North Gate at El Hondo

I spent three wonderful hours in going through the North Gate at El Hondo this Saturday morning. It was hot, but not too hot with a light breeze. You never know what is going to show and who you may meet. Today a regular attender entered and we spoke of Barn Owls and he informed me that they are to be seen, but of course, we are not there at the correct times to see them. We also discussed shooting and hunting. I could hear guns that were fairly close by and he stated that they should only be shooting rabbits, but also Turtle Doves could be what they are shooting at. That's a shame and why shoot such a beautiful bird?

There were only two cars that entered with me and one of those was driven by an ornithologist whose home patch was East Yorkshire. He was great company and I benefited from his knowledge and keen eyes.

Birding wise it was great morning. All around Little Bitterns, Squacco Herons and Water Rails called. One of the latter flew across right in front of us. My companion was able to get the scope on a female Little Bittern as it perched low down in the reeds while it looked for prey. It was really beautifully marked and the stripes were so clear. Night Herons, like last week, flew and perched. Grey Herons also flew and we saw one Purple Heron. Also, in addition to Little and Cattle Egrets, a Large Egret flew. Glossy Ibis also flew.

On the water we counted eleven White-headed Ducks and they were a mixture of females and juveniles. Together with the three smaller ones we saw last week it does seem that there has been some successful hatching and fledging. One Kingfisher called and flew past us.

On the larger lagoon an Osprey was perched for the entire morning and in a margin we saw one Common Sandpiper and one Green Sandpiper. As we walked to this hide both Melodious and Reed Warblers were seen in the trees. The Moustached remained invisible!

On our return we spent a short time in the small elevated hide. The water is some distance away, but Curlew Sandpiper were identified. It was quiet by now and a search of the skies revealed
an Alpine Swift (I need to see one for myself) amongst the Pallids and possible Common Swifts.
Barn and Red-rumped were easily seen and the occasional House Martin.

I have not listed everything that we did see. I had a great time and now I will be paying more attention to the skies to try and see an Alpine Swift for myself and next Saturday I will be doing the same again.