Monday 26th January :- This was my second day with Waine & Sue – we had decided to go to the Albufera d’Valencia followed by a visit to Alcoy and then back down the Val de Gallinera. We had an easy journey north and soon we were leaving the highway and traveling through miles of currently unused paddy fields north of Cullera. We saw our first of 100’s of Grey Heron, Little & Cattle Egrets either side of the road then up ahead I saw two very large birds flying low over the road, “storks?” I muttered. As we got closer I quickly realised they were in fact 2 Black Storks and although we couldn’t stop we got good views as they passed right in front of us and landed on the adjacent field – what a start to the day. We turned off this main carraigeway and traversed the minor roads from Sollana to Palmar stopping to check some of the better looking wet fields and during this time found 8 Great White Egrets, one of the resident hybrid Little Egret x Western Reef Heron things, 500+ Lapwing, 12 Golden Plover, 9 Black tailed Godwits, Common Snipe, Green Sandpiper, Mallard, Common Buzzard, Marsh Harriers, Lesser Black backed, Yellow legged & Black headed Gulls, 2 male Bluethroats, a few Tree Sparrows, Zitting Cisticola and Greenfinch. At the Mata del Fang we stopped and admired a Booted Eagle as it soared around right above our heads and then made our way to edge of the water to check the wildfowl. Here there were 1000’s of Mallard with 100’s of Shoveler and Red Crested Pochard, closer checking produced several Common Pochard, Gadwall and Tufted Duck. Rafts of Cormorants dived in unison, Yellow legged Gulls harried the duck and one great image was 8 Marsh Harriers in the air together. Waine & Sue were loving it despite being buffeted by the strong cold winds. We returned to the car for a warm and drove the short distance to Raco d’Olla but most of the reserve was shut due to wind damage however we could use the tower hide to scan the wildfowl in the lake. Although there were smaller numbers generally there were quite a few Common Pochard, which is a good omen. To a lot of birdwatchers who like ‘finding their own birds’ know that pochard is a carrier species and an influx of these can mean something rarer amongst them. I was sure if there was a rare or scarce duck to be found it would be in with them. Viewing was difficult in the high winds but we managed to hide in the doorway and stop the tripod from shaking too much, initially finding more Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Eurasian Teal, Black winged Stilts, and a Purple Gallinule. Our resolve was starting to weaken and I thought we should leave for warm refreshments when one last scan and there was the ‘Big One’. A drake Ring necked Duck appeared with a new group of (yes you guessed it) Common Pochard and proceeded to show very well in the loose flock. This was the first time I had seen this species in Spain. Eventually we left and very pleased with our morning visited the nearest café for a coffee and a warm. Once ready we took in the interior highway to Alcoy and then up to the Proyecto Canyet searching the skies for Griffon Vulture. It wasn’t long before we saw several of these mighty birds drifting over the parking area followed by a couple of Ravens. Lunch was taken here and afterwards checked the Aleppo Pines in the area, which produced good views of a few Crested Tits and a pair of Crossbills – much to Waine & Sue’s delight as they had only had brief glimpses before of these species. Also in the area we found an Iberian Green Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush, Coal & Great Tit, Black Redstart and Stonechat. It was now time to head back to Oliva via the Val de Gallinera and our first stop produced a pair of Peregrine Falcons, with the next stop producing the hoped-for adult Golden Eagle. We watched it for 10 minutes as it flew around doing some display-like dives over the terraced hillsides, always a spectacular sight. This again made a nice finale to the day as I returned my guests to the B & B, before taking my oldest son Stan to hockey practice.

A good day out.

Waine & Sue were staying we me at the guesthouse and wanted to see "bustards & sandgrouse" so we got up early and headed inland to Castilla La Mancha and the plains east of Albacete. The road to Corral Rubio as usual produced the goods and 2 hours later we found 49 Great Bustards, 40+ Black bellied & a single Pin tailed Sandgrouse feeding in the agricultural fields right next to the road. Although 1000+ Calandra Larks was incredibly impressive as was Crested & Thekla Larks, Corn Buntings, Rock Sparrows, Meadow Pipits, Linnets, Southern Grey Shrikes, Red legged Partridges and Common Buzzards. The wet areas around the town we saw lots of Eurasian Teal, Shoveler, Mallard, Lapwings, Black winged Stilts, Common Snipe, Little Stint, several Water Pîpits and around Higuela Lagoon we added Shelduck, Coot, an adult female Marsh Harrier and a Merlin (found by Sue). It was now time lunch my usual stop at the San Juan in Petrola produced the usual excellent Bacon & Cheese Bocadillos. After lunch we visited Petrola Lagoon were we saw lots of wildfowl including Red Crested Pochard, Wigeon, Pintail, Gadwall, Common Teal, Shelduck, Shoveler, Mallard and a single Avocet. We slowly made our way back along the tracks finding another 18 Great Bustards, 5 Black bellied Sandgrouse plus a Stock Dove, and as we left for Bonete we found a flock of 100+ Rock Sparrows with a few Corn Buntings. So mid-afternoon we headed back to Oliva and they had mentioned wanting to try and see Balearic Shearwater so with a couple of hours of daylight left I took them to the beach. It was grand in the warm sunshine and the strong winds having lessened making viewing very comfortable indeed. Over an hour we got superb views of at least 100 Balearic Shearwaters plus Great & Arctic Skuas harrying the Audouin's & Black headed Gulls, Gannets, Cormorants and Crag Martins over the chalets behind. Really capped off a great day.

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?.

A glorious afternoon on the Ebro Delta

Sunday January 18th :- This morning I packed a few things and headed north with my good friends Geoff & Julia Regan to Southern Catalonia. The day was gorgeous with warm January sun streaming into the car, and causing the first few Almond Trees to spring into bloom. The route was notable for a few species including our first Marsh Harrier and Common Buzzard over the Cullera ricefields, a couple of Booted Eagles nearer Valencia, and loads of Crag Martins along the whole route. After a coffee stop we continued north of Vinaros stopping at the coast just south of San Carles de la Rapita. The sea held the usual Cormorants, Great Crested Grebes, Yellow legged, Black headed & Lesser Black backed Gulls, a lone Audouin's Gull sat on the rocks was a nice find plus a couple of Black necked Grebes with their larger cousins. At the excellent Hotel Rull we checked in, refreshed ourselves before having a spot of lunch in the hotel restaurant. Although we were all fairly keen to get back out and make full use of the lovely weather so before long we were heading to the viewing platform of Riet Vell. The track produced a couple of Common Sandpipers, with plenty of Chiffchaffs, Reed Buntings and Meadow Pipits flitting from the reeds and bushes. As we arrived at the platform I looked up and a flock of 200+ Glossy Ibis passed overhead followed quickly by another 50 or so. Luckily they landed in sight so we got the telescope on them and took full advantage of their 'glossy' plumage. We stayed at the platform for some time watching lots of species such as Greater Flamingos, Great White, Little & Cattle Egrets, Grey Herons, Coot, Mallard, 100+ Red Crested Pochards, a single Wigeon, Marsh Harriers, Kestrel, Common Snipe, Lapwings, 2 Whiskered Terns, White Wagtails, Cetti's Warbler, Penduline Tit and Chaffinches. So we returned to the vehicle and checked a few local paddy fields were we got better views of the Glossy Ibis along with lots of waders such as lots more Common Snipe and Lapwings plus Ruff, Greenshanks, Common & Spotted Redshanks, Wood & Green Sandpipers. Next we drove out to Ruimar and the hide overlooking El Garxel another very large shallow lagoon next to the coast. We stayed here for the rest of the afternoon in the peace and quiet of the very tranquil area in Winter. By far the best bird we found was a single Caspian Tern sat amongst the Black headed Gulls, it's huge 'blood-red' bill being illuminated by the late afternoon sunshine. Here we also managed to see a 'fly through' Merlin, several prehistoric Purple Gallinules, more Greenshanks and Spotted Redshanks, Kingfisher, Great White Egrets, Stonechats, Greenfinches and Goldfinches.

Costa Blanca Bird Club Field Trip

Wednesday 14th January :- Today I was heading inland to meet my friends and colleagues of the CBBC for our first field trip of 2009 to the plains of Albacete. I was a nice day but bitterly cold with an icy wind moving through from the west. Incredibly 23 of us turned up and I lead the procession of cars off the highway towards Higueruela but our initial stops only produced a few Crested & Skylarks, Linnets, Southern Grey Shrike, Common Buzzard, Carrions Crows and Magpies. So a change of route saw us now heading towards Corral Rubio and in a known area by me, I found our first 9 Great Bustards - much to everyone's pleasure. However over the next hour and several more stops took our GB tally to 50+ birds an excellent total and some fantastic views from the roadside. We checked a few natural ponds were we saw plenty of Mallard, Shoveler and Eurasian Teal plus a few Pintail, Gadwall and a couple of Wigeon. Lapwings graced the edges and a female Marsh Harrier quartered the area. I took them out on to the farm tracks that dissect the huge fields of brilliant red and buff soil were we found a few flocks of Calandra Larks, and a Little Owl glared at us from a lone rock pile. Lunch was taken in Petrola at the excellent value bodega - El San Juan. After lunch we had a quick look at Petrola lagoon but it was fairly quiet with us ust adding Shelduck to the list so we returned to the tracks for a final flourish. Sandgrouse was our quarry and sure enough we managed to pick out 2 Pin tailed Sandgrouse amongst a small flock of Black bellied Sandgrouse, followed by a female Hen Harrier moving through - fantastic. It was now time to go our separate ways and on my way back I made a quick stop at another small pool finding a surprising Little Stint plus 2 Black winged Stilts, 10+ Common Snipe, Corn Buntings, Water & Meadow Pipits. A great day and an excellent evening as I celebrated my youngest son's 10th birthday with the family.

Annual Seabird Census

So I braved a very cold Saturday (10/01) morning along with a few Spanish friends to count sea-birds moving along the Mediterranean coastline. A few strategically placed individuals and small groups along the Valencian coast spend four hours every year logging what they see, with a particular focus on Balearic Shearwaters. Previous years Oliva Marina has produced the goods with last year being the best yet with in excess of 2000 shearwaters (circa 20% of the world's population) moving north out of the bay. However this year was a damp squib in comparison with 100+ beeing seen and quite far out to sea, there were a couple of highlights with a couple of Wigeon and several Gannets plus the usual Audouin's, Yellow legged & Black headed Gulls, Sandwich Terns, Cormorants and Mallard.

Many thanks to Fran, Pepe et al for their contribution and hopefully next year will be better.

Fancy seeing 15000+ Red breasted Geese?

In a little under one month I with a few hardy souls are going to Bulgaria's Black Sea coast on a wild goose chase (literally). We are going after two of the rarest geese in Europe - Red breasted & Lesser White fronted Goose, along with White & Dalmation Pelicans, Pygmy Cormorants, Ferruginous & White headed Ducks, Long legged Buzzard, Greater Spotted Eagle, Great Black headed Gull, Eagle Owl, Black Woodpecker and Sombre Tit to name just a few. However it will be cold, which I for one am not looking forward too, living Spain has made me soft!!!. You don't think that aclimatising but you do, anything under 10oC and I cannot cope, but the thought of seeing a large flock of these gorgeous Brantas, makes it all worthwhile.

So if you fancy joining a band of hardy souls in Bulgaria then please contact me or view a full itinerary here. We have a few places left leaving on February 3rd for 5 nights and at the fantastic price of £590. If you are interested please call soon. (image by C. Nikolov)

A Tale of Two Raptrors

One thing I love about living in Spain is being able to see good birds of prey without too much difficulty, even here in Valencia & Alicante. During the Winter months it is fairly easy to catch up with Bonelli's, Booted & Golden Eagles, Griffon Vulture, Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Peregrine and Eurasian Kestrel, plus chances of Hen Harrier, Red Kite and Merlin. Not bad for one of the most populated areas of Spain.

In addition to this there is at the moment a (1st year) Greater Spotted Eagle from Estonia over-wintering on El Hondo nature reserve. How do I know it's from Estonia you ask?, well it is one that has been radio tagged in the nest and tracked all the way here. If you want to read more follow this link go to http://rarebirdspain.blogspot.com/2009/01/el-guila-moteada-tnn-inverna-en-el.html. This is the third year running we have had one of these fabulous aquila eagles staying in the area.

So getting to my two raptor stories the first happened the day before yesterday and while playing with my two boys on the paseo a Merlin shot through after the sparrows. It was so noticable my youngest son said "wow that was just like a small missile". The second was yesterday as I took some friends to Alicante Airport I was just north of Benidorm and a large raptor flew across the motorway and out over the Med. I suspected a Bonelli's Eagle. I returned an hour later it was still there and this time giving better views as it flew parallel to the vehicle and sure enough it was a young Bonelli's Eagle. Two great raptors seen in fairly atypical situations, as I said it shows just how rich Spain is in Birds of Prey. Long may it continue.

Happy New Year to one & all

I am determined that 2009 is going to be a good year for me and the business. Last year was very good with many new ventures being successfully launched and a mighty "thank you" to everyone who supported Oliva Rama Tours in 2008. I am very much looking forward to seeing you again in the following months.

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Eventually I surfaced after the traditional New Year's Eve party and decided to walk off dull thud in my head at the beach. It's been a lovely day in Oliva with nice warm sunshine and a light southerly breeze, the only downside being the beach was fairly busy. At my watchpoint I scanned the off-shore rocks and found a good flock of 30+ Sandwich Terns, along with a few each of Audouin's, Yellow legged & Black headed Gulls, Cormorants and Sanderlings. Further out to sea a steady stream of Balearic Shearwaters were heading north plus a few more gulls and terns. The Kentish Plovers and more Sanderlings were avoiding the people and dogs by running up and down the beach (boy these birds are fit!). So I left and headed north myself walking through the caravan park at Kiko to the dunes beyond. This area has been sanitised but there are still some patches of natural dune left, which can be quite productive and here I found a mixed flock of Tree Sparrows, Goldfinches, Chaffinches and Serins. A smart male Black Redstart quivered it's tail at me and was joined by a pair of Stonechats. A Small White butterfly was indicative of the day's weather and Crag Martins feasted on the amount of flying insects that were around. One of my resolutions this year is to greatly improve my flower identificaction and found this common yellow flower and with the aide of a book I got for Christmas discovered it is Bermuda Buttercup. A troublesome weed according to the literature - well I think looks quite nice. One plant I do find here which is great is the Sea Daffodil and is common amongst the spectacular Aloe Vera plants also found along the coastal dunes. It's a great place to relax, unwind and recover from a slight hang-over, however it was then back home to the demands of two young sons and their games - brilliant.