To Granada and Back, Granada Province.

Another new species for my Granada list on the way back from the Market.

Dotterel (Chorlito Carambolo / Eudromias morinellus).

Jayne and I decided to go and have a wander around the large Sunday market up in Granada as the weather was looking quite nice after the last few day of rain. We left the house and headed down to Huétor going to the motorway. On the way we saw a single Black-winged Kite (Elanio Común / Elanus caeruleus) perched in the same tree as I had seen the two birds yesterday, Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita), Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea) and Iberian Grey Shrike (Alcaudón Real Meridional / Lanius meridionalis). As soon as we got onto the motorway we had a Dartford Warbler (Curruca Rabilarga / Sylvia undata) fly across us after making a dash across the carriage ways, a little further on we saw a small flock of just 15 or so Little Bustards (Sisón Común / Tetrax tetrax) and just before Santa fe another Black-winged Kite which was hoovering over the land along side the airport. We then spent an entertaining 3 hours around the market getting a few bits including some nice looking fruit before having lunch nearby.

Dotterel (Chorlito Carambolo / Eudromias morinellus).

After lunch we headed south along the Motril motorway and came off heading towards La Malaha and then to a nearby industrial estate where I spent some time scanning the agricultural land around the site. In the close fields there were good numbers of Larks including Thekla  (Cogujada Montesina / Galerida theklae), Crested (Cogujada Común / Galerida cristata), Calandra  (Calandria / Melanocorypha calandra) and Skylarks (Alondra Común / Alauda arvensis) along with several Song Thrushes (Zorzal Común / Turdus philomelos), more Iberian Grey Shrikes and a calling Dartford Warbler. In the air I picked up a fast moving Peregrine Falcon (Halcón Peregrino / Falco peregrinus), several Common Kestrels (Cernicalo Vulga / Falco tinnunculus) and a soaring Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo). We then carried on through Ventas de Huelmaand on towards Cacín, on the way we took a couple of tracks out into the Olive groves looking for Raptors and this proved reasonably successful as we added a Merlin (Esmerejón / Falco columbarius) and 2 Golden Eagles (Águila Real / Aquila chrysaetos) to the list, one of which was watched catching a rabbit. Along this stretch we also saw a  Bonelli's Eagle (Aguila Perdicera / Aquila faciatus) sat on a pylon, dozens of White Wagtails (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina), Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica), Red-legged Partridge (Perdiz Roja / Alectoris rufa), Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris), Stone Curlew (Alcaraván Común / Burhinus oedicnemus) and Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus). We then dropped down through the village of Cacín and drove up to the Embalse de Cacín where I spent a while scanning through the waterfowl on the lake which was surprising low after the rain we have just had. The commonest species of duck were the 50 or so Common Pochard (Porrón Europeo / Aythya ferina), followed by 25+ Eurasian Teal (Cerceta Común / Anas crecca), 20+ Northern Shoveler (Cuchara Común / Anas clypeata),a scattering of Mallards (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos) and a very nice pair of Eurasian Wigeon (Silbón Europeo / Anas Penelope). Also on the lake there were a good number of Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra), Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinula Chloropus) and Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis),with at least 3 Green Sandpipers (Andarrios Grande / Tringa ochropus) feeding in the shallows. Our next stop was in an area of agricultural land near El Turro where we added Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops), Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra), Meadow Pipit (Bistita Común / Anthus pratensis) and several Northern Wheatears (Collalba Gris / Oenanthe oenanthe) to the list before we found bird of the day! I was watching a female Common Kestrel which was sitting on the ground not to far away from the car when I notice a movement on the edge of the track which at first I thought was going to be a Golden Plover (Chorlito Dorado Europeo / Pluvialis apricaia) but as soon as I got the bins on it and saw the thumping great supercillium and the breast band I realised it was a partially moulted Dotterel (Chorlito Carambolo / Eudromias morinellus) a new bird for my Granada list. We watched this bird for quite a while before continuing on around the site but apart from a few more Northern Wheatears and loads of Black Redstarts we did not see any thing else.