Travelling South, Calling at Alange, Sevilla Airport and Malaga.

Our final day in the superb area.

Day Eight: Doñana and Extremadura tour.

Alpine Swift (Vencejo Real / Apus melba).

After our last great Breakfast at the Palacio de Santa Marta we loaded the van with all the kit and headed south passed Mérida and down to the Alange area, after we came off the motorway we searched an agricultural area for a couple of Lagoons but we did not find either of them but did find a couple of areas on the roadside field edges that were flooded and held a single Greenshank (Archibebe Claro / Tringa nebularia) and several pairs of Black-winged Stilts (Ciguenela Común / Himantopus himantopus). 

White Storks (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia).

We did not seen much more so we crossed to the Dam of the Embalse de Alange and then down to the Rio Matachel below the dam, where we parked near a local bar and the went out on to the bridge where we scanned the reed beds and bushes. In the air above us there were loads of Alpine Swifts (Vencejo Real / Apus melba), House Martins (Avión Común / Delichon urbica), Barn (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica) and Red-rumped Swallows (Golondrina Dáurica / Hirudo daurica), Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus) and Black Kites (Milano Negro / Milvus migrans).

Lower down there was a pair of hunting Marsh Harriers (Aguilucho Lagunero Occidental / Circus aeruginosus) low over the reeds, a scurrying Water Rail (Rascón Europeo / Rallus aquaticus) which zipped across a gap in the reeds and Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus). 

Black Kite (Milano Negro / Milvus migrans).

In the reeds and bushes we saw a nest building Penduline Tit (Pájaro Moscón / Remiz pendulinus), Golden Oriole (Oropéndola / Oriolus oriolus), Great Reed (Carricero Tordal / Acrocephalus arundinaceus) and Reed Warbler (Carricero Común / Acrocephalus scrpaceus), Jackdaw (Grajilla / Corvus monedula), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Common Waxbill (Estrilda Ondulada / Estrilda astrild), Long-tailed Tit (Mito / Aegithalos caudatus), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), Nightingale (Ruisenor Común / Luscinia megarhynchos) Cetti's Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti) and Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo). On the bridge we found a tall spike of Bean Broomrape (Orobanche crenata) and on the verge Common Snapdragon (Antirrhinum major), Borage (Borago officinalis),

Rio Matachel below the dam.

Mallow-leaved Bindweed (Convolvulus althaeoides), Eruca (Eruca sativa), Common Fumitory (Fumaria officinalis), Boar Thistle (Galactites tomentosa), Common Mallow (Malva sylvestris), Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena), Omphalodes commutata, Pallenis spinosa, Corn Poppy (Papaver rhoeas), Yellow Bartsia (Parentucellia viscosa) and White Campion (Silene latifolia).

We walked back to the van seeing a nest of White Storks (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia) and a Moorish Gecko (Tarentola mauritanica) before having a coffee in the bar.

White Stork (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia).

We went back up to the fields where we had been earlier and found a dip in the field which held a very small amount which attracted several White Storks, a single Glossy Ibis (Morito Común / Plegadis falcinellus), 3 Common Redshank (Archibebe Común / Tringa totanus), a dozen or so noisy Collared Pratincoles (Canastera Común / Glareola pratincola), a single Stone Curlew (Alcaraván Común / Burhinus oedicnemus), Short-toed (Terrera Común / Calandrella brachydactyla) and Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata), Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra) and a nice male Montagu's Harrier (Aguilucho Cenizo / Circus pygargus).

We returned to the bar and collected some sandwiches and the drove down to Sevilla airport where we said goodbye to Nick, Mick, Ann and Bob and then Magdalena, Pierre and I continued on to Malaga where we said our goodbyes and I headed home once Jayne picked me up.