Clot de Galvany proved to be a very good spot to be on the morning of 28th February. We arrived at 8am, a clear sky, a light wind and a temperature of only 10. The scrapes had been cleared and we had excellent views of:-
Grey Wagtail
White Wagtails - many
Meadow Pipit
Little Grebes
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Robin
Black Redstarts
Chiff Chaffs
Common Pochards
Red Crested Pochards
Teal
Northern Shovellers
Mallard
Morehen
Common Coot
Shelduck
Iberian Green Woodpecker
Marsh Harrier
Spotless Starling
Crag Martins
Barn Swallows (our first for this spring)
House Sparrows
Grey Heron
After just under one and half hours we were content with that list and
we headed towards El Hondo hoping to find our first Great Spotted Cuckoo who are early arrivals, but there was no sight of one. And on the way we saw:-
Crested Larks
Common Kestrel
Collared Doves
Wood Pigeons
Goldfinches
Linnets
Magpie
This was not a great list and there were many absentees. We moved on to the Information Centre at El Hondon and saw:-
Wood Sandpiper
Snipe
Purple Swamphen
Red Knobbed Coot
Marbled Duck (X24)
Kingfisher
Penduline Tits (X2)
Blackcap
Cetti’s Warbler
Glossy Ibis - many
Little Egret
Booted Eagle (X3)
Southern Grey Shrike
Again we moved on to Santa Águeda and we saw flying and perched the Great Spotted Eagle.
Palm Farm Road provided nothing of note and at El Pinet there was:-
Slender Billed Gulls (within meters)
Spoonbill (X6)
Black Tailed Godwits ( 30 plus)
Avocets - numerous.
The full morning of sun had raised the temperatures to mid twenties, The birds are on the move with winter ones still with us and others beginning to arrive. I seldom complete a list and on this occasion, to give a visitor an idea of what can be seen. I have not listed birds seen in more than one location. Here’s to the impending arrivals and hopefully rain. It is bone dry.
Photographs were taken by Bryan Thomas and will be posted as soon as possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment