strait nature news

October - 16th - 21st - Stephen Daly writes

Sees the visible migration across the Strait slows back down to its normal rate and the parties of different passerines, White Storks and Griffon Vultures trickle back and forth, the continuous waves of "new" birds from the north arrive in their droves. Robins, Black Redstarts, Meadow Pipits, White Wagtails, Northern Lapwings, Short-eared and Barn Owls, have been quite visible in this last week with greater numbers present along the coast and inland.

We have had much needed rains during the last week and although the deluge is welcome by residents, farmers and the vegetation and the countryside is once again turning a pleasant green, many smaller passerines have had a difficult time finding enough food after an often exhausting passage through France and Spain.

October - 9th - 14th - Stephen Daly writes

"The rain has left the rice fields of La Janda looking rather splendid" Exclaimed the bright-eyed birder I met this week along the main collector canal. The fact is the excess water is constantly being drained off the large agricultural plain that was once one of the largest natural wetlands and freshwater lakes in southern Europe. Nothing will germinate when the harvested fields are drained of course and dry out between the rain storms. Our winters down this way are of course the time when plants re-generate and the cattle get fat on the lush winter vegetation. The land drainage makes planting next years crop easier but denies wildlife their natural habitat which quickly establishes itself in the cooler months. This industrial and unsympathetic farming practice is exactly what we've witnessed all over northern Europe in the last 35 years, and has hastened the decline in many animals and invertebrates.

The landowners of La Janda simply let all the water run off using illegally constructed tunnels under the main N340 road near Manzanette. This unnatural tributary of the what is left of the Río Almodovar as it literally pours its heart out into the Río Barbate. The short journey is completed at Barbate's rich tidal mudflats and estuary when the water and silt hits the Atlantic Ocean.

Rice harvester at work in La Janda

Gibraltar in the October sun. Photo taken from above Pelayo looking down the Mediterranean

All photos taken by Stephen Daly

Black-shouldered Kite

Juv. Marsh Harriers are abundant

Stone Curlews back in small flocks

White-headed Ducks on many Cadiz lakes

juv. Bonelli's Eagle on the Strait

Huge flocks of Calandra Larks are on the Strait now

Slender-billed Gull(s) at Barbate

Barbate from the Miltary Zone

Bullrushes at La Janda

Marsh Harrier over the Laguna de Taraje