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Friday 25 September 2015

Sierra Nevada, Granada Province.

A second day with the Portland, Audubon Society.

I met the group again at 08:00 just through the tunnel on the road up to the Sierra and we all continued on up to the top car park where we got out for another walk. Out on the nearby crags we were soon watching several very smart Black Redstarts (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros) which was a new species for most of the group so we were there for some time whilst every one got good views.
In the same area we had Coal Tits (Carbonero Garrapinos / Parus ater) which again were a species which were well watched, Great Tit (Carbonera Común / Parus major), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina), Northern Wheatear (Collalba Gris / Oenanthe oenanthe), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus) and a couple of Skylarks (Alondra Común / Alauda arvensis) which again was a bird that was wanted by all of the group and lead to us doing a bit of a scramble up a steep slope but rewarded by nice views of the birds.
On the walk back to the bus I had a flock of around 12 Alpine Accentors (Acentor Alpino / Prunella modularis) fly over but by the time I got anyone on to them they were just dots. We finished off at this spot with a coffee at one of the huts and a flock of Rock Sparrows (Gorrión Chillón / Petronia petronia) on the tall mast just off the car park.
Once we were all back on the bus we made our way down to the botanical gardens and then spent a couple of hours wondering around the trails through the grasslands, woods and pools. During this time we had stunning views of several Common Crossbill (Piquituerto Común / Loxia curvirostra), more Coal Tits, as well as Crested (Herrerillo Capuchino / Parus cristatus), Great and Long-tailed (Mito / Aegithalos caudatus), Firecrest (Reyezuelo Listado / Regulus ignicapillus), Jay (Arrendajo / Garrulus glandarius), Rock Sparrow (Gorrión Chillón / Petronia petronia), Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus), more Black Redstarts, Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Cirl (Escribano Soteno / Emberiza cirlus) and Rock Buntings (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Común / Certhia brachydactyla) and Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus).
Other species included Sage Skipper (Muschampia proto), Cardinal (Argynnis Pandora) and Queen of Spain Fritillaries (Issoria lathonia), Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus), Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus), Lang's Short-tailed Blue (Leptotes pirithous), Rock (Hipparchia alcyone) and Great Banded Graylings (Brintesia circe), Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera) and Autumn crocus (Crocus serotinus).

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