Wood Sandpiper |
Today's outing was to The Laguna de Fuentes de Piedra, a vast saline lake almost 7 Kms in length and 2.5 Kms in width and is about an hour or so's drive from Dave's villa. The lake, together with the areas of scrub, marsh and reed beds that immediately surround it , has been given the status Reserva Natural and has been fenced off to prevent human interference.
One Of Several Crested Lark |
Behind the information centre is the first lookout point and here we spent a half hour looking out onto the vast lagoon. On the Lagoon itself Greater Flamingo, accompanied by at least six Lesser Flamingo, plus a healthy number of Avocet and a selection of Gulls which included Herring, Slender-billed, Black-headed, Yellow-legged and Lesser Black-backed. Although a little early in the season plenty of Gull-billed Tern were already on site and one or two early Black Tern were amongst them.
Excellent Numbers Of Cattle Egret |
The ploughed fields which run adjacent to the lagoon held Spotless Starling and good numbers of White Wagtail along with a number of Yellow Wagtail, which included at least two Blue Headed. At the end of the track a pair of Black-eared Wheatear in a partly ploughed field, plus a singing Reed Warbler in the reed bed, and overhead Lesser Kestrel, plus three White Stork high above probably on passage.
A wooden footbridge runs through the centre of several smaller lagoons and this offers excellent views of some of the Wader species. Wood Sandpiper, Little Stint, Ruff, Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper, Kentish, Ringed and Little-ringed plover were all recorded during our stay.
More to follow.......