Sunday 19 April 2009

April Birding Trip - Day 8 - 9th April

Day 8 – Thursday 9th April: R & R
RG
- A sea watch at Punta Secreta produced a couple of Great Skuas but little else, so we returned to Los Alcornocales for the rest of the day. At Embalse de Celerin there were six Little Ringed Plovers and a Common Sandpiper. A walk in the beautifully wooded Val de Infierno - which reminded us both of Welsh oakwoods - resulted in hearing and seeing some 10 Iberian Chiffchaffs, an exquisite Firecrest, Willow Warbler and 2 Cirl Buntings. There were lots of the nominate form of the Speckled Wood, another Spanish Festoon and 3 Green Hairstreaks.

Moving on to our main site for the day, a return visit to Los Molinos, we did much better, with both raptors and butterflies aplenty. The former included two more Bonelli's Eagles, the only ones for Los Alcornocales this week, unfortunately rather distant views, and another Egyptian Vulture. There was obviously a bit of a raptor passage with 5 Booted Eagles and 2 Short-toed Eagles accompanying some 40 Griffons. Other birds included no less than 5 exquisite Black-eared Wheatears, 4 more Iberian Chiffchaffs, 2 Cirl Buntings, a Bonelli's Warbler and the usual Serins. It was the best day for butterfly variety, with 11 species including c8 Spanish Festoons, a Moroccan Orange tip, 2 Cleopatras - my first for the week, they resemble Brimstone, but with an orange flush on the forewing - 2 Provencal Hairstreaks, 4 or so more Green Hairstreaks, a "helice" Clouded Yellow, 2 "cramera" Brown Argus, 3 Common Blues and a Small Copper. John also identified Loose-flowered and Tongue Orchids.
By stark contrast to the idyllic - and fragrant - Molinos valley, in the evening we visited Los Barrios rubbish tip for a possible Eagle Owl - all we saw was a Griffon, c40 White Storks and the amazing sight of c500 Black Kites!



JC - After the excessive amount of driving the previous day we both needed a quieter day – it’s just a pity that Cory’s Shearwater picked this week to be elusive! It was the first spring trip I’ve had out to Spain where I’ve not seen them. A shame too, that my hunch that the rubbish tip might hold Eagle Owl proved unfounded! It was incredibly smelly, but at least the sunset was terrific!

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