A bit of (failed) Spanish Twitching

Monday January 19th :- Today we were going on a twitch cum recce of a few areas around Lleida, which is about 120 Kms north-west of the Ebro Delta. It was a twitch because a Great White Pelican has been frequenting the area for a couple of months now – would our luck be in?. I had contacted Ricard Gutierrez of the excellent ‘Rare Birds in Spain’ website and he had kindly given me a couple of places to try. So after breakfast we set off and made our way out of the delta towards L’Ampolla where we stopped to check the bay but only found Great Crested Grebes, Cormorants and gulls. So continued north to Reus and then inland through some very scenic countryside to join the AP2 to Lleida. A couple of exits and we were travelling through acres of agricultural land (mainly fruits) to the town of Mollerussa. Apparently the pelican has been frequenting the church roof there but unfortunately not today, however a pair of White Storks nesting on the spire was nice to see. After a welcome coffee in the town we negotiated the roads to Ricard’s second suggestion the wetland of Estany d’Urgell. This superb and little known place is on the edge of Ivars d’Urgell and very much worth a visit if you are in this part of Spain. We honestly could have spent the whole day there, with its lovely walk around the lake punctuated with fantastic hides, picnic areas and boardwalks. This is very much a credit to the people or organisation that designed and developed the reserve. As we got out of the vehicle an adult female Hen Harrier flew right past and out over the fields disturbing the finches & pipits. The car park is elevated and from there it gives a good view of most of the lake, with its islands, reed-beds, trees & bushes. I scanned the whole area with the telescope but could not find the pelican, but there were lots of White Storks, Grey Heron, Mallard, Shoveler, Coot, Black headed & Yellow legged Gulls, Cattle Egrets Cormorants and especially Lapwing with easily 800+ birds around the reserve. Looking so good we decided to walk the path along the edge of the lake finding a few Marsh Harriers, Iberian Green Woodpecker, Penduline Tit, Reed Buntings, Stonechat, Chiffchaffs, Cetti’s Warbler, Tree Sparrows, Chaffinches and Goldfinches. At the first hide we sat in the top tier and looked out over the water as flocks of Lapwings plus one Curlew flew back and forth. Then a gull caught my eye with its small size and dark bar across the upperwing – a 1st winter Little Gull. We watched as it flew around with the Black headed Gulls before disappearing over the other side. Julia had decided to walk on so Geoff and I slowly walked after her and I again found the Little Gull as it landed on the water not far from where we were and then another one joined it, brilliant. Geoff carried on for a while with Julia while I stood on a viewing platform and searched the area, eventually the two returned and we all headed back. Then I looked up and another bird caught my eye – this time a Short eared Owl a bird I rarely see in this country. We watched it about 15 minutes as it behaved quite atypically chasing first Lapwings and then Jackdaws quite high up in the sky – most unusual. A couple of times it flew down low and right over our heads and we could easily make out the facial disc, and plumage pattern of this wonderful predator. Unfortunately it was lunch time and we had to leave but despite missing the pelican it had been a brilliant time on the reserve and well returning too in the future. After lunch we headed to the drylands south of the city trying out one or two new tracks without much success before going to the agricultural lands surrounding Alfas. Here we initially found Meadow Pipits, Skylarks and lots of Kestrels but then I saw a movement in the short grass, in fact several movements – sandgrouse?. Geoff crept slowly towards them in the car and they were Pin tailed Sandgrouse and right next to the track. We got within excellent viewing distance without disturbing them and counted 96 of these gorgeous game-birds, what a sight. We remained there for a while transfixed by them but eventually we crawled past and left them feeding. A little further we stopped and viewed the terrain and I found a male Hen Harrier sat on the ground, with Calandra Larks flying round in flocks. The harrier flew off so we continued for another few hundred metres stopping again for a Southern Grey Shrike and a few Red legged Partridges. Behind me I heard Julia say to herself “that’s no Woodpigeon?” so spun round and saw a very large raptor alight into a small tree. A young Golden Eagle, I quickly got the scope on to it and we all managed a brief view before it took off again and drifted away low over the ground. This pretty much capped an excellent day, even if we did miss the Great White Pelican – may be next time?.