Unbelievably warm weather, butterflies and dragonflies abound, whilst winter clothes remain on the shelf. You could almost mistake the time of year as being the warmer times of spring rather than autumn. Only the mass arrival of wintering birds give the season away and even they have to be pleasantly surprised by blue skies and warmth. My mountains, my heaven and realm has seen the arrival of the most common winter visitors such as Black Redstart, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, White Wagtail, Meadow Pipit and Ring Ouzel, as well as the more localised Alpine Accentor. A surprise has been a solitary Yellow-browed Warbler up the Libar track, but then again there has been a large influx of these tiny warblers into Europe this autumn, still it got an old man very excited!
Up on the high hills of Old Ronda there are super large flocks of mixed finches, spectacular sights as the flock are constantly disturbed by wandering cow herds, passing cars or the villain of any peaceful finch flock, the Sparrowhawk! It is always worth scanning these flocks for the unusual or scarcer finch and spending time revealed Brambling among the many Chaffinches, whilst the field margins with their high fennel plants held a small flock of Siskin. Just lazing around this wonderfully scenic area can take your breath away, as autumn shadows deepen the harsh edges to rock and crag, bringing a softness to the landscape which is almost velvet like and in total contrast to summer months when bright light and haze gives an almost one dimensional appearance to both hill and mountain.
Higher in the limestone mountains, where haws and hips provide food in abundance, Ring Ouzel has appeared in very large numbers, slightly later than normal. These handsome thrushes, so scarce and hard to find in North Europe, regularly use my high mountain areas to winter, along with Redwing and the much rarer Fieldfare. My maximum count for this thrush, during 2009, was 200+, whilst this week I have managed counts in excess of 100! Some of these birds will continue to journey south and eventually spend their winter in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, but a good many will winter here in times when there are plenty of haws and hips.
Of course we are only in the beginnings of November, so plenty of time for more seasonal weather, cooler and wet, to make an appearance, for now I am taking every available opportunity to get out of the house, not only for my guiding work, but also on my free days! And my efforts have been rewarded this week; I have not seen ‘my’ Bonelli’s Eagle behind Montejaque for many weeks so it was cause of great celebration to see an adult among many Griffon Vulture high above it’s nesting site. I was really so worried that something terrible had happened to ‘my’ eagles. Phew! What a relief. Black Vulture has also been regular this week up the Libar valley, such a different wing shape to their smaller cousins the Griffon Vulture.
Illustrated version on my blog.
http://spanishnature.blogspot.com.es/2013/11/birds-of-autumn-serrania-de-ronda.html
Peter :t:
