On a sunny, but not too hot evening, 11 members met in the car park by the Visitor Centre at El Hondo. Two Little Ringed Plovers were seen on the ground in the car park and a Stone Curlew was spotted on a nest on the gravel just outside the parking area. Another one was wandering around in that same area.
We moved on to the small pond at the side of the Visitor Centre, before continuing along the boardwalk and then turning left to the next two hides. The reeds around the ponds were very high in most places, making it almost impossible to see small waders, if any were there. I can’t remember which birds we saw/heard in each location, so here’s the list of all the birds (in strict Collins Bird Guide order!) that we saw and/or heard before we returned to our cars.
Species list – Shelduck, Mallard, Pochard, Black-necked Grebe, Little Bittern, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Great Egret, Squacco Heron, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, Glossy Ibis, Flamingo, Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Coot, Red-knobbed Coot, Purple Swamphen, Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Stone Curlew, Collared Pratincole, Little Ringed Plover, Black-headed Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Little Tern, Whiskered Tern, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Swift, Bee-eater, Crested/Thekla’s Lark, Crag Martin, Barn Swallow, House Martin, Nightingale, Stonechat, Blackbird, Sardinian Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, Reed Warbler, Great Reed Warbler, Iberian Grey Shrike, House Sparrow, Greenfinch.
Our club President, Geoff, had read on eBird about a sighting of Red-necked Nightjars and a Scops Owl in nearby Santa Águeda, so we decided to go for coffees in Catral and wait until dusk approached. Whilst having our drinks, we had the bonus of seeing Mexico’s opening goal of the 2026 World Cup on the tele!
On arriving at the Santa Águeda site, we were very soon approached by the person who’d put the sightings on eBird, a young Spanish man called Marcos, who lives in the village. He told us that we were in the right spot for the nightjars and that the owl was in some eucalyptus trees back in the village. As it got darker, we heard and then saw at least two, possibly three, Red-necked Nightjars during the next 15 minutes, both flying and perched in trees. By now, it was completely dark, so we decided to head back into the village and go past the eucalyptus trees on our homeward journeys. Geoff got there first and the Scops Owl was singing away up in one of the trees with its unmistakable whistling call. It was too dark to see such a small bird, but we were pleased to have heard it. A successful end to the evening.