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Extremadura April 16th -23rd trip report (1 Viewer)

Nick Brooks

Well-known member
This is quite a long report of my one week trip to Extremadura but, hopefully, as I only got back yesterday, it will be of use to anybody heading to the area in the next few weeks.

Thursday 16th April
Travel costs:
Airfare was £44 Liverpool to Madrid one way, with Easy Jet and then returned for £26 with Ryan Air. Eight day car hire through Holiday Autos was £120.
As I arrived late afternoon and was leaving early morning, I decided to stay in Las Rozas, just outside Madrid, my first and last nights, mainly because I got a great deal of £20 per night on the Travel Lodge website (hotel was quite new and the room spotless). It also enabled me to stock up on provisions at the huge supermarket just 1km down the motorway. And, on the way back, there was the best outlet mall I’ve ever seen just down the road which made buying a present for the birding widow very easy. I’m not sure why there are a few comments on trip reports about the Madrid motorways being difficult, as it was a doddle to get to the hotel (40 mins from airport) as was getting out of Madrid the next morning.
In Monfrague, I stayed in a single room at Hotel Carvajal, in Torrejon el Rubio, for £35 per night. Room was passable. As the TV was broke in the room I was given free breakfasts. I also eat dinner in the restaurant all but one night. My total bill for dinner, bed and breakfast, plus a few beers and other drinks was £250 for the five nights.



Friday 17th April

Left Las Rozas at 7am and had very quick journey via M50, R5 and then A5 to be on the plain at Calera y Chozas by 8.20. Motorway around Madrid was again very easy to follow. Followed Muddeman directions, coming off A5 at the 135KM marker and it is worth knowing that just before this, at 134KM, there is a small services where you can grab a coffee.

Actually saw first little bustards flying over motorway only about 40KM out of Madrid. Then had half a dozen great bustards flying over the road, only 200 metres from coming off the A5. A couple of Montague’s harriers, a lone gadwall on a pond, black-eared wheatear and the entire world population of corn buntings were on this stretch of road.

I then carried on to Embalse de Azutan following Muddeman. The southern end of the reservoir was the best, with displaying marsh harrier, purple heron, purple swamphen, short-toed eagle and Spanish sparrow. I kept on going past the end of the reservoir and crossed the Rio Gavelo. Parked car, walked back to small bridge and found a night heron roost. Also, penduline tit, subalpine warbler, serin and kingfisher at this point. Other birds around this area: montague’s harrier, great spotted cuckoo, lots of cetti’s and nightingales, Sardinian warbler, blackcap, whitethroat, zitting c., common sandpiper, hobby, red-rumped swallow, bee-eater, stonechat, white stork, woodchat shrike, southern grey shrike.

Moved on to the more northerly part of the reservoir (Muddeman 5-8). Much the same species, including another penduline tit, another pair of displaying marsh harriers, Spanish wagtails, several tree sparrow flocks and, unexpectedly, bluethroat and an ortolan bunting, which were probably just passing through. Also present was the entire galaxy’s population of corn buntings. No wonder there’s none in the UK, they’re all here!

Came out of Calera y Chozas, heading west, and almost immediately had a black-shouldered kite hovering next to the road. Then turned up into the plains 3km west of the town and only really saw one thing of note – a pretty big note though……25 Great Bustards next to the track, which allowed fantastic views.

Carried on driving towards Torrejon el Rubio with the A5 giving up a booted eagle and then the appearance of a few flocks of azure-winged magpies. A great tit provided a bit of a shock feeding on roadkill and then the almost obligatory, but late in the day, hoopoe finished off the journey flying across the road to Torrejon.

Saturday 18th April
Had a nightmare I was being attacked by corn buntings.

Good thing about Spain at this time of year is that you don’t have to get up at stupid o’clock as it doesn’t really get light enough to bird until 7.45 am. That said, I was on the plains north of Caceres by 7.30 and spent the next 13 hours slowly driving the Caceres/Trujillo/Monroy triangle, following Muddeman’s routes.

Taking the small road towards Santa Marta de Magasca from the main road north of Caceres, the first field had a pair of stone curlew. After that, and a dawn chorus of half a dozen hoopoes having a competition, I managed to get most of the typical steppe species on the steppes and most of the dehesa species in the dehesa, with numerous booted and short toed eagles, griffon vulture and kestrel and lesser kestrels keeping an aerial eye on things, together with a pair of red kite, and a hobby throughout the day. Any bridges provided an excuse for crag martins and red-rumped swallows to hang out and assorted waders were seen on small ponds. I had a few single flyover great bustards at various points but a group of four (possibly more as the group was half hidden by being on the wrong side of a downhill slope) at point 5 of the Muddeman map between Caceres and Santa Marta. Similarly, a couple of little bustards here and there but with a larger group (8+) in fields just after point 6 of Muddeman Trujillo to Monroy route. In fact the area from this point 6 to two signs which read “Millaron” and Galocha” was one of the best areas, with numerous Montague’s harrier (including a melanistic bird – one of two on the day) and a flock of 21 bb sandgrouse. The corn buntings faced plenty of competition from numerous crested and calandra larks and a few short-toed larks. Southern grey shrikes seemed to be a lot more common in the steppe areas, with woodchat shrikes taking over elsewhere.

Last stop of the day was at the Rio Almonte, south of Monroy, where black wheatear proved very easy (take the track west, on the south side of the river, until it runs out – no more than a five minute walk) and then look over towards the rocky hill across the river. The bird was singing its head off. Also present were a blue rock thrush, cirl bunting, kingfisher (had found a nest earlier in the day), common sandpiper and lots of serin.

Finally, choosing the back road to get from Monroy to Torrejon proved fruitful as, halfway along it, I managed get some fading light shots of a black-shouldered kite on the lookout for an evening snack.

Sunday 19th April.

I did the whole of Muddeman’s route 17 (Zorita and Madrigalejo). The steppe at Campo Lugar was excellent. Being quite a small size it was easy to just stand in one place and survey the whole area. I stood just past the point where the telegraph line crosses the road (traveling from the Campo Lugar end, heading east). The telegraph post itself hosted two rollers at a nest box. Easily scoped from this point were great and little bustards (some of the latter not needing a scope as they were close to the road), raven, short-toed and booted eagle, griffon vulture, marsh and Montagu’s harriers, both kestrels, northern wheatear, bee-eater, hoopoe, calandra lark. I also heard some sandgrouse and a number of quail but couldn’t locate any of them. Further on a few more bustards were quite close (down to 50m) to the road.

I then stopped at the reservoir with not much to report except a few gull-billed terns. Also of note was that the old building immediately on the right as you first get to the reservoir has been converted into a lesser kestrel hotel.

Moving on, I went down into to the valley, first of all driving down Muddeman’s point 3, which was marked by a sign which said Fernando 3. The paddy fields were all dry but I did get melodius warbler, spectacled warbler, rock sparrows and a whole lot of red avadavats. This road eventually passes under a large pipeline and immediately the other side of it was a small bridge where many avadavats were found along with great reed warblers either side. Further on, a large white building with green doors hosted another pair of rollers.

I retraced my route, passed through Madrigalejo, which had a black-shouldered kite hovering just outside the town limits, and then seemed to spend much of the next four hours stopping on bridges. I traveled far and wide in search of the holy grail of a wet field but it didn’t happen and, if visiting in the next few weeks, I’d save the petrol for somewhere else. While cruising around, avadavats and great reed warblers seemed plentiful, as did southern grey shrikes and stonechats. I also lucked out with a group of 20 collared pratincoles desperately flying around trying to find the same wet field I was after. It was so dry that even a flock of gull-billed terns had developed into gull-brained terns and were following a plough! Most of the views from all the bridges showed the usual suspects above, plus the regular nightingale, cetti’s and serin. However, the aqueduct type bridge crossing the N430 also had a pair of penduline tit and the bridge at Muddeman point 8 had a nest building red kite, together with greenshank and snipe.

By time I finished the Muddeman circuit it was gone 6pm, which gave me just enough time to check out the Embalse de Salor on the way back to the hotel. I passed through some really nice dehesa west of Botija, with the spring flowers in full bloom and picked up thekla lark, which I’d missed yesterday. At the embalse, the water level was really low, providing habitat for a dozen black-winged stilts, a pair each of ringed and little ringed plovers, numerous common sandpipers, a greenshank and six little stints.

Monday 20th April.
Drove straight to the Portilla del Tietar, in Monfrague National Park, adding alpine swift and rock bunting to the trip list on the way. Arrived at 9am and put in a four hour shift. First bird seen flying over the rock face was a greylag goose – not exactly what I’d had in mind! Anyway, it all kicked off around 10.30am, when a magnificent Spanish Imperial Eagle came in, did a few circles around the crags, then dive bombed a griffon before disappearing behind the crag. I had fantastic views for about ten minutes. Obviously, the views were so good that one of the breeding eagle owls decided to come out and sit in the open and have a look for itself. Surprisingly, no other birders were around until 11am when all the action was over. After scanning the cliffs endlessly, a small movement then gave away the eagle owl nest site in which there were two owlets (to save anybody hours of scanning, see the attached photo for the location but bear in mind they are not always out in the open - the nest is where the red circle is but the adult flew up into the black circle to roost out of sight). About 11.30, the imperial eagle reappeared high up and continued to go vertical until it disappeared into the mesosphere. Other raptors seen during the four hour sitathon were black and Egyptian vultures, booted and short-toed eagle, and black and red kites.

I then spent a few hours driving tracks above Serradilla and didn’t see much else of interest other than a few crested tits, subalpine warblers and a (rather grey) red fox.

I finished the day off by following Muddeman’s route 9, around Talavan, which again was rather unproductive. If I left a ranking for the steppe in this area on the birding equivalent of Trip Advisor it would be “one star - in desperate need of refurbishment”. Much of it was just fields and even most of the corn buntings seemed to have found better accommodation at a two star B&B in Caceres. There was a nice little patch around the Arroyode Talavan between Santiago del Campo and Hinojal, with black-eared wheatear, little ringed plover and thekla lark, but that was as good as it got. There are probably better things to do in Extremadura for three hours. The way back to Torrejon saw great reed warbler and little grebe on the Embalse de Talavan and yet another hovering black-shouldered kite, this time from the main road between Monroy and Torrejon.

Tuesday, 21st April
Decided to head east to the Sierras de Villuercas and follow Muddeman’s route 13 to see if I could pick up a Bonelli’s eagle. Sure enough, at 9am, I had an immature Bonelli’s fly straight past the car, halfway up a mountain, just before the village of Cabanas del Castillo. Not exactly the best view I’ve ever had, so I decided to continue searching but this proved to be fruitless right up to 4pm. I had numerous griffons, a few Egyptian and one black vulture, and a smattering of booted and short-toed eagles but no more Bonelli’s. I don’t think a lot of the songbirds were back in the area and the various habitats were a bit sparse, especially for migrants. Plenty of nightingales and blackcaps around though, together with cirl bunting and nuthatch. Three of the bridges I crossed had grey wagtail.

I then returned to Monfrague via the Embalse de Arroyocampo. This held little egret, purple heron and great reed warbler and there were a few lesser kestrels nesting at the church up the road at Saucedilla.

A 6pm to 7pm stint at the Portilla de Tietar was meaningless and I then ended the day by climbing to the top of the Castillo de Monfrague was quite good if a little scary. If you don’t have a head for heights do not go to the very top. I’d rate myself as 5/10 when it comes to heights and I was in a permanent state of buttock clenching. However, there were great, close-up, eye-level views of griffon and black vultures, together with black kites. Also rock bunting, cirl bunting, blue rock thrush, black redstart and (red-billed) chough here.

Wednesday 22nd April

Started my final day back at the Castillo de Monfrague. This time I decided to stay off the roof of the Castillo and instead set the scope up next to the radio mast to overlook the Pena Falcon. This was a good decision as I managed to pick out an Imperial Eagle at the very top of the Pena Falcon, sat on a small tree. The eagle sat for half hour and then flew into woodland where another eagle appeared and took its place perched at the top of the crag. A 45 minute battle then ensued between the two eagles and two peregrines over control of what was obviously a favoured vantage point (see photo – The red ring shows the spot to look for. The best thing to do is to look at the next peak in the distance and follow its slope down to the left until it hits the top of the Pena Falcon in the foreground. If you actually look closely you’ll see a brown dot, which is one of the eagles. You must get up to the Castillo to see this point as it cannot be seen by staying in the main parking areas on the main road). The tree exchanged hands several times and then one of the eagles got so sick of being dive-bombed that it got a bit of height and turned the tables by dive bombing one of the peregrines in mid-air. It all died down by around 11am, with both eagles departing westwards. All the other species seen last night were around the Castillo again, including a very tame rock bunting. A short-toed eagle also gave great views perched on a crag by the Castillo and four black storks gave a nice fly by.

I then made my way back towards Madrid but stopped off en route at the mountain above the village of Candelario about 80 km north of Monfrague. This had been given to me as a good, easy spot for bluethroat but, unfortunately I was probably too early for them. A sign said the road itself was still blocked by snow but having walked the final 2km up the mountain road, I found I could easily have driven it. However, despite the enforced exercise and the lack of bluethroat, I think I went one better as, within 100 metres of parking the car, I got a rufous-tailed rock thrush right next to the road. I should have stopped there and then as it didn’t get any better. However, I did pick up the elusive dunnock and skylark for the trip list. Back down the mountain I also found bonelli’s warbler and crossbill and got good views of golden and booted eagles.

And then it was over. I headed back to the £20 travel lodge and got the morning flight back home.
 

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A really good and informative report-lots of good birds seen-have mulled over the possibility of flying into Madrid and doing something similar for a long weekend. Will definitely file this report away for future reference. Also good to hear about the Madrid roads-was one of the off putting factors-perhaps not now. Thanks, Nick
 
spain trip report

Yep, just about covered everything there Nick and, on the contrary, I think it was pretty brief and to the point. No waffles but still got in the atmosphere stuff.

All the best
 
The roads around Madrid are like the roads in any other capital city in Europe, if you know where you are going and catch them right, they are a doddle, if you dont know where you are going, and in rush hour, they can be a nightmare. Generally they are great, far simpler and less congested than any large town in UK. From Madrid airport, follow the signs for A5, ( ignore place names ), that takes you straight to Extremadura.
 
A great trip report, Nick. It makes me want to get back up to Extremadura somehen if only for those bustards and sandgrouse which a bit thin on the ground in Cadiz province!
 
Nick.....juz got back from Extremadura....the bluethroats were 'in' and 'showing well' on the 27th....[we ignored the 'closed' sign and drove straight up]! Just returned from a 5 day trip..[friday to tuesday]......main targets being Duponts at Sepulveda and Spanish Imp.....had superb....and i mean 'superb'...views of both. However...we didn't see black shouldered kites or a few other things you mentioned....guess we didn't spend, [or have enough], time in certain area's....itz all what you see on any given day i guess...every days different!

ps...re. Madrid roads.....on approaching Madrid from the south west, [yesterday] to get to airport...it became 'very' confusing! They had 'aerpuerto signs' goin in different directions when road 'split' [as if there were two different airports]!..and we, inevitably, got in wrong lane....[only thanx to our 'navigator' did we get back on course....it could have gone horribly wrong]...arriving in rush hour did not help! On the whole tho...i was amazed at how good..[thanx to EU money]?...they're road systems are....they seem..[unlike Brits]...to be able to lay miles of motorway 'overnight'..very impressive. Away from Madrid you can drive for miles n miles without seeing another vehicle...! Joy!
 
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