Loja Wildlife, Granada Province, Spain.: Tarifa and other areas, Cadiz Province.

Thursday 10 August 2017

Tarifa and other areas, Cadiz Province.

Raptor migration and Dragonflies with Steve Jones.

White Storks (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia).

Jayne, Lynn, Steve and myself left Sanlucar de Barrameda earlish and made our way south taking the long way back home via Gibraltar for the Girls and Tarifa for Steve and I.

Short-toed Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus).

We dropped Jayne and Lynn off at the border and then drove over to the Raptor watch point called Cazalla which is just East of Tarifa, there were just a few people there as it is still early in the migration season and the birds were equally thin in the air but we did manage 2♀ or Immature Montagu's Harriers (Aguilucho Cenizo / Circus pygargus), several of both Booted (Aguila Calzada / Aquila pennatus) and Short-toed Eagles (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus), 1x of both Honey (Aberjero Europeo / Pernis apivorus) and Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), several Griffon (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus) and 2x immature and 1x adult Egyptian Vultures (Alimoche Común / Neophron percnopterus), both Lesser (Cernicola Primilla / Falco naumanni) and Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Black Kites (Milano Negro / Milvus migrans) and the star bird amongst the raptors a Lanner Falcon (Halcón Borní / Falco biarmicus) which was a fine addition to my Spanish List.

Booted Eagle (Aguila Calzada / Aquila pennatus).

We also had several 100 Common Swifts (Vencejo Común / Apus apus) coming through along with a few Pallid (Vencejo Pálido /Apus pallidus), Barn (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica) and Red-rumped Swallow (Golondrina Dáurica / Hirudo daurica), House Martins (Avión Común / Delichon urbica) and a couple of flocks of White Storks (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia).

Short-toed Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus).

After a few hours there we moved to a site nearer to Gibraltar where we were again lucky enough to find 1♂ and 2♀ Green Hooktail (Paragomphus genei) dragonflies, apart from being stunning looking insects these beauties are extremely rare.

Egyptian Vultures (Alimoche Común / Neophron percnopterus).

In the same area we had Red-veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii), Violet (Trithemis annulata) and Orange-winged Dropwing (Trithemis kirbyi), Epaulet Skimmer (Orthetrum chrysostigma) and in a nearby field Monarch (Danaus plexippus), Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria), Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus), Adonis Blue (Lysandra bellargus), Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas), Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) and Small White (Pieris rapae).

Montagu's Harrier (Aguilucho Cenizo / Circus pygargus).

Later we met Jayne and Lynn again and we travelled back to Huétor where we stopped at one of the many tapas bars and had a couple of drinks and something to eat after a successful trip.