birds, birding, bird watching, twitching,

ornithology...

call it what you will, it's still one of the most

popular outdoor hobbies around!

Stephen and Patricia Daly offer day tours and week long, professionally led ornithological breaks in Andalucia and beyond, taking in with a wonderful variety of species as well as fantastic scenery at affordable prices.

Northern Bald Ibis

This is a real break from the daily grind - Be looked after. Let someone else do the driving and find the best sites. Bird in the sun, relax, walk and breath the clean, fresh Atlantic air.

Please take time to read our clients comments.

Stephen Daly writes

"I suppose it was the fantastic variety of birding and Natural History that sent my pulse racing on my first visit to Andalucia back in 1996. The views into Morocco across the Strait of Gibraltar left such a deep impression that we felt like going straight out and exploring on both sides immediately!. Over the years we have amassed an amazing amount of knowledge of the richness and diversity of the whole area. The Strait of Gibraltar is a very special place on this Earth and is such an important migratory funnel between two continents. We took time to literally learn and record month by month, not only the changing migration and dispersal patterns of birds, but butterfly and other insect migration, plant flowering and seed dispersal, together with notes on other mammal activity, reptile and amphibian populations and sightings. One Naturalist commented that the more eyes we now have down on the southern coast, the more information we will collate."

Stephen and Patricia run the business in the countryside between two natural parks of Las Marismas de Barbate (Marsh lands) and Las Breñas (Pine Forest), where Sardinian Warblers, Zitting Cisticolas and Serins nest in the gardens. During the summer nights, Red-necked Nightjars and Scop's Owl hunt in the neighbouring fields and orchards while distant calls from Tawny, Barn and Little Owls can be heard in the darkness. The warm, long summers sees Pallid Swift and Bee-eaters feeding overhead and Griffon Vultures glide past catching thermal after thermal.

All of our tours are holidays of relaxation, discussion, appreciation, enjoyment and understanding. We don't march clients from site to site to get more ticks on your list! Tours are for everyone and anyone interested in nature, the environment and appreciating all that is all around us. We strive to make use of local services and encourage eating out and using local hotels that employ local people.

On our tours, expect to make new friends, have good fun, enjoy great food and drink and take home warm & happy memories.

Stephen lives and work the whole year in Andalucia and has intimate knowledge of the very best birding and wildlife areas. He has up to date knowledge of scarcer or unusual species location throughout the area. During longer tours we keep clients informed about forthcoming weather and other relevant local information including the culture and history of Andalucia. Even if you are not tempted to book a tour through Andalucian Guides, we offer on our blog lots of monthly information and photos for prospective travellers to the region. Take a look - We're pretty sure that you'll want to join us on tour.

On our spring tours we take in the wetlands and marshes of the vast silted Coto Doñana area. Here we'll look for Crested Coot, Marbled and White-headed Duck, Spanish Imperial Eagle, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Purple swamp Hen, Dartford Warbler, Azure-winged Magpie and many wetland an marshland birds

Test Your ID Skills

Please "click" on the wonderful photos on the right by Juan J Ruiz, at the side of this page. Juan is a birding friend from Madrid and talented bird photographer. All images were digiscoped, using a

Swarovski telescope with a Nikon coolpix 4500 digital camera. There are other photos throughout this website where you can continue to see how ell you do with the birding identification

During the Spring migration the Strait of Gibraltar's wonderfully variable habitats will let us find lots of other beautiful species, including Black Stork, Squacco Heron, Little Bittern, Glossy Ibis, Great White Egret, Greater Flamingo and Red-crested Pochard. We will also look for Booted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Egyptian Vulture, Griffon Vulture, Peregrine Falcon, Stone Curlew, Southern Grey Shrike, Lesser Short-toed Lark, Spotless Starling, Rock Sparrow and Serin, to name but a few.

Rufous Bush Robin

During the autumn migration we'll watch and enjoy the sight of large flocks of raptors soaring & gliding over the Strait of Gibraltar. This spectacle is a wonderful example of the “raw nature” of the natural selection process at work as large numbers leave for the south to find food and avoid the poor weather of the north. It is by far the most spectacular of the two annual migrations with springtime arrivals generally spread more gently over the early months and without the large waves of raptors seen between August and November.

Rarer species Like Rüppell's Vulture, Northern Bald Ibis, Black-winged Kites, Spanish Imperial Eagle, Bonelli's Eagle, White-rumped and Little Swifts, Marbled Teal, White-headed Duck, Red-knobbed Coot, Little Bustard, Stone Curlew, Slender-billed Gull, Lesser Short-toed Lark and Pin-tailed Sangrouse are all possible at certain times of the year at a wide variety of habitats across a huge landscape.

Other migrant species can be seen and photographed passing through the area in Spring or early Autumn and these would include species like Great-spotted Cucko (very early migrants), Montagu's Harrier (juveniles on migration in August/September), Black Stork (Wintering) and Honey Buzzard (both Spring and Autumn passage).

Juvenile Bonelli's Eagle

From the end of September onwards is harvest time in the paddy-fields of La Janda and Brazo del Este. These huge rice producing areas become a feeding ground for hundreds of thousands of birds, and the constant churning of the water and mud by the huge farm tractors promotes a feeding-frenzy of unbelievable dimensions. There can be thousands of White Storks, Cattle and Little Egrets all gorging themselves on the crayfish, water boatmen, beetles, larvae and a myriad of other insect and other rich, aquatic life. They eat so much that often they are too full to take to the air again!

Little Bustard

Migration is a dangerous time for a lot of species with high mortality rates in larger juvenile birds and with smaller Passerines. A far greater number of juveniles cross during the autumn as adult breeding birds take advantage of longer 'Northern' summer light to feed their broods and perhaps raise two or even three lots.

Various dangers adn other flight hazards arise during juvenile first winter migration and some never make the return leg back to Europe in spring. Local weather changes play a great part in bird migration and with our local knowledge and understanding of wind and other factors, endeavour to seek out the very best observation points accordingly. We can expect to see Booted and Short-toed Eagles, Marsh and Montagu’s Harriers, Honey Buzzard and Sparrowhawk with clouds of White Stork and the scarcer Black Stork catching huge thermals then soaring or gliding across to Africa. Atlas Long-legged Buzzard, Rüppell's Vulture, Osprey, Bonelli's, Spanish Imperial and Golden Eagles are also possible to watch on migration but in much lower numbers. Other rarities like Lesser Spotted Eagle, Eleonora's Falcon, Lanner and even a Saker Falcon have been reported on Southerly migration around The Strait.

Some sea watching and various trips through the famous Alconocales (cork oak) natural park and other protected areas are included.

Ask about the availability of Hoopoe Cottage or our day tours

Stephen Daly also guides in Portugal, Extremadura and the Sierra de Gredos, Pyrenees, Cabo de Gata in Almeria, The Canary Islands and across the short stretch of water to various birding sites in Morocco.

Stephen leads other longer birding and wildlife tours to  the West Indies, Germany, Hungary, Holland (in Winter) Turkey, Greece, France including Corsica and Austria with Limosa Holidays and The Travelling Naturalist from the UK.