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Message: <blockquote data-quote="foresttwitcher" data-source="post: 3559728" data-attributes="member: 97625">Thursday 20th April:Early start and I arrived at the track to El Planeron just after first light but before sunrise. Despite driving really slowly and constantly scanning, at the first suitable habitat I flushed a flock of Black-bellied Sandgrouse from right by the track. I stopped at the first suggested point and there was a cacophony of lark song but being unfamiliar with most I was not able to nail any down and none of the singers were showing. As things began to quieten down a bit I had not heard my main target so carried on slowly along the track, stopping from time to time, until reaching a small parking area at the start of a walking route. I felt like a break from being in the car so set of along the path and within minutes had identified both Greater & Lesser Short-toed, Thekla and Calandra Larks and also flushed a small flock of Pin-tailed Sandgrouse with some brief but diagnostic flight views of my first lifer of the trip. The walk also added both Western Black-eared & Northern Wheatear.Back to the car and I resumed the crawl along the track with windows down listening and looking out for anything. On reaching a point where the track petered out into a cultivated field I turned round and retraced the route. About half-way back to the trail car park something must have caught my eye as I stopped and almost straightaway heard a new lark song and there, perched up on a small tussock about 10 from the track edge was a Dupont's Lark! It moved around and sang from various positions for a while and I even got the scope onto it before it disappeared and went quiet. The return along the track back to the road was uneventful apart from a couple of Red-legged Partridge.I then drove the surfaced roads north of Belchite stopping where possible for a scan and adding the common roadside species plus Griffon Vulture, Black Kite, Lesser Kestrels and a single Hen Harrier overhead plus Rook, Carrion Crow and Raven.In the afternoon I parked at La Lomaza and walked one of the paths. It was a bit hot by then but I still picked up Whinchat, Stonechat and a small flock of Spotless Starling. I didn't walk to the end because of the heat and after retracing my steps was about to leave the car park when I stopped to get the bins on what turned out to be a Linnet and then heard and had reasonable views of another Dupont's.I then went back across the steppes to the car park north of the El Planeron track and did the short walk; the highlight being a Golden Eagle over plus what looked like convincing Rock Doves about.It was such a lovely evening I did not want to stop so using information downloaded from the birding spain website, I drove to Quinto do Ebro and took the track towards the river. At first heading north it was not easy to get a view of the river due to the trees and vegetation and at the few points where you could gain access to the bank you tended to appear all of a sudden at the edge and hence flush anything on the near-side, as I did to a couple of Purple Heron but I did get a nice view of a Kingfisher in flight and Black-headed Gulls patrolling up and down the river. On the adjoining farmland there were the usual common finches, House Sparrow and Corn Bunting plus Zitting Cisticola, Bee-eater, Swallow and House & Sand Martin overhead and a nice male Pied Flycatcher in the track-side trees.Following the track back and turning west at the junction you come to a place where you can drive down to a short causeway across the end of a forming oxbow and park up with easy access to the river on a meander. With Reed & Great Reed Warblers joining Nightingales and Cetti's Warblers as an accompaniment the tall trees hosted one each of singing Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. On the far bank a couple of Little Egret, one Great White Egret and a number of Grey Heron stalked on the waters edge; in the main stream a few Mallard and Moorhen paddled about; and on a large gravel spit close by - a couple of White Wagtail, a number of Black-winged Stilt, a few Common Sandpiper and two each of Redshank and Green Sandpiper. What a spot and what a great day.</blockquote>

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