On a beautifully sunny and warm February morning, 14 CBBC members met at the Venta Don Jamón on the outskirts of Alhama de Murcia. After coffees, and breakfasts for some members, we headed through the town and climbed up the winding mountain road to our first stop at the Centro de Visitantes. As soon as we got out of our cars, we heard a Common Buzzard and then saw it flying overhead. During the short walk through the trees from the car park to the Mirador del Avión, we saw Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Serin, Firecrest, Chaffinch and Mistle Thrush. We also heard Short-toed Treecreeper, but didn’t see it. On top of the viewing tower at the Mirador, we had good views of three Booted Eagles high above us.
Moving on the short distance to the picnic area at Fuente del Hilo, Gary spotted a Short-toed Treecreeper. We also saw our first Long-tailed Tits of the day, plus another Great Tit and Mistle Thrush. Continuing upwards on the road through almost 20 hairpin bends, we reached the road junction at the Mirador del Collado Bermejo. This is usually a very good spot to see Common Crossbill. Alas, none were present today, so we continued further upwards to the Pozos de la Nieve car park. At a height of 1,400 metres, it was a bit chilly and windy, so extra layers of clothing were put on. Just back down the road from the car park, we spotted a ”charm” (Les told me that’s the collective noun for them!) of Goldfinches.
At the start of the path to the ice houses, we saw Coal Tit and Crested Tit, before most of us walked several hundred metres along the path to the site where Ring Ouzels are often seen in winter. In a short space of time, we had brief glimpses of around ten flying, but none posing for us in the usual bushes. At last, one obliged and we had an excellent view of it for a few minutes. Ian wandered off to our left and came back to tell us that he’d seen three more in the bushes lower down. We also saw Black Redstart, Great Tit and Coal Tit.
Greta and Paul had taken the other path from the car park and walked past the Mirador del Collado Mangueta to two more ice houses. They returned to tell us that they’d neither seen nor heard anything. We had some time before we needed to set off for our lunch stop, so four of us walked a short distance down that same path. We had no more luck than Greta and Paul, but Ian saw a small bird in the conifers that looked just like a Redpoll. The bird guides state that Redpolls don’t come this far south, but birds don’t read the bird guides! We drove back down to the Common Crossbills site at Mirador del Collado Bermejo and stopped for a few minutes. Still no sign of any, so we descended on the road towards Aledo and Totana and stopped for lunch at the Restaurante Los Donceles. We had a good quality menú del día for a mere 14€ each and the service from all the staff was very friendly and efficient. Highly recommended!
After lunch, we crossed the road from the restaurant to the picnic area. Two Ravens flew over us and, in the next 10 minutes, we also saw three Jays. Ian wandered off again and came back with sightings of Stonechat, Sardinian Warbler, Robin and Blackbird. It was now nearing 5pm, so we decided to call it a day and head for home.
