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Costa Blanca, mid-February, 2012 (1 Viewer)

seasgaich

Well-known member
Hello everyone,

My wife and I are spending a week based in Benidorm, but solely for wildlife/photography purposes, from 18th-25th February.

We will have a car. Any information, especially on local contacts, recent sightings, best birding sports, best places for photography, likely migratory species, et c., would be welcome. I have been in the Santa Pola/Elche area before, though with a bicycle. A car will likely bring its own problems of parking and security, no doubt...

Gary & Rosemary Aitken
Inverness
 
A strange place to base yourself for a wildlife photography holiday.

Santa Pola is about 60Km, which will probably be about an hour or more as you have to negotiate the motorway past Alicante, and then through Elche. Calp has good gulls, black redstarts, cormorants etc, and eleanoras falcons if you can manage the climb to the top.

I would suggest you contact Julian Sykes,www.juliansykeswildlife.com a wildlife guide who lives in Oliva, near Denia, he is the local expert ( if you email him tell him i put you onto him ). I'm not sure if he is back from Scotland yet, but im sure he would answer your emails. It would be well worth hiring Julian for at least a day or two, as he can put you onto specific birds and locations immediately, without wasting endless time searching on your own.
 
I suggest you the road between Albatera and Hondón de los Frailes, near Elx to try to find Trumpeter Finch. It is about half an hour from El Hondo Natural Park and it is also nice to find Thekla Lark, Black Wheatear and Blue Rock Thrush.
 
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Costa Blanca query

Hello Stephen,

Many thanks for your reply. If you lived as we do in the north of Scotland and had to do things on a budget, you might appreciate why cheap alternatives like Benidorm are more acceptable than they really ought to be. Continental or other birding is none too easy from here.

I will make a point of contacting Julian Sykes, who seems to crop up in other forums too. We will stick mostly to older roads, but Santa Pola and places like El Hondo and Calp.

Once again, thanks for your help.

Gary Aitken
A strange place to base yourself for a wildlife photography holiday.

Santa Pola is about 60Km, which will probably be about an hour or more as you have to negotiate the motorway past Alicante, and then through Elche. Calp has good gulls, black redstarts, cormorants etc, and eleanoras falcons if you can manage the climb to the top.

I would suggest you contact Julian Sykes,www.juliansykeswildlife.com a wildlife guide who lives in Oliva, near Denia, he is the local expert ( if you email him tell him i put you onto him ). I'm not sure if he is back from Scotland yet, but im sure he would answer your emails. It would be well worth hiring Julian for at least a day or two, as he can put you onto specific birds and locations immediately, without wasting endless time searching on your own.
 
Costa Blanca birds

Hello Carlos,

Many thanks for your information, which I will definitely try to follow up.

I hope to see those birds you mentioned.

Gary Aitken

I suggest you the road between Albatera and Hondón de los Frailes, near Elx to try to find Trumpeter Finch. It is about half an hour from El Hondo Natural Park and it is also nice to find Thekla Lark, Black Wheatear and Blue Rock Thrush.
 
Believe me, i know all about living on a budget, i think you'd be amazed at how much i actually live on every month, compared to what someone in the UK has.

Visiting Spain need not be expensive, two people can stay in Extremadura, Coto Doñana, Ebro Delta or the Pyrenees for the same costings as a package holiday to the Costas if planned correctly.

Oh, and by the way, i lived very close to Culloden for 8 years, so know all about getting to places from there.
 
Costa Blanca 2012

Hello Stephen,

No need, then, for your opening comment, which, considering that we had already made our booking, was not encouraging. Like you, I need no advice whatever about living here, as I have done for 60 years, and have consistently experienced, and continue to experience, travel difficulties owing to poor provision comparative to some other parts of the UK. Balloch near Innerness is not unique, but certainly comparatively disadvantaged in these respects.
During a spell of very low wages, I also made contrasting trips abroad to the very areas you mention, including by bicycle and tent. This is not an option for my wife, however, for a number of reasons, and packages offer advantages if you have access to a car, which we will have in the Costa Blanca.
I must, however, thank you again for the useful information you provided, and we hope we are able to exploit it.

Believe me, i know all about living on a budget, i think you'd be amazed at how much i actually live on every month, compared to what someone in the UK has.

Visiting Spain need not be expensive, two people can stay in Extremadura, Coto Doñana, Ebro Delta or the Pyrenees for the same costings as a package holiday to the Costas if planned correctly.

Oh, and by the way, i lived very close to Culloden for 8 years, so know all about getting to places from there.
 
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