From the Hotel window, Embalse de Reina, Portilla de la Reina, Mirador Portilla de la Reina, Sierra De Orpinas in Castilla Y Leon and Zona descanso Puerto san Glorio in Cantabria, Spain.

A little further out from the Hotel but the rain continued.

 

Cascada de Vada.

I got up and spent a short while checking the garden finding Cetti's Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti), Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricailla), Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), Raven (Cuervo / Corvus corax), Red-billed Chough (Chova Piquirroja / Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) x20, Nightingale (Ruisenor Común / Luscinia megarhynchos), Common Swift (Vencejo Común / Apus apus), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica) and Spotted Flycatcher (Papamoscas Gris / Muscicapa striata).

Mazarine Blue (Cyaniris semiargus).

Mazarine Blue (Cyaniris semiargus).

I drove out in the same direction as I had the day before but the weather was rough so I just kept driving over to  Embalse de Reina where I dropped down on to what I guess was the old road before the Embales flooded the area as after a few hundred meters it disappeared into the lake near to where the Rio Elsa entered.

Glanville Fritillary (Melitaea cinxia).

Glanville Fritillary (Melitaea cinxia).

Glanville Fritillary (Melitaea cinxia).

Just at this point I stopped (thought it was a good Idea) and got the scope out to scanned bushes in the water and around the margins where I found a single Great Egret (Garceta Grande / Egretta alba) which was fishing from a bush on the far bank, several Great Crested Grebes (Somormujo Lavanco / Podiceps cristatus), Yellow-legged Gull (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis), Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos) and a nice male Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea).

Marbled White (Melanargia galathea).

Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina).

I did a several point turn on the track and drove back up towards the road again checking the many bushes and paddocks on the way finding Bonelli's Warbler (Mosquitero Papialbo / Phylloscopus bonelli), Song (Zorzal Común / Turdus philomelos) and Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus), Long-tailed (Mito / Aegithalos caudatus) and Blue Tit (Herrerillo Común / Parus caeruleus), White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula), Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata), Nightingale and Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra).

Adonis Blue (Lysandra bellargus).

Small White (Pieris rapae).

I started to head back East following th Rio Elsa making my next stop on a minor road just to the north of the village of Portilla de la Reina where I did a short walk up a grassy valley but unfortunately the rain came again and I returned to the car but not before I found Dunnock (Acentor Común / Prunella modularis), Pyrenean Germander (Teucrium pyrenaicum) and Burnt Orchid (Neotinea Ustulata).

Large Wall Brown (Lasiommata maera).

Large Wall Brown (Lasiommata maera).

I went just up the road and sat in the car at Mirador Portilla de la Reina while it rained looking out into the Pine woods but only added Wren (Chochin / Troglodytes troglodytes) before I continued on up and over Puerto de San Gloria but as it was still throwing it down and the visability was almost zero I dropped back down the other side and headed back towards the hotel but on the way the sun came out for almost half an hours, so as I got to Zona descanso Puerto san Glorio I stopped for a while.

Pyrenean Germander (Teucrium pyrenaicum).

Burnt Orchid (Neotinea Ustulata).

It was amazing, as soon as the sun came out the butterflies were up and on the wing almost within seconds and I was soon watching Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina), Marbled White (Melanargia galathea), Small White (Pieris rapae), Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris), Adonis Blue (Lysandra bellargus), Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) and a butterfly lifer Glanville Fritillary (Melitaea cinxia) which was a tad tricky to ID but with help fro Ed Mckrill who sorted it.

Lizard Species.

Adonis Blue (Lysandra bellargus).

Whilst I was looking in this area I also had singles of Short-toed Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus) and both Griffon (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus) and Egyptian Vulture (Alimoche Común / Neophron percnopterus) pass over. 

Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera).

After a while things returned to normal and the rain started again so I worked my way back to the car finding Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera) on the way before I returned to the Hostal.