Temp - 24C/27C - Clear - Wind S @ 6 mph
On Thursday morning Dave decided that he'd quite like to take Dee and I up above Mijas and into the surrounding sierras, an area he'd recently walked with the local ramblers. The area in question starts at a disused quarry
Cantera los Arenales and from here, where thankfully the temperatures are several degrees lower, you make a steep climb up through the scrub and into the Pine forests. Although only a few around today, It's worth noting that this is a popular mountain bike area, so it's worth keeping your wits about you!
 |
| Record Shot of one of six Honey Buzzard passing through. |
A pretty quiet start to begin, a lone
Kestrel over the quarry, but it wasn't long after entering the forested area that things began to improve. The first bird of note was a single
Rock Bunting, which flew up into the pines from a rocky crevice, sadly not hanging around long enough to be photographed. As we made our way further into the forest a noisy
Jay could be heard from deep within, one or two
Coal Tits were singing from the tree tops
and a
Wren was seen skulking low in the vegetation. Small groups of birds then began to emerge and during one stop to investigate, a small group of
Long-tailed Tits had a least two
Crested Tit within.
 |
| Short-toed Eagle over Hoya de Malaga |
More small flocks of foraging birds to be found and these included good numbers of
Chaffinch with little gems within, the best of which were
Firecrest and
Short-toed Treecreeper. At around 1000ft the paths open up to produce stunning views across the
Hoya de Malaga and it wasn't long before the first large Raptors of the day appeared. Our attention was first drawn to a couple of
Ravens harassing a large bird, which turned out to be a
Booted Eagle, one of three seen during our walk. A couple of
Short-toed Eagle next, a surprise
Red Kite, followed soon after by the superb sight of six
Honey Buzzard, which enjoyed the thermals before moving off south, a great raptor migration spectacle!
 |
| Clouded Yellow - Just prior to liftoff! |
Before long it was also apparent that the area was an excellent habitat for butterflies and dragonflies with Swallowtail, Small Copper, Common Blue, Clouded Yellow, Large White, Silver Studded Blue, Grayling and Wall Brown all recorded.
 |
| Booted Eagle |
After dropping back down towards the quarry a smaller dark looking raptor came shooting in low, and before moving off high into the sun I managed a brief close up in the bins. At first I was a little unsure but having since sent an image I captured while the bird was high up to my birding guru JR back in the UK, the general consensus is
Black Kite.
 |
| Black Wheatear - An Andalusian 1st |
Finally, an Andalusian first for me just prior to arriving back at the car! Mountain bikers do have their uses when it comes to birding it seems, as without them these birds may well have gone unnoticed. The birds in question were a couple of
Black Wheatear, which flew up from the quarry workings after being flushed, perching nicely for several minutes and enabling me to obtain several record shots, a great end to a good day.
Temp - 24C/27C - Clear - Wind S @ 6 mph
