Please browse ‘archives’ under the ‘links’ heading in the right hand column for date-ordered trip reports and monthly summaries.

As I swung the car door open at 0730 on the morning of 20th August 2009 it had been twenty months since my last visit to Titchwell RSPB, Norfolk, and my impatience to sit on the sea-front bench-on-the-beach meant I skipped out of the car park and entered the footpaths at some pace.

But within seconds, singing Wren, Chaffinch, Robin, Chiffchaff and Blue Tit drew my haste to a halt and I settled on a canopy-covered picnic bench to listen.  As I did so, I dwelled on the thought that here such birds – all relatively rare during summer in north-east Spain where I spend much of my time these days – are perhaps not appreciated as they might be.  Perhaps given as little attention in fact as I give to Bee-eaters and Golden Orioles around my garden.

But some of Norfolk’s jewels, and one in particular, were even rarer back in Spain and so, although somewhat calmed by the welcome chorus, I made my way through the reserve with purpose.  One such exciting bird, the Herring Gull, accompanied me faithfully all along the straight track to the sea as if aware of its new popularity.  How smart it was in its pink legs and, yes, I remember now how significantly paler its mantle is than the Yellow-legged Gulls in Barcelona.

As the morning light and shadows stretched across the water with the still-rising sun, it gradually converted busy silhouettes into full-colour Curlew, Redshank, Avocet, Snipe, Lapwing and Dunlin (photo below). A flock of Black-tailed Godwit passed overhead before two more ‘strangers’ – the Meadow Pipit (winter only in my part of Spain) and Reed Bunting (a different sub-species) – escorted me to the beach itself.

As I approached, a pair of Little Egret flew up and brought up flashes of Barcelona but I paid them little attention (!).  Instead I looked straight ahead and, with the same rush one gets from scaling the steps to view the green grass of the Camp Nou football pitch for the first time, step by step the sea came into view and I paused on the brow of the footpath.  What a wonderful place.  I’m used to viewing the north sea from here in winter but even now the sand was blanketed with wriggling flocks of Grey Plover (some in dinner-jacket-smart summer plumage), Ringed Plover (photo below), Sanderling, Oystercatcher and Turnstone, amongst others.

I stayed.  I stayed and barely used my binoculars.  I stayed until distant voices crept down the footpath and whispered ‘you’re no longer alone’ in my ear and I moved on.  Sorry guys, this morning I just didn’t feel like talking.  And anyway I still had ‘the jewel’ to prize from the jaws of the reserve and the voices provided me with a good excuse to get on with it.

A handful of Ruff and a reminder that all the White Wagtails here are Pied Wagtails were the only additions, save for small flocks of Linnet and Goldfinch that skipped ahead of me as I strolled back to the Island hide, but even as I entered it was apparent that a fistful of Little Stint were slaloming between the legs of the Dunlin and Redshank.

I suppose there’s a saying somewhere that states that all jewels are worth waiting for, and I was prepared (with coffee, chocolate biscuits, a banana, brie and apple sandwiches, a piece of leftover omelette, a bag of crisps and an orange, all lovingly pre-packed by my sister) to wait as long as it takes.  I hadn’t seen this bird for two years and, before that, not since I used to watch them scamper about at my local reservoir when I was a teenager.

Within five minutes, whilst excitedly watching three absolutely spanking Sedge Warbler (yet another stranger; there are none in Catalonia) flitting between the reed bases and exposed earth to the south of the hide, a juvenile Bearded Reedling aka Bearded Tit aka how-bloody-great-is-that?, popped out onto the soft sand and was promptly joined by three others.

For the next half-hour and more I watched them to the exclusion of all else (except for the Sedge Warblers and a pair of Reed Warbler all of whom seemed to be sharing the same niche).  The rubbish picture above of course is no attempt to do them justice but I couldn’t resist. 

During this time they hardly disappeared as they worked their way first back and then forth across the feet of the reeds, on a couple of very reminiscent occasions actually sliding down the reed stems a la Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub (or Fireman Sam for the younger generation).  I’d forgotten that they did that.  And they run!  Since when do they run?  Funny how the brain works as I don’t remember even knowing that.  No-one else in the hide knew that either, but at least I’m being sociable now and actually talking to people.

On the way out a large group of Greylag Geese and some Common Teal (mostly winter birds for me) had gathered amongst the other duck-species and I picked out a mid-distant Great Black-backed Gull, a bird not present in Catalonia that I hoped to see at closer quarters later in the day.

A Common Whitethroat nodded me the direction of the car and I was soon off back west along the coast to Holme.

A few dog-walkers made me fear the worst and put me in mind of a quick departure but a hop, skip and a jump to the top of a sand-dune was the minimum requirement to see if a longer stay was worthwhile.  Worthwhile?  I should say so.  I immediately caught sight of a lone Grey Partridge, itself caught mid-path and scuttling back into cover.  This was another of my key target species for the day.  Although I do occasionally see the rare Catalan population in the Pyrenees, it had been a while since I’d had a really good view.

A little fruitful patience produced superb views as he eventually tip-toed out with six youngsters and his partner, who like a lollipop lady stopped mid-way to marshal the kids past before following on behind, and they all disappeared into the sand-scrub.

As I turned to watch a close-by Common Whitethroat, a ringtail Hen Harrier suddenly went up a few metres away and dropped down on the blind side of the dune.  Even a reversed jump, skip and and a hop unfortunately failed to re-locate the bird but, encouraged by the diversity, I locked up the car and sand-squelched my way to the tide’s edge.

I almost ignored a wing-flick in the sand dunes en route but a voice on my shoulder nagged me to pursue and discover a Northern Wheatear.  I do see this species throughout the year and this apparently larger and darker bird smacked of the Greenland sub-species but it was a little too far off to be sure.

Once at the water’s edge, I allowed the foam to lap at my shoes as I sat on my heels and waited about twenty minutes for the shorebirds I’d just scared away to get used to me and return.  These Red Knot (above) were my favourites, but close views of more Great Black-backed Gull and a re-found appreciation of the quite beautiful Common Gull, a rare vagrant for me most often seen in the Ebro Delta, ran them close.

Other new birds present amongst the thousands of gulls and waders were plenty of Bar-tailed Godwit, along with a few of their black-tailed cousins, a Great Crested Grebe flying low over the ocean and fishing Common and Sandwich Terns.

All in all about 75 species for the day, including plenty of Rook, another ‘stranger’ not mentioned, and the best birding in yonks.  What a great year I’m having.

P.S.  I didn’t eat the orange.
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Please browse ‘archives’ under the ‘links’ heading in the right hand column for date-ordered trip reports and monthly summaries.

The sheer volume of birding tours and the sheer volume of birds that made this May one of the most exhilirating month’s birding of my life also makes doing it justice impossible.  From mixing it with Marsh Sandpipers on pretty much my only day off on the 1st, to the nights spent with nightjars during the last days of the month, I spent more hours standing agog, gasping and gaping than I could believe possible in the space of a few weeks.  Wow.  What a month.

["Come What May" - a special report on a relaxed day off hunting Wryneck and Red-throated Pipit and a summary of May's birding trips to the Cap de Creus and Aiguamolls de L'Emporda]

THE STEPPES OF LLEIDA and LOS MONEGROS

Without a doubt this is where most of the Wow! happened with displaying Little Bustard, scrub-top serenading Spectacled Warbler, sky-dancing Lesser Short-toed Lark and a handful of wide-eyed Stone-curlew showing extremely well, along with Black Wheatear, Southern Grey Shrike, Golden Oriole, Black-eared Wheatear, Red-billed Chough and LOTS of Roller, on every single one of the five visits during the month.  And we only missed our usual amazing car-side views of Pin-tailed Sandgrouse on one day, the 5th, because of an enforced scheduled late morning start! 

Disappointingly, one particular group of 12 evenly-sexed Gangas, as they are called locally, was apparently reduced to four half-way through the month after their fallow field was tilled over by the farmer.  Making the locale for Xurras, or Black-bellied Sandgrouse to you and me, second-choice meant late-morning success, with good views of apparent breeding birds, on only three of the five occasions, as it heated up noticeably towards the end of the month.

Rather thrillingly though, after last year’s total absence, Common Quail were seen, and often more than once, on every single birding trip, the best of which was a bird flying window-side before turning its head to look at me!  It then banked to the right and landed plum-centre of the only gap in the dense scrub (field side) and allowed me to lock-on with binoculars before it sauntered off back into obscurity. 

Great Spotted Cuckoo was yet another species that everyone got to see well, with many sat unperturbed by the proximity of the car.  Strange how the juveniles gather in small flocks after leaving their adoptive Magpie parents but even stranger when, on the 29th, we observed a flock of four black-capped young mixing it up with two grey-headed adults.  At least one of these young also seemed to be associating closely with a pair of nearby Carrion Crow, although we didn’t witness any direct contact.  This is apparently a less-frequently used host bird for the species but I for one have never come across it in reality.

Equally superb views of nest-building Penduline Tit were rudely interrupted after their dome-shaped pendulum was vandalised and, rather surprisingly and unlike last year, other candidates were not particularly forthcoming.  Bonelli’s Warblers, amongst others, however were easy to pick-up up until the 19th and we even had a single Western Orphean Warbler pass through noisily (how else?) on the 26th.

It was the raptors however for which, not surprisingly, we reserved our biggest Wows with the successful breeding again of Montagu’s Harrier in a particular Lleida patch topping off a wonderful month that included more-than-usual sightings of Egyptian Vulture (thanks to the dump?) and lots of hunting activity and even accommodatingly perched individuals of Lesser Kestrel, Honey-buzzard, Short-toed Eagle, Red Kite, Hobby and a first-winter Golden Eagle.

However, the harvest of the wheat crop, usually capitalised on by small regular flocks of Red-footed Falcon as they pass through, was about two weeks later than last year and so a single insect-eating male was the only showing for this year out in Los Monegros, although a family holiday in the UK put paid to any research into the tail-end of their usual window of opportunity.  Still, the silver-lining hopefully is a longer refuge for the other steppe birds that breed amongst the growing cereals.

Wow!  On the 19th just over the border in Los Monegros, further to the discovery of two day-time singing males on 21st April 2009, I found a third Dupont’s Lark close-by as it dropped out of its song flight like a stone and landed in some nearby grass.  A patient (!) wait of a few minutes saw it perched up on a rock and singing again out in the open before walking in and out and along the edge of a section of taller grass until doing exactly the same on a similar rock about fifteen metres away.  A final song flight later (again witnessed on the 26th) and it was gone.  But we did have time to scribble down the position and colour of its leg rings.

From the endless marshes, lagoons and rice fields flooded with shoals and schools of almost all of Europe’s wader-species that brought the month to a truly spectacular start, by the 25th many had taken it in turns to pick their own ‘last seen date’ and had moved on to breed in pastures new.  Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits, Curlew and rather late Whimbrel were some of the last to make up their minds but also of note were good numbers of Oystercatcher hanging around the Trubacador and a personal favourite of summer-plumaged Red Knot (below) poking their noses into some beach-business along the Fangar until the 12th.

Amazingly close views of Temminck’s Stint could be seen in front of the hide at Riet Vell until at least this date, shortly after which the waters were allowed in to flood the mud favoured by migrants and prepare the site for the serious business of aiding the region’s breeding birds.

Typical stock for the coming months include Little Bittern and seven other herons, Glossy Ibis, Audouin’s Gull, Slender-billed Gull, Gull-billed and Caspian Tern, Collared Pratincole and, representing the passerines, singing Short-toed Lark and quite startlingly good and routine views of reeling Savi’s Warbler.

Lesser Short-toed Lark and Common Cuckoo also provided regular highlights to go along with one-off notables such as the last Garganey at Riet Vell (7th), a summer-plumaged Black-necked Grebe diving into L’Encanyissada (12th) and a Northern Pintail roosting at the Gola de Mijgorn on the 25th. 

My moment of the month here though was a savage and vicious fight between three Common Coot, again at Riet Vell on the 25th, with two dominant males holding a third under water almost to the point of death!  And my disappointment?  Where were all the White-winged Terns?  Unlike last year’s deluge, this year, no rain.

THE LLOBREGAT DELTA

A similar pattern and a similar story with this wetland reserve (actually two sites either side of the airport) with a full set of shorebirds gradually being reduced to last appearances of Bar-tailed Godwit (15th), Spotted Redshank (18th), Ruff (21st, no summer-plumaged males this year) and, on the 22nd, Red Knot and Curlew Sandpiper.

Hobby, Gull-billed Tern and others continued to pass through (last seen 28th), with a notable single Roller at Cal Tet on the 8th, and Common Waxbill were seen on a regular basis, especially bouncing along the riverside reeds of the St. Climent. 

But, even set against the huge numbers of Audouin’s Gulls apparently planning to stick around this summer, without doubt the highlight was a breeding pair of Little Ringed Plover, actually just outside the reserve boundary, with two fluff-ball chicks apparently making it thanks to the aggressive and tireless efforts of their parents fighting and chasing off anything that landed within a stone’s throw.

THE PYRENEES

Except for a near rain-spoilt day on the 13th, the Lammergeier, and for the most part a pair of adults, showed up gratefully and thrillingly as-and-according to schedule, from its 10 to 11 a.m. window around the cliffs towering over the local farm, via its lunch-time slot – and closer views – at 1400m a.s.l. and a last-chance majestic soar above the tree line from 3 p.m. onwards.

Reliable too were pink-flushed Water Pipit, Alpine Chough (on one occasion mobbing a Peregrine), Rock Bunting, Dipper (nesting under the bridge), Bonelli’s Warbler, Short-toed Treecreeper, Grey Wagtail, Firecrest, Alpine Swift, Common Cuckoo and (Rufous-tailed) Rock Thrush, although in the case of the latter the late snow melt is probably the reason for less breeding pairs this year.

The same snow also locked us out of the forest tracks and explains the apparent absence of Citril Finch until we finally found them noisy and much-appreciated in their usual patch from the 13th onward, once the bulk of the snow had melted.  Red-backed Shrike wisely waited until the 20th therefore to make an appearance but they wasted no time in catching up on the nuptials.

Common Crossbill were also harder to find, with only a handful of birds obliging on each birding trip, and Black Woodpecker only put in one decent appearance, on the 20th, although again the snow had prevented us probing the better tracks until the second half of the month.  This same day also welcomed Garden Warbler, the start of more regular sightings of Golden Eagle and a passage Booted Eagle.

But it was Ring Ouzel that seemed most affected by the unusually late winter, with my first sighting not coming until a single bird threw its head into soft lush grass a few metres from the car in the search for worms on the 27th.

THE GARRAF

Wow.  I didn’t get chance to get into my local patch until the 8th but what a day.  After first seeing an unusual Great Spotted Cuckoo flying across the bonnet and watching the local pair of Peregrines chasing dozens of local Pallid Swifts over the ocean (where a lone Shag was the only disappointing sighting this month), I went out with my friend Blake to check out a potential European Nightjar site.

We’d been told about the site at the end of last season, too late to confirm, but this time the farmer, Ricardo, came with us and pointed to the exact spots where he’d discovered and protected two nests, complete with eggs and sitting birds, last year.  Looking around at the sandy soil and spaced-out garrufes trees, I couldn’t help but wonder if the nightjars he’d seen were not in fact Enganyapastors, or European Nightjar, as he claimed, but Siboc.  And as we walked about, despite taking care to stick to the paths and avoid treading beneath the canopies, up flew confirmation in the form of a single stunning rufous form that flushed and flew low, up and over an adjacent wall and sent ripples through all three of us – I have Red-necked Nightjar near my house!  Not wanting to disturb any more birds, we retreated and I wasn’t able to visit the site again until early in June (absolutely amazing, see June 2009).

New sites for Red-rumped Swallow, two in fact, also followed during seven other birding trips into the Garraf this month with passing Yellow Wagtail (18th), Woodlark, Sand Martin and Roller, all last seen on the 23rd, and Honey-buzzard, last seen on the 21st toying with a local pair of Bonelli’s Eagle, being the highlights.  Numbers of passing warblers and other species however were noticably down on last year when higher rainfall brought in record sightings.

Spotted Flycatcher was the last summer breeder to arrive to join the Black-eared Wheatear, Turtle Dove, Bonelli’s and Melodious Warbler (top photo), Nightingale and Golden Oriole that had been settled for some time, the latter in my garden.  And the pick of the residents included Cirl Bunting, Southern Grey Shrike and Spotless Starling, which seemed to be ever-present for a change.

Sightings of Short-toed Eagle were up, with a perched juvenile enjoyed for several minutes on the 28th, and Audouin’s Gulls too, along the coast, mirrored their increase at nearby Llobregat.  Common Cuckoo were especially prevalent earlier in the month, with a strange calling adult perched on a low bush by the car on the 13th, but a Wryneck calling on the garden as I put out the riubbish on the 18th somehow managed to avoid being seen as I tracked it to the end of the road before it fell silent and I was left standing in my shorts-only and carrying a smelly bin bag.

But the last Wow is reserved for an impromptu and test- tour on the evening of the 28th.  Scheduling night tours poses problems but the approach of the end of the season and enthusiastic clients meant I summoned up enough energy and, in situ at my old Programa Noctua census station by 21.30, a communal and synchronised intake of breath accompanied the sudden appearance of wing-clapping European Nightjars as they floated and flapped, at one point, even around our ears!  We were treated to a spectacular show for thirty minutes or more, with one bird churring from an open branch before springing up to hawk for insects, until the light finally faded and their ghostly silhouettes evetually merged perfectly into the dark black of night and we made our way home, thrilled.  A thrilling month.

Please browse ‘archives’ under the ‘links’ heading in the right hand column for date-ordered trip reports and monthly summaries.

A day for firsts.  The first of the month marked the first pleasure-only, leisure-only, responsibility-free, non-working birding day for more than a little while.  Even a friend, who I’d arranged to meet for a lazy day chasing come-what-may in the AIGUAMOLLS DE L’EMPORDA and CAP DE CREUS, had been given strict instructions not to ask for anything.  ‘O.K.,’ he’d e-mailed back totally empathising with my outlook on the day, ‘but it would be nice to see Orphean Warbler, Ortolan Bunting, Red-throated Pipit, Wryneck and Marsh Sandpiper.’  ‘And I wouldn’t mind Roller or Red-rumped Swallow.’

In truth I too was out to get my self a few year-firsts, some of those aforementioned included, but as I sat in the thankfully-lonely hide at Vilaut at 0720, I had already achieved my main objective for the day.  This ’close’, or pasture surrounded by trees, that floods naturally in perfect time to attract passing waders, terns and others, is my favourite place in the world to be alone.  I poured my self a coffee, opened up a packet of ‘Chips Ahoy’ cookies and settled down to begin the scan – if I was working, it would have been the other way around.

I’d already walked under a flock of bubbling European Bee-eater, made eye-to-eye contact with a Nightingale and received a warm welcome from a Reed Warbler posted at the hide door before a flock of paddling White Stork, three Greenshank and smatterings of Mallard made up the precursory glance as I perched my self in excited expectation ready to pan from right to left.  I didn’t care what I saw, I told my self, but this was the place of many lifers over the ten years I’ve been coming, not least of which was a small flock of never-to-be-forgotten Red-throated Pipit busying themselves beneath the lip of the hide window, so I’m not sure I was entirely convincing, or convinced.

The silhouette of a Wood Sandpiper stepped first into the water and then into the light, a male Garganey shared some synchronised up-ending with a pair of moulting Common Teal and a Common Cuckoo was, peacefully, the only soundtrack.  At least until my phone bipped with a text that read, ‘I’ll be there in ten minutes.’  The white hook on the neck of a Northern Pintail caught my eye as it preened in the shallows and a single apparently cold Collared Pratincole just sat there, even when the sun glowed across the water to bathe it in orange and even when I left, nearly two hours later, in the company of said friend.

Although famed for the unexpected and unpredictable, Vilaut is a reliable site for the late-arriving Roller and as we neared the track’s end, the familiar rowing action flapped across our bows and landed in a conveniently leafless tree.  A furtive Garden Warbler was betrayed by a mischievous relative, as a singing Sardinian Warbler attracted our attention, and provided a second year-first in as many minutes.

Little more than ten minutes later and we exited the car on the edge of the Cap de Creus National Park and a little under ten paces later on we were marvelling at a stationary Western Orphean Warbler singing loudly from the underhang branches of an adjacent cork oak.  Reliable site this.  For Wryneck too, and two more Orphean Warblers later, including a ringed individual, we heard one kreeching, kestrel-like across the way and made our way over to track it.  No luck.  It didn’t call again and our chance had fled.

Stopping along the way, we picked off Pied Flycatcher, Cirl Bunting and almost unprecedented numbers of Greenfinch, seemingly craving our attention as much as the warmth as they perched in the shafts of sunlight piercing the shady canopy of the surrounding pines. 

Upon reaching another favourite spot, I was momentarily surprised to see space where usually there was scrub, or maquis.  However, my joy, at witnessing the apparent start of an active clearance programme to combat the dominance of the maquis and its encroachment into the open spaces many birds depend upon, disappeared as sure as the birds themselves as I noticed the rows and rows of recently planted sapling trees.  Man has become so good at preventing the regeneration caused by natural fires that, just as in the Garraf where such burn back hasn’t happened for nearly thirty years!, many species such as Rock Thrush, Black Wheatear, Tawny Pipit and Spectacled Warbler are struggling to keep a foothold.

As if to emphasise the value of re-creating these open spaces, however unintentional in this case, the enchanting and enigmatic short-song of an Ortolan Bunting was quickly tracked to reveal two stunning males frolicking amongst the torn up roots and newly-exposed dirt and, when one flew to the dead branch of an old tree to sing again, its yellow throat lit up in the sunshine and swelled as if it was going to burst.  For some reason, the optimism flooded back.

This was my fourth year-first of the day so far, the late-season arrival of three of them inspiring this trip in the first place.  Targets five and six, however, were passage visitors only and both were reaching the end of their respective windows of opportunity.

So imagine my excitement when, almost written-off given that the majority are seen in late March or early April, not one but two wonderfully sleak, needle-billed Marsh Sandpiper were the first birds I was drawn to amongst the train-station-like throngs criss-crossing over the shallows of Mas Mata back in the Aiguamolls.  Dwarfed by the Common Redshank, Ruff and Black-winged Stilt, it was a breathe-in-and-savour-it thrill to see their black-spotted plumage so close and watch them slalem their way gracefully between the legs and bodies of their taller rivals.

I was hooked for the next sometime-and-more – truly one of my all-time favourite birds – and confess to paying scant attention to the Red Knot, Spotted Redshank, Grey Plover and the rest, until the tick-tock of time tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Don’t forget you promised me a Red-throated Pipit.’

For year-first number six and a full set for the day (not counting the White-winged and Black Tern window of opportunity that was only just opening), we strolled over to and along the edges of the adjacent field to scour the patch and each blade of grass where Red-throated Pipit are seen each and every year.  Indeed a flock of twenty-one and many more sightings had been reported recently so our expectations of getting the sometimes-offered binoculars-down views of arms-reach birds began to rise… and then fall.  All twenty-one and their mates were obviously in hiding.  And after a few minutes, where became apparrent as a single dark-throated bird rose vertically up from the mass of impenetrable carpet of grass, drawing-out a diagnostic call of mischief, before teasing a iberiae Yellow Wagtail off a bordering fence-post and settling down back into obscurity.

Very unsatisfactory.  But after the leisurely day-off of relaxing, responsibility-free birding I’d had, I wasn’t complaining.  Not one bit.  Roll on the rest of May and roll on the getting back to work.

P.S.  We also got the Red-rumped Swallow, skimming the crop-tops in a field back near Vilaut, completing the circle literally, as we made our way back to our respective cars, and birding-wise, as the Roller showed up again to see us off.

24th May, 2009

My optimism regarding the Ortolan Bunting proved founded as two males were still singing in exactly the same place on my only other trip to the region this month.  Lots of Red-rumped Swallow too, well spread across the Cap de Creus National Park and very encouraging as this species is still rather localised in Catalonia.

Western Orphean Warbler continued to show well, particularly a marvellous pair singing and playing right by the car as we drank coffee, and its cousin, the Melodious Warbler, seemed to post singing sentinels everywhere we went.  Wryneck at last improved on its rather poor showing so far this year with two heard calling and one seen well, if brief, close to a good spot for Dartford Warbler.

Over a dozen immature Shag and a spectacular pair of Honey-buzzard over the car proved to be the most interesting additions on the trip from the first of the month but the mean time, whilst not quite drying up the water in El Mata in the Aiguamolls, certainly saw a reduction in wetland species overall, signalling the beginning of the end of the migration season and the start of getting down to breeding business.  A pair of Mute Swan chasing a Eurasian Spoonbill out of their patch of water confirmed the process was well under way.

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Please browse ‘archives’ under the ‘links’ heading in the right hand column for date-ordered trip reports and monthly summaries.

“I had a great time during my four days with you.

I enjoyed every day out to a different habitat but if I had special favourite it was the Steppes, from the start it went really well and your knowledge and fieldcraft enabled us to see both Sandgrouse, Little Bustard and Montagu’s Harrier plus many more all with fantastic views. I’m sure that any trip you lead for people cannot fail to provide first class birding with your local knowledge and people from new starters to the more experienced would benefit from your expertise.
 
Best Wishes and hope we get to go out again one day, I certainly have gaps still to fill from this great birding region.”

Michael Curry, UK

I spent the first half of April listening to clients moaning about the rain – fair enough, I joined in too – and yet throughout it all the birds kept coming and the birds kept on going.

For these Slender-billed Gulls (top photo), it was simply a matter of waiting to take advantage of a gap and getting on with the job in hand!  No moaning.  Ever since I was a kid I’ve learned from birds – if a Kestrel can focus that hard with a headwind smacking it in the face then I can jolly well get my head down too and do some revision!  Sad but true, I actually remember thinking that – and so, like the gulls and all the birds around them, we simply got on with it and, where many before us may have faltered, we reaped rewards aplenty!  O.K. and we moaned a lot too.

THE STEPPES OF LLEIDA and LOS MONEGROS

A special review of the month in the Steppes, including the positive start to the breeding season, can be viewed here:  April in The Steppes

THE GARRAF

A positive start to the month in the GARRAF too with a resident pair of Black Wheatear, at a nesting location threatened by dog-walkers and beach-goers, apparently happy to give it a go for another year.  I started successfully too with my annual personal challenge of always locating at least one singing Common Cuckoo per trip with a tree-top bird easing me into it on the 5th.  The day before also noted the first Woodchat Shrike.

Not much opportunity to explore through much of the month and, by the 23rd, Eurasian Bee-eater, Nightingale and plenty of Turtle Dove had already settled in.  Lone Spanish Yellow Wagtail and Woodlark were probably only passing through though but the day will always be remembered spent comparing the size, shape, plumage and screams of over a hundred Common, Pallid and Alpine Swifts doing what they do best around my head at a scenic spot along the coast.

LLOBREGAT DELTA

The 4th recorded my first Whimbrel, two more Osprey setting the trend for a good month at all locations and a brief but welcome motorway-side Honey-buzzard, although as I write I have yet to see another.

The 12th added a pair of exhausted Collared Pratincole, with their numbers continuing to rise slowly through the month, and continued a curious trend of groups of late Eurasian Wigeon that began on the Ebro Delta and went on at least until the 13th in the Aiguamolls de L’Emporda.

All locations also offered the chance to compare Yellow Wagtail heads, with the rain falling in groups of flavissima (Britain), cinereocapilla (Italy, above) and iberiae (Spain of course) as well as the nominate flava (Central Europe).

The poor weather did seem to dampen the spirits of the warblers however and I can’t believe Great Reed Warbler hadn’t arrived until we located a proud singing individual on the 15th (in good company with a superb passage male Montagu’s Harrier at Cal Tet).  A pair of Temminck’s Stint, increasingly common in the area, dropped in a day later.

A spectacular morning trip on the 28th provided one of the best sessions of the year with 17 species of wader flying in and out of Ca L’Arana beach.  Individuals, small possies and larger flocks mixed and collided with each other with a lone Whimbrel and summer plumaged Spotted Redshank, Bar-tailed Godwit and the stunning Grey Plover coming in close runners-up to the bird-of-the-day – no less than eight Red Knot scampering across the sand in various shades of rufous.

Common Waxbill, Pied Flycatcher, Great Reed Warbler, Squacco Heron, Garganey, Mediterranean Gull, Audouin’s Gull and four absolutely charming Little Gull, two complete with smart black hoods, were also about and eight very excited and exciting Little Tern added a year first to an already very worthwhile trip.

Temminck’s Stint were back on the 29th, giving touching-distance-who-needs-binoculars views on El Campo.  Four Sanderling, including a summer plumage bird, didn’t seem to mind my proximity at Remolar either and we shared the beach as I watched Little and Common Tern diving over the ocean.  Three male Golden Oriole chased each other over the car park whilst a pair of Whinchat watched on before I headed home, already looking forward to May.

THE EBRO DELTA

A pair of Temminck’s Stint visited Riet Vell also, on the 7th, along with repeated stunningly close views of Moustached Warbler and both helped to ease the disappointment of the no-show Little Crake, which I haven’t seen since March and I think has moved on.  There’s always a chance of more though, at least until early May.

Overall this was a truly great day though with limited space meaning the highlights will only have to include Spoonbill, three Osprey, pink-breasted Water Pipit, Bonelli’s Warbler, late-ish Northern Lapwing and year firsts of Common Tern, Bar-tailed Godwit, Whinchat, Black-eared Wheatear and a Savi’s Warbler reeling a backdrop soundtrack to this flyby Squacco Heron.

But on the 10th the Trubacador really came into its own with a fifteen-minute, post-rainfall dash up and down the beach in the four by four revealing numerous Whinchat, Black-eared Wheatear, Northern Wheatear, and a sneaky male Sub-alpine Warbler sharing a bush with the Common Redstart below.

We also noted the Wigeon (see above) at Canal Vell, where we also ticked off Reed Warbler to add to the year-first Gull-billed Tern, which had arrived to swarm across the Fangar.

AIGUAMOLLS DE L’EMPORDA

A year-first male Golden Oriole on the 13th, three days before they were seen and sang in the Steppes, was my personal highlight of the month’s only trip to the Emporda but other notables included a full-of-life Little Gull that charmed all eyes away from the swarms of black-bellied Whiskered Tern,

no less than four drake Garganey chasing a lone female into the long grass (and they haven’t even reached their breeding grounds yet!), my first real sighting of a Nightingale this year…

and I know the simply envious sight of yet another Osprey landing in an adjacent flooded field and proceeding to bathe…

THE PYRENEES

Two very contrasting trips began with a sun-covered jaunt through the high altitude specialities on the 6th when almost the first birds we saw were a pair of Lammergeier circling over head.  When they weren’t around we made do with a pair of adult Golden Eagle that seemed to follow us all day, although Citril Finch made us work hard before we finally found two pairs feeding amongst the snow-gaps on the Orris meadow.

A continuously shrieking and drumming Black Woodpecker did manage to avoid our attentions in the thick of the trees however but the moment of the day for me more than made up for it with a superb black-and-white Pied Flycather startling me from the adjacent bush during lunch – almost a month before I usually record them this far inland.

Disastrous and un-predicted weather on the 12th however meant we couldn’t ascend to the high meadows despite two attempts – where we only found a small group of snow-eating Common Crossbill – and so we amused ourselves with the lowland offerings such as Dipper, Hawfinch, Rock Bunting and Cirl Bunting, Bonelli’s Warbler, Firecrest and Short-toed Treecreeper before giving up and heading off to finish the day at Llobregat.

Bet these Crag Martins wished they could have joined us…

With sunshine warming our expectations on the 22nd, ultimately they were to be cooled by a raging wind that threatened to literally blow the car door off.  So, except for a hovering Short-toed Eagle, there were few raptors.  Although, whilst listening to a cocky Nuthatch singing in a spot where a pair bred two years ago, one did show up, in the form of a male Sparrowhawk, to streak past and snatch its victim before our eyes.  I don’t think they’ll be breeding there this year.

The wind restricted most sightings equally brief throughout the day with a fleeting glimpse of an albeit very well snow-lit and striking Alpine Accentor being typical of many of the passerines.  But extreme proximity to a pair each of Crossbill and Bullfinch, along with singing Nightingale, good views of single representatives of Red-billed and Alpine Chough and thrilling flocks of Siskin and flavissima Yellow Wagtail twisting around our heads on different occasions sent us home re-warmed and satisfied.

Thanks to Michael Cox for the photos from his four day trip.  You can read and see more on Michael’s Blog.

"Thanks for your efforts, despite/because of the weather, we thoroughly enjoyed this part of our first Spanish birding holiday.

Stephen really worked hard to see as many species as possible, a characteristic of our time with him and something we remain very grateful for. We also learned a lot about the birds we saw, their habitat, field identification tips, etc., which has already proved very helpful to us.”

Michael and Helen Cox, UK

Please browse ‘archives’ under the ‘links’ heading in the right hand column for date-ordered trip reports and monthly summaries.

LLOBREGAT DELTA

Tonsilitis, courtesy of my son’s nursery school, choked any chance of getting out early in the month and by the time I got to Cal Tet, Llobregat on the 13th Black-winged Stilt, Garganey and (about a month after the first House Martin and Barn Swallow) Sand Martin had already arrived.  Two birds of dubious origin, a Barnacle Goose (again on 25th) and a Bar-headed Goose, were still present, whilst a single Water Pipit (photo of another from the Ebro Delta below) had yet to depart for its breeding grounds in the Pyrenees and a fantastic flyover Great Bittern created a personal latest winter record by three days after a previous ‘best’ in 2006.

GARRAF MASSIF

Other local ‘noteworthies’ included a 100 plus gathering of full summer-plumage Mediterranean Gulls on Vilanova beach and, on the 14th, of the winter visitors, I was left with just two garden Siskin, a couple of Blackcap and a Robin.  A few adult Northern Gannet added a splash to the coastline until the 25th and, during a family lunch on the 22nd, I finally saw my first Short-toed Eagle as it floated past the window of the local restaurant.  Singing Cirl Bunting throughout the Garraf indicated an end to the spectacular wintering flocks of passerines.

EBRO DELTA

Anything I missed out on during the first half of the month however was more than matched on the 17th by the welcome return of Riet Vell’s seemingly very own Little Crake showing extremely well as usual on the Ebro Delta.  We entered the hide expectantly and to my joy caught one of my favourite birds on the far side even before I could sit down.  We ate our way through lunch, Glossy Ibis, a beautiful male Common Redstart, several frisky Purple Swamphen (photo) and Spanish Yellow Wagtail whilst awaiting its repeated forays out into the open.

A single Willow Warbler, several more Hoopoe and Squacco Heron than usual and two dozen species of wader including Little Ringed Plover, Temminck’s Stint and lots of Curlew provided other migrant highlights to add to great views of resident Water Rail, fishing Caspian Tern (below) and the presumed Little Egret x Western Reef Heron on the Trubacador.

Of the wintering birds yet to depart perhaps a pink-flushed Water Pipit by the car was the pick but a small flock of female Red-breasted Mergansers, good numbers of Robin and Black-necked Grebe (still there in summer plumage on 23rd along with Northern Pintail and two pairs of late-ish Wigeon), a few of the regular overwintering Whiskered Tern and a handful of Bluethroat were also noteworthy.

A remarkable and stunning RED-spotted Bluethroat passed through on the 23rd (most, including those overwintering, are the white-spotted variety) and seemed to be set for bird of the day until a cheeky Spotted Crake crept out into the scope to upstage even its Little Crake cousin, which was still showing very well.  Today finally saw Purple Heron, with several close encounters, enter my year list.

No crakes on a (very) quick visit on 31st though but a Hen Harrier showed well at Riet Vell whilst we were waiting (to follow a light-phase Booted Eagle en route) and I had a year first sighting of Curlew Sandpiper on El Golero.

PYRENEES

A thrilling and sudden party of around sixty Alpine Swift swarming around the car on the motorway en route from the Pyrenees were the only sign of summer migrants on the 18th but the day did confirm the return of Water Pipit and singing Dunnock after spending the winter at lower altitudes.  The month’s still generous covering of snow wasn’t quite enough, it seems, to keep the flock of Snowfinch that has been entertaining us over the last couple of months but it was enough to prevent us penetrating the forest tracks for the best sites for Citril Finch so we were left with only sightings of Siskin, Bullfinch (both on 25th) and a regular party of Hawfinch flying betwixt and between the tree tops of Baga.

However, just as we were debating the absence of raptors given the gloriously sunny day, we looked up to see five Griffon Vultures just over our heads with a spanking orange adult Lammergeier at their centre. After watching it float away we had the fortune to witness a second an hour or so later soaring over the cliff-horizon of the Greixer Valley.  Also worth a mention are the endless chorus of Short-toed Treecreepers singing from nearly every tree, a very confiding Dipper, Alpine Chough chirping like passerines as always and at a brief but glorious Black Woodpecker.

THE STEPPES

Out in the The Steppes on the 24th we found a world on the cusp of the breeding season with at least three territories of summer-plumage male Little Bustards near Lleida but only a flock of nineteen birds still clothed for the winter in Los Monegros (photo below), although I admit it didn’t occur to me to check to see if they were all females until it was too late.

After a winter of over 120 local wintering birds, this pair of Pin-tailed Sandgrouse (two above) around Lleida were the only obvious evidence of the species, implying the onset of nuptials, whilst their Black-bellied Sandgrouse cousins seemed seasonally inspired with much activity and numerous small flocks viing for our attentions out in Los Monegros.  Great Spotted Cuckoo (top photo), Stone-curlew, Black Kite and Lesser Kestrel all appeared to be well-established too but a gandful of Red Kite, a winter roamer to these lowlands, and only a single Short-toed Eagle hovering over Cogul showed that the boundary between the seasons was still in flux.

The highlight for me though, after last year’s apparent turmoil caused by changes to European farming rules dispensing with subsidies for ‘set-aside’ land, was a single calling bird giving an early indication that Common Quail might just be back after last year’s TOTAL ABSENCE!

Many thanks to Martin Cracknell for his excellent photos (Fan-tailed Warbler from the Ebro Delta below).

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