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Wednesday, 27 May 2015

The Cacín Valley, Granada Province.


A day in the Valley with Cathy & Paul from South Africa.

This is a short post as at the moment I have lost my notes for the day but have a few photographs.





Tuesday, 26 May 2015

El Faro Sea Watch hide, Malaga Province.

A couple of hour watch mainly the waves.

I dropped Jayne off at the shopping centre and drove the shot distance up to the hide looking over the rocks below El Faro light house and set the scope up and scanned the sea for a while. Apart fron 16 Balearic Shearwaters (Pardela Balear / Puffinus mauretanicus) one Northern Gannet (Alcatraz Atlántico / Morus bassanus) and a Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo) it was very quiet. Down on the rocks there were 10 Ruddy Turnstones (Vuelvepiedras Común / Arenaria interpres), a single Sanderling (Correlimos Tridáctilo / Calidris alba), 3x Ringed Plovers (Chorlitejo Grande / Charadrius hiaticula), a few Yellow-legged Gulls (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis) as well as a small group of Audouin's (Gaviota de Audouin / Larus audouinii) one of which had a small fish which it was struggling to eat.
 
Photographs from the top: Ruddy Turnstones (Vuelvepiedras Común / Arenaria interpres), 2x Audouin's Gulls (Gaviota de Audouin / Larus audouinii) and Yellow-legged Gull (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis).

Sunday, 24 May 2015

Old road Sierra Nevada, Granada Province.

A cloudy day looking for Butterflies with Mette and Bent from Denmark.

Marsh Fritillaries (Euphydryas aurinia).
I headed up to the City where I met up with Mette and Bent, we were going to cover the lower slopes of the Sierra Nevada looking for Butterfly species and sods law it was the first cloudy day in weeks.  
We started of with a short walk in the pine woods at the beginning of the road out to El Purche seeing a pale phase Booted Eagle (Aguila Calzada / Aquila pennatus), Bonelli's Warbler (Mosquitero Papialbo / Phylloscopus bonelli), Mountain Peony (Paeonia coriacea), Polygala boissieri, Pitch Trefoil (Psoralea bituminosa), Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) and Chimney Sweeper Moth (Odezia atrata).
Marsh Fritillaries (Euphydryas aurinia).
We continued on and turned off down the old road going back down the hill towards Güejar Sierra, our first stop was at an area of grassland amongst the surrounding Pine woods. 
We searched the area but as it was still cloudy and cool we did see any butterflies but added Lizard Orchid (Himantoglosum hircinum), Grey-leaved Cistus (Cistus albidus), Blue Hedgehog Broom (Erinacea anthyllis) and Drab Looper Moth (Minoa murinata). 
Marsh Fritillaries (Euphydryas aurinia).
Again we dropped down the road stopping a couple of times before we reached the bottom of the valley picking up Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula), Golden Oriole (Oropéndola / Oriolus oriolus), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricapilla), Great Tit (Carbonera Común / Parus major), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala) and Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus). 
Lesser Spotted Fritillary (Melitaea trivia).
Just above the river we stopped again after seeing a couple of butterflies of some roadside Hawkweed flowers, these turned out to be Marsh Fritillaries (Euphydryas aurinia) one of the species Bent had particularly wanted to see. 
In the area we found a couple of dozen adults at least and large numbers of Larvae feeding on the surrounding plants.
Fiery Clearwing (Pryopteron chrysidiformis).
Again we dropped downwards and stopped by the river where we checked an area where I have seen large numbers of insects coming down to take minerals but today it was quiet but we did still find a nice fresh looking Lesser Spotted Fritillary (Melitaea trivia), more Marsh Fritillaries, Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae), Southern Blue (Polyommatus celina), a couple of Southern Marbled Skipper (Carcharodus boeticus) and a fine Fiery Clearwing (Pryopteron chrysidiformis).
Next we dropped down the road a short way to another track which took us down to the Rio Genil where we had Spanish Gatekeeper (Pyronia bathseba), Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria), Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) and Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus).
Spanish Gatekeeper (Pyronia bathseba).
Birds in the area included a Dipper (Mirlo Acuático / Cinclus cinclus), Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea), Wren (Chochin / Troglodytes troglodytes), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), Crag Martin (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris), Common Swift (Vencejo Común / Apus apus) and Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus). 
We finished in the mountains and dropped back down past the City and out towards La Malaha stopping at a semi abandoned Cortijo where we watched several Lesser Kestrel (Cernicola Primilla / Falco naumanni), Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), European Bee-eater (Abejaruco Común / Merops apiaster), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Rock Pigeon (Paloma Bravia / Columba livia) and House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica). 
Lesser Kestrel (Cernicola Primilla / Falco naumanni).
We moved on to the fields between La Malaha and Ventas de Huelma adding a nice soaring Golden Eagle (Águila Real / Aquila chrysaetos). 
Out on the fields one of the first birds was a second Golden Eagle followed by Calandra (Calandria / Melanocorypha calandra) and Short-toed Larks (Terrera Común / Calandrella brachydactyla), Woodchat Shrike (Alcaudón Común / Lanius senator), Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops), Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra) and Jackdaw (Grajilla / Corvus monedula). The rest of the afternoon was spent on the road between Ventas and Cacin where we picked up the third Golden Eagle of the day and more Booted Eagles, Iberian Grey Shrike (Alcaudón Real Meridional / Lanius meridionalis), Alpine Swift (Vencejo Real / Apus melba), Thekla Lark (Cogujada Montesina / Galerida theklae) and Lulworth Skipper (Thymelicus acteon).
Lulworth Skipper (Thymelicus acteon).
We made our way back to the City and I dropped Bent and Mette back near their accommodation before heading back home. 
It was a butterfly day but due to the weather we struggled but things went well generally and Bent has now booked to come back for a few days in July which should produce a few more species.