Three good souls went out to investigate the area between Yecla and Claudette and saw very little. A distant Marsh Harrier - Aguilucho Luganero popped up and we heard a Chiffchaff singing! (Mosquito Común) and a Mistle Thrush - Zorzal Charló. This was the route we used to take to get into Estepas de Yecla before we made a better decision to come off A 31 at Claudette. Much quicker.
We only viewed another trip to Estepas de Yecla as a back-up idea and we needed it. Turning left off the Caudette Road we hoped to see Golden Eagles - Águila Real who we have known to be there. A flock of House Sparrows - Gorrión Común were an encouraging sight and a male Black Redstart showed really well (Colirrojo Tizón) and that was the best of it!
We now went to the other side heading towards Caudette. I will sum it up - very disappointing but we know the area and we always see something. This is a Lark - Cogujada area with a good number of Calendras - Calandria flying and obscuring themselves among the furrows. Skylarks - Alondra and Crested - Común and that was that. Meadow Pipits - Bisbita Común showed well and we saw flocks of Linnet - Pardillo Común and Goldfinch - Jilguero.
However we always safe the best for last. In a bare earth field a raptor. Definitely showing blue and then it took off fast. A process of elimination indicates it was a Peregrin Falcon - Halcón Peregrino. Can’t say for sure but….Then Bryan spotted a Red Kite - Milano Real, very distant and even with his lens it was only a possibility. Then it came our way and we were treated to a great show. It dropped to the ground and took off and away. We carried on and there it was again flying fast, high nad right over us and away. It’s not often we see this species and so we enjoyed it. It even appeared again but this time distant and then disappeared. You have to enjoy what you see and there were many species missing.
This has been a regular place for hearing and/or seeing both species of Sandrouse - Ganga but not this time nor for our visit previously. Two factors may come into play. The first being that many fields having been worked were bare earth. Yes there were fields that still had some cover and the other factor is that the hunters were out. So, maybe they kept their heads down or there are not the populations that were there before. Disappointing as they are always good to view even though they could be difficult. I don’t think we will be visiting here until next spring as we had to work hard for what we saw.
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