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Sunday 26 August 2018

Tarifa, out at sea and Tarifa again, Cadiz Province.

A trip out to sea.

Heading out towards Morocco.
We all got up early and headed for Tarifa where Jayne and Barb had a wander around the town whilst Steve, Lynn and I headed out on a Whale watching trip from the port. During the chat I had with Javi Elorriaga BTS the day before he had mentioned that the sea temperatures were cold and that the smaller fish had not come in which meant that there were less Tuna so the Killer Whales had moved off and the sea bird numbers were also very low / nil but we still decided to head out. 
Long-finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala melas).
Javi was spot on, apart from a single very distant Scopoli's / Cory's Shearwater (Pardela Cenicienta / Calonectris diomedea / borealis) and a few Yellow-legged Gulls (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis) birds were no existent. However we did a little better on the Sea Mammal front but not as well as we had hoped, we did see a small pod of Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis), several Long-finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala melas) and a couple of Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) just as we were about to head for port.
Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis).
Once back on dry land we collected the car, picked up Jayne and Barb and went back down to the car park where we had parked the day before and walked into town where we had some lunch and a wander around the streets, I again heard but did not see the Common Bulbul (Bulbul Naranjero / Pycnonotus barbatus). 
Anchors on the quay at Tarifa.
On the way back to the hotel we called at the Mirador on the coast where we had an ice cream and picked up a few raptors which were being held back by a strong wind, these included Booted (Aguila Calzada / Aquila pennatus) and Short-toed Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus), Honey Buzzard (Aberjero Europeo / Pernis apivorus) and Black Kite (Milano Negro / Milvus migrans) as well as large numbers of both Common (Vencejo Común / Apus apus) and Pallid Swifts (Vencejo Pálido /Apus pallidus) and European Bee-eaters (Abejaruco Común / Merops apiaster). 
Short-toed Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus) with Africa in the back ground.
We had a bit of a rest once we were back at the hotel and then went back out on the town for a repeat of the night before.
Jayne and Barb in the Tapas bar in La Linea.
The Door Ham at the bar.
Lynn and Steve also in the Tapas Bar.

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