A good day’s birding today at El Hondo. A soggy morning at North Gate produced a bird I’ve been after for some time. I managed to find a splendid Greater Spotted Eagle preening in a distant Eucalyptus tree. I would love to have waited for it to take flight but my time in this part of the reserve had come to an end. Other notable birds here included an overflying Spoonbill, a Little Bittern and very close views of good numbers of Great White Egrets.
As the weather was clearing up (a little), I thought I’d try the viewing platforms at Santa Agueda. Plenty to see here including double figures of Marsh Harriers, at least 3 Booted Eagles, very brief and distant views of a large bird of prey high over the visitor’s centre, 3 Wood Sandpiper, 2 Green Sandpiper, an abattoir of 5 Iberian Grey Shrike, a few Bluethroat which gave some decent views and a female Merlin dashed through panicking every passerine in the area.
