Winter has arrived and temperatures only get as high as mid-to-high teens. We have had rain too, but this is spasmodic and often local. Due to other events this was my first trip out for a month.
So, on Friday 15th, I again travelled to meet Bryan and also Mark whose efforts you can see on FaceBook via Spain and U.K. Bird Group.
We didn't expect to see anything exceptional, but our daily list was impressive. We decided to stay local and stick to our usual clockwise route to keep the sun behind us. The lagoons opposite Playa Lisa gave us:-
Zitting Cisticola
Crag Martins
Barn Swallows - three
Black-headed Gulls
Grey Heron
Little Egrets
Little Grebes
Kingfisher, Cetti’s Warbler called and a Water Rail screamed.
On the Salinas a mixture of Gulls
Yellow Legged
Auduoins
At the Salt Tower layby:-
Marsh Harriers - distant only
and on the lagoons opposite
Black-winged Stilts
Spotted Redshank
At the small turn-off with most birds distant we saw:-
Spoonbills - in excess of 60
Great Crested Grebes - in excess of 50
Sandwich Tern
Great White Egret
Little Egrets
El Pinet was disappointing and the beach only yielded:-
Shag
Cormorant
We saw neither a passing Gannet or Razorbills
We drove inland and searched the fields and the skies. Freshly cut and drying out Alfalfa provided us with sightings of both Meadow and Water Pipits. They were excellent views too and verified through the camera lens. We saw flocks of Linnets, Goldfinches, and one flock of Greenfinches of at least 50 strong. A flock of Serín matched that number too. Chaffinches and both Tree and House Sparrows were easily seen. A Little Owl perched for the photographers. Kestrels and Southern Grey Shrikes perched in the overhead wires. Glossy Ibis flew distantly. We checked out a perched Raptor and confirmed, Common Buzzard. From the usual channel a Green Sandpiper flew.
Santa Águada had been explored by Mark. Here we sat in the car and watched a male Kingfisher only meters away with Chiffs flitting only a car’s length away. A Blue Throat too. During this time we watched both dark morph and pale morph female and male Booted Eagles. They did put on a display! Marsh Harriers too. A Blackcap was clearly heard.
We returned home via Clot de Galveney. The scrapes were denuded of vegetation and as dry as a bone. One Purple Samphen and a lone White Wagtail was it. We quickly moved on to the hide where we had great views of Shovellers, Common Pochard and Teal. We checked out the Coots for a Red-knob but with no success. The edges now had no vegetation and no cover. It's a shame that the edges are not less steep which would give muddy margins. So no bloody waders! What a shame. A solitary Snipe bathed.
Okay not a bad list, but many missing and I have not mention again birds that we saw repeatedly.
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