strait nature news

Birding Day Tours in May - We've been busy busy busy!

Travelling around the various sites on our "home patch" is always diverse and interesting for both Stephen Knapp and myself. This last week saw the arrival of hundreds of Honey Buzzards passing over the Strait of Gibraltar with Golden Orioles calling from tree-tops along the southern coast.

Butterflies too have been plentiful with a Two-tailed Pasha turning up in our garden for a day. Spanish Festoons, Spanish Marbled Whites,

Monarch's, Cleopatra's and various Fritillaries, Blue's and Ringlets feeding on the last of the spring flowers.

Black-winged Stilt chick -two hours old!              -                           Kentish Plovers - One day old!

Kentish Plovers, Black-tailed Godwits, Avocets all have young hatched and are scurrying around guarded by their wary parents. Black-eared Wheatears, Tawny Pipits, Hoopoes, Corn Buntings and Bonelli's Warblers are all feeding young out of their nests and predators including Peregrine, Kestrels and Sparrowhawk's are taking advantage of the new and plentiful food supplies to feed their own. Such is nature.

White-rumped Swifts and Little Swifts are present and are breeding near Zahara sharing the nest site with Crag Martins and House Martins. A pair of Red-rumped Swallows are also present at the site but It was difficult to tell if they too were nesting.

A trip into the mountains with a client yesterday (29th) showed plentiful raptor activity with Booted Eagles, Short-toed Eagles, all too brief views of two Bonelli's Eagles, Twenty or so Honey Buzzards, Sparrowhawk, Common and Lesser Kestrels and lots of Griffon Vultures soaring and also feeding on a sheep carcass. Bonelli's Warblers were seen as were a party of the Iberian, rather dusky Long-tailed Tits. Melodious Warblers, Short-toed Treecreepers, Nightingales, Song Thrushes, Blackbirds, Robins, Blue and Great Tits called and sang through the cork-oak forest and Jays flitted through the trees. At one of the bridges over the river Guadiario at Jimena de Libar a pair of Pipistrelles were watched hawking for insects in daylight, obviously feeding young. Striped-necked Terrapins and Grey Wagtails were watched from above on the rocks below and great view were had of Pallid and Common Swifts screeching under the bridge. Alpine Swifts were also watched flying in and out of a nearby cave as Crag Martins took a drink from the pool below the entrance. Bee-eaters perched on the wires and Blue Rock Thrushes sang. The temperature rose steadily during the day and the sun shone down on us in what is a stunning part of Europe.

May 2006 - Tours to the Coto Doñana, The Strait of Gibraltar, Extremadura and the Sierra de Gredos - Stephen Daly writes

This month started off really well, following a spectacular April. We had three eight day tours running in April and May to the Coto Doñana and thereafter here on the Strait. This is the "Classic" Spring Birding Tour to southern Spain. It offers everything one has read about and more. Two of the tours were run by ourselves at Andalucian Guides and the other was a tour for Limosa Holidays who co-operate with several tours with The Travelling Naturalist.

Here's An Example of How one of Andalucian Guides Tours Works -

Just back from Extremadura......

Extremadura is a huge province that lies south west of Madrid and stretches across to the Portuguese border. This is another wonderful tour we offer and this year we added on a leg to the beautiful Sierra de Gredos. All our tours are simple to take part in. We post the tour dates and areas and clients choose which one suits.

On the Extremadura tour we start the tour in Madrid on a certain date. This year we chose the optimal time for breeding birds, flowers and other wildlife. If clients wish to spend a few days visiting the capital Madrid, then just arrange your flights and accommodation for the extra night(s) yourself. You book your own air fare with all of our tours and we fly up from Jerez to the meeting point to collect our clients. We hire mini-buses at Madrid Airport where we start and end the tour.

All our tours are for birders and people with general wildlife interests at heart. Beginners are always welcome and we give guidance about identification of birds in flight as well as other areas of wildlife including butterflies, orchids and all kinds of Mediterranean plants.

This year we had an exceptional birding and wildlife experience with fantastic views of Great Bustards, Little Bustards, Spanish Imperial Eagles, Golden Eagles, Booted and Short-toed Eagles, Honey Buzzards, Red kites, Eagle Owl Pintailed and Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Roller, Bluethroats, Golden Orioles, Little Bitterns and many more.

Here are some clients emails from the Extremadura trip.

"Dear Stephen and Stephen,

We just want to say how much we enjoyed our week’s birding in Extremadura. I don’t think either of us realised how much actual bird-watching there would be and the amount of new birds that we would see. We now have to revisit our sightings with the Collins and try to assimilate some of the vast input of the week. Our thanks go to you both for the way you patiently dealt with some of our more obvious questions and for your good company and friendship throughout the week." Dave and Jill McDougall, Kent, UK .

Western Marbled White Butterfly and  Singing Bluethroat

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"Stephen,
Thanks for an excellent holiday. Weather, birds and scenery were outstanding and gave us a very favourable impression of " real Spain " as did the accommodation. We found the organisation and day to day leadership excellent with an enjoyable atmosphere with all the party.
Our thanks to both you and the other Stephen for all your hard work. your patience and good humour was greatly appreciated.
A quick trip out today gave us buzzard, various gulls and geese, little egret and green headed duck but no vultures or bustards.
many thanks." John and Ann Dawson, Chester, UK

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Young Ocellated Lizard                                                                       Two-tailed Pasha butterfly

"Dear Stephen,

Great hol and you guided brilliantly with fantastic birdie views for all - your best attribute - one of them anyway!
We and especially I am much refreshed and keep looking in the sky for something interesting - we did have a red kite at Harewood Hall in Yorkshire though! Ron is also in good form and reminiscing about the wonderful species we saw.
What a super group of people you gathered and sorry ken and sheila couldn't share it too - they would I am sure have loved it. James is very jealous and also most interested - we would all 3 love to join you again next year- I wonder if the smiths might too, that would be even better. I have a few good piccies but also a lot of pixel ones.Tell the dates soonest if you plan one if we are invited!
love to both stephens." liz and Ron McClure, Chester, UK.

The next eight day tours we offer are for the raptor migration in September on the Strait of Gibraltar. As hundreds of thousands of raptors, White and Black Storks and endless streams of Hirundines and Swifts cross the thin strip of water that separates the continents of Africa and Europe. Andalucian Guides have two dates this year . Click on the link above to find out more

This Raptor Watching holiday is such an amazing spectacle and as guides we offer our experience in finding the daily crossing points to watch the birdscrossing to Morocco. The crossing points often vary from day to day, according to the wind direction and general visible conditions.

Watching Montagu's Harriers near Benalup, Cadiz - Near Zahara watching Little Swifts

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Migration - Escape the rain and come just for a few days!

This spring we had a host of birds of prey or raptors. These ranged from Hobby to Spanish Imperial Eagle and vultures included Black, Griffon and the migrant Egyptian Vulture. Several pairs of this quite beautiful bird are breeding along the mountainous ridges on the Strait. This is the only vulture I have seen snatching road-kill or taking a drink from reservoirs. Quite a few raptor species arrived early this year but Honey Buzzards were late and are still continuing to cross in small numbers as I write. Ortolan Buntings also breed here as do Little and White-rumped Swifts. Ortolan's are normally found at higher altitudes and the two swifts are North African species now making quite a strong foothold in southern Spain.

The elusive Rufous Bush Robin, the rare Western Orphean Warbler also can be seen in summer. Stone Curlews, Little Bustards, Collared Pratincoles, Black eared Wheatears, Caspian Terns, Audouin's Gulls, Slender-billed Gulls, Spoonbills, Avocets, Kentish Plovers, Greater Flamingoes, and a surprise this year came with Laughing Gull, a north American species, turning up at our local beach at Barbate. Breeding Bonelli's Warblers, Cirl and Rock Buntings are present with Blue Rock Thrush, Iberian Green Woodpecker and the African form of Great Spotted Woodpecker can be found in the Alcornocales with lots of reptiles including Ocellated Lizards Sand, Iberian Wall and Rock Lizards. Chameleons are as elusive as ever but still breeding in our areas.

Atlanterra                                         Barbate from the Marismas

Eagle Owl and Northern Bald Ibis

Red-necked Nightjars, Tawny, Long-eared, Little and the enormous Eagle Owl all breed along the Strait, the latter being a bit of a problem with the re-introduced colony of Northern Bald Ibis along from Barbate. Several Ibis have been taken by one of the Eagle Owls in the past weeks. The biologists there are pretty pragmatic about the Eagle Owls new prey, saying that they'd rather have natural predation than deaths caused by motor vehicles, poisoning or hunting. Next year should see the first batch of birds reaching sexual maturity and hopefully breeding. Already we witnessed 2nd year birds going through ritual bill stroking, head bobbing, collecting nesting materials and other displays. It's quite lovely to watch as these extremely rare birds go through the process of reaching adulthood and in time, regeneration of a globally endangered species. Like a lot of wild birds the Northern Bald Ibis was once a regular dish in the 19th C. on the tables in some European monasteries,

Northern Bald Ibis near Barbate

Curlew Sandpiper  - A bit late for end of May