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Message: <blockquote data-quote="john-henry" data-source="post: 906843" data-attributes="member: 15559">Had a great trip to some central Spain areas first 2 weeks of May so thought I'd bore you with a trip report, it's lengthy so I'll do it in parts and stick some photos in for those who can't read.Two weeks in Spain… 1st May – 15th May.    (Part 1)Recently back from an excellent two weeks in Spain, plenty of quality birds and some photos – which was the main reason for the trip. This time I decided to visit a few places I hadn’t been before and try for a couple of species I haven’t any photos of, i.e. El Planeron for Dupont’s Lark (with Sepulveda as a back-up) and a place I hadn’t heard of until my good friend Julian (Jules) Sykes put me onto it – Villafafila, for Great Bustard. As most of you know Jules is a bird-guide based in Oliva, between Valencia and Alicante, and sees them regularly at fairly close range on his holiday tours to this area, so I considered it worth the extra mileage and certainly wasn’t disappointed – they were everywhere along one stretch of road.Also on the agenda were La Plataforma in the Sierra de Gredos and the Trujillo/Caceres/Plasencia triangle in Extremadura. If things went well I was hoping to spend the last few days staying with Jules and Amanda at their guest house in Oliva.I flew from Bristol into Valencia Airport on the 1st May, arriving at 10.35 which gave plenty of time to collect a pre-booked hire-car and have a look around Moro Marsh, about 30 km North of the airport, another of Jules’ little gems he took me to last year. Although it was warm and sunny it was also blowing a gale here so many birds had their heads down in the reed-beds, still I managed a few things – Pratincoles, Bee-eaters, Little, Common, Sandwich, Whiskered and a rarer White-winged Black Tern, 30+ Red-crested Pochard, Common Pochard, Gadwall, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot and Red-knobbed Coot, Little Grebe, Cormorant, Grey and Purple Herons, Little Egret, Yellow-legged Gulls, Reed and Great Reed Warblers, Fan-tailed Warbler (Zitting Cisticola-ugh, an awful name for one of my favourite birds), Tawny Pipit, Hoopoe, 1000’s Common Swifts with some Swallows and House Martins, Common Sandpiper, Kentish and Little Ringed Plovers, Black-winged Stilts and Redshanks, not bad for a couple of hours, seeing as most of this was spent trying to photograph a Pratincole.Left here early afternoon and headed for El Planeron via Daroca, Carinena and Belchite arriving early evening. Light rain for most of the way with, surprisingly, some really heavy hail-showers on higher ground, in fact it was difficult to see through the windscreen at times and the road had suddenly turned white – I had to remind myself I was in Spain in May.Not many birds en-route due to this but some interesting countryside north of Daroca - Peregrine, Griffon Vultures and a group of 14 Red-billed Choughs were seen. A quick drive around the two El Planeron tracks soon produced several Dupont’s Larks singing along with Short-toed, Lesser Short-toed, Crested and Calandra Larks, Tawny Pipit, and a male Marsh Harrier. I decided to sleep in the car here for an early start in the morning. 2nd May…Just as well I did because at about 12.00hrs an official of the SEO arrived and as I didn’t have a permit pleasantly asked me to leave – it would appear that local bodies might be tightening up on permits as a visit to La Lomanza after here got me the boot again from another warden for not having a permit. I probably now have the dubious honour of being the first person to be kicked off both reserves within an hour!! Anyway the few hours spent at El Planeron was well worth it, I managed to get a few photos of Dupont’s and Lesser Short-toed Larks which was what I wanted most of all. Warning - beware the mozzies, they’re vicious, I killed over 100 in the car before I could leave.Birds I managed to see in the area include – Dupont’s, Short-toed, Lesser Short-toed, Calandra and Crested Larks, Stone Curlew (heard during the night), Tawny Pipit, Red-legged Partridge, Cuckoo and Great Spotted Cuckoo, Bee-eaters, Hoopoe, Corn Bunting, male and female Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Black Kite, Griffon Vulture, Blackcap, Woodchat, Serin, Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Greenshank, Black-winged Stilt, Purple and Grey Heron, 2 egrets overhead (Little or Cattle), Swifts, Swallows and House Martins.After a quick look around the ruins of the original town of Belchite, just to remind myself of man’s folly, I set off for Sepulveda via Calatayud, Soria, Aranda de Duero and the E5/A1 arriving at the Hostal Villa de Sepulveda in nearby Santa Cruz by evening and booking in for three nights, I enjoyed the area so much I booked a fourth night.</blockquote>

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