Day Four

MONDAY 5th February. We discussed the value in booking a guide for a day. Laury was our ‘in-house’ man as we were staying on his property. We already had three very successful days and we had taken some advice on where to go. We decided that to see more we needed local knowledge and it proved to be a very good decision for we had twenty-three new species on the day.

We left prompt at 9am with a frosted windscreen and our first destination was to a restricted area where Luary had gained permission. The habitats for today changed from pine woodland, through the whole range of coastal ones to farmland late in the afternoon. Crested Tit was more easily heard than seen, but we all saw it and I had a clear view through binoculars. When two were seeing Dartford Warbler the other two were having great views of a Dunnock. It perched in full view in a leafless bush. On the adjacent lagoon there were Gadwall and Wigeon that were both new birds for this trip. One House Martin flew over. Other waders were there too.



The next area was a salt water habitat. Perched in the distance was an Osprey and there was one flying over the port area afterwards. This area was fantastic for the quantity of waders and gulls, but nothing that was new for us. We had terrific and frequent views of both Whimbrels and Curlews again and saw another Grey Plover.


Gulls were plentiful and included out first sightings of both Audouin’s and Slender Bill Gulls.

On the unused salt pans waders were numerous and my target bird and star bird of the day was three excellent sightings of one Marsh Sandpiper. We worked at it as the bird flew several times before Bryan was able to photograph it. This is an area not to be missed there was not only a plethora of birds, but also a rarity too.

Watching a Marsh Sandpiper


We moved on and we saw both Sandwich and Caspian Terns and then a Purple Heron flew to disappear into the marismas.

We again changed habitats and headed towards farmland in search for the Black Shouldered (Winged) Kite. We located two with one perched on a platform and the other one, the male, was flying until it landed with the female and copulation took place. We were to have three more sightings of others.

The farmland area was buzzing with birds that included Spanish Sparrow and a variety of Larks including Sky and Calandra.

It was another full day, guided for this one, and we arrived back home at 7.30 hungry and satisfied with our day. I thought good value for money with no driving for Michelle or for myself with a good variety of birds and excellent views of a Marsh Sandpiper which was a first anywhere for the both of us.

Our guide was Laury Grenon at info@andalucianaturetrips.com