Area indicated shows open areas where I saw 4 Richard's Pipits - visiting in the next winter I found just one bird. I went to
spy on the cellulose paper factory (marked) to see if rumours it was polluting the Guadacortes were true - it smelt bad! I hope its not working now - or its at least stopped polluting...? Since I have been there the autovia has been built and I found access from the original N340 - no idea what its like now?
Anyway - I think its well worth a look - its a nice little area and when there has been enough rain some nice pools form by the river - nice bit of vegetation there too and I found a fair few rarish plants too. I find that often the inner/upper reaches of estuaries - especially where fresh meets salt water are particularly badly impacted by man's activities. I have also noticed that here in Portugal our wintering Richard's Pipits are often on grassy areas in upper estuaries/coastal wetlands, eg; Tejo, Sado, Paul de Lagos, Alvor, Lagoa dos Salgados...
If you walk the habitat be alert to any birds flying up and calling - Richard's tend to be alone and not with Meadow Pipits - sometimes with Skylark. They nearly always call loudly (very distinctive exploding cheep!) compared with Mipit's "squeak", very different. When they land they often flutter/hover for a few moments with a long floppy tail before landing - bit like Skylark can do. I usually find them like this and usually manage a nice scope view on the ground. Once you have done them once - they are easy, well except for eliminating Blyth's (sometimes
) - as John says!
Are Penduline Tits still wintering in the reedbeds near the sea?
