El Temple and the Cacín Valley, Granada Province, Spain.

Out for a shorter day on the more local patch.

Lynn and Steve, Day Eight.

 

I started the day with a visit to see Rafa my Physio who was starting to get the sciatica under control, later Lynn, Steve and I headed out to the El Temple area looking for European Roller (Carraca / Coracias garrulus), we concentrated our efforts on the central area along the road but did drive a couple of the tracks as well as it was already very warm.

We dropped lucky quite quickly when we found a pair in an area I had seen them in the past but they had been missing for a year or so, from the car we managed to get nice views of these birds and another pair which I had seen a couple of times this year already.

Other species seen whilst we were out on the fields included European Turtle Dove (Tórtola Europea / Streptopelia turtur), Black-winged Stilt (Ciguenuela Común / Himantopus himantopus) which appeared to be sitting on eggs, Lesser Kestrel (Cernicola Primilla / Falco naumanni), Common Swift (Vencejo Común / Apus apus), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), Great Spotted Cuckoo (Crialo Europeo / Clamator gladarius), Eurasian Magpie (Urraca Común / Pica pica), Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), Crested Lark (Cogujada Común / Galerida cristata), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus), Corn Bunting (Escribano Triguero / Emberiza calandra), Bath White (Pontia daplidice) and plenty of Rabbits (Conejo / Oryctolagus cuniculus).

We left the area and headed out to the Cacìn Valley after getting a cool drink in a bar in Ventas de Huélma, we went down into the valley and made a brief stop at the Contraembalse de Bermejales, it was quiet so we only picked up Common Pochard (Porrón Europeo / Aythya ferina), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra), Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), European Bee-eater (Abejaruco Europeo / Merops apiaster), Thekla's Lark (Cogujada Montesina / Galerida theklae) and Woodchat Shrike (Alcaudón Común / Lanius senator).

Small Pincertail (Onychogomphus forcipatus) ♂.

Just a little further up the Valley we stopped again and checked the Rio Cacín and the irrigation channel for dragonflies, we found Small Pincertail (Onychogomphus forcipatus) x1♂ and Violet Dropwing (Trithemis annulata) x2♀ as well as Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus), Small White (Pieris rapae), Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), Southern Gatekeeper (Pyronia cecilia), Common Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), European Turtle Dove, Western Marsh Harrier (Aguilucho Lagunero Occidental / Circus aeruginosus), Common Swift, European Bee-eater, Eurasian Golden Oriole (Oropéndola Europea / Oriolus oriolus), Barn Swallow and Red-rumped Swallow (Golondrina Dáurica / Cecropis daurica), Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Europeo / Certhia brachydactyla), Eurasian Blue (Herrerillo Común / Cyanistes caeruleus) and Coal Tit  (Carbonero Garrapinos / Periparus ater), Common Nightingale (Ruisenor Común / Luscinia megarhynchos), Eurasian Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Curruca capirotada), Western Bonelli's Warbler (Mosquitero Papialbo / Phylloscopus bonelli), Common Firecrest (Reyezuelo Listado / Regulus ignicapilla), White Wagtail, Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), European Serin (Serin Verdecillo / Serinus serinus) and European Goldfinch (Jilguero Europeo / Carduelis carduelis).

Coal Tit  (Carbonero Garrapinos / Periparus ater).

We decided at the end of this walk to call it a day as it was now very hot, on the way back to the house we saw a nice ♂ Montagu's Harrier (Aguilucho Cenizo / Circus pygargus) and several Iberian Magpies (Rabilargo Ibérico / Cyanopica cooki).