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==Overview==
''To do''

==Birds==
===Notable Species===

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===Rarities===
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===Check-list===
{{BirdsSee|
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==Other Wildlife==
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==Site Information==

===History and Use===
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===Areas of Interest===
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===Access and Facilities===
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===Contact Details===
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==External Links==
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==Reviews==
Stephen C's review

With the light already fading and arriving at an uncertain location given to me by an even more uncertain local, on my first visit to the Lleida Steppes, I didn't really know what to expect.

But two and a half hours later I tore myself away from the pitch black having seen seven species I'd never seen before, including [[Bonelli's Eagle]] and [[Little Bustard]], and had the best birding experience of my life.

This is easy I thought!

As soon as I had arrived my attention was grabbed by a racket coming from a nearby copse. I recognised the distress calls of the local magpies but soon also counted thirty-two [[Great Spotted Cuckoo]] amongst them.

Then, after watching a male Marsh Harrier skimming for supper and revelling in the chinkling of dozens of [[Calandra Lark]], I finally spotted two [[Stone-Curlew]] in the field right next to me.

My worries that the local shepherd, who was approaching with his flock, would scare them away disappeared when I saw about fifty Spanish [[Yellow Wagtail]] skipping in and out of their footsteps. Closer examination revealed races from Britain, central europe, and an extremely rare and beautiful black-headed form from Russia, superciliaris.

As I was leaving a female [[Montagu's Harrier]], immediately joined by a hauntingly grey male, decided to float around my head for a while. I was hypnotised.

The problem is, as anyone who's ever visited the huge area around Lleida knows, that its rarely this easy, with frustratingly small populations of birds like [[Lesser Kestrel]], [[Lesser Grey Shrike]], [[Dupont's Lark]] and [[Pin-tailed Sandgrouse]] and [[Black-bellied Sandgrouse]].  So, if you want to track down migrating [[Dotterel]], tick off the complete list of Larks, or work your way through [[Golden Oriole]], [[Southern Grey Shrike]], [[Penduline Tit]] and [[Red-billed Chough]], there's no option but to get to know how the birds move and live on a transient land that, over the course of many seasons, changes from fallow to plough to crop to stubble and back again.

For further info:

email me at s.christopher@telefonica.net or check out
www.catalanbirdtours.com

''Content and images originally posted by Stephen C''
<!-- drylands sandgrouse bustards raptors stone-curlew lesser grey shrike lesser kestrel -->
[[Category:Spain Canaries and Balearic Islands]] [[Category:Locations]]

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