Huetor Fields, Granada Province.

Dash to the shops.

It was going to be a quick dash down to the supermarket to grab a few bits but on the way I decided to go across the fields and along the river to see if I could pick up the Black-winged Kite (Elanio Común / Elanus caeruleus) Steve and I had seen a few days earlier. The Kite was not around but a least 30 Iberian  Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki) were in the same bushes along with a Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulga / Falco tinnunculus), along the river there was a single Green Sandpiper (Andarrios Grande / Tringa ochropus), loads of White Wagtails (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), Meadow Pipit (Bistita Común / Anthus pratensis) and Crested Larks (Cogujada Común / Galerida cristata). Further on a small flock of Western Cattle Egrets (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis) were following a plough in one of the small fields and on the roadside brash I saw Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra), Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina) and Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata). Collared Doves (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto) and Spotless Starlings (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor) were on the wires and in a one of the Asparagus fields I eventually tracked down some of the Stone-curlews (Alcaraván Común / Burhinus oedicnemus) which had been flushed by a chap spraying their normal field with fertilizer. I then took one of the more rutted tracks out into the centre of the Lucerne fields where I managed to find just two of the 200 or so Little Bustards (Sisón Común / Tetrax tetrax) we have locally, it was a female with a nicely plumaged male bird.