Yecla and Petrola – by Barry Chambers

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Calandra Lark by Bryan Thomas©.
Calandra Lark by Bryan Thomas©.

16 hardy members and guests met at Almansa, following a day and night of very strong winds. The wind was less strong today but it was still a chilly day. Stephan and Els had undertaken the same trip the previous Tuesday and had seen all the target birds in the Yecla area so we decided to visit Yecla first. We drove along various tracks once leaving the main road, seeing good numbers of Larks including a great number of Calandra Larks and several Carrion Crows, a bird not seen in our area. A Common Buzzard and a Raven were spotted briefly. We then added Little Owl and Mistle Thrush to our list but still none of our target birds. We stopped to scan the fields and found large flocks of Goldfinch and Linnets and then a Stone Curlew was spotted and although our scopes focused in on it, some people still had difficulty seeing it, they can be very difficult to see when they are standing still. We headed back along a track previously travelled, a Kestrel was hovering ahead, when Stephan & Els spotted 8 Black Bellied Sandgrouse on some open ground, it was a great spot as they were very well camouflaged. Whilst watching the Sandgrouse we heard a distant Iberian Green Woodpecker calling and watched a pair of Stonechats. We continued on, heading for lunch, seeing the Little Owl again. After a very reasonably priced lunch at Caudete we were ready to head for Petrola to see the Great Bustards, unfortunately it had started raining but we decided to continue as we would still be able to see the Bustards from our cars. The rain began turning to snow and soon was settling on the fields and pavements but Fran and Dave still managed to see a juv. Golden Eagle. We all pulled over to a lay by and it was an easy decision to call it a day, as the snow was getting heavier and the roads would soon become dangerous. We did manage to see a few birds despite the weather and the Great Bustards will be for another day.