same place.

Drove all evening on the 13th, across the border and into Spain, arriving somewhere in the Navarre Pyrenees by 10.00pm .... knackered by then!

Spent all next day (14th) exploring the Navarre Pyrenees around the Selva d'Irati area. Not the best of weather or light to be honest but I made the best of it and witnessed some super Common Crane migration ... maybe 3000 overhead during the day. Good to hear their evocative calls in the air again, often above the clouds and more often than not accompanied by equally humungus flocks of Wood Pigeons.

Stunningly beautiful part of the Pyrenees this and with the abundance of Beech trees around here the Autumn colours are absolutely gorgeous!


One less attractive aspect is the sound of many guns going off in the woods and the presence of more khaki clad huntsman than I'm comfortable with! At one point, as I was driving up a forested mountain slope, every time I stopped to admire the scenery and marvel at the almost continuous Common Crane passage, I was descended upon by the same group of gun touting, cigar smokin 'Elma Fuds' in their beat up vans! .... its to be hoped they were after the many thousands of Wood Pigeons that also pass through here every Oct / Nov but they did seem to have eyes for the Cranes and Red Kites too!









Griffon Vulture, Navarre

Raptors in the air were indeed mainly Red Kites with maybe 50 seen in total, also a few Griffon Vultures (20 ish) but no sign of no 1 target bird Lammergeir today!

I've seen many groups of dark thrushes flying over too but can't identify in the poor light .... ? Blackbirds ? Mistle Thrushes ? Ring Ouzel? ... a mystery but as ever, its always fun when there's stuff about you can't identify!

















Star birds for me today were a small flock of Crested Tits in amongst Coal, Great & Blue's Tits and my first Crag Martins for ages just across the border early this morning. Stacks of Robins about and lots of Black Redstarts too, in fact there are plenty of birds about and I've already got past 80 species for the trip!

Another post soon .... it snowed the day after the above post so got some mega snow shots!