Navahermosa and Fuente de Piedra, Malaga Province, Spain.

A day out with friends Lynn and Steve from the UK.

Ebird List for Fuente de Piedra.

 

Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus).

I went over to meet Lynn and Steve at a spot near Villanueva del Rosario and we headed out along the A92 coming off to visit a spot out on the fields near the village of Navahermosa where we searched some of the tracks, ditches and fields for birds.

Large White (Pieris brassicae).

We took the first track and made a stop when we saw several butterflies flitting around an area of Heliotropium europaeum, most were Sage Skippers x20+ (Muschampia proto) along with False Mallow / Mallow Skipper (Carcharodus tripolina / alceae) x12+ and Southern Marbled Skipper (Muschampia baeticus) x1, Large (Pieris brassicae) x1, Small (Pieris rapae) x3 and Bath White (Pontia daplidice) x4, Lang's Short-tailed Blue (Leptotes pirithous) x4, Aporodes floralis and Crimson Speckled (Utetheisa pulchella) x lots and plenty of Red-veined Darters (Sympetrum fonscolombii).

False Mallow / Mallow Skipper (Carcharodus tripolina / alceae).

Along the track we also saw Common Reed Warbler (Carricero Común / Acrocephalus scrpaceus), Spanish (Yellow) Wagtail (Lavandera Boyera / Motacilla flava iberiae), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Western House Martin (Avión Común Occidental / Delichon urbicum), Western Marsh Harrier (Aguilucho Lagunero Occidental / Circus aeruginosus) x3, Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), Whinchat (Tarabilla Norteña / Saxicola rubetra), European Stonechat (Tarabilla Europea / Saxicola rubicola), Iberian Grey Shrike (Alcaudón Real / Lanius meridionalis), Common Buzzards (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo) x3, a passing Short-toed Snake Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus) and a flyby Black-winged Kite (Elanio Común / Elanus caeruleus) which we also saw sat in a half dead willow tree and Steve managed to get a few Photo's of.

Crimson Speckled (Utetheisa pulchella).

At the end of the track we turned around and retraced our steps, on the way we again saw the Kite but it wasn't as tolerant as when we were going in the other direction, we took the next track and added a nice female Montagu's Harrier (Aguilucho Cenizo / Circus pygargus), a pale morph Booted Eagle (Aguila Calzada / Aquila penntuas), Black Kite (Milano Negro / Milvus migrans), Western Cattle Egret (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis), Common Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus) and Northern Wheatear (Collalba Gris / Oenanthe oenanthe).

Black-winged Kite (Elanio Común / Elanus caeruleus).

Black-winged Kite (Elanio Común / Elanus caeruleus).

We drove off the site and headed for town of Fuente de Piedra where we had some lunch and then made a visit to the nearby Fuente de Piedra, a dying wetland that is being killed by the surrounding farmers, agriculture and the local government which allows the illegal water extraction to continue, it will be a very sad loss to the local economy / wildlife.

Whinchat (Tarabilla Norteña / Saxicola rubetra).

We pretty much ignored the areas around the closed visitors center which were all very dry apart from a small area of water on the main lagoon where we saw a 100 or so Greater Flamingo (Flamenco Común / Phoenicopterus roseus) and lots of Gulls most of which were Lesser Black-backed Gulls (Gaviota Sombria / Larus fuscus).

Iberian Grey Shrike (Alcaudón Real / Lanius meridionalis).

Iberian Grey Shrike (Alcaudón Real / Lanius meridionalis).

Around on the back pools we checked the larger hide over looking the Laguna Dulce where we found White-headed Duck (Malvasia Cabeciblanca / Oxyura leucocephala), Northern Shoveler (Cuchara Común / Spatula clypeata), Gadwall (Anade Friso / Mareca strepera), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Eurasian Teal (Cerceta Común / Anas crecca), Black-necked (Zampullín Cuellinegro / Podiceps nigricollis) and Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis), European Turtle Dove (Tórtola Europea / Streptopelia turtur), Northern Lapwings (Avefria Europea / Vanellus vanellus) x5, Western Marsh Harrier (Aguilucho Lagunero Occidental / Circus aeruginosus), Sand (Avión Zapador / Riparia riparia) and Western House Martin, Barn (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica) and Red-rumped Swallows (Golondrina Dáurica / Cecropis daurica), Sardinian (Curruca Cabecinegra / Curruca melanocephala) and Cetti's Warbler (Cetia Ruiseñor / Cettia cetti) and White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba).

6441 Aporodes floralis.

We moved around to the smaller hide overlooking the smaller pool where we added Little Ringed Plover (Chorlitejo Chico / Charadrius dubius), Green Sandpiper (Andarrios Grande / Tringa ochropus), Spotted Flycatcher (Papamoscas Gris / Muscicapa striata), Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Common Reed Warbler (Carricero Común / Acrocephalus scrpaceus), Lesser Emperor (Anax parthenope) and Rabbit (Conejo / Oryctolagus cuniculus). 

Spanish (Yellow) Wagtail (Lavandera Boyera / Motacilla flava iberiae).

We returned to the car and then headed back to the spot where Lynn and Steve were staying, once there we had a coffee and saw Iberian  Magpie (Rabilargo Ibérico / Cyanopica cooki), European Serin (Serin Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Common Redstart (Colirroja Real / Phoenicurus phoenicurus) and heard some distant Perez's Frogs (Rana Común / Pelophylax perezi) before I headed off home. 

Zitting Cisticola (Cistícola Buitrón / Cisticola juncidis).

Later I went for a walk around the Lucerne Fields where I added nothing new but had good views of a Cetti's Warbler. 

Cetti's Warbler (Cetia Ruiseñor / Cettia cetti).