Charca Suarez and Castillo de Ferro, Granada Province, Spain.

A quiet morning at Charca and a few butterflies further down the coast.

Steve and Lynn, Day Thirteen.

 

Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea).

We were up and around a bit earlier today so that we could be down on the coast for the opening time of 09.00 at Charca Suarez, we arrived and parked just up the road and went in through the gate and made our way up to the hide over looking Laguna Blanca but it was generally quiet and we only saw Western Swamp-hen (Calamon Común / Porphyrio porphyrio), Nightingale (Ruisenor Común / Luscinia megarhynchos), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), White Stork (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia), Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea), Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra), Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus) and Cetti's Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti).

White Stork (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia).

Spotted Flycatcher (Papamoscas Gris / Muscicapa striata).

We moved on around to the main hide Laguna de las Aneas but we had a quick look in at the northern end of Laguna del Taraje on the way were we again saw Western Swamp-hen but an immature bird this time, Mallard, Common Moorhen and Spotted Flycatcher (Papamoscas Gris / Muscicapa striata).

Ferruginous Duck (Porrón Pardo / Aythya nyroca) male.

Ferruginous Duck (Porrón Pardo / Aythya nyroca) male.

Ferruginous Duck (Porrón Pardo / Aythya nyroca) male.

Ferruginous Duck (Porrón Pardo / Aythya nyroca) male and female.

Ferruginous Duck (Porrón Pardo / Aythya nyroca) male and female.

From the main hide we scanned the laguna finding Common Pochard (Porrón Común / Aythya ferina), Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis), several Glossy Ibis (Morito Común / Plegadis falcinellus) on the island with a couple of Little Egrets (Garceta Común / Egreeta garzetta), Black-headed (Gaviota Riedora / Larus ridibundus) and Yellow-legged Gull (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis), Reed Warbler (Carricero Común / Acrocephalus scrpaceus), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica) and Pallid Swift (Vencejo Pálido /Apus pallidus).

European Firebug (Pyrrhocoris apterus).

Cynanchum acutum, Id by Anita Beijer.

6688 Spoladea recurvalis.

Down below the hide on the floating weeds Steve located several Black Percher (Diplacodes lefebvrii) dragonflies and on our way to the next hide over looking Laguna del Trébol I found a new Moth species for me, 6688 Spoladea recurvalis which was sitting on a climbing plant called Cynanchum acutum.

Desert Orange-tip (Colotis evagore) male.

Desert Orange-tip (Colotis evagore) male.

Desert Orange-tip (Colotis evagore) male.

Desert Orange-tip (Colotis evagore) female.

Desert Orange-tip (Colotis evagore).

Steve found a cluster of European Firebug (Pyrrhocoris apterus) on the leaves of the same plant as I had seen the Moth and another cluster a bit further on, from the hide I watched 4x Ferruginous Ducks (Porrón Pardo / Aythya nyroca), Common Waxbill (Estrilda Ondulada / Estrilda astrild), Red-knobbed Coot (Focha Moruna / Fulca cristata) and on our way out of the reserve we also saw Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) and African Grass Blue (Zizeeia knysna).

Long Skimmer (Orthetrum trinacria) male.

Long Skimmer (Orthetrum trinacria) male.

We drove down the coast and up on to a site on the out skirts of Castillo de Ferro where we walked up on to a disused urbanisation where we looked for and found both male and female Desert Orange-tip (Colotis evagore), in the same area we also saw a single Black Percher and Long Skimmer (Orthetrum trinacria) before we went home where we later sat on the terrace and heard Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua).