The last day of the holiday
The next day, Saturday 12th May, was my last whole day in Barcelona of the holiday. I travelled by Metro and tram to Central Tèrmica del Besòs, the last tram stop before Riu Besòs. I walked across the bridge, past Parc del Litoral to the beach and then along the paths inland along the river to the second set of bridges. There wasn't the range of bird species that I had seen on my visits earlier in previous springs, with no waders, egrets or herons, except for 2 grey herons that flew over. The water quality didn't look particularly good, with scum on the surface upstream from the second set of bridges.
Probably the greatest surprise was to see no less than 9 treesparrows, one in deciduous trees in Parc del Litoral and the rest dotted about along the river inland. I also saw 3 species of warbler, cetti's, fan-tailed and a sardinian, which was carrying nesting material to dense vegetation. I think that was my first sighting of sardinian warbler by Riu Besòs. Other bird species seen there were common swifts, moorhens, monk parakeets, magpies, feral pigeons, collared doves, swallows, house martin, house sparrows, yellow-legged gulls, black-headed gulls, blackbirds, white wagtails, mallard and spotless starlings.
I caught the tram back a few stops along the line and walked a block to Parc de Diagonal Mar, where the street plan showed a lake. There was indeed a lake, which had lots of metal "pipes" curving over the water and the banks, these being used as perches by some of the 40 yellow-legged gulls present. New species for the day were serins and a woodpigeon, as well as 4 greylag-type geese. Other birds present included mallard, moorhen and white wagtail.
Returning to my hotel, I had a siesta and then went out again in the early evening. Approaching Plaça de Catalunya I passed some police on motor bikes, stopping traffic from reaching the square. More alarming were loud bangs from the square itself, playing havoc with the thousands of feral pigeons that usually congregate there. The inland part of the square was playing host to a demonstration against the cuts in government spending on education and health. The demonstration seemed good natured, the bangs probably being fire crackers rather than anything more sinister.
After watching the stationary demonstration for a while, I headed off to the Cathedral, where the sardana was being danced, followed by some castellers, the Barcelona Falcons, and 2 gegants dancing. I also walked to Plaça de Sant Felip Neri, effectively finishing the route taken daily by Gaudí, as he was accustomed to attending evening devotions in the church there (according to Tóibín). I continued along some of the narrow streets to Plaça de Sant Josep Oriol, where I heard a goldfinch in a tree, before returning to Plaça de Catalunya at dusk. The demonstration had hardly moved. Overhead flew a police helicopter as well as some swifts. These were mostly common swifts but also includes 2 alpine swifts, which gradually flew lower and lower until they were just above tree top level. A parakeet that I didn't identify flew over, silhouetted and with a much longer and thinner tail than that of the monk parakeets. I guess that it was a rose-ringed parakeet, but didn't see any plumage details. Returning to my hotel on Via Laietana I saw 3 grey herons fly over in the gloom.
Twenty four species identified that day.