Padul Nature Reserve, Granada Province.

A little bit of birding and then the Second Afternoon and Evening of Talks and Workshops.

Green Sandpiper (Andarrios Grande / Tringa ochropus).

I spent a shot while down on the fields before heading over to meet up with Juan Perez. I had a quick look at the Stone Curlews (Alcaraván Común / Burhinus oedicnemus) down near Huétor as they had been quite near the road earlier in the day but as soon as I pulled up they were away. Here I also saw several Spotless Starlings (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor) and a few Common Starlings (Estornino Pinto / Sturnus vulg aris) mixed in with the flock, Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata), Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Northern Lapwing (Avefria Europea / Vanellus vanellus), White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba) and Thekla Lark (Cogujada Montesina / Galerida theklae). I still had a short while before I need to head to the city so I took the track out the back of the bar and had a look at the river, the first bird was a fairly well behaved Green Sandpiper (Andarrios Grande / Tringa ochropus) which allowed me to get a couple of shot of it, I the added Meadow Pipit (Bisbita Pratense / Anthus pratensis), Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea), Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris) and Iberian  Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki) to the list.

Northern Lapwing (Avefria Europea / Vanellus vanellus).

I ran out of time on the patch so I drove up to Juans place but had a real raptor fest on the way, by the time I arrived at his appartment I had counted 3x Common Buzzards (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), 3xSparrowhawks (Gavilán Común / Accipiter nisus), 4x Common Kestrels (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus) and singles of both Hen Harrier (Aguilucho Pálido / Circus cyaneus) and Black-winged Kite (Elanio Común / Elanus caeruleus) a nice set of list fillers.

Juan and I then made our way to Padul a hour and a half before our talks were dur to start so we had a look along the sewage filled canal and the hide areas. In the stream before it joins the main canal we had nice views of a Bluethroat (Pechiazul / Luscinia svecica), along with loads of Common Chiffchaffs (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita), Grey Wagtail, Meadow Pipit and Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricailla). We then followed the canal down to the hide but the water was so high that all we picked up were Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus), Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra) and Crag Martin (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris). We retraced our steps back to the small bridge and had nice views of a winter plumaged Water Pipit (Bisbita Alpino / Anthus spinoletta) and a Snipe (Agachadiza Común / Gallinago gallinago). We then made our way up to the reserve centre and after a bit of a delay we both carried out out talks and workshops.