Finca La Sayuela in Ávila, Embalse de Valdecañas in Toledo, Hotel Rural Portilla de Monfragüe, Mirador de la portilla del Tiétar, Puente Nuevo del Cardenal, Peña Falcón/Salto del Gitano, Castillo de Monfragüe, Río Tozo in Cáceres‎, Extremadura, Spain.

We unfortunately left Jane and Keith's Wonderful Finca and headed South to Extremadura. 

Deb and Ian, Day Fifty Four. 

Ebird List for Embalse de Valdecañas.

Ebird List for Mirador de la portilla del Tiétar.

Ebird List for Fuente del Francés.

Ebird List for Peña Falcón/Salto del Gitano.

Ebird List for Castillo de Monfragüe. 

Ebird List for Río Tozo.

 

The stunning Finca La Sayuela.

We started the day by packing and then unfortunately leaving Jane and Keith's wonderful Finca La Sayuela but not before saying goodbye to them both, thanking them for a brilliant stay and for their great hospitality.

Cirl Bunting (Escribano Soteño / Emberiza cirlus).

As we were about to go Deb managed to get some shots of a very smart male Cirl Bunting (Escribano Soteño / Emberiza cirlus) and as we drove south to out first planned stop of the day at Mirador de la portilla del Tiétar we saw Booted Eagle (Aguila Calzada / Aquila penntuas), Peregrine Falcon (Halcón Peregrino / Falco peregrinus),  Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus),  Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), Crested Lark (Cogujada Común / Galerida cristata) and Corn Bunting (Escribano Triguero / Emberiza calandra).

Cinereous Vulture (Buitre Negro / Aegypius monachus).

Cinereous Vulture (Buitre Negro / Aegypius monachus).

Griffon (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus) and Cinereous Vultures (Buitre Negro / Aegypius monachus).

We dropped down to the E90 picking up a flying Great Bustard (Avutarda Euroasiática / Otis tarda) just before we got there and headed West but as we were driving we saw a group of Vultures sat in a field so we swung around at the next junction and came back up to the spot and found 2x Griffon's (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus) and 3x Cinereous Vultures (Buitre Negro / Aegypius monachus) which sat nicely.

Some of the White Storks (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia).

White Stork (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia).

Western Cattle Egret (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis). 

We crossed the motorway and went along the service road which passed an old building which was covered in White Storks (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia) and Western Cattle Egrets (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis) and on a pool in the fields there were lots more Western Cattle Egrets along with Little Egret (Garceta Común / Egretta garzetta), Grey (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea) and Purple Heron (Garza Imperial / Ardea purpurea), Eurasian Spoonbill (Espátula Común / Platalea leucorodia), Gadwall (Anade Friso / Mareca strepera), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis), Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo), Black-winged Stilt (Ciguenuela Común / Himantopus himantopus), Common Sandpiper (Andarrios Chico / Actitis hypoleucos), Western House Martin (Avión Común Occidental / Delichon urbicum), Red (Milano Real / Milvus milvus) and Black Kite (Milano Negro / Milvus migrans), Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), European Bee-eater (Abejaruco Europeo / Merops apiaster), Lesser Kestrel (Cernicola Primilla / Falco naumanni), Eurasian Magpie (Urraca Común / Pica pica), Zitting Cisticola (Cistícola Buitrón / Cisticola juncidis), Red-rumped Swallow (Golondrina Dáurica / Cecropis daurica), Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Spanish (Yellow)  (Lavandera Boyera / Motacilla flava iberiae) and White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba) and Common Linnet (Pardillo Común / Linaria cannabina).

Western Cattle Egrets (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis), Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea) and White Stork (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia).

Red Kite (Milano Real / Milvus milvus).

Red Kite (Milano Real / Milvus milvus).

As we drove the track we also saw Rabbit (Conejo / Oryctolagus cuniculus), Small White (Pieris rapae), Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum), Blue / Common Emperor (Anax imperator), Red-veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii) and Scarlet Darter (Crocothemis erythraea).  

Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum).

Once back on the motorway we continued on west then we came off and went south down towards Monfrague, our first stop was for coffee at Hotel Rural Portilla de Monfragüe and then we parked on the roadside near the Mirador de la portilla del Tiétar.

White Featherleg (Platycnemis latipes).

As we got out of the car we saw a flyby Two-tailed Pasha (Charaxes jasius), a White Featherleg (Platycnemis latipes) and down at the view point we had nice views of many Griffon Vultures, at least 3 Cinereous and a single Egyptian Vulture (Alimoche Común / Neophron percnopterus), Black Kite, an adult Iberian Imperial Eagle (Aguila Imperial Ibérica / Aguila adalberti), Black Stork (Cigüena Negra / Ciconia nigra), Blue-rock Thrush (Roquero Solitario / Monticola solitarius), Eurasian Blue Tit (Herrerillo Común / Cyanistes caeruleus), Red-rumped and Barn Swallows and a calling Eurasian Golden Oriole (Oropéndola Europea / Oriolus oriolus).

Alpine Swift (Vencejo Real / Apus melba).

Alpine Swift (Vencejo Real / Apus melba).

Alpine Swift (Vencejo Real / Apus melba).

We returned to the car and then drove to the long Puente Nuevo del Cardenal over the Embalse de José Maria de Oriol which is part of the Rio Tajo valley, here we saw masses of Western House Martins and a few Alpine Swifts (Vencejo Real / Apus melba) with both species whizzing in under the bridge to their nests.

Black Kite (Milano Negro / Milvus migrans).

Black Kite (Milano Negro / Milvus migrans).

We also had a Black Kite pass low over head, a higher Short-toed Snake Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus) and more Griffon's and Cinereous Vultures.

Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus).

Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus).

Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus).

We followed the Rio around to Peña Falcón/Salto del Gitano where we spent a which scanning the crags finding more of the above species, we added Red Kite, Booted Eagle, Eurasian Crag Martin (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Curruca melanocephala), European Serin (Serin Verdecillo / Serinus serinus) and Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia).

Peña Falcón/Salto del Gitano.

Deb and Ian enjoying Peña Falcón/Salto del Gitano.

Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia).

Blue-rock Thrush (Roquero Solitario / Monticola solitarius).

Just up the road we turned off the road and went up to the parking spot just below the Castillo de Monfragüe and then walked up to the high platform over looking the valley below, whilst there we saw the same Raptor species but added Common (Vencejo Común / Apus apus) and White-rumped Swift (Vencejo Cafre / Apus caffer), Common Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Eurasian Jay (Arrendajo Euroasiático / Garrulus glandarius), Great (Carbonera Común / Parus major) and Long-tailed Tit (Mito Común / Aegithalos caudatus), Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Europeo / Certhia brachydactyla), European Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula), Eurasian Wren (Chochin paleártico / Troglodytes troglodytes), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), European Goldfinch (Jilguero Europeo / Carduelis carduelis), European Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Chloris chloris) and Hawfinch (Picogordo Común / Coccotraustes coccotrauetes).

Looking down from the Castle.

Ian at the top of the Castle.

Black Storks (Cigüena Negra / Ciconia nigra).

Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus).

Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus).

We also had Iberian Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides feisthameli), Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), Two-tailed Pasha, Southern Brown Argus (Aricia cramera), Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas), Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) and Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra).

Iberian Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides feisthameli).

Two-tailed Pasha (Charaxes jasius).

Southern Brown Argus (Aricia cramera).

We dropped back down to the car and started to head for Trujillo where we were staying for the night, as we drove South from the Castillo we started to notice Smoke in the sky and soon realised there there was a wild fire off to the West of us, the smoke got thicker and we started to smell it.

We did make a quick stop at the Río Tozo whilst keeping an eye on the horizon as we still hadn't see a Common Kingfisher (Martin Pescador Común / Alcedo atthis), as we scanned up and down stream Ian came up with the goods when he picked out a shape in on of the bushes down stream from us which turned out to be the target species.

Río Tozo, up stream.

Río Tozo, down stream.

As the sky was definitely getting greyer with the amount of smoke coming our way we moved on and reached the accommodation where we settled in and the went down to the bar and had a few beers.