The Last Two Months!!!!

It has been an eventful last couple of months, which involved visits to Andalucia and N/W Spain for Iberian Lynx and Iberian Wolf respectively. At the end of September I was commissioned by Speyside Wildlife to travel down to N/E Andalucia - an area called the Sierra de Andujar. This is the heartland of the globe's rarest cat species - the Iberian Lynx amongst other mammals such as Otter, Moufflon, Red & Fallow Deer, Wildcat and Genet to name a few. Great birsd also feature here with a resident pair of Spanish Imperial Eagles plus Golden Eagles, Goshawk, Griffon & Black Vultures, Iberian Magpies (by the bucket load), and the commoner woodland, mountain and riverine species. It is superb ancient Mediterranean forest. During my stay I was lucky enough to meet up with my now good friend Fernando who works as a ranger in the nearby Sierra de Cazorla NP. His invaluable knowledge of the area greatly enhanced my visit and made my attempts to see the Lynx all the more possible, especially after a meeting with the parks Director, Jose Maria Molina. So three nights were spent in this wonderful area culminating in a good but all too brief view of an Iberian Lynx, and also the knowledge of missing two more by half an hour (that hurt!). So I have now plans to return with a group to look for them again and if you want to join me, please find the itinerary here.

Then in the second week of October and the first two weeks of November I spent at one of my favourite places in Spain, the Sierra de Culebra in Castilla y Leon. I had three Iberian Wolf in N/W Spain trips all of which were very enjoyable as it's a fabulous area. Apart from the chance of seeing an Iberian Wolf, there are opportunities to see Wild Boar, Red & Roe Deer, 100's of Great Bustards, Black bellied Sandgrouse, Common Cranes (in Winter), Black shouldered Kites, Black & Griffon Vultures, Golden Eagles, Rock Buntings, Calandra Larks etc etc etc. To see some of the previous trip reports on these and my other holidays have a look here.

Bird ringing with the family

Sunday 20th September :- I met up with Clare & Rebecca my sister in laws and together we took our children (Harry, Thomas & Ellen) out to Pego Marsh where we joined Pepe who was busy processing a Eurasian Reed Warbler. Over the next couple of hours we were treated to several birds in the net including a couple of Bluethroats, Moustached & Cetti's Warblers. It was a fantastic morning and very interesting to everyone who was there, bring on the next time.

Raptors please, followed by raptors with a side order of raptors!

7th - 14th September :- Just returned from another fantastic birdwatching holiday in the Southern Spain for the raptor migration (and other things) across the Straits of Gibraltar. It was in conjunction with Calandra Holidays and the group consisted of myself, Richard & Jane Palmer, Michael & Wendy Ball, Aileen Bishop, John Thorogood and John Tookey. A strong Levante (east wind) played havoc early in the week causing many 100's of migrant eagles, vultures and kites stacking up waiting to cross, making a true spectacle. In addition to the copious amounts of Short toed & Booted Eagles, Black Kites, Griffon & Egyptian Vultures, Montagu's & Marsh Harriers, Sparrowhawks, Lesser Kestrels and Honey Buzzards, we found 2 Ruppell's Vultures (both images by J. Tookey), Long legged Buzzard, Black shouldered Kite, 2 Bonelli's Eagles, 2 Ospreys, Hen Harrier, Peregrine and 2 Hobbys. In addition to seeing these fantastic 'birds of prey' we also saw 23 Bald Ibis's (my first), 100's of Bee-eaters, Alpine Swifts (one flock of 600+!), White Storks, Glossy Ibis, Audouin's & Mediterranean Gulls. Other special species seen included several Black Storks, Black necked Grebes, Black Terns, Calandra & Short toed Larks, Tawny Pipits, Black eared Wheatear, Iberian Chiffchaff, Melodious & Spectacled Warblers. One other highlight was watching several Monarch Butterflies from the room balcony around the trees and shrubs below.