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Bryan Thomas' friend 'Scilly Spider' (I'm not sure that's his real name) has been visiting Bryan in Spain and enjoying some great Spanish birding. This is a copy of his blog, adapted for the website. To visit the complete Scilly Spider blog follow this link
At 08.15, Bryan and I were at the North Gate at El Fondo. The gates are only open twice week and you have to be out by 11.15. So we didn't have much time and this reserve is the size of St Mary's back home. All we saw was 1% of the reserve as we spent all our time in the elevated hide looking over El Fondo largest lake. On here there were large numbers of wildfowl including 10+ Black necked Grebe, 40+ Red crested Pochard, 150+ Pochard, 200+ Shoveler and Teal, and 40+ Pintail. In all the time we were there, an Osprey was on a post in the centre of the lake. Up 5-6 Marsh Harrier, a female Hen Harrier and 3-4 Booted Eagle were also present. However there was no sign of any of the 3 Greater Spotted Eagles. We also just missed a Black shouldered Kite that Graham Critchell got before we arrived. Graham stuck around with us for nearly 3 hours and we all exchanged views. A brief look at the Western Lake, but this proved difficult with the sun low in the sky making identification almost impossible. What we did manage to ID were 120+ Black winged Stilt, 7 Avocet, 350+ Greater Flamingo, Little Stints, Dunlin, Little ringed Plover and Kentish Plover and on the posts that are scattered around the lake were 10 Booted Eagle. Returning to the elevated hide, Penduline Tits, Cetti’s Warbler and Reed Bunting were calling and Graham heard a Moustached Warbler, which showed very well. There were also lots of Chiffchaff in the area.
Our next stop was for Bonelli's Eagle in the canyons of Crevillente. We got there at 12.30 and there was no sign of the eagles until they came in at 17.00! While waiting with Eddie Walker in the hottest day of my trip so far, mid 70's, we were entertained by 4 Black Wheatear, 2 Blue Rock Thrush, 5 Thekla Lark, Chough (heard only) and 10 Crag Martin. We had almost given up when a Bonelli's Eagle came straight into roost in the cliff face to join another Bonelli’s Eagle that we did not know was there. Later on they came out for a brief display before disappearing over the cliffs. We left 'Finca Bonelli’s Eagle' and Colin and Jane,who live below the cliffs where the eagles breed. Highly recommended and a warm welcome awaits.
Moustached Warbler Hen Harrier
We started off pretty late this morning and at 10.30 we were taking our time walking the paths around San Felipe Reserve. Just by the visitors centre we could hear Penduline Tit. A few minutes later and there were 3 birds out in the open showing very well. However, they didn't show as well as the stunning male white-spotted Bluethroat, just a few meters down the path. Both Marsh Harrier and Booted Eagle were enjoying the hot weather, with as many as 9-10 eagles in the air together. Nothing of note on the first lake, but as I was walking to have a look at the far lake, in the distance, a rather large raptor was flying low towards me. I put my bins up and identified it as Tonn, the Greater Spotted Eagle from Estonia. This time he showed a lot better than before and dwarfed a Marsh Harrier as it flew strongly just above the reeds. I was now following him with the scope from the hide and when he disappeared behind the trees, I looked down and there were 2 Black necked Grebe at close range. Except for a Little Bittern calling close to the right of the hide, there was nothing else of interest. Returning back to the car and we got a female Hen Harrier play fighting with a Buzzard and at least 6 more Bluethroat. None of them showing off like the first one we had earlier. This is my fourth visit to San Felipe and I have not been let down by the birds. We left the reserve and by car we started looking for the Cranes that are wintering in the nearby fields. There was no sign of the Cranes, but we were happy with close up views of many Cattle Egret, Southern Grey Shrike, Hoopoe, Serin, Crag Martin, Green Sandpiper, Black winged Stilt, many raptors, and a stunning male Bluethroat. Also, on the flooded area in the garden where we had the Temminck’s Stint last week were 4 Little ringed Plover, 1 Dunlin and now 13 Little Stint.
Bluethroat Great Spotted Eagle
After a disappointing visit to Fuerta Alamo, on Friday, Bryan and I thought we would give it another shot and try to get all the target species at Alcanara Plains, Murcia Province. We arrived just after 09.00 and spent all day in the area. Using the car, we criss-crossed, did the dirt tracks, the circuits, across the plains and it paid off. The light was perfect and we had our minds on Little Bustard, Black-bellied Sandgrouse and Lesser Short-toed lark. While scanning the many small reservoirs, dotted all over the shop on the plains, I noticed a single Stone Curlew in a ploughed field nearby. On closer inspection we discovered there were a few more. When the whole lot got up, we were stunned to see that there were well over 200 birds in the air! Water Pipit, Black Redstart, Stonechat and Cattle Egret were in small numbers, while Crested Lark, Skylark and White Wagtail were in the hundreds. I looked to the skies and picked up a distant Golden Eagle. Later we got 2 birds together a lot closer and the odd Buzzard popped up too. As we approached a large stubble field, Bryan commented that this looked good for sandgrouse and within seconds of him saying that, we could see 11 Black bellied Sandgrouse. They didn't stick around and were off with the other 36 sandgrouse that we didn't see until they started flying. Fortunately, they came down two fields away and we got cracking views. It was too short and they were off again, this time to the far end of the plains. After seeing that brief flyby of a single bird overhead at Petrola last week, today I could really appreciate these top quality birds, in flight, showing off their deep black bellies with pale upperparts and they sure could motor.
Stone Curlews Black bellied Sandgrouse
We moved on and cut through the plains on one of the many central dirt tracks. We ended up on the road near to where we started and as I turned left, a female Marsh Harrier flew low overhead. This was followed by a small party of medium sized birds. We were looking directly into the sun and it was not until I could get my bins on them, that I shouted 'LITTLE BUSTARD', Bryan was out of the car and onto them within seconds! At very close range, the 30 bustards circled us twice before settling down, not too far away, on the plains. We guessed that the passing harrier put them up. The bustards were also a new species for Bryan and we both wanted to see them on the deck. Searching for nearly an hour in the area where we thought they had come down, resulted in seeing the Stone Curlews again and the female Hen Harrier that we saw here a few days ago.
Little Bustards
After dropping off Trish at Alicante Airport to return to the freezing cold and snowy conditions in the UK, Bryan and I set off into the warm sunshine, inland towards the Northern Serrias. It took us just over half an hour to get there and passing through we headed up to the hills above Alcoy to hopefully see Griffon Vulture! There were turned over fields on the left hand side of the road and I noticed Chaffinches flying around. I pulled into the side and started scanning. There must have been over 200 birds and with them were a small group of Rock Bunting! At last I had seen one, including a stunning male. As we pulled away, 4 Griffon Vulture were high above the mountains. We quickly parked up and started walking up a track until we arrived at the area where the birds were just overhead. From here we were looking down on Alcoy and you could also make out the wild Griffons from the yellow wing-tagged successful re-introduction birds. Over 40 were in the air together, while at the same time, some were perched on rocks at close range. Also on the track, we got lots of Crested Tit, Coal Tit, Long tailed Tit, Short toed Treecreeper, Black Redstart and 2 Firecrest. It was bloody cold up there, but we were soon in the sun again when we returned to Alicante.
Griffon Vultures
At 09.00, Trevor who's from Hartley, London, arrived at Bryan's house and an hour later we were at Fuerrta Alamo. Looking over the fields, we immediately locked onto a female Hen Harrier hunting at very close range. Serin, Corn Bunting, Cattle Egret and Crested Lark, were all over the shop. We had been in the area for a good two hours and really had nothing. As we left the area to head to our next destination, the mountain ranges of Sierra Espuna, 20 Stone Curlew flew overhead. The 5000ft mountain of Espuna that we were climbing, using the car, took nearly an hour to get up with two brief stops on the way. When we reached the top, the view was breathtaking! The first bird that we spotted, all the way up here, was a male Dartford Warbler! A Golden Eagle was circling above on the next ridge and as we moved into the pines, 5 Ring Ouzel and 2 Redwing flew low overhead. There were two buntings we were after, Rock Bunting and Cirl Bunting. After searching a site, where both Bryan and Trevor have seen them on many occasions in the past, today, there was no sign of the two species. Another 2 Ring Ouzel showed well and a tit flock moving through included. Long tailed, Coal, Great Tit and lots of Crested Tits. Also with them were, 4 Short toed Treecreeper, 6 Firecrest, 3 Jay and Crossbills were heard and seen everywhere. Returning down the mountain, we had a look in the area where we flushed 8 Woodlark with the car when making our way to the top. No luck. However, we got a Wren! It's the only one I've seen so far on this trip. The Coal Tits have buff flanks, greyer backs and sound completely different to the ones at home. Also, when hearing Crested Tits, which are very common, they call like the start of a Little Grebe. For the first few seconds I think there are Little Grebes in the woods!
Crossbill Crested Tit
With the Costa Blanca Bird Club. John and Mary Brazier picked Bryan and myself up and then we teamed up with nearly 30 birders at the local supermarket. We all set off to visit San Felipe and our guide was Malcolm Palmer. Malcolm told me that he was involved in the trapping of the first Blackpoll Warbler to be recorded in Britain on St Agnes, October '68! If that wasn't enough, he went to visit Bardsey Island a few days later and was there when they trapped the second British record of Blackpoll Warbler!! What's the chances of that happening?
We arrived at San Felipe just after 10.00 and started seeing the same species that Bryan and I saw on our last visit, 5 Booted Eagle, 7 Marsh Harrier, Penduline Tit, heard only, Cetti's, Fan-tailed, Dartford and Sardinain warbler. It wasn't until later that we got species that we didn't get last time including, Ring tailed Hen Harrier, 2 Little ringed Plover, Bluethroat and the highlight was a very showy Temminck's Stint feeding with 6 Little Stint. The stints weren't on the muddy margins of a pool or in a flooded field, but in a small puddle in a garden! There was also a Water Pipit here with 2 more birds just up the road. I finished off the evening at El Clot and the first bird that I saw, was a Hoopoe. The only one of the day. I could hear Long tailed Tits coming towards me and as they flew passed I counted 5 birds. The trill call was more abrubt and harsher than the ones I hear at home. Instead of a single Song Thrush, I had 4 birds, and on the pool was my first Water Rail of the trip. Since I arrived in Spain, I've heard and seen them only in flight, daily, but today I got cracking views of an Iberian Green Woodpecker. I stayed at the reserve to almost dark, and as a result I got up to 5 Little Owls.
Temmincks Stint Little Owl
Today at 9.30, we left for the road and over an hour later we arrived at Petrola in the province of Castilla la Mancha. The first village we hit was Bonete. It was bitter, with a cold strong wind, and we found a large flock of Rock Sparrow, over 200. A few miles out along the N430, we stopped and had a scan for our target species. Within seconds, I picked up 16 Great Bustard in the distance. We drove a little closer and scope views were had by all. However, they were too far for the camera. Nevertheless, I was very happy, but we both had no idea what would happen later in the day. We continued on the main road, stopping off to scan the many pools at the side of the road along the way, and then pulled into a farm. Here there were Black Redstarts, Corn Buntings and good numbers of Crested Lark with 50+ being the largest flock. At the end of the day we must have seen well over 300 birds. At Laguna de Petrola, one of the largest lakes, there was 1 male Pintail, 4 Water Pipit, 21 Pochard, 150+ Teal, 30 Lapwing, 2 Ruff and Green Sandpiper, 7 Marsh Harrier and well over 700 Shoveler. The most that I've ever seen. All the ducks were distant, but when we looked out from the hide, there directly in front of us were, 4 White headed Duck, including a cracking male.
White headed Duck Great Bustards
Everything was going well and when we took a dirt track nearby towards Correl Rubio, we were rewarded with over 200 Calandra Lark. They were very mobile and only flight shots were taken. A few miles up the track and a Black bellied Sandgrouse flew SW overhead. Magic! We thought that it was a good idea to return and see if the bustards were feeding closer to the road. They were, but now there were 35 in total! As we drove away from the bustards, I spotted a Ring tailed Hen Harrier flying away from us. Back at Bonete we took another dirt track. For five minutes it was all quiet, until Bryan shouted, "Great Bustards"! I think that's what he said. Just 150 yards in front of us were 11 birds looking very wary. Sure enough, they slowly lifted from the ground and gracefully flew across the fields, showing off the large amount of white in their wings. Double Magic! 'Oh there's a Hoopoe,' well we couldn't go through the day without seeing one. As we drove past the bird, 11 of these birds got up and flew further down the road! A flock of Hoopoe! It just couldn't get any better. We also saw 2 Merlin, 3 Mistle Thrush, large flocks of Magpie, 3 Buzzard and lots of Kestrel. It was a great day out, despite it being bloody freezing. Bar the Pin tailed Sandgrouse, we got all the other target birds we were after and might return to try again in the next few days.
Great Bustards Great Bustard in flight
A quick look at Clot Nature Reserve this morning produced 40+ Stone Curlew, a single Little Owl and still around was the Song Thrush. All the other stuff, Sardinian Warbler, Dartford Warbler, Cetti's Warbler and Black Redstart were all around in good numbers. Late morning and we made our way in the sunshine towards San Felipe. One of the best reserves in the Alicante area and only half an hour down the road. Once again we stopped off at a number of places, including the dump. This paid off, because there was a White Stork, very rare this time of the year, on a wall with Grey Herons. Over 100 Cattle Egret were feeding in all the rubbish with lots of Yellow legged Gulls and Black headed Gulls. Just around the corner, up to 7 Hoopoe were feeding together and, using the car as a mobile hide, all of them performed at very close range. Didn't expect to see White Stork on this trip.
Stone Curlew White Stork
We arrived at San Felipe Reserve and there was one special bird that I was hoping to see here. It started off well and while eating are dinner, a female Little Bittern flew across the pool next to where we were sitting. We started walking and immediately heard Penduline Tit and saw two birds showing very well next to the board walk. This was followed by many Fan tailed Warblers and Cetti's Warblers. Overhead, there were many Crag Martin and the odd Marsh Harrier flew through. I kept on scanning the skies and then picked up in the distance, what I thought, might be the bird I was after. GREATER SPOTTED EAGLE! In fact this could be Tonn, a radio transmitted bird from Estonia which has been wintering in this area since 2007. This winter it has been joined by 2 other Greater Spotted Eagles that first arrived last year. It was too far away to see a transmitter on the back, but you could see the larger size difference when it was circling with a light phase Booted Eagle. The GS Eagle flew off NE, while the Booted Eagle was joined by another light phase and both showed superbly just above our heads. The only birds of note on the pools were 2 Black necked Grebe, and both Serin and Crested Lark were in the car park. Bryan managed to see a Bluethroat that I just missed. Penduline Tits and Fan tailed Warbler were heard and seen all over the shop.
Penduline Tit Fan tailed Warbler
Returning home, we were unsuccessful in searching for the small number of Cranes wintering near the reserve. On the roadsides, there must of been well over 100 Chiffchaff feeding and when reading the book 'A Birdwatching Guide to Eastern Spain' it comments that 'millions of Chiffchaff winter on the reserve! Eight Tree Sparrow were also seen on the roadside. A few more Booted Eagles, single Ruff and Lapwing, and 2 more Hoopoe were also seen. We stopped off at Santa Pola Salt Pans and got an Osprey flying off to roost.
Got up this morning, had a shower, brushed me teeth, tapped the brush two times, cut me nails, or did I do that first before I brushed me teeth. I can't remember. Hold on a minute, I had me breakfast first and then cut me nails followed by brushing me teeth. Did I pick me toe nails off the floor? Anyway, I made me way outside and I could hear a SERIN in me garden. I found it on the grass. Was I dreaming? Then I heard Bryan shouting me name. No, it was a nightmare!! I looked over me shoulder and there was a stunning BLACK WHEATEAR!! This was followed by a cracking male SARDINIAN WARBLER!! It wasn't a dream or a nightmare. I was in Alicante, Spain and all these birds that I was seeing, were all in Trish and Bryan's garden. What a garden! Tean set off to France yesterday on a school trip for ten days. So while she was away, at the last minute, I booked a ticket and yesterday I arrived in sunny Spain. But today, it wasn't sunny. In fact I was told that it was the first time it's been cold and cloudy for nearly a month. I didn't care and started walking down the road, looking for ideal spots for birds. Just ten minutes from the house, I found, what looked like an ideal area and it turned out to be pretty good. There were lots to see including good numbers of Spotless Starling, Dartford Warbler and Sardinian Warbler, Robin and Black Redstart were everywhere. Out of the 30+ Black Redstarts, I only saw one male. Just as I was walking up the road towards the house, I could see the Black Wheatear on Bryan's garden wall!
Later in the morning, Bryan and I set off to Santa Pola Salt Pans. The salt pans seemed to stretch for miles. Here I saw my first Slender billed Gull, Crag Martin, Greater Flamingo, Crested Lark, Southern Grey Shrike and Fan tailed Warbler as well as other good birds. It was fantastic! I've been to a few European countries before, but that was to play football. This is the first time that I've ever done any birding in Europe and I was loving it already!
Black Redstart Crested Lark
We continued along the coastal road from Santa Pola back to Bryan's place, stopping off to have a look around. The highlights were up to 5 Audouin's Gull and a single Kentish Plover. Also a single Long tailed Parakeet over the car was only the second one that Bryan has ever seen. We had an 30 minute look at El Clot Nature Reserve and in front of the hide there was a Hoopoe, the 7th of the day, showing at very close range for ten minutes. With the 15 Moorhen was my first Purple Gallinule. However, a Song Thrush, would you believe, proved to be the rarest bird of the day, if you take away that Parakeet! The last bird of the day was the Black Wheatear just outside me bedroom window!
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Audouin's Gull Hoopoe
TOTALS OF SOME OF THE BIRDS SEEN TODAY - 6 CRESTED LARK, 5 FAN-TAILED WARBLER, 6 WATER PIPIT, 80+ GREATER FLAMINGO, 1 PURPLE GALLINULE, 20+ BLACK-WINGED STILT, 10+ SLENDER-BILLED GULL, 2 BLACK-NECKED GREBE, 1 GREY PLOVER, 1 KENTISH PLOVER, 1 SONG THRUSH, 7 HOOPOE, 1 LITTLE GREBE, 5 AUDOUIN'S GULL, 50+ SARDINIAN WARBLER, 40+ DARTFORD WARBLER, 50-60 BLACK REDSTART (only 3 males), 2 MARSH HARRIER, 1 CATTLE EGRET, 12 SANDWICH TERN, 15+ GREAT WHITE EGRET, 30+ LITTLE EGRET, 50+ SPOTLESS STARLING, 100'S YELLOW-LEGGED GULL.