Loja Wildlife, Granada Province, Spain.: Huétor Fields and the Garden Pool, Granada Province, Spain.

Monday 23 November 2020

Huétor Fields and the Garden Pool, Granada Province, Spain.

A walk along the Arroyo and then in the garden hide.

A frost on the car roof with a nice blue sky beyond.

After a day of resting my back which has been annoying me for a few days I decided to go for a walk this morning and parked in the usual before heading around the Lucerne fields.

Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata).

Straight away it was obvoius there were better numbers of Northern Lapwings (Avefria Europea / Vanellus vanellus) around, up from the 20 or so from a couple of days ago to 487 today by the time I had counted all the Lucerne fields.

Western Cattle Egret (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis).

Also in better numbers were Skylarks (Alondra Común / Alauda arvensis) with around 50 in one desent sized flock and other smaller groups, Meadow Pipits (Bisbita Pratense / Anthus pratensis) with over a 100 birds flying up with big numbers of White Wagtails (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), as well as 15+ Hoopoes (Abubilla / Upupa epops), a Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea) and 5 Western Cattle Egrets (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis) which flew passed me and landed down in an Asparagus field which was being cut which means we can expect to be smocked out for a week or two when they burn it all off.

White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba).

On the opposite side of the track down in the Arroyo there were big numers of finches including masses of Goldfinches (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis) and Serins (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus) as well as lesser numers of both Linnets (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina) and Greenfinches (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris).

Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita).

Also seen along the field stretch were Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata), Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra), Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus) and masses of Spotless Starlings (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor).

Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea).

Between the Lucerne fields and the Poplar Plantation I searched the Asparagus fields finding a couple of Dartford (Curruca Rabilarga / Sylvia undata) and Sardinian Warblers (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala), Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricailla), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Zitting Cisticola (Buitrón / Cisticola juncidis), Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata) and Red-legged Partridge (Perdiz Roja / Alectoris rufa).

Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros) male.

Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros) female.

Later I went into the garden and spent a couple of hours in the hide where I had a couple of new species for the day including Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula), Great Tit (Carbonera Común / Parus major), Song Thrush (Zorzal Común / Turdus philomelos), Iberian Magpies (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki) and Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs).