Huétor Fields and Padul, Granada Province.

A sunny start and then rain, more rain and to finish the day more rain !!!!!

Padul in the rain!!!

I started off by going down on to the fields to have a look and see if any of the Egyptian Geese (Ganso del Nilo / Alopochen aegyptiaca) that have been about for a few days were still on site but they had gone. On the flooded fields there were still good numbers of Green Sandpipers (Andarrios Grande / Tringa ochropus), Little Ringed Plovers (Chorlitejo Chico / Charadrius dubius), Western Cattle Egrets (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis) and a few Little Egrets (Garceta Común / Egreeta garzetta), White (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba) and Iberian  Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki) and at least a dozen Snipe (Agachadiza Común / Gallingao gallinago). In the surrounding scrub and in the Poplar plantation there were very good numbers of Spanish (Yellow) Wagtail (Lavandera Boyera / Motacilla flava iberiae), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus), Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricailla), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis) and Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina).
I then moved around to the far side of the flooded area and drove along the track on the bank above the Arroyo del Vilanowhere I soon had a very nice male Woodchat Shrike (Alcaudón Común / Lanius senator) in the bins as it sat in a bare Fig tree, also seen along here were a male Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra), Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris) and Rock Pigeon (Paloma Bravia / Columba livia). I scanned the floods again but came up with nothing else so I returned back alon the track seeing a Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua) and a surprise male Orphean Warbler (Curruca Mirlano / Sylvia hortensis) which was in making its way through some thin scrub along side the car from where I had very good views, seeing the pale eye and confirming this early migrants identification.

Later in the day Jayne and I went up to Granada to Juan Perez and Beatriz'a appartment where Jayne and Beatriz did some English work whilst juan and I went birding down to Padul, as soon as we arrived it started to rain so we went straight into the hide which over looks the main pool and before long the rain was so heavy that we could not see the far side of the lake.
Then the Lightening started and some of the longest rumbles of thunder I have ever heard. Whist in this hide we could see good numbers of Barn (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica) and Red-rumped Swallows (Golondrina Dáurica / Hirudo daurica) along with Sand (Avión Zapador / Riparia riparia), House (Avión Común / Delichon urbica) and Crag Martins (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Northern Shoveler (Pato Cuchara / Anas clypeata), Common Pochard (Porrón Común / Aythya ferina), Eurasian Teal (Cerceta Común / Anas crecca), Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo), Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis), Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra) and Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus).
On the marginal areas we recorded Cetti's Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti), Snipe, Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata), White Wagtail, Common Chiffchaff, Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto) and then we eventually picked up one of the two Great Crested Grebes (Somormujo Lavanco / Podiceps cristatus) Juan had seen earlier in the week. We then decided that the rain was going to win so we went back to Granada and Jayne and I went back home.