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Thursday 18 March 2021

A Beach near Motril and El Temple, Granada Province, Spain.

Surveying the Kentish again with Juan and then home via El Temple.
 
Balearic Shearwaters (Pardela Balear / Puffinus mauretanicus) x4.
I drove down to meet Juan and did a bit of a sea watch before we met, during this time I saw a Short-toed Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus) drift behind me and out to sea Balearic Shearwater (Pardela Balear / Puffinus mauretanicus), Northern Gannets (Alcatraz Atlántico / Morus bassanus), Sandwich Tern (Charrán Patinegro / Sterna sandvicensis), Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo), Mediterranean (Gaviota Cabecinegra / Larus melanocephalus), Black-headed (Gaviota Riedora / Larus ridibundus), Audouin's (Gaviota de Audouin / Larus audouinii), Lesser Black-backed (Gaviota Sombria / Larus fuscus) and Yellow-legged Gull (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis), a good number of Barn Swallows (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica) which were coming in off the sea and a passing Vagrant Emperor (Anax ephippiger).
Kentish Plover (Chorlitejo Patinegro / Charadrius alexandrinus) chicks photographed from the car on the way up the beach.
Juan arrived and as we did last week we walked a length of the Beach checking on the breeding pairs of Kentish Plovers (Chorlitejo Patinegro / Charadrius alexandrinus), before we started we checked the known nest from the car and they were as we expected except for the first one that Juan had found earliest in the year before I had started coming.
Kentish Plover (Chorlitejo Patinegro / Charadrius alexandrinus) female.
We reached the nest site and we were pleased to find the male and female with two very young chicks (three would have been better) which were chasing round and feeding, a delight to see.
New Signs, a good start but many more are needed.
We parked at the end of the beach and walked back switching between the beach and the track by the road, on the way and before we reached the plover area I saw Silene littorea, Sea Medick (Medicago marina), Linaria pedinculata, Ononis ramosissima, Sand Reichardia (Reichardia gaditana), Seaside Daisy (Asteriscus maritimus) and European Searocket (Cakile maritima).
European Searocket (Cakile maritima).
As we walked back along the beach we checked the chicks again and found a female and 2 males in the same area, continuing on we saw a known nest and the checked another spot where Juan had been told there was another sitting female which we found.
Kentish Plover (Chorlitejo Patinegro / Charadrius alexandrinus) new female sitting.

Further on we saw another group of plovers and as we sat on the roadside watched a female walk back to our fourth nest and whilst we watched this we had a Little Ringed Plover (Chorlitejo Chico / Charadrius dubius) fly passed.
Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata).

During the walk we also found Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris), Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus), Sanderling (Correlimos Tridáctilo / Calidris alba) x18, Meadow Pipit (Bisbita Pratense / Anthus pratensis), White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Zitting Cisticola (Buitrón / Cisticola juncidis) and Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto).
Plantain Species.
Thistle Species.
We reached the cars and on the way back along the beach we stopped and checked each nest on the way and as we were scanning Juan picked up 4 Cory's Shearwaters (Pardela Cenicienta / Calonectris borealis) amongst a group of feeding gulls.
Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua).

Next we went to another beach to the East where we checked the cliffs seeing more Audouin's Gull,
Black Wheatear (Collalba Negra / Oenanthe leucura) and at another spot a Bonelli's Eagle (Aguila-azor Perdicera / Hieraaetus faciatus).
Great Spotted Cuckoo (Crialo Europeo / Clamator gladarius).
I then drove back home but came back via a couple of spots in the El Temple area, whilst there I saw
Black-winged Kite (Elanio Común / Elanus caeruleus) x3, several Great Spotted Cuckoos (Crialo Europeo / Clamator gladarius) which sat in the sun every time I got close enough, Calandra Lark (Calandria / Melanocorypha calandra), Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra), Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica), Lesser Kestrel (Cernicola Primilla / Falco naumanni), Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua), Stone Curlew (Alcaraván Común / Burhinus oedicnemus) and Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata).

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