foresttwitcher
Virtually unknown member
So the time had finally come for my long planned return to Spain using my last free flights through NatWest Yourpoints.
Tuesday 19th April:
A late afternoon flight from Gatwick with BA (via e-bookers) and a rapid transit through Malaga airport, picking up a car from Dollar / Hertz (booked through Rentalcars), followed by a long drive west in the dark, saw me arrive just before mid-night at my first night's base near Rodalquilar.
Wednesday 20th April:
Up and out early to get to my chosen spot near Cuevas de los Medinas in the Sierra Alhamilla, to look for a certain lark species, before dawn - the first bird of the trip being a Little Owl perched on a roadside post. As sunrise came and went no luck with hearing the target singing but added Thekla Lark, Barn Swallow, Black Wheatear, Sardinian Warbler and Iberian Grey Shrike from the site or elsewhere up the road northwards and back.
Once I thought it was too far past dawn to be likely to see my main target I set off back to the hotel to check out, picking up what were to prove to be the commonly seen roadside species on the way: Kestrel, Feral Pigeon (some of which looked very good for Rock Dove), Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Magpie, Spotless Starling and House Sparrow. Plus a heard only Cetti's Warbler singing from the scrub outside my room window. Leaving the hotel, a brief stop at a small bay on the west coast added Yellow-legged Gull and a couple of Sandwich Tern.
I then returned to the Cabo de Gata area to drive and walk around the tracks through the coastal scrub areas I did not visit in October at Las Almoladeras. Still no lark but had a couple of Red-legged Partridge on the sandy tracks, numbers of both Common Swift and Pallid Swift overhead with a few each of Red-rumped Swallow and House Martin mixed in, heard only Cuckoo and Hoopoe and a brief view of a male Golden Oriole in one of the few trees.
A late afternoon drive around the minor roads of the Desierto de Tabernas area added Crested Lark, Jackdaw and Carrion Crow on the edges of the cultivation; Goldfinch, Greenfinch, a nice male Pied Flycatcher and a small flock of Spanish Sparrow in a patch of trees with a single White Wagtail alongside the near by small stream.
The birds of the day, however, were frustratingly brief flight views of a European Roller and, the first lifer of the trip, Great Spotted Cuckoo.
Finished a long day with a drive to a hotel in Guadix.
Tuesday 19th April:
A late afternoon flight from Gatwick with BA (via e-bookers) and a rapid transit through Malaga airport, picking up a car from Dollar / Hertz (booked through Rentalcars), followed by a long drive west in the dark, saw me arrive just before mid-night at my first night's base near Rodalquilar.
Wednesday 20th April:
Up and out early to get to my chosen spot near Cuevas de los Medinas in the Sierra Alhamilla, to look for a certain lark species, before dawn - the first bird of the trip being a Little Owl perched on a roadside post. As sunrise came and went no luck with hearing the target singing but added Thekla Lark, Barn Swallow, Black Wheatear, Sardinian Warbler and Iberian Grey Shrike from the site or elsewhere up the road northwards and back.
Once I thought it was too far past dawn to be likely to see my main target I set off back to the hotel to check out, picking up what were to prove to be the commonly seen roadside species on the way: Kestrel, Feral Pigeon (some of which looked very good for Rock Dove), Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Magpie, Spotless Starling and House Sparrow. Plus a heard only Cetti's Warbler singing from the scrub outside my room window. Leaving the hotel, a brief stop at a small bay on the west coast added Yellow-legged Gull and a couple of Sandwich Tern.
I then returned to the Cabo de Gata area to drive and walk around the tracks through the coastal scrub areas I did not visit in October at Las Almoladeras. Still no lark but had a couple of Red-legged Partridge on the sandy tracks, numbers of both Common Swift and Pallid Swift overhead with a few each of Red-rumped Swallow and House Martin mixed in, heard only Cuckoo and Hoopoe and a brief view of a male Golden Oriole in one of the few trees.
A late afternoon drive around the minor roads of the Desierto de Tabernas area added Crested Lark, Jackdaw and Carrion Crow on the edges of the cultivation; Goldfinch, Greenfinch, a nice male Pied Flycatcher and a small flock of Spanish Sparrow in a patch of trees with a single White Wagtail alongside the near by small stream.
The birds of the day, however, were frustratingly brief flight views of a European Roller and, the first lifer of the trip, Great Spotted Cuckoo.
Finished a long day with a drive to a hotel in Guadix.
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