Wednesday 23rd December :- Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to everyone who´s kindly been involved with Oliva Rama Tours over this last year. I actually cannot believe it´s been another year of successful operation and I can only enjoy the fact that the company goes from strength to strength with 2010 being a very exciting prospect for me.
New ventures next year include Iberian Lynx in Andalucia (January, February & September) Cuba (March), Lesvos (April/May), Poland - Bears & Birds (September/October) and Panama (December). Things just get better and better. Early in the New Year I will be posting a newsletter highlighting further details on these and my other available holidays throughout 2010.
Finally I would like to personally thank a few people for their incredible help and support during 2009, none more so than my good friend and colleague Andy Carroll. His help and advice on potential merchandising has been invaluable - the proof of which will be seen next year. Also and as important is Ken Shaw who has been by my side since I launched Oliva Rama Tours providing incredibly useful contacts and ideas for future tours. He is a true friend. Next I would like to really thank Sally Dowden of Speyside Wildlife, Richard & Jane Palmer of Calandra Holidays, Ian & Dylan of Planet Whale for using my services during this year, I thouroughly enjoyed every trip I was involved with. Long may it continue. Finally a few other people such as Chris Byrne, Rob & Kathy Dowsett, Michael & Wendy Ball, John Moon, Graham & Agi Turner, Mike & Sue Pryor, Jan Beever and many more who have supported the business in so many ways. "Thank you very very much and I am lookin forward to seeing you all again next year".

An incredible afternoon

Wednesday 9th December :- The morning was a disappointment as thick fog spoilt any chance of finding a Lynx but a walk along the River Jandula produced several Hawfinches, Great Spotted & Iberian Green Woodpeckers, Kingfisher, Cetti's Warbler, Nuthatches, Iberian Magpies (actually these are everywhere), Short toed Treecreeper and plenty of other woodland species. I returned to the hotel for lunch and a relax while hoping for the mist to dispurse, which it did by 1:30pm. So I headed back up to Los Escoriales and met a few people at the watchpoint but they hadn't seen much. Quite soon after getting there a Black Vulture started the ball rolling and this was followed by a close Griffon Vulture and then a brilliant 1st winter Golden Eagle. Sergi then spotted an adult Spanish Imperial Eagle that pretty much soared right over our heads - absolutely incredible. Our spirits were high and we were determined to find a Lynx. We continued to search and I left the group to stand and watch another area, turned round and there about 100m away on the metalled track was an Iberian Lynx staring right at me. I couldn't believe my eyes. It then dropped off the road and down into the undergrowth so the others joined me and we tried to find it again. Sure enough I picked it up a bit further away and managed a quick photo before it again disappeared, however it again re-appeared and showed well to all but now about 400m away but still fantastically through the telescope. Eventually it disappeared although we suspect it just laid low until dusk as the attendant Magpies were still creating around that area. During this sequence another couple of Black Vultures flew close by being mobbed by a Sparrowhawk and Kestrel. The day closed with a spectacular sunset over the mountains as I returned to the hotel. It had been quite an incredible afternoon.

Day of the Iberian Lynx

Tuesday 8th December :- Second full day in the Sierra de Andujar and after another interesting night with revellers I was up early making sure things were in place before I left at 8am. I drove straight to the watchpoint at Los Escoriales and found a few observers already there, en-route I had done very weel finding a Red Fox and a party of Fallow Deer. At the watchpoint things turned disappointing as the bad weather and fog made looking for Lynx almost impossible. So I left and continued down the hill to the Embalse de Jandula where I spent some time finding a gorgeous Firecrest, Rock Bunting, Black Redstart, Robin and lots of Cormorants in the reservoir. I left and returned to the Lynx watchpoint but the conditions were still poor so I made the decision to leave go back to the hotel and have some lunch and a siesta as I was feeling incredibly tired - what a mistake. So did this and by 2pm I was back out and the weather seemed to be improving, so returned towards Los Escoriales but instead of going straight to the watchpoint I took a detour to the Los Alancones Mirador. This was good as I passed through some of the most pristine dehesa I have seen being roamed by the magnificent fighting bulls. Here also I found plenty of birds including Little Owl, several Hoopoes, Corn Buntings, Meadow Pipits, Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Common Buzzard, White Wagtails, Stonechats, Mistle & Song Thrushes, Blackbirds, Sardinian Warbler and Chiffchaffs. After this I headed for the Lynx area and en-route met a group of observers coming away who I had met that morning and I asked how they had done. I could have been slapped in the face with a wet Kipper as the news of their four sightings rang around in my head. However they did finish with "you shouldn't have a problem seeing one" - I wasn't that confident after the last couple of days. So I got there and spoke to the few people there they had seen nothing as yet, my heart sank. However after half an hour one guy said "I have a Lynx but it's a bit distant", I got on to the Iberian Lynx and it was far off and difficult to discern as it lay on top of a rock. However after five minutes it stood up and through the telescope looked magnifent standinging there in all it's glory. It jumped down from the rock and padded away slowly unfortunately in the wrong direction and was soon lost to sight. Still it was a fantastic experience and a privilage to see. We all waited until dusk but there were no more sightings, I will be back there tomorrow - probably all day!!!.

Sierra de Andujar

Monday December 7th :- Drove down from Alicante yesterday afternoon seeing a couple of Booted Eagles en-route, not much else mind you!!!. Got to the Sierra de Andujar with about an hour's light left so headed on down to the local (to the hotel) Iberian Lynx watchpoint where I enjoyed views of Red Deer, Iberian Magpies, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Kingfisher and loads of Cormorants. Today returned there this morning after a poor night's sleep, forgot this weekend was a 'puente' and the place is mobbed with revellers. C'est la vie. So after a lazy start I headed out there again and saw 100's of Iberian Magpies, a few Hawfinches, Sparrowhawk, several Iberian Green & Great Spotted Woodpeckers, several Nuthatches, Crested, Long tailed, Coal, Blue & Great Tits, Rock Bunting, another Kingfisher, Common Sandpiper, Grey & White Wagtails, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Spotless Starlings, Blackbird, Crag Martins, Mallard, Moorhen, Grey Heron, Woodlark, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Black Redstarts. However the highlight of the morning was getting fabulous views of an Otter as it hunted for fish in the river just below where I was. Returned to the hotel for a sandwich and a quick power nap before heading out again this time to another area, which is good for Iberian Lynx and the unthinkable happened. En-route I saw many Red Deer, a Black Vulture (my only large raptor today?), Short toed Treecreeper, Red legged Partridge, Red billed Chough, another Sparrowhawk, Blue Rock Thrush, Mistle Thrushes and lots more Iberian Magpies. However the major disappointment was learning that a group of Spanish observers were watching a Lynx while I was a little further down the hill and out of siight of it. They never even mentioned it until I went to talk to them - how gutted was I!!!.

Eagle Day in Alicante

Friday December 4th :- I met Geoff and his sister Carol at Gran Alicant and the initial welcomes I asked "so what would you like to see today?", the response from Geoff was rapid "Carol wants to see some eagles". So there it was, I had my challenge and knew we had chances of three species today including a Spanish rarity Greater Spotted Eagle. So we headed straight for this site - the excellent El Hondo nature reserve, although access to the interior is difficult requiring pre-booking with arrival times etc you could still do well around it's perimeter. A drive through the Santa Pola salinas produced the ever-present Greater Flamingos, Avocets, Shelduck, Slander billed, Black headed & Yellow legged Gulls, Black winged Stilts and a few Dunlin. Not bad to say we didn't even stop!. Soon after we arrived at the Vistabella Road, parked by the back gate and took up residence on a mud pile overlooking the reserve and the surrounding area. I checked the small group of Plain Trees and quickly found our first eagle - a roosting Booted Eagle, which was quickly followed by a second, in fact we saw at least six in this area alone. Marsh Harriers were quartering the reeds and then I found an Osprey managing to get some decent flight views through the telescope. It had been a good start but unfortunately not the hoped for GSE. We continued to check the area finding a couple of Black necked Grebes with their commoner Little cousins, a group of 17 Common Cranes flew over and other species included Shoveler, Coot, Grey Herons, Little & Cattle Egrets, 3 Green Sandpipers, Kingfisher, Penduline Tit, Cetti's Warbler, Chiffchaffs, Crag Martins, Black Redstart and a brief glimpse of a Bluethroat. Next we called for a quick coffee stop, which was most welcome as I had been on the road since 7am, we sat outside the cafe basked in glorious sunshine. Next we drove round to the other side of the reserve and as we neared the main gate Geoff & I saw a large bird being mobbed, which flew out of sight over the reeds. At the first opportunity I pulled in where we had a good vantage point for looking over the whole area, and time was spent scanning. Geoff quickly found a few raptors near where we had seen the original bird but they turned out to be 2 Booted Eagles and a Marsh Harrier. Then off in the other direction there was the 2nd winter Greater Spotted Eagle in flight and I mangaed to get Geoff and Carol on to it. We again got good telescope views as it soared up into the sky before disappearing out of sight. We were delighted as this was a new Spanish bird for Geoff. We stayed in the area for a while longer but didn't manage to see it again, just how lucky had we been. I was planning lunch in the mountains so before we headed there we visited another part of this huge reserve San Filipe Neri. Generally it was quiet here with views of Red Crested Pochard, Zitting Cisticolas, Meadow Pipits, Crested Larks and of course four more Booted Eagles. So at lunchtime we drove up to Crevillente and had a torturous time negotiating the one-way system as my usual route was blocked by market stalls!. Eventually we got through and wound our way up to the Sierra de Crevillente and my usual Bonelli's Eagle canyon. I unpacked the picnic of soup, sandwiches, pastries and fruit and we sat in the sunshine scanning the skies for our target. Then Carol says "what's this large bird?", and sure enough she had found an adult Bonelli's Eagle, which was soon joined by the second adult bird - superb. We watched as they flew across the valley and out of sight, again getting some fantastic views against the beautiful blue sky. Before we left we added Thekla Lark, Stonechat and Sardinian Warbler to our daily list. Incredibly I had achieved my target and we still had the afternoon left, which was a fairly quiet affair taking in the sites of El Pinet (birdless), Santa Pola Salinas (Great Crested Grebes, another Osprey, Booted Eagle, Common Sandpiper) and finally the Clot de Galvany. Here I found there final request of a White headed Duck with just a female on the Charco de Contacto with lots of Teal, Shoveler and a Common Snipe. A walk around some other parts of the reserve produced a couple of Hoopoes, Iberian Green Woodpecker (to me), Red legged Partridges, Southern Grey Shrikes, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Robins and Spotless Starlings. A very good day indeed.