Derek Polley
Well-known member
Vacation trip report for Costa del Sol/Malaga from 5 – 11th October 2008
This was mainly a holiday with a bit of birding thrown in. Two friends of ours received a free holiday for attending a presentation run by Club La Costa. We were flown to Malaga and had accommodation in the Club La Costa complex on the Southern edge of Fuengirola. Obviously October is not an ideal time to visit the area for birds but as flights and accommodation were free who was I to complain? Having been there I now know a bit about the area and the sites so could plan a visit at a time of year which would give more birds. We missed out on summer visitors as they were all away and the time of year meant that a lot of the resident smaller birds were keeping their heads down and not being very obvious. The mantra for the trip seemed to be, “This would be a cracking site in April or May”.
Having researched Bird Forum reports for likely sites we planned several trips into the surrounding area as well as visiting the Reserve at the mouth of the Rio Guadalhorce.
The area in and around the coast was not terribly productive for obvious reasons. It is heavily built up with a lot of human disturbance. The best birds are inland but we did pick up a fair bit round the complex and in the park/river area round the Castle in Fuengirola – Coot, moorhen, House sparrow, collared dove, spotless starling, blackbird, robin, white wagtail, chiffchaff, goldfinch and greenfinch. With a sea view and a travel scope I was able to see yellow legged gull, lesser black back, sandwich tern, black headed gull and Mediterranean shearwater off shore.
We travelled inland to Ronda with high hopes of some good birds and were not disappointed as we picked up kestrel, crag martin and seven soaring griffon vultures on the way up. A black wheatear flew across the road in front of the car and we also saw one Bonelli’s eagle on the run down into Ronda. Ronda itself gave good views of chough, grey wagtail, raven, blackcap and great tit. The latter two feeding on the fruit of prickly pear cactus in the gorge. On leaving Ronda we headed towards the El Chorro gorge where three dams have been built across the Guadalhorce and two of its tributaries. Water levels were very low but we did see stonechat, corn bunting, three more griffon vultures and very high feeding swifts. A Buzzard was also noted en route. On the way back to Malaga we stumbled upon a small town called Alora which had incredibly narrow streets and presented quite a challenge to our driver. Ignoring a sign for Malaga which seemed to point into a cellar we ended up at the castle and spotted a hoopoe on the castle roof. The road down from the castle proved a major challenge with literally an inch on each side of the car. A 4 x 4 would not have made it! The sign for Malaga was tried again and did indeed get us out of the town via a step narrow alley and further shredded nerves. We were convinced we were going to end up at a set of steps and would have to do an Italian job to get out. If you visit Arora, park at the entrance and walk round it.
Following our 4 hour presentation – a contract requirement for the holiday – we decided to try the road to the Refuge de Januar. We had high hopes of this area but a two hour walk from 5.00 to 7.00 at the end of a warm sunny day produced nothing at al! Zero, zilch, nil, not a dickey bird as they say. It is a long time since I have walked for two hours anywhere and not seen one bird. The views were stunning, the walk was enjoyable but in our trip summary the area went down as a bird free zone!
Following advice given in Bird Forum we spent half a day North of Marbella around the Embalse de Conception, Hermitage of San Miguel and the village of Istan. Unfortunately this was the wet afternoon and birds were hard to locate and hard to see. Not quite the bird free zone of the Refuge but we only added Jay and House martin to our list. The house martins were hunting over Istan with crag martins.
A further day trip was North of Malaga to the area round Antequera and Fuente de Piedra. We visited the reserve there - Laguna De Fuenta Piedra - but water levels were disappointingly low. The “lake” was non-existent and the 3- 400 greater flamingos were quite some way off in the one area of water near an inflow. The pond areas near the Information Centre only had a few coot, mallard, shoveler and black winged stilt. There were over 200 lesser black backs and four lapwing and that was that. We did see two swallows passing through and a couple of stonechat before we moved on to the El Torcal karst limestone region. Like the Refuge we had high hopes of this area, but apart from kestrel and three griffon vultures the only new bird was black redstart. Mind you we got excellent close views of these attractive little birds.
As you no doubt have realised I have kept the best trip to the end. Everyone who has reported on the Malaga area has said that a trip to the Reserve on the Rio Guadalhorce is a must, and all we can do is echo that. We arrived at 4.00 on a warm sunny day thanks to the excellent directions and Google map supplied by Alan Seaton. As well as some of the birds we picked up elsewhere we also had superb views of hunting marsh harriers, a flock of monk parakeets, little grebe, black necked grebe, cormorant, grey heron, little egret, two Greater flamingo and 14 glossy ibis. These were a life first for all concerned and not only were they roosting on the pond; they also gave us a fly past when they were disturbed by a marsh harrier. Ducks included mallard, shoveler, pochard and teal while the wader list was both extensive and impressive – black winged stilt, Kentish plover, sanderling, turnstone, green sandpiper, common sandpiper, and greenshank. A flock of 20 serin and two crested larks gave good views but the icing on the cake was an osprey which did everything an osprey should do and finished up perched on a post in the middle of the reserve.
A grand total of 59 species and four lifers – black wheatear, monk parakeet, glossy ibis, and Bonelli’s eagle – was a good return for the week. We also had excellent views of species we would not see regularly in the UK and all in all would say to anyone looking for a bit of winter sun and a few birds you could do worse than visit this area. Yes it is built up, yes it has a reputation, yes there are wall to wall people along the coast but the Guadalhorce Estuary Reserve on its own is worth a visit and it is so close to Malaga Airport that you cannot miss it out. If you are flying in or out of Malaga it is worth scheduling in a three hour slot to go there. Either call in as you leave the airport, or arrive three hours early for your departure – you will not be disappointed.
This was mainly a holiday with a bit of birding thrown in. Two friends of ours received a free holiday for attending a presentation run by Club La Costa. We were flown to Malaga and had accommodation in the Club La Costa complex on the Southern edge of Fuengirola. Obviously October is not an ideal time to visit the area for birds but as flights and accommodation were free who was I to complain? Having been there I now know a bit about the area and the sites so could plan a visit at a time of year which would give more birds. We missed out on summer visitors as they were all away and the time of year meant that a lot of the resident smaller birds were keeping their heads down and not being very obvious. The mantra for the trip seemed to be, “This would be a cracking site in April or May”.
Having researched Bird Forum reports for likely sites we planned several trips into the surrounding area as well as visiting the Reserve at the mouth of the Rio Guadalhorce.
The area in and around the coast was not terribly productive for obvious reasons. It is heavily built up with a lot of human disturbance. The best birds are inland but we did pick up a fair bit round the complex and in the park/river area round the Castle in Fuengirola – Coot, moorhen, House sparrow, collared dove, spotless starling, blackbird, robin, white wagtail, chiffchaff, goldfinch and greenfinch. With a sea view and a travel scope I was able to see yellow legged gull, lesser black back, sandwich tern, black headed gull and Mediterranean shearwater off shore.
We travelled inland to Ronda with high hopes of some good birds and were not disappointed as we picked up kestrel, crag martin and seven soaring griffon vultures on the way up. A black wheatear flew across the road in front of the car and we also saw one Bonelli’s eagle on the run down into Ronda. Ronda itself gave good views of chough, grey wagtail, raven, blackcap and great tit. The latter two feeding on the fruit of prickly pear cactus in the gorge. On leaving Ronda we headed towards the El Chorro gorge where three dams have been built across the Guadalhorce and two of its tributaries. Water levels were very low but we did see stonechat, corn bunting, three more griffon vultures and very high feeding swifts. A Buzzard was also noted en route. On the way back to Malaga we stumbled upon a small town called Alora which had incredibly narrow streets and presented quite a challenge to our driver. Ignoring a sign for Malaga which seemed to point into a cellar we ended up at the castle and spotted a hoopoe on the castle roof. The road down from the castle proved a major challenge with literally an inch on each side of the car. A 4 x 4 would not have made it! The sign for Malaga was tried again and did indeed get us out of the town via a step narrow alley and further shredded nerves. We were convinced we were going to end up at a set of steps and would have to do an Italian job to get out. If you visit Arora, park at the entrance and walk round it.
Following our 4 hour presentation – a contract requirement for the holiday – we decided to try the road to the Refuge de Januar. We had high hopes of this area but a two hour walk from 5.00 to 7.00 at the end of a warm sunny day produced nothing at al! Zero, zilch, nil, not a dickey bird as they say. It is a long time since I have walked for two hours anywhere and not seen one bird. The views were stunning, the walk was enjoyable but in our trip summary the area went down as a bird free zone!
Following advice given in Bird Forum we spent half a day North of Marbella around the Embalse de Conception, Hermitage of San Miguel and the village of Istan. Unfortunately this was the wet afternoon and birds were hard to locate and hard to see. Not quite the bird free zone of the Refuge but we only added Jay and House martin to our list. The house martins were hunting over Istan with crag martins.
A further day trip was North of Malaga to the area round Antequera and Fuente de Piedra. We visited the reserve there - Laguna De Fuenta Piedra - but water levels were disappointingly low. The “lake” was non-existent and the 3- 400 greater flamingos were quite some way off in the one area of water near an inflow. The pond areas near the Information Centre only had a few coot, mallard, shoveler and black winged stilt. There were over 200 lesser black backs and four lapwing and that was that. We did see two swallows passing through and a couple of stonechat before we moved on to the El Torcal karst limestone region. Like the Refuge we had high hopes of this area, but apart from kestrel and three griffon vultures the only new bird was black redstart. Mind you we got excellent close views of these attractive little birds.
As you no doubt have realised I have kept the best trip to the end. Everyone who has reported on the Malaga area has said that a trip to the Reserve on the Rio Guadalhorce is a must, and all we can do is echo that. We arrived at 4.00 on a warm sunny day thanks to the excellent directions and Google map supplied by Alan Seaton. As well as some of the birds we picked up elsewhere we also had superb views of hunting marsh harriers, a flock of monk parakeets, little grebe, black necked grebe, cormorant, grey heron, little egret, two Greater flamingo and 14 glossy ibis. These were a life first for all concerned and not only were they roosting on the pond; they also gave us a fly past when they were disturbed by a marsh harrier. Ducks included mallard, shoveler, pochard and teal while the wader list was both extensive and impressive – black winged stilt, Kentish plover, sanderling, turnstone, green sandpiper, common sandpiper, and greenshank. A flock of 20 serin and two crested larks gave good views but the icing on the cake was an osprey which did everything an osprey should do and finished up perched on a post in the middle of the reserve.
A grand total of 59 species and four lifers – black wheatear, monk parakeet, glossy ibis, and Bonelli’s eagle – was a good return for the week. We also had excellent views of species we would not see regularly in the UK and all in all would say to anyone looking for a bit of winter sun and a few birds you could do worse than visit this area. Yes it is built up, yes it has a reputation, yes there are wall to wall people along the coast but the Guadalhorce Estuary Reserve on its own is worth a visit and it is so close to Malaga Airport that you cannot miss it out. If you are flying in or out of Malaga it is worth scheduling in a three hour slot to go there. Either call in as you leave the airport, or arrive three hours early for your departure – you will not be disappointed.
