Oliva Rama Holidays

Autumn Andalucian Adventure

5th - 11th Sept 2004

5th September :- The day started for me at 06:15 when I left home to pick up the first of our party at Parcent for 7am. Next we met up with Malcolm at Alicante then the both vehicles made our way south picking up the remaining people, with 5 in my 7-seater and 3 in Malcolm's car we were ready to make the long journey south. The journey was quite uneventful with various stops for refreshments, lunch and fuel, although the scenery around Granada and Ronda was quite spectacular. The few birds of interest seen during the journey included single Short-toed Eagle, White Stork, 2 Common Ravens and Southern Grey Shrike. We duly arrived at our hotel (Meson de Sancho nr Tarifa) at 18:15 completely exhausted after the long drive but yet awake with anticipation. The hotel was lovely with the big rooms overlooking a small wooded area with a stream, so sat on the balcony with a cold beer I picked up species such as Grey Wagtail, Sardinian Warbler and Blackcap, of which there was a very interesting Leucistic form.

6th September :- Our party met for breakfast and by 08:45 we were ready to leave for the SEO's Algarrobo Watchpoint, which was only 5 minutes away from the hotel. Algarrobo has a great view of the surrounding area, looking out over the 'Rock of Gibraltar' to the N/E and down towards Tarifa to the S/W. In the right wind conditions birds are channelled right over the watchpoint  on their journey to North Africa. Over the next 7 hours we witnessed a steady stream of birds passing overhead and to each side, but not the massive numbers witnessed the previous day. During this time we managed to log Honey Buzzard (250+), Black Kite (22), Booted Eagle (100+), Egyptian Vulture (23), Griffon Vulture (lots), Short-toed Eagle (16), Common Buzzard (2), Montagu's Harrier (3), Sparrowhawk (3), & Peregrine Falcon (2). Although the icing on the cake was finding 2 Ruppell's Vultures soaring with about 20 Griffons, giving a great comparison through the telescope. Raptors were not the only birds to be heading south and 11 Black Storks, 100+ Alpine Swifts, and 2 Common Ravens were good to see, but the massive movement of European Bee-eaters (1000+) was really impressive. Flocks of 50 - 75 birds were constantly bounding through, always being picked up initially by their very distinctive call. Not a classic day but a very good introduction as to what we were going expect over the next few days. Around 4pm we left the site to take a drive down the coast to the village of Bolonia for light refreshments and some less intensive birding. We had a stroll along the beach picking out our first  waders such as Sanderling, Dunlin, & Turnstone, as well as Yellow-legged Gulls. We then had a short drive up the hill adjacent to the village where Griffon Vultures loaf around on the rocks, but it was a Bonelli's Eagle completed the day in style with a total of 12 raptor species.

7th September :- Our morning started as before with breakfast and an 08:45 meet to go the raptor watchpoint. Things were looking good as two of our party had already seen a Black Stork and a few Honey Buzzards before we had even set off. At Algarrobo things were moving from the outset and after about half an hour I picked up a Red Kite flying low through the valley giving excellent views. But it was the Honey Buzzard passage that dominated the day's proceedings with birds coming through in wave after wave, towering high on thermals before drifting off towards Africa. We counted a conservative figure of 3000+ birds (all adults) during the 7 hours we were watching, but the volunteers said the day count was in excess of 7000 individuals. Other species seen today included another Ruppell's Vulture, our first Lesser Kestrel, and Marsh Harrier, a Common Buzzard, Black Kite (53), Sparrowhawk (12), Egyptian Vulture (12), Short-toed Eagle (9) and Black Stork (23). One comic moment occurred around lunchtime when I found a bird flying in the opposite direction inland and called "Greater Flamingo". The resident volunteers and other raptor watchers laughed thinking I was only joking then were astounded as it flapped past the watchpoint at head height. Around mid-afternoon we decided to go down to Tarifa to buy provisions and do some birding in the area. After the supermarket we made our way down to the beach where we added Sandwich Tern, Audouin's Gull and Ringed Plover . We then moved the short distance out of town to a good looking area of salt-marsh and almost straight away scored with 17 cracking Short-toed Larks giving good views. Malcolm then heard a familiar call and I managed to get on to the bird as pitched into the undergrowth, eventually I found it in the telescope and confirmed his suspicions a lovely adult Tawny Pipit. As we slowly moved through the marsh all these birds joined up giving excellent views to all in the party. We continued on towards some pools and Malcolm (almost) stood on a Quail giving flight views to all and around the pools Jan & Dave had our first Common Kingfisher and we also added 3 Whimbrel to our growing list. We left for the hotel early evening to savour a well-earned beer and meal.

8th September :- A day of mixed fortunes today with me taking four of our party to Gibraltar for the day and Malcolm taking the other two birding. With the previous days passage coming from over the 'Rock' we thought we might see some impressive sights from the top, but it wasn't to be. The wind had completely turned round and raptor passage over Gibraltar was none existent apart from the resident Peregrine Falcons and an odd Sparrowhawk. We had initially gone to the Botanical Gardens to see if there were any migrant passerines but the best bird we could muster was a Monk Parakeet!, but the Monarch and Festoon Butterflies made some compensation. We left Gibraltar early afternoon wanting to get back to Algarrobo for the last few hours. During the journey back towards Tarifa we contacted Malcolm and his party to find out what we had missed, and were told they had seen an Osprey and a Lesser Crested Tern!!!. We duly arrived at the watchpoint to find out that it also had been very quiet so far that day, which only added to our resolve. Booted Eagles (50+) started to feature largely and after a while I saw a bird I knew very well from my days in Scotland and called my first Osprey of the trip. A little later one of the volunteers asked if we could look at a strange Buzzard sat on a pylon, and what we thought. It was difficult in the heat haze, but we all suspected it was a Long-legged Buzzard and it wasn't until it flew that we finally clinched it's identification. Over the next hour we obtained very good views of this local rarity and as the sun lowered in the sky a few distant photographs were obtained. We returned to the hotel fully satisfied that we had more than made up for our missing out on the 'Tern'.

9th September :- As usual we began our last morning around Tarifa at the Algarrobo Raptor Watchpoint and also as usual did not fail to deliver with the birds. Our intention was to only stay a short while and after just over 2 hours of birding we had logged over 300 Honey Buzzards, and over 100 Black Kites. Other species seen included another Marsh Harrier, Peregrine Falcon, 3 Montagu's Harriers,  6 Short-toed Eagles, & over 50 Booted Eagles. We left this site saddened, but completely satisfied with our few days of watching these magnificent birds moving south. The next place we travelled to was the lighthouse at Zahara de los Atunes, this is where the Lesser Crested Tern had been seen from the day previously. We soon added our first new bird with a Balearic Shearwater heading west, then remarkably straight after a Cory's Shearwater was found going in the other direction. A small group (7) of terns were picked up way off flying around and dip-feeding on the sea, suspecting Black Tern it wasn't until they had come a bit closer that their identity was clinched without doubt. Finally Gannet was added to the list but alas no 'orange billed' tern made a repeat appearance. After lunch we moved to the estuary and pools on the edge of Barbate, an area worthy of investigation at any time. An Oystercatcher was seen by Jan and at the pools various species of wader were added including Knot (7), Bar-tailed Godwit (32), Little Stint, Common Sandpiper (2) and a lot of Dunlin. We made our way to the estuary and at one pool I found a very pale bird sat down and difficult to see, which I initially thought was a Greenshank. When it turned it's head and I saw a needle-thin  straight black bill I knew it was in fact a Marsh Sandpiper, to the delight of the other members of the party. We moved on and set up our telescopes by the road bridge and scanned the sandbanks on the other side of the river. They were covered in mainly Yellow-legged Gulls but we soon found our first very un-mistakable Caspian Tern, which was later joined by a second. An Osprey passed over the estuary heading towards Tarifa just before we departed for our last classic site. 'La Janda' is a huge area of flooded rice fields, rivers, marsh, and drier area, but we only had time for a small part. White Storks could be seen everywhere with probably over 1000 birds, and amongst these with careful searching we found 11 Glossy Ibis and 5 Spoonbills. Marsh Harriers quartered every field as did an odd Monty's, and at one bit of exposed mud a plentiful supply of waders were to be seen, with Common Snipe (26), Ruff (9), Wood (8), Green (7) and Common (3) Sandpipers, Greenshank, Little Ringed Plover, and Little Stint (3). Yet again we returned to the hotel wishing there were more hours in the day for this type of birding.

10th September :- This morning we were leaving the excellent Hotel Meson de Sancho and even as we packed the bags into the vehicles 7 Egyptian Vultures, 1 Griffon Vulture, 3 Honey Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk passed overhead. We were now heading for Cabo de Gata in the province of Almeria, and made good progress along the coastal highway. Just after lunchtime we were close to Almeria city and Malcolm knew of some ponds on the outskirts of the village of Las Norias, which he considered worthy of investigation. As usual he was correct and very quickly we were adding species such as White-headed Duck, Shoveler, Gadwall, Coot, Common Pochard, Black-necked, Little and Great crested Grebes, along with a  Marsh Harrier, and lots of Little & Black Terns giving fantastic views. Our next stop was our hotel at Cabo de Gata, where we quickly checked in, freshened up and met in the lobby. The position of the hotel meant that it was just a short walk to the 'Salinas' were 100's of Greater Flamingos and Avocets resided. We positioned ourselves on the edge of the pools and scanned the assembled waders getting excellent views of Black-tailed Godwit (200+), Knot (2), Curlew Sandpiper (30+), Little Stint (20+) and Common Redshank (10+). I found a single Marbled Duck sat on a sandbank, our first Eurasian Curlews (8) were seen at a distance and a lovely female Montagu's Harrier flew past giving excellent views. Finally we made the short journey around the Salinas to the hide on the area closest to the beach. From here we saw a lot of the same things but Brian found a single Ruff amongst the Common Redshanks and again plenty of Black Terns were busy feeding over the water. Exhausted from the mornings drive we retired to the bar for a well earned beer (or wine) on our last night together.

11th September :- Again we packed the car for our final drive towards home, but incorporating one or two stops on the way. We tried a few places around Cabo de Gata but the favourable weather conditions meant that migrant activity was at a minimum. However we did manage to see plenty of Thekla Larks, Whinchat (2), Jackdaw (6), and Whitethroat (2). Our final stop was Alcanara in the Murcia province, an area of lowland salt steppe that has now largely be made into agricultural land. After traversing a few tracks producing Woodchat Shrike, Crested & Calandra Lark we stopped by an old dried-up reservoir for a spot of lunch. Within minutes Brian thought he saw a movement from the far field and sure enough there were a pair of Black-bellied Sandgrouse. We watched these for a while but the heat haze made viewing difficult. Overhead 4 raptors appeared with 3 being Short-toed Eagles and the other a Common Buzzard, one eagle drifted right past us and over the 'sandgrouse field'. This caused a panic and 24 sandgrouse got up and flew around for a few minutes giving everyone a very good look at these lovely birds. Our trip had been completed on a very high note, we left for home totally satisfied.

It was a fantastic trip and one we will be running again in the future, we saw a total of 133 species (18 raptors), which is a tremendous achievement considering we spent almost 50% of our time searching the skies for 'birds of prey'. For more information please contact me at any time.