April Birding Trip - Day 1 - 2nd April

Although Robin Griffiths and I had been good friends at University and had always kept in contact, we hadn’t actually seen one another for the best part of 25 years. Over a year ago I’d invited him out to Spain and this April he came. Being a resident, non-twitching patch worker in that ornithological desert otherwise known as ‘Wiltshire’, I knew Robin would have a good time. Even more so since this was his first trip abroad for over 30 years, his first ever ‘full-on’ birding trip to the continent and his first ever trip to Spain. I knew that the lifers would come thick and fast; to find out how thick and fast, read on!

Headings, odd clarifications, amendments and comments aside, this account (in italics) is essentially Robin’s, but I’ve also added some additional, initialled, bracketted and/or un-italicised comments to enlarge upon Robin’s comments.

Day 1 - Thursday 2nd April: Arrival
RG - John and I met at Gatwick and flew to Gibraltar, arriving at 6 PM, where, while we organised a hire car, we noticed the odd swift, and I saw my first lifer - Pallid Swift. En route to John's house at Alcala de Los Gazules we saw three more new birds for me - Spotless Starlings on wires beside the road (very glossy "Brylcreem" starlings), 2 or 3 superb Red rumped Swallows flying around a bridge "with long tails stuck on behind", and, at Alcala itself, Lesser Kestrels hawking for insects at dusk with the epicentre of their activity being - John's house! They were superb, like daintier, more brightly coloured Kestrels, and flew around allowing point-blank views. Other birds noted on route were Cattle Egrets, a Woodchat Shrike and a few White Storks. A Nightingale could be heard singing from John's terrace (actually his flat roof.) All of these birds would be recorded often throughout the week, in some cases many times a day.

This proved to be a gentle start to a first rate week of good quailty birding. Unfortunately, with no 'staff photographer' along, the only photos are my mediocre efforts! - JC