Birding Central Spain- Day 1

Montagues Harrier

Little Bustard

Little Bustard

Eagle Owl

Eagle Owl

Calandra Lark

Whiskered Terns

Gull billed Tern

Pin-tailed Sandgrouse

I'd done very little birding in Spain, most of my family holidays have been to the Eastern Mediterranean, mainly Cyprus and Lesbos with the odd trip to Portugal and the Balearic islands. So when the opportunity arose to go to Central Spain I was very keen to go. Steve Cawthray had told me about his previous Tom Gullick experience and it sounded just the job, a short but intensive bird watching trip which included 5 species I needed and many I would love to see again.

Spain is a wonderful country for birds with vast open plains with scattered oaks, rocky uplands, and surprising areas of wetland (at least in the winter). There is space, space for people and space for Wildlife. Our party was made up of Steve Cawthray, who did most of the organising and liason, Steve Haynes who was the financial advisor and Pauline. We met Tom Gullick at Madrid airport and travelled south in his Landcruiser for about an hour before our first stop. Unfortunately I cant remember the names of any of the sites we visited as we moved from site to site very quickly with little chance to make notes. In fact we drove around central southern Spain with almost Military precision. Moving from target species to target species covering considerable distances. We drove along rough tracks and through fields in order to find as many birds as possible. We took it in turns to act as look out, standing up through the sun roof as we bounced over deeply rutted fields looking like some Tank commander at El Alamein. The tactics worked though and a few bruises were worth it to see grassland species such as Calandra Lark, Quail, Little and Great Bustards

For me the best birds of the day were 14 Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, a new species for me, which we were able to get quite close to. The Eagle Owls were a bit special, we saw 5 birds and marvelled at their sheer size. Other birds on day one included : Bee-eater, Gull billed Tern, Whiskered Tern and Montagues Harrier.

Back to the rain

Saturday 16th May 2009

After a short birding break in Central Spain it was back to a short visit to Brandon Marsh. I was trying to play catch-up having clearly missed a significant wader passage through Warks while I was away. Steve Haynes, Steve Cawthray and myself had been kept well informed of the coming and goings of birds in the Tame valley particularly. As the Tame valley was now flooded out and more or less devoid of birds Brandon seemed a better bet. I did manage to add Turnstone (148)to the annual County list, but despite some heavy squalls nothing else dropped in.

Passerines seem to be struggling a bit at the moment with the poor weather. Reed warblers were eating seed and Whitethroats were coming to the nests with single small larvae and the odd flying insect. Lets hope it warms up soon.

I'll wite up an account of our Iberian adventure shortly when Ive sorted out a few photographs

Pockets

Monday 11th May 2009

Not much birding action locally so I thought I'd waffle on about a Birding related topic and include a couple of images of the Anthony Gormley sculptures at Crosby, taken last week. In terms of topics it was a view on Lee Evans's dissertation on 'Respect or the lack of it in Birding these days' or Pockets.

So, why do birders need so many pockets or are we all just slaves to fashion? I got some new gear for my first ever birding with strangers holiday to Israel last year. My excuse was I needed some light weight desert wear. So I got one of those sleeveless waistcoat things I swore I'd never be seen dead in. 9 pockets and counting. Why would anyone want or need 9 pockets? Soccer referees have to carry something like 7 items ish. Its a regular quiz question. So if you add the odd surgical appliance we're getting there, but then you've got trousers or shorts in the case of referees. The average well todo birder's trousers has 7 pockets. I can lose a set of car keys wearing jeans and a T shirt so Ive got no chance . So what 15 essential items should the modern Birder carry? Notebook and pencil ? Takes us back to Mr Evans's comments.

Pallid Swift in Merseyside

Friday 8th May 2009

Been a bitty sort of week Birding wise, a bit here and a bit there, popping in to places on the way to somewhere else. Been to all the local sites but nothing much going on. Today I couldnt make my mind up whether to go to Brandon or Kingsbury so I went to Liverpool. Good run up despite some heavy showers through Cheshire. Arrived at Seaforth Nature reserve in brilliant sunshine but almost Gale force westerly winds. On the short walk from the Car park to the viewing area next to 'the fence' up to 6 Swifts were flying low over the path near the fence. The Pallid Swift showed well among the Common Swifts flying low along the fence between the Nature reserve and Crosby Marine Park. There were only 4 other observers enjoying wonderful views of this rare visitor. I went back to the car to get my camera in the hope of getting some blur shots. The bird showed well for over half an hour and then suddenly disappeared for several hours.

I had a wander to the beach to see the sculptures on the beach by the same guy who did the Angel of the North whose name escapes me. Quite impressive I must admit. There were a few other birds about including Little Gull, Northern Wheatear, Linnet and White Wagtail.

You can say what you like about 'twitching', but once I'd made my mind up I had a great day out.

The Pallid Swift wasn't a tick for me but I enjoyed seeing it. REM playing in the car and a couple of pints of Hop-timist at the Brewery what more can you ask?

P.S. The sculptor I couldn't recall yesterday was Anthony Gormley. Credit to local culture vulture and fount of all knowledge Mr Tom Perrins.

Tuesday 5th May 2009

After the excitement of the previous week it was back to some sort of normality in the Tame valley. After light showers in the morning the weather in the afternoon was fine with a strong west or north westerly breeze. Coleshill was my first destination but there was little in the way of bird life. The same could be said of Haunch Lane. The Garganey was still on Cliff pool but kept well to the north shore. A couple of Redshank, and a Little ringed Plover were on the islands but it was generally quiet. Fishers Mill was also quiet apart from a small flock of Sand Martins and a lone Oystercatcher.

Sandpipers

Monday 5th May 2009

Hobby from the bedroom was a great start to the day but then had to adjust plans when news of a Wood Sandpiper at Brandon Marsh broke. The trip to Coventry was in vain, however, as the Sandpiper moved on as soon as the early morning rain cleared. A Common Sandpiper outside East Marsh hide was far more obliging though.

Dawn Chorus

Lee Valley Country Park
Nightingale

Garden warbler

Sunday 3rd May 2009

Travelled down to Lee valley Country Park in the early hours with John Terry. John having missed the Savi's warbler yesterday was determined to give it his best shot today by being there at daybreak. The park is made up of a series of pools of varying sizes with islands, marshland, woodland and reed beds. As we walked to the area the Savi's had been singing in we were met by a chorus of bird song. We heard several Nightingales, Blackcap, Garden warbler, Cuckoo, Water rail, Whitethroat, Sedge warbler, Reed warbler, as well as the more familiar Garden birds and the Savi's warbler. Wonderful sounds. Encouraged that the Savi's was in song we took up positions which gave us a view of some of the Reed bed. There were maybe 12 other birders at this stage. The Savi's reeled very occasionally and we waited for it to put in an appearance. More birders arrived but still the bird kept low. I moved position to where the bird was giving a strong burst of song and was fortunate to have my bins trained on the right patch of reeds as the Savi's warbler suddenly shot up level with the top of the reeds and down again....and that was it. Poor John and most of the other birders didnt even get that brief glimpse. Thank gawd the Brandon Marsh bird showed a good bit better in 1995.

Other birds seen during the morning were Common tern, Sparrowhawk and Peregrine falcon.