Day 5 - 17th Feb - In Search of Spanish Sparrows

DAY 6 - Tuesday 17th February
Naturally our day started with Lesser Kestrels around the village, but this time a small mishap (OK, I admit it, I backed into a parked car!) meant Tony had time to get some great flight shots of the species. After opting out of looking at Trafalgar at the weekend we decided to head over there today for a quick seawatch.

Trafalgar The shallow tidal pool here had its usual small flock of Audouin’s Gull (39) plus four Mediterranean Gulls, a small group of Sandwich Terns, Sanderling (c30) and a few Kentish Plover. Seawatching here was a novel experience since amongst the expected passing seabirds (2 Great Skuas, 10+ Cory’s Shearwaters, good numbers of both Sandwich Terns and Gannets) was the odd raptor (Marsh Harrier and Lesser Kestrels) and a single Black Stork! A careful scan of the rocks here turned up three Turnstone. Two Hoopoes were flushed from the dunes here.

Los Naveros Since it was not far off the route to the next site, we decided to detour to the Los Naveros area again to search for bustards and Stone Curlews. Happily, after a brief search we found three Stone Curlew which, whilst not the hoped for bustards, were an excellent addition to the list. Another Hoopoe here allowed the others to catch up on a species they’d missed earlier that day. Instead of returning the way we’d come, we pushed on along the track which, it transpired, came out on the new main road near Conil de la Frontera passing some more excellent habitat en route.

Laguna de Taraje (Lagunas de Puerto Real) Having seen them here last February, I was hopeful about seeing Spanish Sparrow along the rough track to the laguna. Although the first sighting of a dust bathing bird didn’t entirely convince everyone when we drove up to the farm beyond the laguna, we had excellent views of winter plumaged Spanish Sparrows (c20). On our return along the track we had more birds at the first location. Although not as well marked as they are in mid-summer due to the dull sandy fringing to the black feathers, there were still some well marked birds here; a rich chestnut crown, white cheeks and narrow eyebrow, a large ‘bib’ (albeit obscured by that pale fringing) and obvious flank streaks. Doubtless there were also some Spanish Sparrows amongst female birds, and indeed some looked larger billed, but we were so occupied in trying to decide whether all the males were ‘pure bred’ that we didn’t really look too hard! On the laguna itself there were 140+ Red-crested Pochard and 18 Shoveler. Also seen here were 2 Ospreys, 2 Little Ringed Plover, c80 Golden Plover and single Stone Curlew (for which this is an excellent site). Driving back to the main road a very obliging Hoopoe fed besides the track.

Sancti Petri Despite my personal distaste for the urban sprawl that surrounds Cadiz Bay, I was out voted so our next stop was Sancti Petri. The road into the old village is flanked by muddy lagoons and ends in a narrow spit overlooking the marshes. This rich habitat held numerous Kentish Plovers, Knots, Grey Plovers, 30+ Bar-tailed Godwits, 10+ Whimbrel and two each of Curlew and Oystercatcher. The lagoons beside the road held 400+ Dunlins, 50+ Little Stints and 30+ Redshanks. Returning towards the motorway we passed more interesting habitats where we had a Great White Heron feeding in somewhat atypical habitat - a flooded pine woodland.