We arrived at Marin and parked near the quarry at the start of the track and started to walk through the stream side woodlands, almost straight away we had Jane first Lifer for the morning a singing
Bonelli's Warbler (Mosquitero Papialbo / Phylloscopus bonelli) which showed very well in on of the nearby Oak trees This was quickly followed by
Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Común / Certhia brachydactyla),
Nightingale (Ruisenor Común / Luscinia megarhynchos),
Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula),
Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricailla), two immature
Iberian Green Woodpeckers (Pito Real / Picus sharpei) which flew across the valley and sat in a small bush on the opposite hill side and
Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula) which sang from deep cover but we eventually tracked it down.
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| Wryneck (Torcecuello / Jynx torquilla) taken by Jane. |
We continued on and heard a
Wryneck (Torcecuello / Jynx torquilla) calling near to us and after some searching Jane located the bird sitting on a dead branch of one of the stream side trees, it gave us great and lengthy views, in fact it was still sat in the same place when we returned an hour or so later. We continued on along the track hearing loads and seeing several more
Nightingales,
Bonelli's Warblers and
Short-toed Treecreepers and after some time we got the third of our target species under the belt when a pair of
Hawfinches (Picogordo / Coccotraustes coccotrauetes) sat up nicely in a Walnut tree. Butterflies started to become evedent as the temprature started to rise and they included several very nice
Spanish Marbled Whites (Melanargia ines),
Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra),
Clouded Yellow (Colias corcea),
Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus),
Bath White (Pontia daplidice),
Adonis (Lysandra bellargus) and
Common / Southern Blue (Polyommatus icarus / celina),
Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina),
Small White (Artogeia rapae), a late
Spanish Festoon (Zerynthia rumina),
Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria),
Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera) and
Spanish Gatekeeper (Pyronia bathsheba).
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| Thrapsia seed heads in the sun. |
Other bird sen here included
Great Tit (Carbonera Común / Parus major),
Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala),
Iberian Magpie,
Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis),
Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs),
Coal Tit (Carbonero Garrapinos / Parus ater) and
Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto).
Our next stop was at the nearly full Laguna Herrera just to the North of Antequera, we started as soon as we were on the track by adding both
Common (Vencejo Común / Apus apus) and
Pallid Swifts (Vencejo Pálido /Apus pallidus),
House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica),
Red-rumped Swallow (Golondrina Dáurica / Hirudo daurica) and
Spanish (Yellow) Wagtail (Lavandera Boyera / Motacilla flava iberiae) to the list. Once we were along side the laguna two more lifers came for Jane in the shape of a singing
Great Reed Warbler (Carricero Tordal / Acrocephalus arundinaceus) and a male
Spanish Sparrow (Gorrión Moruno / Passer hispaniolensis). other species seen on and over the water included
Gull-billed Tern (Pagaza Piconegra / Gelochelidon nilotica) which gave us much better views than we had managed at Guadalhorceon day one,
Great Crested Grebe (Somormujo Lavanco / Podiceps cristatus),
Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos),
Common Pochard (Porrón Común / Aythya ferina),
Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus),
Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra), several
Black-winged Stilts (Ciguenela Común / Himantopus himantopus) which were flying around noisily before landing on the flooded fields over the bank which due to the thistle wall was not viewable and a cracking male
White-headed Duck (Malvasia Cabeciblanca / Oxyura leucocephala).
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| Spanish (Yellow) Wagtail (Lavandera Boyera / Motacilla flava iberiae). |
In the reeds we heard both
Reed (Carricero Común / Acrocephalus scrpaceus) and
Melodious Warblers (Zarcero Común / Hippolais polyglotta),
Zitting Cisticola (Buitrón / Cisticola juncidis),
Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra) and on the track we had nice views of a pair of
Crested Larks (Cogujada / Galerida cristata). At the far end of the water we scanned the skies as large numbers of Swifts has started to appear and before long we had excellent views of a couple of low flying
Alpine Swifts (Vencejo Real / Apus melba) amongst the hoards of their commoner relatives. In and around the waters edge we saw and heard lots of
Iberian Water Frogs (Rana Común / Rana Perezi), flushed hundreds of
Red-veined Darters (Sympetrum fonscolombii) and saw several
Blue / Common Emperor (Anax imperator),
Lesser Emperor (Anax parthenope),
Iberian Blue-tail (Ischnura graellsii) and some fine male
Broad Scarlet's (Crocothemis erythraea).
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| Jane at Fuente de Piedra. |
We continued along the tracks out into the more agricultural areas around the site where we soon located both
Calandra (Calandria / Melanocorypha calandra) and
Short-toed Larks (Terrera Común / Calandrella brachydactyla),
Montagu's Harrier (Aguilucho Cenizo / Circus pygargus),
Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina) and
Northern Lapwing (Avefria Europea / Vanellus vanellus) before heading off along the motorway to Mollina area. We were soon on site and after a chat with the house owner who's place we were sat out side looking for our target species we soon had brief but very good views of the male
Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin (Alzacola / Cercotrichas galactotes) which was a good job as it disappeared and we did not see it again.
From here we headed out to Fuente de Piedra and called in at the visitors centre before we went out on to the view point at the rear where Jane had her first views of the very special flocks of
Greater Flamingo's (Flamenco Común / Phoenicopterus roseus).
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| Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra). |
Here we also picked out
Northern Shoveler (Pato Cuchara / Anas clypeata),
Avocet (Avoceta Común / Recurvirostra avosetta),
Black-headed (Gaviota Riedora / Larus ridibundus),
Lesser Black-backed (Gaviota Sombria / Larus fuscus) and
Yellow-legged Gulls (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis),
Common Pochard (Porrón Común / Aythya ferina) and
Black-necked Grebe (Zampullín Cullinegro / Podiceps nigricollis). We checked out the hides behind the centre but we did not see anything new except for a
Large Psammodromus (Lagartija colilarga / Psammodromus algirus) and several
Stripe-necked Terrapin (Mauremys leprosa).
Our next stop was at Laguna Dulce which held plenty of birds but nothing that we had not already seen except for a couple of
Red-crested Pochards (Pato Colorado / Netta rufina) and a female
Marsh Harrier (Aguilucho Lagunero Occidental / Circus aeruginosus), however we did get good views of some summer plumaged
Black-necked,
Great Crested and
Little Grebes, White-headed Ducks and Gull-billed Terns.
We continued on our way down to Malaga but detoured off the main road to have a look at Teba Gorge from the bridge, Straight away we saw lots of
Alpine Swifts and
Crag Martins (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris) flying into the cliffs at the far end of the cliffs. Whilst we were waiting we also recorded
Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros),
Black Wheatear (Collalba Negra / Oenanthe leucura),
Blue-rock Thrush (Roquero Solitario / Monticola solitarius),
Rock Sparrow (Gorrión Chillón / Petronia petronia),
Red-billed Chough (Chova Piquirroja / Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax),
Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus) and eventually we had several brief views of the resident
Bonelli's Eagle (Aguila-azor / Hieraetus faciatus) as it soared in and out of view at the far end of the gorge.
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| Jane at Teba Gorge. |
Our last stop on the way back we called in at Rio Grande to have a look some herons and waders, we picked up several
Cattle (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis) and a couple of
Little Egrets (Garceta Común / Egreeta garzetta),
Little Ringed Plover (Chorlitejo Chico / Charadrius dubius),
Black-winged Stilt (Ciguenela Común / Himantopus himantopus),
White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba),
Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops) and
Turtle Dove.
I then drove Jane back down to Alharin where we had a drink at her accommodation and completed her trip list.
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