Cabo Sacratif and Charca del Suarez, Granada Province.

Well what a day (for a day dream) should have stayed in bed.

Yellow-legged Gull (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis).

We started out from Granada at the usual 06:15 but something was not quite right! We got to the coast to carry out the JULY Ram Seabird Survey, and it was damn cold, heaving down with rain and blowing a gale. We were all sat there in our summer shorts and tee shirts freezing our bits off, even the Yellow-legged Gulls (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis) looked at us as if we were mad. 

Any way we carried out the two-hour stint picking up fairly good numbers of Balearic Shearwaters (Pardela Balear / Puffinus mauretanicus), a few Cory's (Pardela Cenicienta / Calonectris diomedea) also passed west along with a handful of Northern Gannets (Alcatraz Atlántico / Morus bassanus). 

Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinula Chloropus).

Juan picked up a single Great Skua (Págalo Grande / Catharacta skua) but even with directions the bird slipped away from me unseen, several Audouin's (Gaviota de Audouin / Larus audouinii), Black-headed (Gaviota Riedora / Larus ridibundus) and Mediterranean Gulls (Gaviota Cabecinegra / Larus melanocephalus) all made there way back to wards the port at Motril during the session.

Pallid Swift (Vencejo Pálido / Apus pallidus), Eurasian Crag Martin (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala) and European Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus) were some of the other species noted.

Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis).

We then moved on to a quiet Charca, well when you have 3 Little Bitterns (Avetorillo Común / Ixobrychus minutus), Western Swamp-hen (Calamon Común / Porphyrio porphyrio) and Stripeless Tree Frog (Hyla meridionalis) all on view at the same time, it sounds harsh to say it was quiet but compared to other times of the year and the fact that the weather kept all the Dragonflies under cover, it was.

Little Bittern (Avetorillo Común / Ixobrychus minutus).

Other birds seen included Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Eurasian Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricapilla), Cetti’s Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti), Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinula Chloropus), Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra), Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis), European Bee-eater (Abejaruco Común / Merops apiaster), European Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), Great Tit (Carbonero Común / Parus major), Eurasian Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops), Western House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica) and Little Ringed Plover (Chorlitejo Chico / Charadrius dubius).