A day of being too late or early!!!



We then headed along the road towards Ubrique and turned along a track to a site just on the edge of a small village called Villaluenga, a short way along this thrack there was a gate across it so we parked and went for a walk. Straight away I had stunning views of a Firecrest (Reyezuelo Listado / Regulus ignicapillus) which messed around in a small shrub at the side of the track but never came on to a clear enough branch for me to get a shot. Also along this track we saw and heard several Common Crossbills (Piquituerto Común / Loxia curvirostra) and added both Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera) and Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) to the butterfly list.

Our next stop was on a roadside between Sue's house and Grazalema where we spent some time searching a large grassy field for the uncommon Autumn Lady's Tresses (Spiranthes spiralis) in an area where Sue had seen lots of spikes in 2012 but this year they had failed to flower completely, but they are a species which commonly does this if there is not enough rain early in the autumn.We again continued on towards Grazalema and on the way had nice roadside views of a couple of male Blue-rock Thrushes (Roquero Solitario / Monticola solitarius) and a male Black Wheatear (Collalba Negra / Oenanthe leucura) along with a dozen or so Griffon Vultures (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus) circling over head.
We passed through the town just stopping for some lunch on the way up to the pass at Puerto de las Palomas where we parked up and had a short walk down the hill checking the Pinsapo's on the way, we had intended to stake out the water trough near the car park but there were a couple of rather noisy birders there keeping all the birds away. On the way down we had several Ring Ouzels ( Mirlo Capiblanco / Turdus torquatus) which were holding back but clearly wanted to get to the water, also seen were Black Redstart, Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala), a good sized flock of Red-billed Chough (Chova Piquirroja / Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), Crag Martin (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris), Dartford Warbler (Curruca Rabilarga / Sylvia undata), a single Andalucian Wall Lizard (Podarcis vaucheri), lots of Migrant Hawkers (Aeshna mixta), a couple of Brimstones (Gonepteryx rhamni), Large (Pieris brassicae) and Small Whites (Artogeia rapae) and a couple of Painted Lady's.
We then dropped down into the town of Grazalema again and went into see Clive Muir at the Visitors Centre on the main Carpark. We spent some time there before collecting Sam and heading back to the house, I had a walk in the garden and then Sam and I repaired Sue's garden table before sitting out on the terrace where we watched a group of Griffon Vultures pass by very close to the house. Later we settled down to a nice meal and a couple of drinks.
Photographs from the top: View along the walk at Villaluenga, taking Sam to the bus, Woodlark (Totovia / Lullula arborea, Sue and Jayne on the Villaluenga walk, Southern Polypody (Polypodium cambricum) and a Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus) from Sue's Terrace (not cropped)
1 comment:
wat een prachtig verhaal en mooie foto,s weer het is heerlijk genieten.
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