Saturday 7 May 2016

Another road trip through Spain - Week 1


I'm on another road trip in Iberia, this time largely as a passenger with my good friend Mark Paine in his smart new van conversion come camper. To take some of the drag out of driving we took the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander and have made it down from northern Spain to Donana in the south in little over a week taking in the following major sites - 

  • Fuentes de Navas
  • Sierra Gredos
  • Extramadura
  • Sierra Morena / Norte
  • Donana


Its been pretty 'full on' and only just managed to squeeze in some internet time here at El Rocio. Its been a cracking good trip so far with some magnificent scenery and plenty of birdlife. Early May in Spain was never going to disappoint and with 173 bird species already recorded we're on course to break the 200 barrier with ease (famous last words!).

Highlights so far then, and with limited time to write this up for now this is mainly pics ...
Leaving Portsmouth on the ferry

Pit stop for the van a few kilometres north of Palencia. Already had Short Toed and Booted Eagle plus numerous Black Kites and here we got our first Bonellis Warbler.

The van, Monzon de Campos, 28/04/16
 


Bonellis Warbler, Nr Palencia, 28/04/16



First destination, Fuentes de Navas, nr Salamancar - lots of lovely wet fields, trees and bushes full of warblers and Yellow Wagtails aplenty!
 

 Fuentes de Navas
 

Yellow Wagtail, Fuentes de Navas, 28/04/16
 


 Yellow Wagtail, Fuentes de Navas, 28/04/16
 
 
These had us flummoxed for a bit, turned out to be Reed Warblers but they were predominantly in trees and bushes and not reeds. Many Grasshopper Warblers, Whitethroats and Blackcaps and the first Subalpine Warbler of the trip.
 Reed Warbler, Fuentes de Navas, 28/04/16


 Subalpine Warbler, Fuentes de Navas, 28/04/16

 
Wader species at Navas included many Common and Green Sandpipers, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Black winged Stilts of course and a good Grey Plover record. Up to 40 or so Northern Wheaters, Spotted Flycatcher and at dusk we had a couple of Great Bustards flapping past the van into roost.
 
From here we headed into the Sierra Gredos mountain ranges to the west of Madrid and an overnight stop over at San Martin del Pimpolar added Black Wheatear, Crested Tit, Rock Bunting and Melodious Warbler to the ever growing list.
 
 Rock Bunting, San Martin del Pimpolar, 1/05/16

Melodious Warbler, San Martin del Pimpolar, 01/05/16
 
  
 Comfortably the best Northern Wheatear pic so far!

 Northern Wheatear, San Martin del Pimpolar, 01/05/16





Olive groves & the Sierra de Gredos



Bee Eaters, Nr Candelada, 02/05/16


 Olive Grove, nr Candelada

 
It goes without saying that the fields and hedgerows are full of colour with carpets of wild flowers in abundance everywhere you look. I'm not going to have time to look up the names of all these blooms but at least I know this one! More flower pics at the end of this post.
 


Just as colourful but darn elusive is the oddly sounding Golden Oriole, we've heard plenty of their piping calls from high up in the trees and suspect they've just arrived, but seen only brief glimpses and this  one was pure luck....
 

Golden Oriole, Candelada, 02/05/16
 

The plains of Serena in Extramadura is a wild and largely uncultivated land, great for steppe species and birds of prey and amongst other things brought us our first Black Vulture
 
Black Vulture, nr Tallarubio, 02/05/16
 
 
 Plains of La Serena


High Plains drifter on wheels, La Serena
 
 
 Great Spotted Cuckoo, La Serena, 03/05/16

Calandra Lark, La Serena, 04/05/16
 
Unlike in the UK, there are many sparrows in Spain, big flocks of them everywhere, mainly House Sparrows but also Tree Sparrows and the scarcer one - Spanish Sparrow, its a bit of a beast!

 Spanish Sparrow, La Serena, 03/05/16

Spanish Sparrow, La Serena, 03/05/16

Another steppe speciality, Great Bustard. We've seen maybe 20 or so in total including displaying males..an incredible sight, shame they were too distant to photograph but a flying big B is the next best thing!

Great Bustard, La Serena, 03/05/16
 
 
 
Both Great and Little Bustards are faring ok here but Montagues Harriers on La Serena, once numbering 160 pairs are in massive decline because of more intensive farming methods
 
 Male Montagues Harrier, La Serena, 04/05/16

Male Montagues Harrier, La Serena, 04/05/16
 
Male & Female Montagues Harriers, La Serena, 03/05/16

Honey Buzzards migrate late and we were lucky enough to catch some passage over the plains. We reckoned on about 40 went over in small groups.

 Migrating Honey Buzzards, La Serena, 04/05/16

 
 
At Puerto Pena we spent a night on a campsite to regroup, shower and recharge batteries. Big Griffon Vulture colony there with one or two pairs of Black Storks nesting on the cliff face too.

 Black Stork, Puerto Pena, 03/05/16

Black Stork, Puerto Pena, 03/05/16
 
 
From Extramadura and La Serena we headed south beyond Seville to the mecca that is Donana, one of Spain's best known national nature reserves. The best bits are well away from the main visitor centre at El Rocio and most of the following were taken around the Jose Valverde centre deep into the reserve.
 
The old Bombeo pumping station (below) and the van, Donana,  just before an electrical storm
 
 
The bird they all come to see here is the Iberian Imperial Eagle and we were lucky boys indeed to happen upon 2 of these huge eagles out in the middle of nowhere and perched  incongruously atop pylons!
 
 Iberian Imperial Eagle, Donana, 05/05/16

 Iberian Imperial Eagle, Donana, 05/05/16

Iberian Imperial Eagle, Donana, 05/05/16


 
Donana is a major stop off place for migrant waders on their journey north from Africa to the rest of Europe and there were still plenty around. Ringed Plover seemed to be the most numerous, Dunlin a close second and  a few Greenshank, Redshank, Curlew Sandpipers and Little Stints mixed in with the resident Black Winged Stilts.
 
 
 Ringed Plover, Donana, 06/05/16

Little Stint, Donana, 06/05/16


Little Stints, Donana, 06/05/16


Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Ringed Plover & Dunlin, Donana, 06/05/16
 
 
 Other highlights from Donana so far have been Pin Tailed Sandgrouse, Isabelline Warbler, Lesser Kestrel, Collared Pratincole, Whiskered Tern, Little Bittern and Black Shouldered Kite.
 
 
Black Shouldered Kite, Donana, 06/05/16

Collared Pratincole, Donana, 05/05/16
 
Whiskered Tern, Donana, 06/05/16

One evening there was a significant movement of Sand Martins with a 1000 plus passing south over the Guidamar river. It could simply have been birds heading into roost or late passage, either way it's the most Sand Martins I've ever seen in one day!
 

Sand Martin, Donana, 05/05/16 
 
 Here's a few of the wild flower species I promised, all fairly common I'm sure but I haven't got the time right now to put a name to them ..... if anyone can ID them I'd be muchos gratias!
 
 Cistus sp?


 More Red Poppies, El Pintado

 
 


 
 
More to follow as we stick around down here and then head back up north. Adios!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 






Thursday 7 April 2016

Chiffchaffs & Sand Martins arrive, Fieldfares depart, Lapwing landscapes and other choice waders

Been a bit stop start but Spring is now well underway and even up here in Yorkshire we have plenty of early returning migrants including Sand Martins, Chiffchaff, Wheatear, Avocet, Little Ringed Plover and Ospreys all recorded in good numbers over the past week or so.

I've not been lucky enough to see an Osprey but I usually manage at least 1 every spring so here's hoping I get a decent pic sometime soon. The most obvious of course has to be the humble Chiffchaff - no mistaking their rather monotonous 'squeaky wheelbarrow' song click here if you've never heard one but now is the time for pics with hardly any leaves on the trees.


Chiffchaff, Givendale 30/03/16
This was my first photo opportunity - up on Givendale last week in the teeth of a howling gale he wasn't singing much!

I say 'he' because its generally the males that return a good 2 or 3 weeks before the females to set up territories.










My second opportunity was in altogether different circumstances, a day later in warm sunshine at Askham Bog and he was 'chiff chaffing' with much enthusiasm as you can plainly see!

Singing Chiffchaff, Askham Bog, 31/03/16

Singing Chiffchaff, Askham Bog, 31/03/16

Less than a week later they're now fairly widespread and with well over 2 million individuals in the UK every summer you can be sure that there'll be one in a wood near you by now.


Fieldfares, Fangfoss, 31/03/16

In contrast, Fieldfares and Redwings are departing, most have gone, heading for breeding grounds in Northern Europe, but some are still here. I had a small flock of Redwings in flooded fields today (4th April) and these Fieldfares the other evening looked like they were massing and ready to go. Not brilliant pics - last rays of the evening sun, but quite atmospheric!



Fieldfares, Fangfoss, 31/03/16

Fieldfares, Fangfoss, 31/03/16

...and another one hits the long road north!
Fieldfare, Fangfoss, 31/03/16
 


When I was a kid I remember hanging about on the edge of our housing estate in suburban York and seeing scores of Lapwings in the fields and sometimes stumbling across eggs; the memory plays tricks of course but I know there were more than I could count. Nowadays, with breeding pairs down by 60% since the mid 80s, the Spring sky dance of the 'Peewhit' across our fields is much less witnessed. There's maybe 6 pairs currently displaying around my immediate patch here in Fangfoss and just as with many of our iconic ground nesting birds such as Skylarks and Grey Partridge, they'll be lucky to rear young in the face of ever more intensive farming methods and increasingly 'dogs off leads' during the breeding season.


Lapwing aerial display, Fangfoss, 30/03/16
Common Snipe, Fangfoss, 30/03/16

Its not often these days that I get a new bird on my local list but this one had been coming. Been 18 months since I've resided at Fangfoss Park and never seen a Common Snipe! On the same good weather for migration day I photographed my first Chiffchaffs I flushed not 1 but 9 of the things out of flooded field nr the Spittal Beck. Not great pics but at least I got em!


Common Snipe, Fangfoss, 30/03/16
Common Snipe, Fangfoss, 30/03/16


















Sand Martin, Tophill Low, 05/04/16
I bagged my first few Sand Martins (c10) of the year at North Cave Wetlands on the 29th along with Little Ringed Plover (2), a single Ruff and Avocet (28). A week later at Tophill Low the sky was positively full of Sand Martins with maybe up to 100 over the various lagoons and reservoirs there. They move so quick that unless one has the very best camera equipment they're a real challenge to snap them in flight but I had a go...


Sand Martin, Tophill Low, 05/04/16


Sand Martin, Tophill Low, 05/04/16



Little Ringed Plover, Tophill Low, 05/04/16
2 newly arrived Little Ringed Plovers conveniently right in front of South Marsh hide were rather easier to photograph. Spending the winter months in Africa, like Avocets, LRP's are a real and welcome success story in the UK largely due to the creation of wader friendly gravel pits on many of our nature reserves.

In amongst the many Sand Martins there was 1 Swallow (my first of the year) and I also bagged my first singing Blackcap and Willow Warbler

Little Ringed Plover, Tophill Low, 05/04/16

 
Breeding male Ruff (anon)
Ruff, that most scarce of UK breeding waders are on the move too. The vast majority of these variously plumaged birds will pass straight through en route to northern Europe and its a rare sight indeed to see a male in full breeding regalia like this splendid individual ... not my pic obviously!





Ruff, North Cave, 29/03/16



Alas, most Ruff seen on passage or wintering in the UK are much less exotic looking than that splendid looking bird. These individuals at North Cave Wetlands and Tophill Low are far more typical, unless of course you're lucky enough to happen upon the handful of birds that do breed in this country!
















Ruff (left) with Oystercatchers, Tophill Low, 05/04/16



Green Sandpiper, Sutton on Forest, 28/03/16

Here's another wader species one might see on passage at this time of the year, its a Green Sandpiper, relatively common and they love flooded fields and wet ditches - so plenty of scope there!











So that's my early Spring so far, no mega rarities or even anything particularly unusual but hey its great to out and about at this time of year, nature awakening, birds on the move, flowers blooming and so many daylight hours in which to witness and photograph it all! Here's a few more miscellaneous pics from my Spring walkabouts .....
Little Grebe, Tophill Low, 05/04/16


Short Eared Owl on the move, Strensall Common, 02/04/16


Marsh Marigolds, Askham Bog, 31/03/16
Displaying Sparrowhawk, Givendale, 30/03/16
 
Oystercatcher, Tophill Low, 05/04/16