Embalse de Bermejalis, Panteneta de Alhama and Corntra Embalse de Cacín, Granada Province.

SEO meeting for wetlands day with the Sierra Nevada Local Group.

The group.

I drove down to Embalse de Bermejalis where I was going to meet up with a few birders from the local SEO group, I arrived quite early so I called at a spot nearby for Eagle Owl (Buho Real / Bubo bubo) but it was too foggy to see the cliffs so I continued on down to the area around the dam and lake. I soon found a pair of Egyptian Geese (Ganso del Nilo / Alopochen aegyptiaca), Great Crested Grebe (Somormujo Lavanco / Podiceps cristatus) and Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos) and in the trees there were Crested (Herrerillo Capuchino / Parus cristatus), Coal  (Carbonero Garrapinos / Parus ater), Blue (Herrerillo Común / Parus caeruleus), Great (Carbonera Común / Parus major) and Long-tailed Tits (Mito / Aegithalos caudatus), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus) and several Siskins (Lúgano / Carduelis spinus).

Common Pochard (Porrón Común / Aythya ferina).

I drove around to the meeting point where I scanned the water through the Pines trees and found a small flock of Mallards with a single female Northern Pintail (Ánade Rabudo / Anas acuta) along with Eurasian Coots (Focha Común / Fulica atra) and down on the river Green (Andarrios Grande / Tringa ochropus) and Common Sandpipers (Andarrios Chico / Actitis hypoleucos), Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus), Cetti's Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti), Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula), White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea) and in the Pine trees a pair of Firecrest (Reyezuelo Listado / Regulus ignicapillus) and Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala).

Once the group arrived we dropped down to the water and saw much the same species along with Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis), Jay (Arrendajo / Garrulus glandarius), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs) and Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo).

Watching a Great Spotted Woodpecker (Pico Picapinos / Dendrocopos major).

We walked back to the cars and then headed on Panteneta de Alhama, on the way I saw Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), Rock Sparrow (Gorrión Chillón / Petronia petronia), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica), Jackdaw (Grajilla / Corvus monedula), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus) and Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata).

Once we were at the pool we had a look from the hide and added Common Pochard (Porrón Común / Aythya ferina), Northern Shoveler (Pato Cuchara / Anas clypeata), House (Avión Común / Delichon urbica) and Crag Martins (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris).

Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo).

We had a walk around to the far side of the pool adding Great Spotted (Pico Picapinos / Dendrocopos major) and Green Woodpeckers (Pito Real / Picus viridis), Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Común / Certhia brachydactyla), Wren (Chochin / Troglodytes troglodytes), Meadow Pipit (Bisbita Pratense / Anthus pratensis) and several spikes of Ophrys forestieri along with Small White (Artogeia rapae), Clouded Yellow (Colias Común / Colias corcea) and Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria).

After we walked back to the car we headed North to the Contra Embalse de Cacín where the group parked on the roadside from where we scanned the pool and saw many of the species we had already seen but added Eurasian Teal (Cerceta Común / Anas crecca) and Thekla Lark (Cogujada Montesina / Galerida theklae) before I headed off back towards home but calling via the fields at Moreleda but I missed all the species I was looking for except Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata) and Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra).

Iberian Grey Shrike (Alcaudón Real Meridional / Lanius meridionalis).

From here I spent a while on the Local Patch fields and was very pleased to find a cracking adult Black-winged Kite (Elanio Común / Elanus caeruleus) by the river, I also had Iberian Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cyanus), Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops), Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricailla), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua), Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus) and Iberian Grey Shrike (Alcaudón Real Meridional / Lanius meridionalis).