An afternoon walk on the local patch.
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| Through the Poplars. |
The weather was not great during the morning but improved a bit during the afternoon so we all decided that a bit of a walk was required. We drove down to the bar at the bottom of the road so that we avoided all the dogs and then walked out on the track following the river. Wescanned the fields on the far side of the Rio Vilano and soon started to find interestind birds including 40 or so
Northern Lapwings (Avefria Europea / Vanellus vanellus),
Meadow Pipit (Bisbita Pratense / Anthus pratensis),
White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba) and 4 very nice
Stock Doves (Paloma Zurita / Columba oenas).
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| Huétor Fields. |
We then checked out the area around the first Poplar plantation which has a small but very tightly planted Olive grove next to it and in the rides between the trees was saw
Song Thrushes (Zorzal Común / Turdus philomelos),
Blackbirds (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula),
Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricailla),
Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis),
Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus) and
Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs).
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| Sue get a shot through the Poplars. |
All the way along this first part of the walk we were following an irrigation channel and as we moved forward we pushed a small flock of
Common Chiffchaffs (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita) along infront of us. Also in this area we had
Western Cattle Egret (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis),
Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris),
Great Tit (Carbonera Común / Parus major),
Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus),
Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor),
Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra),
Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata) and
Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros).
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| Jayne and Sam. |
We reached the first road and turned towards the railway bridge but took the track before we reached it and dropped back down to the river side, as we did we flushed up 2
Green Sandpipers (Andarrios Grande / Tringa ochropus) and watched a large flock of
Iberian Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki) fly off towards the large plantation on the far bank. In the reeds we picked up
Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus),
House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus),
Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina),
Cetti's Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti) and on the mud a fine
Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea).
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| Me. |
Continuing on down this track we added
Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops),
Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus),
Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula),
Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica),
Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata) and
Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala).
On the way back to the car we followed the same tracks but still added a couple more species including Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto) and Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua).We got back to the car and went into the bar and warmed up with a coffee before heading back to the house.
