Just returned from 5 wonderful days in the Trujillo and Oropesa areas. Saw a great variety of birds, as always, but decided for the first time to try the paddyfields around Madrigalejo, following the Muddeman guide route. They were all dried ploughed fields, as far as we could tell - mile after mile of them! Serves us right for not researching beforehand and/or using a local guide. Does anyone know if there is a planting season or, if year round, where there are usually some active paddyfields in early May? We still saw some great birds that day, particularly on the plains south of Zorita, and my first common waxbills in Europe, but the area was not quite the wader-fest we had hoped for!
Matt
Matt