My last day of this visit and an early morning start at Gudalhorce. When I parked up at the church at Guadalmar the first thing I noticed was that the wind had increased considerably since leaving the villa only 20 minutes earlier. The walk up to the bridge crossing was quiet enough, with the exception of a
Zitting Cisticola and calling
Cetti's Warbler but when I stood checking out the many
House Martins, Barn and
Red-rumped Swallows around the bridge a
Hen Harrier took the eye, passing quite low before heading off, a first for me here!
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| Monk Parakeets - A real feature of Guadalhorce |
I took my usual route checking out the hides that run along the track which leads down to the sea view point. The regular
White-headed Duck and
Little Grebe were mostly asleep, (4)
Teal flew through and a
Kingfisher made a noisy pass. (5)
Black-winged Stilt , (2)
Greenshank and single
Little Egret,
Common and
Green Sandpiper made up the numbers. Coming away from the del rio Viejo hide a noisy
Serin followed by a bird which dropped down onto the path. This turned out to be a stunning male
Common Redstart, sadly not lingering long enough for a photo. The old river was teaming with life, holding many
Black-headed Gulls, (4)
Audouin's Gulls and a single
Mediterranean. Waders were in good numbers and included (2)
Wood Sandpiper, (3)
Curlew Sandpiper, (2)
Knot, (1)
Ruff , (1)
Redshank and various numbers of
Dunlin,
Sanderling,
Little-ringed,
Ringed and
Kentish Plover. Only a single juvenile
Greater Flamingo present today.
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| Can't get enough of these Audouin's Gulls! |
I spent a while checking out the open areas just prior to entering the sea-view tower. Across on the rio Veijo one or two
Little Terns were fishing and a bird perched on some dead wood turned out to be a juvenile
Woodchat Shrike, in fact two were present.
Crested Lark,
Skylark,
Chiffchaff,
Whinchat and
Hoopoe all made an appearance before I headed off along the beach to find small groups of
Sanderling scurrying up and down.
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| At least a dozen Alpine Swift in among the constant flow of Common Swift! |
The short walk from the beach to the Laguna Grande hide produced a large flock of
Greenfinch,
Sardinian Warbler and both
Common Kestrel and
Sparrowhawk over the scrub. Overhead migration was full tilt with many
Common Swifts on the move, along with over a dozen or so
Alpine mixed in. (11)
Honey Buzzard passed through and while sitting in the hide my first
Osprey of the visit, dispatching a sitting
Cormorant from the Osprey pole before deciding not to bother perching at all! The Laguna wasn't particularly busy but brief visits from both single
Black-tailed and
Bar-tailed Godwits were a bonus and 63 species was a fair haul to end my short break.
