Presa de El Encinarejo, Área recreativa del Encinarejo, La Lancha, Embalse del Jándula in the Sierra de Andújar Park Natural, Jaen, Spain.

An early start down at the river and then the rest of the day at the shelter.

Ebird List for Presa de El Encinarejo.

Ebird List for La Lancha.

Ebird List for Embalse del Jándula.

 

Looking down stream along the Rio Jándula.

Straight after Breakfast we headed down to the bridge over the Rio Jándula, as it started to get light the birds started to move including a 100+ Great Cormorants (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo), a single Great Egret (Garceta Grande / Ardea alba), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Iberian  Magpie (Rabilargo Ibérico / Cyanopica cooki), White (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba) and Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros) and a couple of Western House Martin (Avión Común Occidental / Delichon urbicum) which came out from under the bridge.

Otter (Nutria / Lutra lutra).

Much later than expected we started to see ripples and bubble trails coming up stream along the Rio but the Otter (Nutria / Lutra lutra) making them remained unseen until I managed to see just the head watching us up on the bridge from behind some branches between two large rocks but it soon disappeared of back down stream again.

Otter (Nutria / Lutra lutra).

A little later I went to the car and then took some photo's of a group of flowering Hoop-petticoat Daffodil (Narcissus bulbocodium) but it was bad timing, Lynn started to beckon me over as another Otter had shown up and was performing much better so I whizzed (well that might be an exaggeration) over and had some very nice views but at the moment the Otter came out onto a rock for just a few seconds my battery packed up, typical.

Hoop-petticoat Daffodil (Narcissus bulbocodium).

Other species seen by the Dam were Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus), Green Sandpiper (Andarrios Grande / Tringa ochropus), Western Jackdaw (Grajilla occidental / Corvus monedula), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), Black Redstart, Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Eurasian Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Curruca capirotada), Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Curruca melanocephala), Cetti's Warbler (Cetia Ruiseñor / Cettia cetti), Eurasian Wren (Chochin paleártico / Troglodytes troglodytes) and Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor).

Iberian Green Woodpecker (Pito ibérico / Picus sharpei).

After a while I left Lynn and Steve at the bridge and went just a little way along the Rio to a spot where Angus a guy we saw yesterday had see a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker (Pico Menor / Dryobates minor) but I hadn't found it by the time Lynn and Steve had walked down to me so we continued on to another nearby spot where almost straight away we heard calls and drumming from a male bird which flew from a dead tree stump and was followed by a female bird.

Great Egret (Garceta Grande / Ardea alba).

As we walked around the area we saw the same or another Great Egret, 2x Little Egrets (Garceta Común / Egretta garzetta), Great Spotted Woodpecker (Pico Picapinos / Dendrocopos major), Eurasian Hoopoe (Abubilla Común / Upupa epops), Great Tit (Carbonera Común / Parus major), Woodlark (Alondra Totovía / Lullula arborea), Eurasian Nuthatch (Trepador Azul / Sitta europaea), Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Europeo / Certhia brachydactyla) and European Serin (Serin Verdecillo / Serinus serinus).

Lesser-spotted Woodpecker (Pico Menor / Dryobates minor) male.

Lesser-spotted Woodpecker (Pico Menor / Dryobates minor) male.

Our next stop was back up at the Shelter where we had been for the last couple of days, on the way out we saw Fallow Deer (Gamo común / Dama dama), Rabbit (Conejo / Oryctolagus cuniculus), Red-legged Partridge (Perdiz Roja / Alectoris rufa) and Iberian Imperial Eagle (Aguila Imperial Ibérica / Aguila adalberti).

Fallow Deer (Gamo común / Dama dama).

Red-legged Partridge (Perdiz Roja / Alectoris rufa).

Red-legged Partridge (Perdiz Roja / Alectoris rufa).

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

Once we were at the shelter we set up our chairs and started to scan the area seeing Red Deer (Ciervo común / Cervus elaphus), Mouflon (Moflon / Ovis orientalis), Western Dappled White (Euchloe crameri), Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta), Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus), Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra), Andalucian Wall Lizard (Podarcis vaucheri), Common Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Cinereous (Buitre Negro / Aegypius monachus) and Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus), Iberian Imperial Eagle, Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua), Iberian Green Woodpecker (Pito ibérico / Picus sharpei), Iberian Grey Shrike (Alcaudón Real / Lanius meridionalis), Eurasian (Urraca Común / Pica pica) and Iberian  Magpie, Red-billed Chough (Chova Piquirroja / Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), Northern Raven (Cuervo grande / Corvus corax), Eurasian Blue Tit (Herrerillo Común / Cyanistes caeruleus), Dartford Warbler (Curruca Rabilarga / Curruca undata) and European Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula).

Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus).

Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus).

Eurasian Magpie (Urraca Común / Pica pica).

Cinereous Vulture (Buitre Negro / Aegypius monachus).

On a walk I did I met friend Álvaro from Wild Andalucia who was in the area looking for the Lynx as well, a bit after the met he rang me but the call didn't get though but a message did about the call, we assumed that he had seen something so we headed down towards the dam but soon found him watching a small group of Spanish Ibex (Cabra montés / Capra pyrenaica hispanica), one of the males was seen climbing a small tree.

Spanish Ibex (Cabra montés / Capra pyrenaica hispanica).

Spanish Ibex (Cabra montés / Capra pyrenaica hispanica).

Rabbit (Conejo / Oryctolagus cuniculus).

As we had come to this point we decided to carry on down to the dam and did the walk along the top of the deep valley below the dam, here we saw lots of Eurasian Crag Martins (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris) and heard a Eurasian Eagle Owl (Búho Real / Bubo bubo) call from the cliff opposite a couple of times before we returned to the car and headed back to the Shelter where we finished the day without any sightings of the Lynx.

Lynn and Steve down at the Dam.

The Dam and the Valley.

We returned to La Caracola for our final night there and had another nice meal before heading off to bed. 

La Caracola.