Caleta de Velez and Guadalhorce Pools, Malaga Province.

Some bad and some good Gull watching on the Malaga Coast.

Yellow-legged Gull (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis) with plastic around legs.

Jayne and I went down to Torre del Mar on the Cross country route via Viñuela to collect a couple of bits and then down to the coast, on the way we had Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops), Iberian  Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki), Jackdaw (Grajilla / Corvus monedula), Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra), Crested (Cogujada / Galerida cristata) and Thekla Lark (Cogujada Montesina / Galerida theklae), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), Red-legged Partridge (Perdiz Roja / Alectoris rufa), Raven (Cuervo / Corvus corax) x2, Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus), Lesser Kestrel (Cernicola Primilla / Falco naumanni), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica), Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula) and as we walked around in Torre we had lots of noisy Monk Parakeets (Cotorra Argentina / Myiopsitta monachus).

Yellow-legged Gull (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis) with fishing line around legs.

Once we had visited all the places we wanted to go there I had half an hour checking through the Gulls at Caleta beach which was a bit sad as at least two of the Gulls were tangled up in plastic or fishing line which is so unnecessary and unpleasant.

Mediterranean Gull (Gaviota Cabecinegra / Larus melanocephalus) adult summer.

I found a single Ruddy Turnstone (Vuelvepiedras Común / Arenaria interpres), 3x Sanderling (Correlimos Tridáctilo / Calidris alba), several Mediterranean Gulls (Gaviota Cabecinegra / Larus melanocephalus) as well as a few of both Lesser Black-backed (Gaviota Sombria / Larus fuscus) and Yellow-legged (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis) and a single Sandwich Tern (Charrán Patinegro / Sterna sandvicensis).

Mediterranean Gull (Gaviota Cabecinegra / Larus melanocephalus).

Our next stop was at the shopping centre and just as we were leaving there I got a message from Andy Paterson that the Bonaparte's Gull (Gaviota de Bonaparte / Chroicocephalus philadelphia) which had been seen at Guadalhorce pools had reappeared so we headed straight there.

Ruddy Turnstone (Vuelvepiedras Común / Arenaria interpres).

Jayne spent an hour and a half reading near the beach Chiringuito Servando whilst I walked on to the reserve along the beach, on the way to the hide over looking Laguna Grande I saw Black-winged Stilt (Ciguenuela Común / Himantopus himantopus), Black-headed (Gaviota Reidora / Chroicocephalus ridibundus) and Audouin's Gull (Gaviota de Audouin / Larus audouinii), Cetti's Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Zitting Cisticola (Buitrón / Cisticola juncidis), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala) and Red-rumped Swallow (Golondrina Dáurica / Hirundo daurica).

Sanderling (Correlimos Tridáctilo / Calidris alba).

I reached the hide and met Marcus a birder from Torremolinos who told me the Gull had flown off to the North / Left about 45 minutes earlier so I sat down and scanned the roosting Gull flocks just in case it had slipped back in undetected but with out any luck. 

Greenshank (Archibebe Claro / Tringa nebularia).

However I did see Sandwich and Gull-billed Tern (Pagaza Piconegra / Gelochelidon nilotica), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Shelduck (Tarro Blanco / Tadoma tadorna), Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis), Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra), Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus), Greater Flamingo (Flamenco Común / Phoenicopterus roseus), Little Egret (Garceta Común / Egreeta garzetta), Avocet (Avoceta Común / Recurvirostra avosetta), Collared Pratincole (Canastera Común / Glareola pratincola), Greenshank (Archibebe Claro / Tringa nebularia), Kentish Plover (Chorlitejo Patinegro / Charadrius alexandrinus), Common Sandpiper (Andarrios Chico / Actitis hypoleucos), Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo) and Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica).

Mediterranean (Gaviota Cabecinegra / Larus melanocephalus) and Black-headed Gulls (Gaviota Reidora / Chroicocephalus ridibundus), Sandwich Terns (Charrán Patinegro / Sterna sandvicensis) and a Sanderling (Correlimos Tridáctilo / Calidris alba).

After a while I decided to have a walk in the direction that the Gull had been seen going and a couple of minutes later I was watching it on the shallow scrape just a couple of hundred meters away with a couple of Black-heads and several Black-winged Stilts. The bird was quite distant but I got good views through the scope and a few OKish shots.

Black-winged Stilt (Ciguenuela Común / Himantopus himantopus).

After a while and having good views I walked back to the hide and then back to Jayne in the car seeing 3x Gull-billed Terns on the way.

Bonaparte's Gull (Gaviota de Bonaparte / Chroicocephalus philadelphia).

Bonaparte's Gull (Gaviota de Bonaparte / Chroicocephalus philadelphia).