Extremadura May 2008

Trip Reports

Extremadura: 15th - 19th May 2008 ■ Author: Geoff Dring.

Griffon Vultures - Exremadura May 2008

12 members of the club assembled at Bristol Airport for the start of a new venture for the club – a visit to Extremadura in Spain. The EasyJet flight went well and the first Black Kite of the trip was spotted from the airplane on arrival at Madrid. We soon sorted out the hire vehicles with eight going in a Minibus and four in a car and the adventure began with an unplanned, but welcome, sightseeing trip through Madrid, quickly adding Spotless Starling and House Sparrow to the trip list. Out on the road and all eyes (bar the drivers?) were busily scanning the scenery for birds. We were all very excited by our first views of White Stork and Cattle Egret, not knowing that we were to see literally hundreds of them over the weekend!

On the way to our accommodation we first stopped at Arrocampo Ornithological Park near Saucedilla. This seemed to be in the middle of nowhere and the light was fading, but we were amazed when we heard Great Reed Warbler, Savi’s Warbler and Crested Lark calling as we stepped from our vehicles! Black Kites and White Storks were present and Purple Heron and Zitting Cisticola were soon added. Arrocampo consists of a series of waterways, reeds and scrub. Evening was obviously a good time to visit as not only did we have the place to ourselves but soon spotted Night Heron and Little Bittern going to roost. A Spoonbill and a Great White Egret were on view but almost ignored as we all got good views of the area’s main claim to fame – a Purple Swamphen (bottom left) sat out in the open right in front of us! There were many other birds normally associated with such an environment such as Corn Bunting and Marsh Harrier but we had to get on to our sleeping quarters despite the obligingly good views of Black Winged Stilt! Perhaps the bird of the day, however, was the Black-winged Kite which flew over us – what a start to our trip! This was such a good place we vowed to stop here again on our return journey.

Despite the darkness Charles must have had good instructions, as he led us successfully to our accommodation in a very quiet and rural retreat near Trujillo. The hosts, Martin and Claudia, are bird tour organisers themselves and made us very welcome. They were very helpful throughout our stay in telling us good places to go see our target species. The accommodation was more than adequate, quite clean and served good local food with wine and after-dinner brandies! Details can be seen on their website www.birdingextremadura.com.

Sunrise was about 7 am so several of us had a pre-breakfast walk. I’m glad I did as I saw Hoopoe (above left), Azure-winged Magpie (right), Sardinian Warbler, Melodious Warbler, Woodchat Shrike and Red-rumped Swallow! Although I needn’t have worried as we saw plenty of these during our stay! On other mornings we added Golden Oriole, Nightingale, Stonechat, Turtle Dove, Short-toed Treecreeper and a special bird on the last morning. After breakfast we set off for a tour of the area around Trujillo. First stop was the Belen Plain and although the roads seemed to have changed a bit since our map was printed we were soon scanning the plains for our target bird – the Great Bustard. At first we were surprised at the number of raptors we spotted. We managed to add Red Kite, Booted Eagle and Montague’s Harrier to our list as well as being lucky enough to spot a Black Vulture soaring high. One of the highlights was a group of about twenty Griffon Vultures very close to the road which was quite a special sight. We did manage hazy views of the Great Bustards and other birds in the area included White Stork, dozens of Cattle Egrets in a tree, Calandra Lark, Crested Lark and Thekla Lark as well as a claim of one Spanish Sparrow which seemed surprisingly rare! All this was before lunch when we stopped at a quiet road-side verge. Even here we were getting good views of Woodchat Shrike, Cattle Egret, Woodlark, Hoopoe and White Stork.

Our tour continued towards Cáceres with stops along the way. In particular we stopped at a pleasant river crossing where many Crag Martins gave us wonderfully close views as they went about their business. At another stop we saw Montague’s Harrier again and some saw very brief views of possible Pin-tailed Sandgrouse – the only ones of the trip. At another stop and short walk along the tracks crossing the plain we again saw distant views of Great Bustard and eventually caught up with a Little Bustard making its strange “raspberry” calls as well as Common and Great Spotted Cuckoos. It had been a hot and tiring day so we returned to Trujillo to sample a taverna, but not before stopping off to see Rollers on the way. They had been attracted to nest boxes placed on electricity pylons near the road. In Trujillo we enjoyed a beer whilst watching Lesser Kestrel, Common Swift and Pallid Swift around the church. On returning to our cars a Serin was singing from a fence beside the main road.

The next day (Saturday) saw us return to a site visited yesterday. This time we went closer and obtained excellent views of about a dozen Great Bustards striding about and flying. A flying Great Bustard makes an impressive sight. However, we also managed to tick off Black-Bellied Sandgrouse and Little Owl although the views were not so good. In the area we also clocked two Black-winged Stilts, presumed to be breeding near a small pool, several displaying Zitting Cisticola, a Hen Harrier and we also heard Corncrake calling. We also got our first real views of Bee-eater – one of the most colourful birds you are likely to see. This was only a quick stop, and soon we were off to Monfragüe National Park. This is a protected area famous for birds of prey. We weren’t disappointed and soon had good views of Griffon Vulture and Black Stork on the nest. A Blue Rock Thrush (left) gave us excellent views right in front of us whilst a Black Redstart also hopped around the rocks quite near us and a probable Bonelli’s Warbler appeared in the bushes below us. We also managed our first views of Alpine Swift and a brief view of Egyptian Vulture whilst Griffon Vultures and Black Kites constantly circled over our heads. However, the main bird to see was Spanish Imperial Eagle and we weren’t disappointed as one came quite close and had a tussle with a Griffon Vulture on the way. Could it get any better than that?

We then proceeded to a picnic site for lunch. Martin, our host, had suggested this spot for another bird named after Bonelli - the eagle. These are quite rare and so I was not very hopeful, but within a few minutes one flew right over our heads! We later saw two together further down the valley. This was a very picturesque spot with Crag Martin feeding/drinking from the lake below, when another Eagle flew over us. This one was quite different and was soon identified as a Short-toed Eagle. That was three eagles in about half an hour. Our leader decided we needed some exercise to walk off our lunch and so we made our way up to a “refuge” on top of one of the hills. This gave us fantastic panoramic views and sightings of passing Griffon Vultures and Red-rumped Swallows. Another Blue Rock Thrush was spotted and a nearby Rock Bunting added another bird to our growing list. We were now hot and thirsty so it was back to our usual taverna and on to our accommodation for sustenance. However, the day was not over as we now went on an “owl prowl” which thankfully was only 100 yards from our villa. The unusual calls we could hear turned out to be Red-necked Nightjar but most missed the brief view of one in flight due to the Long-eared Owl that decided to fly right by us! Unfortunately it rained the next night so we never improved our sighting.

The next day was Sunday but there was no time to rest as we now travelled east into a different range of mountains. At a very remote but very pretty village, Solana, we stopped and investigated the local gardens and allotments. I think every one had very good views of Nightingale singing its heart out in broad daylight here. Other birds in this village were a Melodious Warbler as well as several Spotted Flycatchers. There was the usual White Stork’s nest on the church roof with screaming Common Swifts, Swallows and House Martins everywhere. One of the things that impressed most of us was the wild flowers everywhere. We thought the flowers would attract a lot of butterflies but there were less of these than we expected. However, we did manage to identify several unusual butterflies during the trip especially several varieties of Fritillary. From here we proceeded to an even more remote village called Cabanas del Castillo where our host had promised us at least one special bird. We did eventually find and get good views of the target bird high in the rocks. This was a Black Wheatear which is very rare outside of this area. Also in this area various people saw another Blue Rock Thrush (this time actually displaying), a Sub Alpine Warbler, another Rock Bunting (right) and an unusual Stonechat with all the characteristics of the Siberian race, a well as Common Redstart. Lunch was at a peaceful spot by the Almonte River followed by a trip up a military road that took us higher than Ben Nevis. Unfortunately the weather at this altitude turned against us so it was back to base in time to pack.

Martin had promised us a Scops Owl on our last morning and we were all taking bets on where it might be. At seven o’clock Martin led us out of the grounds as far as twenty yards in order to set up his telescope on the roosting bird which most of us managed to see before it popped back into its hole.

On the return journey we stopped at Arrocampo again, visiting several of the hides there. We saw most of the species already seen only now in better conditions. Especially good was a Little Bittern that flew past seen by all but me. Additionally we achieved good views of Savi’s Warbler, Great Reed Warbler, Little Tern and displaying Zitting Cisticola and Bee Eater as well as a probable Spotted Crake heard calling. Probably the last bird of the trip seen whilst enjoying our packed lunch was a wonderful Night Heron. This perched up to give good views and then flew slowly past us at close range.

This had been a wonderful trip with everybody getting a lifer or two or twenty! The trip was well organised and itinerary well planned with instructions that pointed to virtually every one of our target birds. Many thanks to Charles and Richard for the organising and to the drivers and to every one else for a really good weekend with enjoyable company. Apologies for anything I missed out. Geoff Dring.

If this report has aroused your interest in visiting Extremadura, a tour dossier has been prepared to assist your planning. It is available from Richard Belson or Charles Stapleton. – ed.

Home Page

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws