Sierra de Loja, Granada Province, Spain.

A drive from Loja to Salar along la Carretera Principal on Sierra de Loja.

Ebird List from the Sierra.

 

Very degraded looking Sierra de Loja, cleared to dust by the Sheep.

The three of us headed over to Loja where we took the track called la Carretera Principal up over Sierra de Loja from Loja to the village of Salar, due to fire restrictions all other areas are off limits but I checked with the Guardia Civil and Seprona that we would be OK to stay on the Main track and they said yes.

We did the first half of the drive out to where we usually turned off to go out to Charca del Negro and to the crags beyond but to be honest we saw very little which I think is due largely to the lack of food for the birds due to massive over grazing problems from the far too large population of sheep on the hill these days, NO PLANTS; NO INSECTS; NO WILDLIFE.

Tawny Pipit (Bisbita Camprstre / Anthus campestris).

On the lower slopes near the middle quarry where there is too much gorse for the sheep to eat we started the list with Dartford (Curruca Rabilarga / Curruca undata) and Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Curruca melanocephala), Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia), European Stonechat (Tarabilla Europea / Saxicola rubicola) and Red-legged Partridge (Perdiz Roja / Alectoris rufa) but as we went high we saw just a couple of Thekla Larks (Cogujada Montesina / Galerida theklae) and a single Black Wheatear (Collalba Negra / Oenanthe leucura).

Tawny Pipit (Bisbita Camprstre / Anthus campestris).

We took the track towards Salar and not too far along here we had a male Blue-rock Thrush (Roquero Solitario / Monticola solitarius), a couple of Corn Buntings (Escribano Triguero / Emberiza calandra), Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita), 4 or 5 Northern Wheatears (Collalba Gris / Oenanthe oenanthe) and as we started to drop down on the far side a single Tawny Pipit (Bisbita Camprstre / Anthus campestris), Iberian Grey Shrike (Alcaudón Real / Lanius meridionalis), more Black Whearears and our first of just 3 Western Black-eared (Collalba Rubia Occidental / Oenanthe hispanica), lots of Common Linnet (Pardillo Común / Linaria cannabina) around the old Marble Quarries, a single adult Golden Eagle (Águila Real / Aquila chrysaetos) which flew over us and was seen later having a crack at some Feral Pigeon (Paloma Bravía / Columba livia) around one of the sheep farms, a single Spanish Ibex (Cabra montés / Capra pyrenaica hispanica), Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) x5, Tree (Hipparchia statilinus) x1 and Striped Grayling (Hipparchia fidia) x15.

Striped Grayling (Hipparchia fidia).

We continued on down the hill through a couple of small gorges and more agricultural areas where we picked 3 migrant Common Redstart (Colirroja Real / Phoenicurus phoenicurus), European Pied Flycatcher (Papamoscas Cerrojillo / Ficedula hypoleuca) and Spotted Flycatcher (Papamoscas Gris / Muscicapa striata), Western Subalpine Warbler (Curruca Carrasqueña Occidental / Curruca iberiae), Common Whitethroat (Curruca Zarcera / Sylvia communis), Common Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Eurasian Collared (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto) and European Turtle Dove (Tórtola Europea / Streptopelia turtur), Common Swift (Vencejo Común / Apus apus), Eurasian Hoopoe (Abubilla Común / Upupa epops), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Iberian  (Rabilargo Ibérico / Cyanopica cooki) and Eurasian Magpie (Urraca Común / Pica pica), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), Western House Martin (Avión Común Occidental / Delichon urbicum), Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus), ♂ and ♀ Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), European Goldfinch (Jilguero Europeo / Carduelis carduelis), European Serin (Serin Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), some noisy European Bee-eater (Abejaruco Europeo / Merops apiaster), Small White (Pieris rapae) x2 and Desert Orange-tip (Colotis evagore) x20+ on every Wild Caper (Capparis spinosa) plant as we came through the Olives near Salar.

Striped Grayling (Hipparchia fidia).

We went into Huétor and had a coffee before popping into Mercodona for some food for the evening meal back on the terrace.