GR - En route to the Guadalquivir again we saw a Stone Curlew in flight. The usual astonishing variety of birds was seen at the Trebujena marshes - 2 Night Herons, c12 Greater Flamingoes, c12 Collared Pratincoles, 4 Kentish Plovers, 2+ Curlew Sandpipers, a Slender-billed Gull, 1 Short-toed and c4 lovely Calandra Larks. Raptors included Short-toed Eagle and a male and a female Montagu's Harrier. There were a lot of Booted Eagles doing a lot of noisy displaying. A Quail was heard but, as usual, invisible, and we also saw our first Turtle Doves for the week.
A bird perched on a wire above the track turned out to be a Rose-coloured Starling. Unusually, John was more excited about it than me- not just another exciting Spanish bird, but a Spanish rarity! Another group of birders turned up, Spanish as it happened, but they were relative beginners and didn't realise the significance of the sighting any more than I did. John, however, was anxious to share this bird with local birders so waved down another passing car containing a Spanish birder. This turned out to be Javier Hildalgo, one of the directors of the SEO (the Spanish RSPB) - no less – and a prominent member of the local “sherry-aristocracy”; naturally he spoke perfect English! Although initially sceptical, soon saw the bird himself! It was a first summer bird still with some juvenile brown feathers. Senor Hidalgo then told us about some Marbled Teal he had seen nearby - we found the
m lurking in clumps of rushes at the edge of a large lagoon, two neat little biscuit-coloured ducks. In an elated - not to say triumphant - mood we had a look in the Algaida pinewoods. Here a Hoopoe was "singing" and there were several Short-toed Treecreepers. The whole area rang with the calls of Booted Eagles and we realised that one pair were apparently prospecting a nest in a pine right by the track where many people were going to be walking and picnicking (Spaniards seem to love picnics even more than the British) over the holiday weekend. Perhaps Booteds are at a very high population at present - we counted about 10 birds in the area.Later, visiting the beautiful garden of the 11th Century Moorish Alcala at Jerez de la Frontera, we saw a large and elegant Scarce Swallowtail, the most spectacular butterfly of the week in a fantastic setting - together with a more mundane Wall Brown. En route to meet Liz Cantelo at Gibraltar we stopped off at Las Palmones - here there were just 6 Avocets and a few Sandwich Terns.
JC - Robin’s first comment on seeing the Rose-coloured Starling was something along the lines of ‘Number 41” and it was only my excited babble that made him realise that this species is not usual hereabouts. Although Senor Hildalgo thought that it was the first for the Coto, it seems to have been the second record – not bad all the same! Notice again the leisurely style of the trip; Robin not only got to see a genuine medieaval mosque in Jerez castle - remember we met studying History at university - but also enjoyed a well earnt glass of sherry & tapas at the iconic Gallo Azul bar in the centre of town!
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