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General
This 7 day birding tour was based just inland in Tarifa in a river valley.
We witnessed a wonderful raptor & stork migration & also an excellent range of wetland species & passerine as well.
The main emphasis was on seeing good numbers of migrants & raptor/stork migration in a relaxed fashion in beautiful surroundings.
The distances travelled were relatively small, & therefore rather than spending long journey times heading off for 1-2 species. We spent more time watching birds & we still recorded 150 species!
From our base we were able to explore a variety of birding localities & had easy access via car to the Tarifa area, which is the main flight path for the raptors & storks as they pass south over “The Straits” to Morocco.
Accommodation
We were based at Cortijo el Papudo, here we had everything we needed, with excellent continental breakfasts, nearby shops in the village for lunch or packed lunches & several restaurants to choose from for evening meals
The beautifully converted farmhouse set in a 27 hectare farm overlooks orange groves, 8 km inland from the sea at Sotogrande, this unique old "cortijo" was recently restored with great care to retain all the original features and charm.
All rooms had en-suite bathrooms, bath with shower over, and tea and coffee facilities. The rooms were wonderfully & tastefully renovated retaining their natural aesthetics with modern comfort.
There was an 11 metre pool for our guests to use set in an exotic garden which has plants collected from all over the world and propagated in the nursery on the farm
You can view details of the accommodation by clicking on this link
This 7 day birding tour was based just inland in Tarifa in a river valley.
We witnessed a wonderful raptor & stork migration & also an excellent range of wetland species & passerine as well.
The main emphasis was on seeing good numbers of migrants & raptor/stork migration in a relaxed fashion in beautiful surroundings.
The distances travelled were relatively small, & therefore rather than spending long journey times heading off for 1-2 species. We spent more time watching birds & we still recorded 150 species!
From our base we were able to explore a variety of birding localities & had easy access via car to the Tarifa area, which is the main flight path for the raptors & storks as they pass south over “The Straits” to Morocco.
Accommodation
We were based at Cortijo el Papudo, here we had everything we needed, with excellent continental breakfasts, nearby shops in the village for lunch or packed lunches & several restaurants to choose from for evening meals
The beautifully converted farmhouse set in a 27 hectare farm overlooks orange groves, 8 km inland from the sea at Sotogrande, this unique old "cortijo" was recently restored with great care to retain all the original features and charm.
All rooms had en-suite bathrooms, bath with shower over, and tea and coffee facilities. The rooms were wonderfully & tastefully renovated retaining their natural aesthetics with modern comfort.
There was an 11 metre pool for our guests to use set in an exotic garden which has plants collected from all over the world and propagated in the nursery on the farm
You can view details of the accommodation by clicking on this link
Getting There
Getting to Southern Spain is easy & served by a variety of options, departures via the cheaper airlines are available from Gatwick, Luton, Stanstead, East Midlands & Manchester & you can choose from Malaga, Gibraltar & Jerez.
Clients all arrived via flights from Luton or Heathrow at Gibraltar.
Gibraltar is a nice small airport & you simply show your passport & cross the border on foot into Spain (the border is 200m from the airport). The advantage of Gibraltar was the speed & ease of getting in and out of the airport, much smaller queues compared with Malaga.
Our Flights cost £160 inclusive of all the dreaded taxes - we booked with Monarch airlines - simple but comfortable & the flight is just over 2 hours.
Getting to Southern Spain is easy & served by a variety of options, departures via the cheaper airlines are available from Gatwick, Luton, Stanstead, East Midlands & Manchester & you can choose from Malaga, Gibraltar & Jerez.
Clients all arrived via flights from Luton or Heathrow at Gibraltar.
Gibraltar is a nice small airport & you simply show your passport & cross the border on foot into Spain (the border is 200m from the airport). The advantage of Gibraltar was the speed & ease of getting in and out of the airport, much smaller queues compared with Malaga.
Our Flights cost £160 inclusive of all the dreaded taxes - we booked with Monarch airlines - simple but comfortable & the flight is just over 2 hours.
6th September 2010
We arrived at the accommodation just after 2.00pm
After a light brunch & coffee we headed off into the Rio Genal, an area we were to visit several times during our stay.
This is a river valley running north to south and eventually running into the sea at Sotogrande some 10Km north of La Linea (Gibraltar). The river was much wetter than last year - and there was plenty of water & pools.
During our first visit we worked along the fields & river valley
We had nice overhead passage of raptors with 300+ Honey Buzzard, 5 Short-toed eagle, 10+ Booted eagle & Griffon Vulture all passing down the valley. Plus a Black Stork & many vocal Bee-eater passed high, overhead!
Also noted were 30+ Serin, 10 Turtle dove, 30+ Spotless Starling, 2 Fan-tailed Warbler, 20 Corn Bunting & lots of Crested Lark
Down in the valley we had time for a quick search of the river bed & found Kingfisher, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Little Ringed Plover plus some of the aforementioned species.
Slightly tired we headed back to the Cortijo where we had great views of a Nightingale feeding out on the lawn.
We showered & then enjoyed a lovely evening meal in the local town.
7th September 2010
We birded the valley again before breakfast & had a similar mix of birds, but also added 100 Yellow Wagtails, 200 Corn Bunting, 1 male Golden oriole, several Black Kite & 50+ Honey Buzzard
After a late breakfast we headed off to Sotogrande shoreline & marsh. Offshore we saw at least 20 Cory Shearwater, 1 Black Stork migrating overhead & Gannet.
The lagoon area was relatively quiet apart from a Bar-tailed Godwit, a single Greater Flamingo plus a migrant Spotted Flycatcher, so we quickly moved on to Palmones. We also caught up with 50+ Monk Parakeet, now truly established in this area
Palmones provided more with a good roost of shorebirds & others:- 200 Ringed Plover, 20 Sanderling, 3 Dunlin, 3 Turnstone, 2 Red Knot, 2 Curlew sandpiper, 3 Whimbrel, a fishing Osprey, 5 Mediterannean Gulls, 100+ Yellow-legged Gull & a migrant ringtail Montagu's Harrier.
8th September 2010
We set the alarm for 6am, had a quick coffee & cereal & hit the road heading for Tarifa. The mission was to try & locate a point to watch some aerial migration.
As the sun started to rise we arrived at watchpoint that I have stood at previously.
It wasn't too long before a nice flock of 150+ Black Kites were swirling around just in front of us, this continued steadily with birds getting higher as the temperature rose, these were soon joined by eagles & buzzards.
We moved slightly west & joined an official watchpoint over the next 3 hours a steady stream of both raptors & other migrants passed overhead, 500+ Black Kite, 200+ Honey Buzzard, 20+ Short-toed eagle, 25+ Booted Eagle, 70 Griffon Vulture, 20 Egyptian Vulture, 3 Peregrine, 10 Montagu's Harrier, 1 Marsh Harrier, 60 White Stork, 2 Black Stork, 30 Cattle Egret, many high Bee-eater, , 20 Sparrowhawk.
The real nice surprise was just after lunch when one of the official counters drew our attention to firstly a RUPPELLS GRIFFON VULTURE & the a LONG-LEGGED BUZZARD. Both species I had never seen in Europe previously.
It was great fun watching many of the birds gain height & then start to head out over the sea & straits bound for the northern shores of Morocco.
Satisfied with our mornings haul we headed into Tarifa for lunch, we then headed to the reserve at Playa de los Lances - there was a nice mix of waders & seabirds. Birds here included, 5+ Kentish Plover, 1 White Stork, 250 Spotless Starling, 25 Audoins Gull, 100’s Yellow-legged Gull, 20 Sandwich Tern, 5+ Fan-tailed warbler.
On the nearby fields we also located 4 Short-toed lark & 2 Tawny pipit.
We headed over to Sierra de la Plata but failed to locate any White-rumped Swift, but had fantastic close up views of Griffon Vulture, 2 Montagu's harrier passed by the car en-route & we had a nice group of feeding Crag martin along the cliffs. There was also nice steady stream of Swallows migrating along the coastline.
Pulling up the driveway to the accommodation were surprised to flush a Nightjar!
Evening meal in the local village.
9th September 2010
Another early start, we set the alarm for 6am & arrived at Sierra Crestallina as it was getting light.
Here we found 12 Firecrest, 2 Short-toed Treecreeper, 10 Crested Tit, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker, Subalpine Warbler, 1 Melodious Warbler, Juv Blue Rock Thrush, 3 Nuthatch lots of Sardinian warbler the Iberian race of Jay & a mix of commoner woodland birds.
Over the valley we also had 12 Griffon Vulture, 1 Egyptian Vulture & very distant Alpine Swift.
It was very hot when we returned to the accommodation, so we had a couple of hours break & than later in the afternoon we headed off to La Janda.
We had a wonderful bird filled afternoon here right the way through till dark. We started off with a Hoopoe, then Woodchat Shrike, Wheatear & Whinchat soon followed, several Glossy Ibis flew over, constant views were wonderful of hunting Montagu's harrier & Marsh harrier. The fields held 1000's of finches & sparrow, huge swathes of flocks taking to the air was great to witness.
Perched above the fields were 100+ Turtle Dove, we had seen several Kestrel sp. But eventually confirmed a male Lesser Kestrel, all of these were "trumped" by 3 beautiful BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE. One of the birds were perched with prey & we could even see the crimson iris!
The finale was as the light faded when 10,000 Swallow & 3000 Cattle Egret flew into roost against the backdrop of a beautiful tangerine sunset sky.
As the last drops of light disappeared we also saw 3 Night Heron & PURPLE GALLINULE the latter in the car headlights!
10th September 2010
After breakfast we headed to Laguna de Medina.
The lake was filled with birds, the highlights were:- 100+ Little Grebe, 100+ Black-necked Gull, 2 Osprey, 1 Purple Heron, 2 Great White Egret, 50 Shoveler, 12 Red-crested Pochard, 250 WHITE-HEADED DUCK, 5 Black-winged Stilt. Perhaps less expected was 2 Hoopoe flying over the lake, one hovering above the water surface for some time!
The hedge & reedbed bordering the boardwalk also provided 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Pied Flycatcher, numerous Sardinian Warbler & 1 Garden warbler.
In the afternoon we made our way up to Bonanza Salinas, the birding was good, but the temperature was very hot +35c !!
Fortunately the salina's are best watched by driving the perimeter in the vehicle & we had lovely views of a nice mixture of birds:-
7 Black Stork, 250+ Greater Flamingo, 2 Osprey, 100+ Black-winged Stilt, 1000+ Kentish plover, 200+ Black-tailed Godwit, 13 Whimbrel, 50+ Sanderling, 20+ Dunlin, 12+ Little Stint, 4 Curlew Sandpiper, Osprey & 3 Caspian Tern.
Also overhead near the town a noticeable passage of Alpine Swift, 50+ passed by, plus a migrant Black-eared Wheatear was a very nice addition.
A brief stop along the northern edge of the reserve produced Willow Warblers aplenty, Spotted & Pied Flycatcher plus a surprise & presumably migrant WESTERN ORPHEAN WARBLER.
Evening meal in the local village.
11th September 2010
Today we arrived mid-morning slightly later than planned in the area of Sierra de las Nieves for some of the higher level specialities.
Here we had lovely views of 10+ Black Wheatear, 3 Dartford Warbler, 1 Woodlark, 50 Crag Martin, 2 Northern Wheatear, 1 Redstart, 3 Black Redstart, 2 imm Subalpine Warbler, 1 raven, 1 Lesser Kestrel, 1 Grey wagtail, 4 Mistle Thrush & Griffon Vulture.
In the afternoon we returned again to the local river valley - we had a similar mix of species but 100+ Bee-eaters all perched on the wires were wonderful, a search of one of the ravines revealed 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 3 Blackcap & 1 Western Bonelli's Warbler.
The fields held 3 Northern Wheatear , & another Black-eared Wheatear plus a massive flock of 500+ Goldfinch scattered by a passing Montagu's harrier!
12th September 2010
As one of the party had not been feeling too well the previous morning we all agreed to head back up to Sierra de las Nieves.
We had a similar mix of birds but also 6 Rock Bunting, lovely views of a close Golden Eagle, 60+ Chough & lovely views of a male Subalpine warbler.
In the afternoon we returned again to the local river valley - we had a similar mix of species but 100+ Bee-eaters all perched on the wires were wonderful, a search of one of the ravines revealed 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 3 Blackcap & 1 Western Bonelli's Warbler.
The fields held 3 Northern Wheatear , & another Black-eared Wheatear plus a massive flock of 500+ Goldfinch scattered by a passing Montagu's harrier!
In the afternoon we returned again to the local river valley & discovered another area worthy of watching, this was an area of turf fields hosting, 21 Little Ringed Plover, 4+ Wheatear, 12 White Wagtail, Woodchat Shrike & 1 Tree Pipit. The nearby horse paddocks held 100+ Yellow Wags & 30+ Bee-eaters were nearby on the wires, also plenty of Serin also showing quite nicely along the fenceline.
We arrived at the accommodation just after 2.00pm
After a light brunch & coffee we headed off into the Rio Genal, an area we were to visit several times during our stay.
This is a river valley running north to south and eventually running into the sea at Sotogrande some 10Km north of La Linea (Gibraltar). The river was much wetter than last year - and there was plenty of water & pools.
During our first visit we worked along the fields & river valley
We had nice overhead passage of raptors with 300+ Honey Buzzard, 5 Short-toed eagle, 10+ Booted eagle & Griffon Vulture all passing down the valley. Plus a Black Stork & many vocal Bee-eater passed high, overhead!
Also noted were 30+ Serin, 10 Turtle dove, 30+ Spotless Starling, 2 Fan-tailed Warbler, 20 Corn Bunting & lots of Crested Lark
Down in the valley we had time for a quick search of the river bed & found Kingfisher, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Little Ringed Plover plus some of the aforementioned species.
Slightly tired we headed back to the Cortijo where we had great views of a Nightingale feeding out on the lawn.
We showered & then enjoyed a lovely evening meal in the local town.
7th September 2010
We birded the valley again before breakfast & had a similar mix of birds, but also added 100 Yellow Wagtails, 200 Corn Bunting, 1 male Golden oriole, several Black Kite & 50+ Honey Buzzard
After a late breakfast we headed off to Sotogrande shoreline & marsh. Offshore we saw at least 20 Cory Shearwater, 1 Black Stork migrating overhead & Gannet.
The lagoon area was relatively quiet apart from a Bar-tailed Godwit, a single Greater Flamingo plus a migrant Spotted Flycatcher, so we quickly moved on to Palmones. We also caught up with 50+ Monk Parakeet, now truly established in this area
Palmones provided more with a good roost of shorebirds & others:- 200 Ringed Plover, 20 Sanderling, 3 Dunlin, 3 Turnstone, 2 Red Knot, 2 Curlew sandpiper, 3 Whimbrel, a fishing Osprey, 5 Mediterannean Gulls, 100+ Yellow-legged Gull & a migrant ringtail Montagu's Harrier.
8th September 2010
We set the alarm for 6am, had a quick coffee & cereal & hit the road heading for Tarifa. The mission was to try & locate a point to watch some aerial migration.
As the sun started to rise we arrived at watchpoint that I have stood at previously.
It wasn't too long before a nice flock of 150+ Black Kites were swirling around just in front of us, this continued steadily with birds getting higher as the temperature rose, these were soon joined by eagles & buzzards.
We moved slightly west & joined an official watchpoint over the next 3 hours a steady stream of both raptors & other migrants passed overhead, 500+ Black Kite, 200+ Honey Buzzard, 20+ Short-toed eagle, 25+ Booted Eagle, 70 Griffon Vulture, 20 Egyptian Vulture, 3 Peregrine, 10 Montagu's Harrier, 1 Marsh Harrier, 60 White Stork, 2 Black Stork, 30 Cattle Egret, many high Bee-eater, , 20 Sparrowhawk.
The real nice surprise was just after lunch when one of the official counters drew our attention to firstly a RUPPELLS GRIFFON VULTURE & the a LONG-LEGGED BUZZARD. Both species I had never seen in Europe previously.
It was great fun watching many of the birds gain height & then start to head out over the sea & straits bound for the northern shores of Morocco.
Satisfied with our mornings haul we headed into Tarifa for lunch, we then headed to the reserve at Playa de los Lances - there was a nice mix of waders & seabirds. Birds here included, 5+ Kentish Plover, 1 White Stork, 250 Spotless Starling, 25 Audoins Gull, 100’s Yellow-legged Gull, 20 Sandwich Tern, 5+ Fan-tailed warbler.
On the nearby fields we also located 4 Short-toed lark & 2 Tawny pipit.
We headed over to Sierra de la Plata but failed to locate any White-rumped Swift, but had fantastic close up views of Griffon Vulture, 2 Montagu's harrier passed by the car en-route & we had a nice group of feeding Crag martin along the cliffs. There was also nice steady stream of Swallows migrating along the coastline.
Pulling up the driveway to the accommodation were surprised to flush a Nightjar!
Evening meal in the local village.
9th September 2010
Another early start, we set the alarm for 6am & arrived at Sierra Crestallina as it was getting light.
Here we found 12 Firecrest, 2 Short-toed Treecreeper, 10 Crested Tit, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker, Subalpine Warbler, 1 Melodious Warbler, Juv Blue Rock Thrush, 3 Nuthatch lots of Sardinian warbler the Iberian race of Jay & a mix of commoner woodland birds.
Over the valley we also had 12 Griffon Vulture, 1 Egyptian Vulture & very distant Alpine Swift.
It was very hot when we returned to the accommodation, so we had a couple of hours break & than later in the afternoon we headed off to La Janda.
We had a wonderful bird filled afternoon here right the way through till dark. We started off with a Hoopoe, then Woodchat Shrike, Wheatear & Whinchat soon followed, several Glossy Ibis flew over, constant views were wonderful of hunting Montagu's harrier & Marsh harrier. The fields held 1000's of finches & sparrow, huge swathes of flocks taking to the air was great to witness.
Perched above the fields were 100+ Turtle Dove, we had seen several Kestrel sp. But eventually confirmed a male Lesser Kestrel, all of these were "trumped" by 3 beautiful BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE. One of the birds were perched with prey & we could even see the crimson iris!
The finale was as the light faded when 10,000 Swallow & 3000 Cattle Egret flew into roost against the backdrop of a beautiful tangerine sunset sky.
As the last drops of light disappeared we also saw 3 Night Heron & PURPLE GALLINULE the latter in the car headlights!
10th September 2010
After breakfast we headed to Laguna de Medina.
The lake was filled with birds, the highlights were:- 100+ Little Grebe, 100+ Black-necked Gull, 2 Osprey, 1 Purple Heron, 2 Great White Egret, 50 Shoveler, 12 Red-crested Pochard, 250 WHITE-HEADED DUCK, 5 Black-winged Stilt. Perhaps less expected was 2 Hoopoe flying over the lake, one hovering above the water surface for some time!
The hedge & reedbed bordering the boardwalk also provided 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Pied Flycatcher, numerous Sardinian Warbler & 1 Garden warbler.
In the afternoon we made our way up to Bonanza Salinas, the birding was good, but the temperature was very hot +35c !!
Fortunately the salina's are best watched by driving the perimeter in the vehicle & we had lovely views of a nice mixture of birds:-
7 Black Stork, 250+ Greater Flamingo, 2 Osprey, 100+ Black-winged Stilt, 1000+ Kentish plover, 200+ Black-tailed Godwit, 13 Whimbrel, 50+ Sanderling, 20+ Dunlin, 12+ Little Stint, 4 Curlew Sandpiper, Osprey & 3 Caspian Tern.
Also overhead near the town a noticeable passage of Alpine Swift, 50+ passed by, plus a migrant Black-eared Wheatear was a very nice addition.
A brief stop along the northern edge of the reserve produced Willow Warblers aplenty, Spotted & Pied Flycatcher plus a surprise & presumably migrant WESTERN ORPHEAN WARBLER.
Evening meal in the local village.
11th September 2010
Today we arrived mid-morning slightly later than planned in the area of Sierra de las Nieves for some of the higher level specialities.
Here we had lovely views of 10+ Black Wheatear, 3 Dartford Warbler, 1 Woodlark, 50 Crag Martin, 2 Northern Wheatear, 1 Redstart, 3 Black Redstart, 2 imm Subalpine Warbler, 1 raven, 1 Lesser Kestrel, 1 Grey wagtail, 4 Mistle Thrush & Griffon Vulture.
In the afternoon we returned again to the local river valley - we had a similar mix of species but 100+ Bee-eaters all perched on the wires were wonderful, a search of one of the ravines revealed 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 3 Blackcap & 1 Western Bonelli's Warbler.
The fields held 3 Northern Wheatear , & another Black-eared Wheatear plus a massive flock of 500+ Goldfinch scattered by a passing Montagu's harrier!
12th September 2010
As one of the party had not been feeling too well the previous morning we all agreed to head back up to Sierra de las Nieves.
We had a similar mix of birds but also 6 Rock Bunting, lovely views of a close Golden Eagle, 60+ Chough & lovely views of a male Subalpine warbler.
In the afternoon we returned again to the local river valley - we had a similar mix of species but 100+ Bee-eaters all perched on the wires were wonderful, a search of one of the ravines revealed 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 3 Blackcap & 1 Western Bonelli's Warbler.
The fields held 3 Northern Wheatear , & another Black-eared Wheatear plus a massive flock of 500+ Goldfinch scattered by a passing Montagu's harrier!
In the afternoon we returned again to the local river valley & discovered another area worthy of watching, this was an area of turf fields hosting, 21 Little Ringed Plover, 4+ Wheatear, 12 White Wagtail, Woodchat Shrike & 1 Tree Pipit. The nearby horse paddocks held 100+ Yellow Wags & 30+ Bee-eaters were nearby on the wires, also plenty of Serin also showing quite nicely along the fenceline.
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SOUTHERN SPAIN TRIP REPORT
SEPTEMBER 6th -13th 2010
SEPTEMBER 6th -13th 2010
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_______________________________
Contact: Chris Mills
Tel: 01362 683520 or 07876 357677
Email: chrismills@norfolkbirding.com
Lilac Cottage, Foxley Road, Themelthorpe,
Norfolk NR20 5PU
Contact: Chris Mills
Tel: 01362 683520 or 07876 357677
Email: chrismills@norfolkbirding.com
Lilac Cottage, Foxley Road, Themelthorpe,
Norfolk NR20 5PU
_______________________________
Contact: Chris Mills
Tel: 01362 683520 or 07876 357677
Email: chrismills@norfolkbirding.com
Lilac Cottage, Foxley Road, Themelthorpe,
Norfolk NR20 5PU
Contact: Chris Mills
Tel: 01362 683520 or 07876 357677
Email: chrismills@norfolkbirding.com
Lilac Cottage, Foxley Road, Themelthorpe,
Norfolk NR20 5PU
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