Huétor Fields and the Cacín Valley, Granada Province.

On the local patch and down the Cacín valley with Pau from Valencia area.

I was meeting Pau at the bar at the end of our road so I left the house and had a walk down picking up Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricailla), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Song (Zorzal Común / Turdus philomelos) and Mistle Thrushes (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus), Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Tree Sparrow (Gorrión Molinero / Passer montanus), Meadow Pipit (Bisbita Pratense / Anthus pratensis), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala), Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata), Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata) and Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra).

I reached the bar and Pau turned up soon after me and we had a coffee before heading out to the fields near to Moraleda, once we were there we found a few spikes of Somber Bee Orchids (Ophrys fusca / O. forestieri) on the side of one of the track sides as we approched the main fields. Up on the Almond fields we saw Iberian Grey Shrike (Alcaudón Real Meridional / Lanius meridionalis), Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops), Crested and Thekla Larks (Cogujada Montesina / Galerida theklae), Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris), Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica) and the we first heard and then saw the first Great Spotted Cuckoo (Crialo Europeo / Clamator gladarius) for my year list.

We moved up on to the more open fields where we heard but did not see a Little Bustard (Sisón Común / Tetrax tetrax) and in the same area we had Calandra (Calandria / Melanocorypha calandra) and Skylarks (Alondra Común / Alauda arvensis), Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua) and several of both Bath (Pontia daplidice) and Green-Striped Whites (Euchloe belemia).

We dropped down into the valley and had a sandwich in the bar at El Turro and once we had finished we made a stop in the pines just down the road where we found more Somber Bee Orchids and heard and saw Common Crossbill (Piquituerto Común / Loxia curvirostra), Coal (Carbonero Garrapinos / Parus ater), Blue (Herrerillo Común / Parus caeruleus) and Great Tits (Carbonera Común / Parus major), Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia), Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula) and Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus). Our next stop was right down to the far end of the valley where we had good views of a pair of Bonelli's Eagles (Aguila-azor / Hieraetus faciatus), Crag Martins (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris), Dartford Warbler (Curruca Rabilarga / Sylvia undata), Jackdaw (Grajilla / Corvus monedula), Rock Pigeon (Paloma Bravia / Columba livia), Rock Sparrow (Gorrión Chillón / Petronia petronia) and Small White (Pieris rapae) and Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).

We made a short visit to Embalse de Bermejalis but we did not add any interesting species so we worked our way back up the valley to the Embalse de Cacín where we found Common Pochard (Porrón Común / Aythya ferina), Northern Shoveler (Pato Cuchara / Anas clypeata), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra), Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus), Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo), Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica) and House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica).

We moved back to the fields near Huétor Tajar but only managed to find Iberian  Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki), Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina) and Tree Sparrow (Gorrión Molinero / Passer montanus) before we called it a day.