Huétor Fields, Huétor Tajar, Granada Province.

Winter visitors return and some summer / passage birds still linger on.

Common Waxbill (Estrilda Ondulada / Estrilda astrild).

I had a couple of hours to kill so I dropped down on to the fields and had a wander around my local patch, I started by checking central fields where I found one of the regular pairs of Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua) sat on the roof of an old out building on the roadside. Out on the fields nearby I had good numbers of Northern Lapwings (Avefria Europea / Vanellus vanellus), Stone Curlew (Alcaraván Común / Burhinus oedicnemus) and a nice flock of Western Cattle Egrets (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis).

Common Waxbill (Estrilda Ondulada / Estrilda astrild).

I moved down on to Mesia road and did a walk along one of the irrigation ditches which cross the fields where I saw 5+ Snipe (Agachadiza Común / Gallinago gallinago), a single but very welcome returning Jack Snipe (Agachadiza Chica / Lymnocriptes minimus), Green Sandpiper (Andarrios Grande / Tringa ochropus), Meadow Pipit (Bisbita Pratense / Anthus pratensis), Skylark (Alondra Común / Alauda arvensis) and a male Reed Bunting (Escribano Palustre / Emberiza schoeniclus) which is locally a rare bird. 

Along the way I had single males of Epaulet Skimmer (Orthetrum chrysostigma) and Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) as well as Lang's Short-tailed (Leptotes pirithous) and African Grass Blues (Nina esmaltada / Zizeeia knysna), Small White (Pieris rapae) and Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui).

Common Waxbill (Estrilda Ondulada / Estrilda astrild).

Back at the start of the ditch I found Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata), Zitting Cisticola (Buitrón / Cisticola juncidis), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Tree Sparrow (Gorrión Molinero / Passer montanus), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris) and Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina). Just before I crossed the road I had a look through the dozen or so Common Chiffchaffs (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita) hoping for something more unusual but only managed a Reed Warbler (Carricero Común / Acrocephalus scrpaceus) and several Blackcaps (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricailla).

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum).

On the opposite sde of the track I checked an area of reeds in a disused fild and bumped the list up after finding a nice male Bluethroat (Pechiazul / Luscinia svecica), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), Cetti's Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti), Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra), Common Waxbill (Estrilda Ondulada / Estrilda astrild), Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata), Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula) along with Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) and Clouded Yellow (Colias Común / Colias corcea).

White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba).

Just down the road I made a stop near a well over grown irrigation ditch which had a small unused orchard made up of mainly dead trees, here I started off with House Sparrows (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), a late male Common Redstart (Colirroja Real / Phoenicurus phoenicurus), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala) and in the nearby poplar trees a Great Spotted Woodpecker (Pico Picapinos / Dendrocopos major). Later I made my way back to the house and got on with a few more jobs.