Birding Cadiz Province - notes & suggestions for birding the area (1 Viewer)

Hi All,

Quite a few members of Bird Forum (and others) have taken up my offer of sharing my bird notes on Cadiz province. I have now rewritten and revised these notes which now come, as they say in all best best TV ads, with free added maps! It's my intention to share them and make them 'interactive'. I'm well aware that I remain ignorant of many aspects of the area and its birds so any guidance would be welcome. What I'm trying to address, in part, is the inevitability with which notes (either in book form or on the web) rapidly become out of date.

The downside of this is that unlike my email earlier friendly version, the 77 page behemoth into which it has evolved is too big to send. However, I've uploaded it to a file sharing site where they should be accessible to all - although, be warned the non-compressed version takes 30 minutes to upload and the zipped version 15 minutes. I've chosen not to published the web address because I'd like to maintain some control over who accesses the notes- for not for any sinister reason, merely so that I can more easily update people with further refinements. Hence my only conditions - well, request really, as I can't stop you - are that a) you don't pass on the web address of the notes but direct all enquiries to me via Bird Forum/my email address (in the notes) and b) you share any news/info so I can further improve the notes

If any of you know of a better way to distribute my opus, then please let me know! I've put the maps at the back partly because it made editing the text and maps easier, but its shouldn't be too hard to reintegrate them with the text, It also means it's easier to print off the the text in 'draft' (which is perfectly legible but saves both time & ink) and the maps in 'normal' which is more legible.

So if you want to download my notes, please send me a PM (or direct by email if we've corresponded before) with your own email address so that I can share my info with you.

Good birding,

John

Before this thread disappears through lack of interest, I ought to add that a version of my revised notes (without maps) is still email-able,

I'm off to Estepona next weekend John. I'll be checking the Vejer de Frontera golf course for your bald ibises. Is the driving range easily accessible from the road?

Barred Wobbler said:

I'm off to Estepona next weekend John. I'll be checking the Vejer de Frontera golf course for your bald ibises. Is the driving range easily accessible from the road?

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I've never had a problem - you just turn off right (as you come from Vejer towards Tarifa) and head towards the club house. A couple of hundred metres after leaving the main road you do pass through a manned 'control point', but the barrier's always been up and I've not been stopped. Continue along the road until, just as the clubhouse comes into view, you reach the driving range (on the left) where you can usually find a dozen or more Bald Ibis. I'm not sure what the attitude of the golf club is towards visiting birders so I tend to be very discrete and stay in the car. I've attached some photos of the birds (unfortuately the quality isn't as good as the originals, but they will give you some idea). If, like me you're a Brit of a certain vintage you'll find that the birds have an uncanny resemblence to the great comic Max Wall. And if you fall out of that category just 'google' for a photo of the great man!

If I haven't got your email address (I'm sure I have it somewhere) by all means send me a PM so I can let you have my much revised notes on the area,

Thanks John. I remember Max Wall well, so I'll just look for the birds that look like the long-haired baldy bloke in black tights.

I think you may well have my email adress form some correspondence we had a couple of years ago.



Alan

Thanks for the download John. It is a tremendous piece of work-great detail and clear maps-well done

Very impressive. Hope to use it soon.

Sean

Thanks Sean & Mark. I regard them more as a 'starting point' than the finished article!

John

A very generous move John, most appreciated and I hope to have reason to use it some time. Thanks.

Andrew said:

A very generous move John, most appreciated and I hope to have reason to use it some time. Thanks.

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It's nice of you to say so, but I dont see it as at all generous, Andrew! It was so much fun to cobble it together that it was never 'work' and once 'cobbled' what else was I to do with it other than share it? Besides, sharing is the best way to iron out my errors and refine/improve the end product. I do have a bee in my bonnet about the area being undervalued as a European birding destination and that birding tourism is one way to encourage the local authorities to protect & value their fantastic birdlife. It really is a wonderful area to visit for 'expert' and beginner alike. And if you're a complete beginner, local guides like Peter Jones (aka 'Black Wheatear') and Stephen Daly (www.andalucianguides.com) make it a great area to birdwatch. In fact, my next step is to put together a slide show on the area to give to RSPB groups etc

I know you've got an earlier version, Andrew, but have you downloaded the latest incarnation (complete with maps & a couple of extra sites)? If not email & I'll send it. When I told my missus I'd finished she gave a wry smile and said something like 'only until the next re-write'!

Cheers John, email sent.

A dozen folks should now have been the sent details - if you've asked and have yet to hear from me, then send me a PM.
Can I once more emphasise that some sites described in a 'preliminary' fashion - whilst most sites are, I think, reasonably well described/covered with some others I've gone a little 'out on a limb' to publicise areas with potential that I've not fully explored. (I've highlighted where this is the case). At root my hope is to develop an interactive guide to the area which can be easily updated and refined with your input,

Many thanks for sending me a copy, John.

Very fine piece of work.

pdwinter said:

Many thanks for sending me a copy, John.

Very fine piece of work.

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Thanks - I hope to see you out in Spain somewhen!