We are going to Spain for roughly 2-3 weeks leaving on June 11. We are taking a ferry to Barcelona for the outward journey and then driving back the long way. We arrive in Barcelona in the evening of June 12. We are aware that this is not the best time to visit but we have to stick to school holidays, which in Italy start on June 10.
We have a few places where we definitely want to go and loads of others that we would like, but won’t have the time for everything. The rough plan is to spend the first half of the trip in Extremadura and the second in the Pyrenees, but there will be stopovers and day trips, one of them to the Sierra de Gredos for Bluethroat.
We already have two guidebooks, the Gosney’s for Extremadura and the third edition of “where to watch birds in Northern and Eastern Spain”, but we still have some questions:
1) Ideally one of the stopovers could be for Dupont’s Lark (well, at least trying for it |;|) at either Belchite or Hoces del Duratón, the latter more inviting as location and variety of species. This would need to be at the start of the trip as the end of June would probably be too late. Is it best to try at Belchite or at the Hoces del Duratón? We had thought that we could stop at one of the two places on our way from Barcelona to Extremadura, spending one night there in order to be up at dawn for DL. But we have friends in Madrid (not birders but general nature enthusiasts) who told us that this would mean a major detour as all the motorways go via Madrid and we would need to take the backroads to get to either place. TBH this doesn’t pose much of a problem for us as long as the backroads aren’t very busy (Google maps puts the driving time as being, but from my experience of Spain, albeit some 20 years ago, the roads there are seldom too busy.
To sum up: is it worth trying for DL in mid-June or is it already too late? if yes where is it best? if not we’ll just drive to Extremadura, which brings me to the second question below.
2) Driving from Barcelona to Extremadura, and taking into consideration the above, what is the best route to take? Our friends suggested going south to the Ebro delta and then driving inland via Morella or Albarracín, with a stopover in Cuenca. Ideas?
3) Best place for Black Wheatear? Mallos de Riglos? Hoces del Duratón? Anywhere in Extremadura?
4) Are the coastal wetlands (Ebro delta, Aiguamolls, Albufera) any good in mid-June? Gull and tern colonies very welcome, but not sure if they are worth the trip if there isn’t much else to be seen.
5) best place(s) for Citril Finch? We are planning to visit both the Ordesa NP and the Hecho valley.
6) As above for Black Woodpecker?
7) Any chances of typical southern species as Marbled and White-headed Ducks and Rufous-tailed Scrub-robin outside of Andalucia?
Any help greatly appreciated!
Cristiana and family
We have a few places where we definitely want to go and loads of others that we would like, but won’t have the time for everything. The rough plan is to spend the first half of the trip in Extremadura and the second in the Pyrenees, but there will be stopovers and day trips, one of them to the Sierra de Gredos for Bluethroat.
We already have two guidebooks, the Gosney’s for Extremadura and the third edition of “where to watch birds in Northern and Eastern Spain”, but we still have some questions:
1) Ideally one of the stopovers could be for Dupont’s Lark (well, at least trying for it |;|) at either Belchite or Hoces del Duratón, the latter more inviting as location and variety of species. This would need to be at the start of the trip as the end of June would probably be too late. Is it best to try at Belchite or at the Hoces del Duratón? We had thought that we could stop at one of the two places on our way from Barcelona to Extremadura, spending one night there in order to be up at dawn for DL. But we have friends in Madrid (not birders but general nature enthusiasts) who told us that this would mean a major detour as all the motorways go via Madrid and we would need to take the backroads to get to either place. TBH this doesn’t pose much of a problem for us as long as the backroads aren’t very busy (Google maps puts the driving time as being, but from my experience of Spain, albeit some 20 years ago, the roads there are seldom too busy.
To sum up: is it worth trying for DL in mid-June or is it already too late? if yes where is it best? if not we’ll just drive to Extremadura, which brings me to the second question below.
2) Driving from Barcelona to Extremadura, and taking into consideration the above, what is the best route to take? Our friends suggested going south to the Ebro delta and then driving inland via Morella or Albarracín, with a stopover in Cuenca. Ideas?
3) Best place for Black Wheatear? Mallos de Riglos? Hoces del Duratón? Anywhere in Extremadura?
4) Are the coastal wetlands (Ebro delta, Aiguamolls, Albufera) any good in mid-June? Gull and tern colonies very welcome, but not sure if they are worth the trip if there isn’t much else to be seen.
5) best place(s) for Citril Finch? We are planning to visit both the Ordesa NP and the Hecho valley.
6) As above for Black Woodpecker?
7) Any chances of typical southern species as Marbled and White-headed Ducks and Rufous-tailed Scrub-robin outside of Andalucia?
Any help greatly appreciated!
Cristiana and family
