Cerro, Hacho and Huétor Fields, Granada Province, Spain.

Local patch once more.

Giant Orchid (Himanthoglosum Robertiana) hypocromatic.

I drove up to Hacho and had a walk from the Puddle down hill via the Pine woodlands where I found quite a lot of flowering spikes of Giant Orchid (Himanthoglosum Robertiana) including a couple of hypocromatic spikes. 

Giant Orchid (Himanthoglosum Robertiana) hypocromatic.

In the same area I found quite a few Somber Bee Orchid (Ophrys fusca / foresteri) and in the trees above me several species of bird including Long-tailed (Mito / Aegithalos caudatus), Blue (Herrerillo Común / Parus caeruleus), Crested (Herrerillo Capuchino / Parus cristatus), Great (Carbonera Común / Parus major) and Coal Tit  (Carbonero Garrapinos / Parus ater), Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Común / Certhia brachydactyla), Common Crossbill (Piquituerto Común / Loxia curvirostra), Firecrest (Reyezuelo Listado / Regulus ignicapillus), Iberian  Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki) and Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala).

Giant Orchid (Himanthoglosum Robertiana).

Giant Orchid (Himanthoglosum Robertiana).

As I walked lower down towards the road I found Wren (Chochin / Troglodytes troglodytes), Thekla Lark (Cogujada Montesina / Galerida theklae), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), Red-legged Partridge (Perdiz Roja / Alectoris rufa), Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita) and Brambling (Pinzón Real / Fringilla montifringilla).

Somber Bee Orchid (Ophrys fusca / foresteri).

I walked back up the south facing slope finding Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas), Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus), Erophila verna, Amethyst Toadflax (Linaria amethystea), Broad-leaved Iris (Iris planifolia) and Mallow-leaved Storksbill (Erodium malacoides).

Little Bustards (Sisón Común / Tetrax tetrax).

Little Bustards (Sisón Común / Tetrax tetrax).

Little Bustards (Sisón Común / Tetrax tetrax).

I got back to the and drove down to the fields and did my usual walk along the Lucerne fields and then on along the road to the junction where I turned around, as I walked out I did not see anything of great interest but on the way back I notice 3 campo dogs on the far side of the fields which came across to the area where I usually see the Little Bustards (Sisón Común / Tetrax tetrax) and flushed up 9 birds which I had not seen on the way out.

Two of the dogs.

As the fields were badly flooded back in November the farmer did not havest the Lucerne which has made finding the Bustards very difficult.