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Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica). |
At 09:00 we got to the entrance and went into the reserve and into the first hide. Almost as soon as we got in there the rain started to pour and went on for a good while. From this hide we located the first of several
Sedge Warblers (Carricerin Común / Acrocephalus schoenobaenus), more
Little Grebes,
Common Moorhens and
Eurasian Coots. The rain eased a little so we moved around towards the next hide checking out the willow scrub where we located at least three
Night Herons (Marinete Común / Nycticorax nycticorax) roosting in the lower branches.
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Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica). |
We then continued on around the walk way to find that the first hide is barriered off so we continued on to the next location where we stayed for a while mainly due to the fack that it was humming it down with rain. The rain forced some of the hirundines to perch on the reed tops which gave me the chance to get some shots, at one point there were
Barn and
Red-rumped Swallows, House and
Sand Martins all sat on the same reed stem but they all flew off before I could get the camera on to them. From the same spot we also added
Northern Shoveler (Pato Cuchara / Anas clypeata),
Eurasian Teal (Cerceta Común / Anas crecca),
Snipe (Agachadiza Común / Gallingao gallinago),
Western Swamp-hen (Calamon Común / Porphyrio porphyrio),
Great Cormorant,
Grey Heron,
Little Egret (Garceta Común / Egreeta garzetta) and
Cetti's Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti).
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Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo). |
Around at the main hide we were again pinned down for a while by the rain but picked up
Eurasian Wigeon (Silbón Europeo / Anas penelope),
Common Pochard (Porrón Común / Aythya ferina),
Crag Martins which were flying in and landing on the shelves on the out side of the hide,
Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula),
Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) and several quite noisy
Stripeless Tree Frogs (Hyla meridionalis). We then moved on around to the last hide but we saw very little but we did get some cracking views of a couple more
Sedge Warblers and heard the crocking row from a couple of
Western Swamp-hens. Juan and I then headed down the coast a short way to the eastern side of Salabrena where we were looking for a
Great White Egret (Garceta Grande / Egretta alba) but we dipped even though we had Juan's nice big 4X4 to go along the embankment in which gave us good views. We did see more
Mallards,
Little Egrets,
Spanish (Yellow) Wagtails and hundreds of hirundines. After we dropped down off the embankment we crossed the agricultural area again on our way back to the motorway junction and added two cracking male
Black-eared Wheatears (Collalba Rubia / Oenanthe hispanica). We then headed off up the motorway back to Granada where Juan dropped me back to my car before heading home, I headed home but the long way round via La Malaha and the Cacín Valley. My first stop was at a large disused Cortijo where I soon had my first
Lesser Kestrels (Cernicola Primilla / Falco naumanni) of the year along with
Jackdaw (Grajilla / Corvus monedula),
Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra) and
Iberian Green Woodpecker (Pito Real / Picus sharpei).
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Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo). |
From here I headed west to the large industial area near La Malaha and spent some time driving around the fields in this area where I saw lots more
Lesser Kestrels, a single
Stone Curlew (Alcaraván Común / Burhinus oedicnemus), several
Calandra Larks (Calandria / Melanocorypha calandra), along with
Crested,
Thekla (Cogujada Montesina / Galerida theklae) and
Skylarks (Alondra Común / Alauda arvensis). I continued on heading west through Ventas de Huelma and on to the road to Cacín, after a few KMs I turned off on to a dirt track and drove out into the fields where I soon located more
Lesser Kestrels,
Iberian Grey Shrike (Alcaudón Real Meridional / Lanius meridionalis),
Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus),
Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs),
Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina),
Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus) and
Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata).
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Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria). |
At the far end of this track I stopped and parked and whilst I scanned the fields a flock of 9
Black-bellied Sandgrouse (Ganga Ortega / Pterocles orientalis) which flew up from near the track and dropped down on the top of a ridge half way down the field. I then made my way back to the road and continued on towards cacín, on the way I found an immature
Golden Eagle (Águila Real / Aquila chrysaetos) hanging in the strong winds coming up of the ridge, the bird was being mobbed by 20 or so
Jackdaws but they had little effect and the bird continued hunting. I made a short stop at the Rio Cacín but only added
Blue Tit (Herrerillo Común / Parus caeruleus) in the willows.
Further along the valley I called at the Embalse de Cacín where I was surprised to find that even after all the rain we have had the water level was still low and there were some quite large muddy margins. On the mud there were quite a few
Green Sandpipers (Andarrios Grande / Tringa ochropus), a couple of
Little Ringed Plovers (Chorlitejo Chico / Charadrius dubius) and lots of
White Wagtails. On the water there were a few
Eurasian Teal,
Common Pochard,
Northern Shoveler,
Mallard and a couple of
Little Grebes. In the air a male
Marsh Harrier was display flying over the reed beds and over the water there were large numbers of hirundines including
Sand,
Crag and
House Martins along with both
Barn and
Red-rumped Swallows.
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Egyptian Goose (Ganso del Nilo / Alopochen aegyptiaca). |
I then moved North along the Valley through El Turro to the crags, on the way I saw dozens of spikes of
Ophrys forestieri growing on the roadside. At the crags I soon had both
Blue-rock Thrush (Roquero Solitario / Monticola solitarius) and
Black Wheatear (Collalba Negra / Oenanthe leucura) on the day list along with
Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros) and
Coal Tit (Carbonero Garrapinos / Parus ater).
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Egyptian Goose (Ganso del Nilo / Alopochen aegyptiaca). |
My last stop of the day was on the local patch at the flooded fields along side the railway line, from the bridge I could see several
Green Sandpipers,
Little Ringed Plovers, a couple of
Northern Lapwings (Avefria Europea / Vanellus vanellus), a
Common Sandpiper (Andarrios Chico / Actitis hypoleucos),
Little Egret, Grey Heron and to my surprise there were three
Egyptian Geese (Ganso del Nilo / Alopochen aegyptiaca) grazing on the far side of the water. Other species seen in the area included
Iberian Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki),
Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica),
Grey (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea),
White and
Spanish (Yellow) Wagtails. I then made my way back up to the house after seeing 85+ species during the day.