Julian Sykes Wildlife Holidays

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.