Loja Wildlife, Granada Province, Spain.: Huétor Fields and at home near Huétor Tajar, Granada Province, Spain.

Tuesday 8 September 2020

Huétor Fields and at home near Huétor Tajar, Granada Province, Spain.

Birding with Ed Mackrill over from the UK.

Reed Warbler (Carricero Común / Acrocephalus scrpaceus).

Ed and Monica had arrived yesterday afternoon and had settled in, this morning Ed and I decided to do a walk around the fields to see what migrants had come in.

Lang's Short-tailed Blue (Leptotes pirithous).

We parked down on the edge of town and walked up towards the model aircraft field, on the way we started the list off with Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus), Tree Sparrow (Gorrión Molinero / Passer montanus), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), Feral Pigeon (Paloma Bravía / Columba livia), a Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua) which was sat up on the last factory unit roof, Barn Swallows (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), House Martins (Avión Común / Delichon urbica), Spanish (Yellow) Wagtail (Lavandera Boyera / Motacilla flava iberiae) and Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata).

Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra).

We took the track along the Railway line heading over to the Mesia road, Ed picked up the first of severl Common Stonechats (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata), we also had a Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea) fly over, Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala), a Reed Warbler (Carricero Común / Acrocephalus scrpaceus) in a Fig tree, Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), several Linnets (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina) and Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis).

Immature Night Heron (Marinete Común / Nycticorax nycticorax).

At the far end of the track there was a large flock of hirundines which inlcuded lots of House Martins and Barn Swallows, a few Red-rumped (Golondrina Dáurica / Hirundo daurica) along with a single Common Swift (Vencejo Común / Apus apus), Zitting Cisticola (Buitrón / Cisticola juncidis), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Common Waxbill (Estrilda Ondulada / Estrilda astrild) and the first Red Avadavat (Bengali Rojo / Amandava amandava) for the area.

European Bee-eaters (Abejaruco Común / Merops apiaster).

We continued on towards the Mesia road checking the Irrigation channels as we went, we soon added Cetti's Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti), Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea), Greater Short-toed Lark (Terrera Común / Calandrella brachydactyla), Willow Warbler (Mosquitero Musical / Phylloscopus trochillus), Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula) and Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica).

Orange-winged Dropwing (Trithemis kirbyi).

We crossed the Mesia road and walked up to and along the Arroyo Vilano seeing many more Common Waxbills, Reed and Cetti's Warblers, Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra), a Kingfisher (Martin Pescador / Alcedo atthis) which shot past along the stream, a male Golden Oriole (Oropéndola / Oriolus oriolus) fly passed, Lang's Short-tailed (Leptotes pirithous) and Long-tailed Blues (Lampides baeticus) and Bath White (Pontia daplidice).

Long-tailed Blue (Lampides baeticus).

We again crossed the Mesia road and followed the Arroyo flushing an immature Night Heron (Marinete Común / Nycticorax nycticorax) from the reeds and we watched a nice group of European Bee-eaters (Abejaruco Común / Merops apiaster) which were sat on the railway electrics and once we were on the far side of the railway again Melodious Warbler (Zarcero Común / Hippolais polyglotta), several Iberian Magpies (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki), 2x Booted Eagles (Aguila Calzada / Aquila pennatus) both pale morph and a Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo).

Scarlet Darter (Crocothemis erythraea).

Once we reached the road we walked back to the car adding Western Cattle Egret (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis) and a Whinchat (Tarabilla Nortena / Saxicola rubetra) on the model plane airfield.

Large White (Pieris brassicae).

We returned to the house and then spent some of the afternoon on the terrace seeing Grey Wagtail, Serin, Blackbird, House Sparrow, House Martin, Goldfinch, Woodpigeon, European Bee-eater, Sardinian Warbler, Great (Carbonera Común / Parus major) and Blue Tit (Herrerillo Común / Parus caeruleus), Common Chaffinch and Collared Dove.

Southern Skimmer (Orthetrum brunneum) male.

Southern Skimmer (Orthetrum brunneum) female.

Later in the afternoon Ed and myself went down to a point on the Arroyo Vilano where we spent a while looking for Dragonflies and soon found Scarlet Darter (Crocothemis erythraea), Orange-winged Dropwing (Trithemis kirbyi) new for Ed, Keeled (Orthetrum coerulescens) and Southern Skimmer (Orthetrum brunneum), Blue / Common Emperor (Anax imperator), Iberian Bluetail (Ischnura graellsii) along with Mediterranean Skipper (Gegenes nostrodamus) also new for Ed, Bath White, Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina), Large White (Pieris brassicae), Long-tailed Blue, Woodchat Shrike (Alcaudón Común / Lanius senator), a Common Buzzard, lots of Corn Buntings and Reed Warblers and the only mammal of the day a Rabbit (Conejo / Oryctolagus cuniculus).

Bath White (Pontia daplidice).

Our next stop was out along the A92 near Mesia where we successfully found several Desert Orange-tips (Colotis evagore) and then on the way back the find of the day and a new species for the patch in the shape of a Juv / 1CY Eurasian Dotterel (Chorlito Carambolo / Eudromias morinellus) which was stood up nicely on a rock giving us chance to view it nicely.