An afternoon Orchid Hunting with Sue and Sam.
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Summer Lady's Tresses (Spiranthes aestivalis). |
Jayne and I headed over to Grazalema to spend three days with good friends Sue Eatock and young Sam (Our guide for the second day) on the way over we picked up a few species including
Raven (Cuervo / Corvus corax),
Jackdaw (Grajilla / Corvus monedula),
Iberian Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki),
Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops),
Greater Flamingo (Flamenco Común / Phoenicopterus roseus),
Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus),
Pallid Swift (Vencejo Pálido /Apus pallidus) and
Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus).
We started by heading to the Visitors Center on the main car park in the town where we found Sam playing and Clive working hard trying to promote this cracking area. We spent some time with Sam before going over the far side of the car park for a drink with Clive and Sam, after a while Sue met us there and once we had finished our drinks Sue, Sam, Jayne and I headed off to Sue's place for some lunch before heading out for an afternoon spent in the countryside. Whilst we were at Sue's I saw and heard Bonelli's Eagle (Aguila Perdicera / Aquila faciatus), Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Común / Certhia brachydactyla), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor) and House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus).
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Dorycnopsis gerardi. |
From Sue's we headed off to a site nearby where we had information about the very rare
Summer Lady's Tresses (Spiranthes aestivalis) orchid and once we had parked up we had a look along the small stream at the site, straight away I had a
Kingfisher (Martin Pescador / Alcedo atthis) fly away and under the small bridge carrying the track. In the air over the site there were several
European Bee-eater (Abejaruco Común / Merops apiaster) hawking insects, from here we could also hear a singing
Woodlark (Totovia / Lullula arborea) and a calling
Golden Oriole (Oropéndola / Oriolus oriolus). We continued on along the banks of the stream and after a short while we located several spikes of the target species on a small islet in a flooded part of the stream and a short while later we had quite a few more plants in a drier part of the stream bed. We took lots of photographs of the plants before checking the area out for other species, in the scrub above the spot we found several
Western Willow Spreadwings (Lestres viridis) in amongst the Hawthorn bushes, a teneral
Red-veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii) which zipped away before I could get a shot and several
Common / Southern Blue (Polyommatus icarus / celina).
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Lavatera trimestris. |
Down in the wetter area I also flushed out from underfoot several very small
Stripe-less Tree Frogs (Hyla meridionalis) and a not so small
Natterjack Toad (Sapo Corredor / Bufo calamita) plus during the walk we flushed out a couple of
Large Psammodromus (Lagartija colilarga / Psammodromus algirus) Lizard. Other birds seen included
Cirl (Escribano Soteno / Emberiza cirlus) and
Corn Buntings (Triguero / Emberiza calandra),
Short-toed Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus),
Bonelli's Warbler (Mosquitero Papialbo / Phylloscopus bonelli),
Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata),
Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala) and
Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula).
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Elaeoselinum foetidum. |
After spending quite a while we headed back up to Sue and Sam's where Sam and I had a walk around the garden, during the stroll we hear and saw both
Crested Tit (Herrerillo Capuchino / Lophophanes cristatus) and
Nuthatch (Trepador Azul / Sitta europaea). We had a look through the flowering plants and put names to a few of them with Sue's help later, they included
Dorycnopsis gerardi,
Lavatera trimestris and
Elaeoselinum foetidum.
Sam and I then went back in to the house and we all settled for a pleasant evening.
1 comment:
toch heerlijk om in zulke mooie parken te zijn,dat is t=och altijd weer genieten.
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