Extremadura - 17th January (Day 2 of 4)

I was up at 07:30 for a 08:00 breakfast and out on the road 8:30 just as it was getting light. Ricardo de-iced the car while I watched Spotless Starling singing from the town aerials in the half light. We drove out of the village and into a landscape of grassland with scattered Holm Oak and areas grazed by sheep and cattle but frozen white by a hard overnight frost. 

Frozen steppe just outside La Aldea del Obispo

The car thermometer showed -4c as we drove at pace along a gravel track across the steppe heading for Richardo's main site occasionally screeching to a halt for the likes of Crested Lark, Hen Harrier and Iberian (Southern) Grey Shrike, large numbers of Meadow Pipit, Red Kite, Corn Bunting and Spanish Sparrow were seen with no stops.  We eventually met the EX 390 road and turned left. As we drove, to our right could be seen a large area of open steppe, an area known as Cuatro Lugares this was our target birding area. A flock of 30 Great Bustard and 20 Common Crane flashed by at 50 miles an hour but Ricardo assured me we would get better views of these species, we turned right on a track signed for Santiago del Campo and the pace of the drive slowed. There were many hundreds of lark in the fields with our first Calandra Lark with several flocks of 50+ encountered. We drove to a ridge top, the intention being to walk towards the flock of 30 Great Bustard we had seen from the road but the fog came in and we could see little more than 100m so back to the car and a slow drive across the steppe. A grating sound from the car caused a stop and while Richardo retrieved a piece of plastic wedged under the car I scanned the steppe,  a flock of birds on a ridge line, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, about 80 of them, a fantastic looking bird. After some digi-scoped pictures in the fog we decided to try and wander a little bit closer but didn't get far before the flock was up and circling the steppe looking for a less disturbed place to land. And then a flock of Black-bellied Sandgrouse went over, about 20 in all. And then a group of three Common Crane. It was great birding. We spent the rest of the morning driving this area seeing large numbers of birds, new species for the list included a showy Dartford Warbler, Black Vulture, Griffon Vulture, Golden Plover, a selection of familiar ducks including Teal, Wigeon and Shoveler. The fog lifted so we decided to try for the Great Bustard once more and as we headed across the ridge top we could see the flock in the distance, we digi-scoped them although they were still at great distance but these wary birds took flight and flew across the landscape to settle in an area they clearly felt safer. We watched as they wandered around looking rather stately and occasionally breaking into half displays with wings and tails spread.

It was time to head towards Monfrague National Park, a drive of approximately 45 minutes, as we left a flock of 14 Little Bustard circled overhead and a Peregrine was new for the list while Common Crane and Black Redstart were common roadside birds.

Open expanse of the steppe habitat at Cuatro Lugares the open vistas resulted 

in many species being very wary of close approach

Pin-tailed Sandgrouse - Part of the flock of 80

Pin-tailed Sandgrouse - The males are stunning birds

Pin-tailed Sandgrouse taking flight

Iberian (Southern) Grey Shrike - A common bird

Dartford Warbler

Black-bellied Sandgrouse - We didn't get good views of these on the ground

Calandra Lark - Abundant but wary

Calandra Lark - In song flight showing the distinctive black underwing

Common Crane

Great Bustard - 14 of the flock of 30 present

Great Bustard - Very wary birds, these flushed at a distance of 300m+

Black Redstart

We climbed and wound our way through the Holm Oak clad slopes of the approach to Monfrague National Park and eventually entered the park. Large areas of the park appeared to have been stripped bare and Ricardo explained that this was an attempt to clear the large amount of Eucalyptus that had been planted to serve a paper mill. We stopped for lunch at the pic-nic site at Los Saltos de Torrejon and Ricardo sacrificed some of his sandwiches to the Iberian Azure-winged Magpie and it was not long before at least 20 birds appeared and gave great views. Also here were a number of Hawfinch that could be heard 'ticking' away in the woodland but only one showed. We climbed up towards Portilla del Tietar where a Spanish Imperial Eagle sat atop the cliff showing well but distantly while tens of Griffon Vultures squabbled on the cliffs below, they looked far more graceful when soaring around the cliff face then their quarrelsome nature implies. We began a slow drive out of the park stopping at a few spots, new birds included Crested Tit and a fine pale Bonelli's Eagle perched distantly on a pylon. Finally, we spent the last hour of daylight at Monfrague Castle enjoying the stunning views across the landscape and very close views of Griffon Vultures. Also here were Rock Bunting, Firecrest, Black Redstart, Sardinian Warbler and Red-billed Chough. We headed back to the accommodation after a great days birding.

Iberian Azure-winged Magpie

Spanish Imperial Eagle - Views were fairly distant at Portilla del Tietar

View from Monfrague Castle across the Holm Oak dominated landscape

Griffon Vulture - These are early nesting birds and some were already incubating 

eggs, this bird is freshening the nest with Holm Oak leaves

Griffon Vulture - Good views were obtained at Monfrague Castle

Rock Bunting at Monfrague Castle

Black Redstart at Monfrague Castle

Here are the links to the other days of the trip:

Day 1

Day 3

Day 4

Extremadura Birding - 16th January (Day 1 of 4)

I have been saving my birding brownie points this year for a few short foreign trips to add some ticks to my world list. First up was a long weekend to Extremadura for a few European tarts ticks and some recent splits with a potential four ticks on the cards, these were Spanish Imperial Eagle, Iberian Green Woodpecker, Great Bustard and Iberian Azure-winged Magpie. In addition I was keen to see Little Bustard which I have seen only once before (distant views of the Sopley bird on 1st January 1987), Black-bellied and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse and Black-winged Kite. Plus of course a range of other species such as Black Wheatear, Thekla Lark, Calandra Lark, Eagle Owl etc.

Logistics
I was to be birding alone so to make life easier for driving, finding sites, seeing birds and general logistics I decided to hire a private guide. I contacted Santi Villa at Spain Birds who recommended that I use one of their guides, Richardo Montero, on a private basis. Ricardo operates Extremadura Birding and he made all the ground arrangements and did all the driving, he charged 200 Euros per day and was excellent, he knew the sites for the birds and had up to date information on the interesting birds to see. His English is moderate (far better than my Spanish) and while there were moments when we struggled to understand what each other was saying we got by fine. I would definitely recommend Richardo as a guide to the area. His details are:

Ricardo Montero
Email: extremadurabirding@yahoo.es

Website: www.extremadurabirding.com

16th January
I was up at 04:00 this AM and left home at 05:00 for my 09:15 flight from London Heathrow to Madrid operated by Iberian Air. I arrived at the airport in good time and spent a couple of hours relaxing. The flight left on time and I arrived in a sunny but cold Madrid at 11:45 local time, Madrid being one hour ahead of UK time. I met with Ricardo and we headed out through the sprawling suburbs of Madrid seeing Red Kite, White Stork, Griffon Vulture, Spotless Starling, Iberian (Southern) Grey Shrike and Black Redstart as roadside birds. First stop was at Caleras y Chozas, an uninspiring looking area of arable and fallow land dotted with silos, grain processing factories and derelict buildings but with a back drop of the snow capped Sierra de Gredos mountains in the distance. The first stop produced a field rammed with Spotless Starling, Corn Bunting, Rock Sparrow, Spanish Sparrow, Sky Lark and Crested Lark and as we drove it became apparent that these fields supported a large number of birds - numbers not seen in UK farmland. We birded by driving and stopping this area and the next stop was an insignificant road junction, where Ricardo had previously seen Black-bellied Sandgrouse. As I got out of the car I almost immediately spotted a flock of birds in the adjacent field, what were they, it didn't click, Golden Plover, no, bloody hell, Little Bustards, Ricardo counted approximately 250 birds. We watched for a while as they went about their business and then, as is a birders will, we tried to get better views by driving down the road past the birds, turned the car and then came back to them to get some better light. We stopped, I ran off a few shots and up they went with a peculiar whistling/buzzing sound to their wings, they climbed and gave superb views as the entire flock passed over head. Stunning! We continued our drive around the field seeing more of the same passerines, adding Sardinian Warbler and Zitting Cisticola to the list. A lunch stop was due and Ricardo produced a superb Iberian ham sandwich and while I ate and scanned I picked up a distant group of 14 male Great Bustard. Again we tried to manoeuvre to get better views but these birds were distant in the middle of fields. They eventually took flight, not as a result of us, and disappeared from view - I bookmarked this species for better views.

We then headed off to the Holm Oak clad hills near to Valdecanas del Tajo where we spent the last two hours or so of daylight birding. In this area the main target was Black Wheatear and after a while we eventually found a cracking male singing high up on a rock face. Other birds here were rather fleeting views of Iberian Azure-winged Magpie, Crag Martin, Rock Bunting and Serin amongst a range of common woodland species. A small cave produced 12 roosting Greater Horseshoe bat at eye level.

As it got dark we headed off to our accommodation, Casa Rural el Tenado in the village of La Aldea del Obispo and much needed dinner, glass of red wine and bed.

Male Little Bustard - Caleras y Chozas

Part of the flock of Little Bustard which numbered around 250 birds - Caleras y Chozas

Part of the flock of Little Bustard which numbered around 250 birds - Caleras y Chozas

Corn Bunting - Caleras y Chozas

Black Wheatear in quarry at Valdecanas del Tajo 

Here are the links to the other days of the trip:

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

2nd January 2015 - 'New Years Day' Listing

It is tradition amongst many birders to spend New Years Day chasing the a day list to start the year but I more often than not bow out of this, I tend to have a little party on New Years eve and avoid driving on New Years day. This year the weather forecast was poor for the 1st so I felt even less inclined to head out early and so had an extra few glasses! On the 2nd I ventured out for my 'New Years Day' listing trip, fresh headed and in quite pleasant weather, my birding companion was Trevor Codlin and his account of the day can be seen here, I make no apologies for this being a repeat of Trev's post, after all we were birding together.

Our focus for the day was south-west Hampshire and we started early, Trev arrived at my house at 07:00 and we were at our first stop, Eyeworth Pond, in the dark. Our target bird was Mandarin, wow! As we drove through the forest there were various dodgy identifications in the car headlights including a Blackbird that looked remarkably like a Siberian Thrush. As the light lifted we could see the shapes of many Mandarin, Mallard and Moorhen on the pond and our count of Mandarin peaked at 22. In the surrounding woodland we recorded our first common woodland species including Treecreeper, Long-tailed Tit and Nuthatch. It was nice to see Marsh Tit present here in good numbers and these showed well coming down to seed that had been placed for the birds.

Ten of the 22 Mandarin Duck at Eyeworth Pond

Mandarin Duck - Eyeworth Pond

Next up was Milkham Inclosure and Kings Garden where we hoped to see a Great Grey Shrike that had been present for a number of weeks but it was not to be. We did add Raven, Stonechat, Siskin, Crossbill, Dartford Warbler and Goshawk to the list. This area of the forest is an area that I had not birded before and I intend to head back hear in 2015 a little more often.

We then headed west across the New Forest to Blashford Lakes birding the Lapwing Hide, Tern Hide and a short trip to the Woodland Hide. We added the classic freshwater lake species here but as is Blashford birding most birds were very distant. Highlights were Chiffchaff, female Long-tailed Duck and Black-necked Grebe, Goosander amongst the Pochard, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe etc that are regular. A short stop at Kingfisher Lake produced Yellow-legged Gull and a heard only Firecrest but no sign of the Ferruginous Duck although it was seen by others later in the day.

Little Grebe - Blashford Lakes

Tufted Duck - Blashford Lakes

Long-tailed Duck - Blashford Lakes

Next down to the coast for some proper birding! Pennington Marshes produced the usual range of species with the highlights being Mediterranean Gull (at least six), four Slavonian Grebe, Eider, three Ruff and Cetti's Warbler but we missed several easy species including Knot and Reed Bunting which are usually almost guaranteed here.

We then headed into Denny Wood to pick up species such as Lesser Redpoll and Hawfinch which I almost invariably see when at this site but it was not to be, I think we were a little late arriving as at 15:00 the light was fading and the birding was slow. We called it a day with 94 species having missed a few easy to get species (Grey Wagtail, Goldfinch, Reed Bunting to name a few). Not a bad start though for a New Year dash around which was not too intense.

Newtown Harbour, Isle of Wight - 30th December 2014

Sarah, Tobias and I were on the Isle of Wight catching up with family on 29th and 30th December and I popped out to Newtown Harbour on the morning of 30th for a little birding in the lovely sunny but cold conditions. I was up at 07:00 and the temperature was -3c, it was an extremely treacherous drive to Newtown from Chale Green as hardly any of the roads seemed to have been gritted. As I drove slowly along the Military Road, which extends alone much of the south-west coast of the island, a ring-tailed Hen Harrier flew across the road in front of me between Whale Chine and Atherfield Coastguard Cottages. I stopped and watched as it hunted the fields and then a female Merlin chased low across the fields heading towards the cliff. With this early morning luck I pushed on to Newtown.

Causeway Lake was largely frozen and other than a few hardy Teal, Wigeon and Pintail there was little to be seen so I headed around to Newtown Quay and walked out to the boathouse and saltpans. I spend the next hour enjoying a splendid sunrise and watching birds moving to newly exposed mud as the tide dropped. The usual selection of estuary birds was present with numbers of Dunlin, Oystercatcher, Knot (35), Curlew, Grey Plover, Redshank and a single Greenshank heard. Numbers of wildfowl seemed to be fairly low but many of the Brent Geese were feeding towards Shalfleet Quay and largely not visible from Newtown Quay, I suspect that this is where many of the Wigeon, Teal and Shelduck were also feeding. Many of the photographs I took today were taken from the north wall of the saltpans and were of birds flying from the east to feeding areas in the west of the harbour.

Newtown - Sunrise over the saltpans

View from north wall of saltpans looking east

Red-breasted Merganser - Female just off the saltpans

Red-breasted Merganser - Male just off the saltpans

Red-breasted Merganser - Male displaying to female on saltpans

Red-breasted Merganser - Male on the saltpans, there were four birds in total

Brent Geese

Brent Geese - Moving to feed on the mudflats as the tide dropped

Brent Goose

Shelduck - Male

Pintail - Distinctive elongate shape of this duck readily visible in this skein

Curlew

Curlew

Grey Plover

Grey Plover

Redshank

Dunlin

Dunlin

Pennington Marshes 28th December 2014

With a break in the Christmas festivities and a beautiful cold sunny winters day forecast I decided to head for Pennington Marsh for a few of hours at first light. As I past New Park Farm just south of Lyndhurst a fine stag Red Deer was present with around 15 doe adjacent to the road so I stopped for a few snaps in the half light.

Red Deer stag - New Park Farm

At Pennington I walked a circuit around Fishtail and Butts Lagoon. There were good numbers of gulls on Efford Lagoon with perhaps 150 Herring Gull, 15 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 10 Great Black-backed Gull and several hundred Black-headed Gull. Surely this lagoon will hold a rare gull in the not too distant future.

With much of the freshwater frozen birds were concentrated onto the saline lagoons and on areas of unfrozen freshwater.  Birds seen were typical for the site and included good numbers of Wigeon, Teal, Pintail and Shoveler on the lagoons. The tide was low and many of the waders were rather distant on the mudflats

Wigeon - Fishtail Lagoon, the right hand male is a first winter showing subdued plumage and a much reduced white wing flash

Wigeon - Fishtail Lagoon

Wigeon - Male and female in flight

Teal

Grey Heron - Fishtail Lagoon

Pied Wagtail - Fishtail Lagoon

Magpie

Reed Bunting - Female in scrub to the west of Fishtail Lagoon

I watched this Little Egret fishing in a saltwater channel to the north of the seawall at Fishtail Lagoon, It seemed to be fairly successful at catching Minnows in the shallows.

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret

Shoveler - Butts Lagoon

Shoveler - Butts Lagoon

Robin - Shoveler Pools

Pennington Marshes and Denny Wood -13th December 2014

Time has been very tight for me of late with end of year staff reviews and various socials on the lead up to Christmas and I have not managed to get out at all, but with the run of grey days I have not felt that I have been missing a great deal. However, Saturday's forecast was for a crisp sunny day and I had a two hour slot in the morning so decided to head for a short walk around Pennington Marshes. The floods on the corner at Lower Pennington Lane were again productive with a good gathering of wildfowl and waders. Many of the Wigeon were out of the water and grazing on the surrounding grassland and there were large numbers of Black-tailed Godwit present at least one of which had a leg flag and colour rings. I will endeavour to find out where this bird is from but is no doubt one of Pete Potts birds and my guess would be that it is an Icelandic bird with a scatter of sightings from around the Solent area.

Black-tailed Godwit with leg-flag

Many of the wildfowl on the marshes were displaying and the males were looking very dapper in their fresh plumage in the winter sunshine. Again, there were good numbers of typical winter dabbling species and it appears that the majority of the Pennington birds are feeding on the marsh off the corner of Lower Pennington Lane.

Wigeon - Male on Pennington Marsh

Wigeon - Female on Pennington Marsh

I walked a loop taking me around Fishtail and Butts Lagoon and spent some time scanning across the Solent looking for Seaduck, Grebe and Divers. There were approximately six Great-crested Grebe, two Slavonian Grebe and 15 Red-breasted Merganser but none close enough to get any photographs. The juvenile Spoonbill seen on 28th November flew east overhead and landed on the mudflats to the east of the jetty and showed fairly well sweeping in the pools left on the mudflats. I headed back to the car and decided to have a brief stop at Denny Wood.

Teal - Butts Lagoon

The weather was superb by the time I got to Denny Woods, a beautiful mild winters day. There were good numbers of Redwing in the woods and the sound of thrushes rustling in the leaves on the woodland floor was clearly audible throughout. A group of 18 Redpoll passed north and briefly alighted to drink from a pool on the woodland floor but eluded any pictures. In fact, the only bird I did manage to photograph was the Nuthatch below. My birding time had come to an end and it was back home for more family Christmas duties.

Nuthatch - Denny Wood