Rio Jandula, Fire break site and in the hide at La Caracola, Andujar, Jaen Province, Spain.

Mammals and Birds.

Day One, La Caracola.

Otter (Nutria / Lutra lutra).

I drove up to the Andujar area and down to the Rio Jandula where I drove to the parking area near the Dam below the Embalse del Encinarejo, I parked and walked out on to the bridge over the Rio and quickly had good views of a single Otter (Nutria / Lutra lutra) which was the first of three that I saw including the one in the pictures that showed really well in the early morning bad light.

Otter (Nutria / Lutra lutra).

Red Deer (Ciervo común / Cervus elaphus) waiting to cross the bridge.

I had to move off the bridge a couple of times when several Red Deer (Ciervo común / Cervus elaphus) wanted to cross and head up into the hills.

Iberian  Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki).

Iberian  Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki).

Whilst I stood on the bridge I also recorded Kingfisher (Martin Pescador / Alcedo atthis), Cetti's (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti), Willow (Mosquitero Musical / Phylloscopus trochillus) and Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala), White (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba) and Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea), Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica), Cirl Bunting (Escribano Soteno / Emberiza cirlus), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Iberian  (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki) and Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica), Great Spotted Woodpecker (Pico Picapinos / Dendrocopos major), Wren (Chochin / Troglodytes troglodytes), Great (Carbonera Común / Parus major) and Blue Tit (Herrerillo Común / Parus caeruleus) and Red-rumped Swallow (Golondrina Dáurica / Hirundo daurica).

Hawfinch (Picogordo / Coccotraustes coccotrauetes) Male.

Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs) female.

Nuthatch (Trepador Azul / Sitta europaea).

I walked back to the car and then drove back to the start of the track by the bridge over the Rio where I checked the area around some dead and live Poplar trees finding Jackdaw (Grajilla / Corvus monedula), Nuthatch (Trepador Azul / Sitta europaea), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Long-tailed Tit (Mito / Aegithalos caudatus) and Iberian Green Woodpecker (Pito Real / Picus sharpei) as well as Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus), Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus) and Small White (Pieris rapae).

Long-tailed Tit (Mito / Aegithalos caudatus).

Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Común / Certhia brachydactyla).

Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus).

Blue Tit (Herrerillo Común / Parus caeruleus).

Great Tit (Carbonera Común / Parus major).

My next stop was on the road out to the Embalse del Jándula and parked at the first of the double Fire Breaks finding Griffon (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus) and Eurasian Black / Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus), Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita) and just as I was about to leave the Common Magpies started to kick off and I then had a male Iberian Lynx (lince iberico / Lynx pardina) run quickly across the fire break, too quickly for me to get to the camera on the front seat of the car.

Pied Flycatcher (Papamoscas Cerrojillo / Ficedula hypoleuca).

Pied Flycatcher (Papamoscas Cerrojillo / Ficedula hypoleuca).

I then drove to the La Caracola hotel were I was staying for a couple of nights and went straight out into the hide in the garden there.

Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia).

Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia).

Once I was in the hide I started to get some nice pictures of several species including Blue, Long-tailed, Great and Crested Tit (Herrerillo Capuchino / Parus cristatus), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Iberian Magpie, Hawfinch (Picogordo / Coccotraustes coccotrauetes), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), Common Redstart (Colirroja Real / Phoenicurus phoenicurus) and Pied Flycatcher (Papamoscas Cerrojillo / Ficedula hypoleuca).

Common Redstart (Colirroja Real / Phoenicurus phoenicurus).

Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis).

Whilst I was in the hide I could hear a rather noisy Iberian Imperial Eagle (Aguila Imperial Ibérica / Aguila adalberti) overhead and when I had a look I saw an adult bird display flying.

Iberian Imperial Eagle (Aguila Imperial Ibérica / Aguila adalberti).

Other species seen whilst in the hide included Red-veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii), Cardinal Fritillary (Argynnis pandora), Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus), Southern Brown Argus (Aricia cramera) and Large Psammodromus (Psammodromus algirus).