Another morning spent in the mountains not far from Alicante. On Tuesday morning we travelled towards Agost, just a few kilometers north of the airport. It was an easy journey and our objective was to research the Agost side of the mountain of Maigmó. This is what we could see when we were viewing the Swifts on previous occasions from the top of the ridge. Some of this area is cultivated with other areas left to nature. There are three agriculture reservoirs, a bed of an old railway and a bridge standing in isolation that can be seen. Over the centuries the land had been terraced on the slopes, but that looked abandoned now.
We wanted to understand the habitats just outside Agost and adjacent to the mountain. Eventually we travelled in and around and satisfied ourselves that we had attained some understanding. It was not easy and we went down some roads that we would otherwise would not have done.
Our first road was one that took us through an almost deserted landscape that yielded little in the way of species seen. (In summary: I thought we were at the arse end of the world). In the early morning a Common Buzzard flew, several Southern Grey Shrikes perched and flew along with Goldfinches and Chaffinches. It was a scape of deeply eroded cuts and tips of waste earth and stone.
We carried on through and eventually came to A 7 and we decided to go up Maigmó again. It was not productive and eventually we worked our way around to the other side of Agost and then we were at the base of Maigmó. This is an area of mixed habitats where both urban and rural dereliction was evident. Cultivated vines were adjacent to areas left to themselves. Ideal for seed feeding birds, but for today not many to be seen. Bee-eaters called in the distance and one female Common Kestrel perched and flew away.
We carried on taking a mountainous road to
It was an interesting with a variety of habitats. At Rincón de Bello, a very neat picnic area, we heard and saw Choughs flocking, but not a lot else. In comparison to where we had been this corner of the world was picturesque and beautiful. A light wind made it feel pleasant in comparison to the coastal temperatures.
As regards Agost the best bit for me was when we left it as it is an ugly place although Bryan spotted a leucistic House Martin. Petrer was different with water in the small river and great fun to find our way onto the motorway. There were no signs! Such fun!
Our assessment was that this could be an interesting area during migration and could be worth another visit.
We returned rapidly and spent some excellent minutes at Clot de Galveney. We felt we needed to see some avian beauty before we stopped for a beer. On the open water we saw a splendid male White-headed Duck with three young. Two juvenile Purple Swamp Hens posed together with Little Grebe and Common Pochards. A Great Reed Warbler called and so did a Common Sandpiper. A Sand Martin flew over. Not a great list, but good views of the species seen.
Bryan has also posted in his blog - http://birdingcostablanca.blogspot.com
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