Outskirts of Granada and Padul, Granada Province.

A windy days birding.

Padul.

I started off by taking Jayne into the City where she was hoping to do some patchwork matterial shopping. I then went back out to Aki where I met Juan before we headed just a short way down the Motorway where we were looking for a trio of exotic birds (thankfully not the sort that hang around on the industral estate nearby). We arrived and walked out to an area of unharvested Maize, on the way we heard a couple of Monk Parakeet (Cotorra Argentina / Myiopsitta monachus) which flew in and started to feed in a small orchard stuffed full of unpicked Persimmon trees.

Juan and Chika in the main hide.

Also in this area we saw Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula) and Crag Martins (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris). We continued along the track and found a sizable flock of Tree Sparrow (Gorrión Molinero / Passer montanus) which were feeding in in the maize along with around 10 Red Avadavats (Bengali Rojo / Amandava amandava). We then move around to another viewing point where we hoped to find our last target species Black-rumped Waxbill which Juan had seen several times over the last few weeks but this time we were unlucky but we did see Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricailla), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala) and Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris).

Chika.

We then made our way back to the car, on the way we had another flock of Monks which number ten along with White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), Jackdaw (Grajilla / Corvus monedula) and House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus).

We then went down the motorway to the Padul wetlands where we made our way around to the far hide along side the main lake where we ate the sandwich that Juan had made us but had to hide against the back wall out of what was a very strong cold wind that lashed across the lake. On the water there we a few Northern Shovelers (Cuchara Común / Anas clypeata), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus), Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra) and  Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo) and in the reeds there was a single Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea). We then did a slow drive around the reserve on the way we saw Western Cattle Egret (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis), Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra), Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata), Meadow Pipit (Bisbita Pratense / Anthus pratensis), Cetti's Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti) and Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula).

Sierra Nevada from Padul.

We then went had a coffee in a local bar before walking out on the board walk to the hide in the centre of the reserve, on the way we saw a couple of Water Pipits (Bisbita Alpino / Anthus spinoletta), along with dozens of Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita), a single Snipe (Agachadiza Común / Gallingao gallinago), Reed Bunting ( Escribano Palustre / Emberiza schoeniclus), Song Thrush (Zorzal Común / Turdus philomelos) and Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea). From the hide we picked my only year tick of the day a male Eurasian Teal (Cerceta Común / Anas crecca) which was sat in the bottom of a tree out in the water. Also seen here were more Eurasian Coots, Common Moorhen and a single Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis). We then started our walk back seeing a Fox on the way back to the car.

I dropped Juan back at Aki and then went and met Jayne up in the city and then we went back to home, on the way I saw a small flock of Little Bustards (Sisón Común / Tetrax tetrax) and single Black-winged Kite (Elanio Común / Elanus caeruleus) which was perched on a road side telegraph pole.