Wednesday, 5 September 2012

Neither Murcia nor (many) Birds!



You may have noticed that I have not been making any blog entries for a while; this is because I have been on holiday for a couple of weeks, and this is a summary of that holiday.

When some birdwatching friends of mine, Inés and Antonio (Cuco) suggested a holiday to the north of Spain, it didn’t take too long to agree.  With work being very quiet at this time of the year, the idea of going to places much cooler than the 36º plus that we’ve been experiencing of late around the Mar Menor, 25º at night and high humidity, a trip to see places and possibly birds that I’ve never seen before in Spain seemed a very good prospect.  And to include with this some of the rare mammals, and different food and drink, you can understand the attraction!

In actual fact, this blog entry is a roundup/diary of the holiday, complete with holiday snaps, so sorry if it seems long-winded, but it does cover a 12 day trip.  Also, my apologies if some of our activities upset the sensitivity of any vegetarians who may be reading!

Day 1 – 20th August 2012 - Los Belones to Viana de Cega (Valladolid)

Cuco and Inés picked me and my luggage up from home at 2pm, and we set off, through Murcia, Albacete, around Madrid and onto the main A-6 ‘Autovia del Noroeste’ north towards Valladolid, arriving at the village (Viana de Cega) of another friend (Juan) around 8-30p.m.  One of the reasons for stopping there apart from seeing Juan, was that it was the last night of the week-long fiestas of the village, after which the village would be going into shut-down, recovering from the fiestas.

Although we didn’t stop for any birdwatching, en route in the car we did see Black Kite, more than 10 Common Buzzards, a single Honey Buzzard, a Booted Eagle and 2 groups of Great Bustard, one of 15 birds in Albacete province, the other of 12 between Madrid and Valladolid.

Day 2 – 21st August 2012 - Viana de Cega / Peñafiel (Valladolid)

After a late night, I woke up fairly early and without headache, and while waiting for Inés and Cuco to get up, sat with my binoculars in the garden of the chalet we were staying in (a friend of Juans had volunteered it).  Here between 8 and 9-30 a.m. I had Willow Warbler, Coal Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper, Common Redstart, Blackbird, Spotless Starling, Collared Dove, House Sparrow, Swallow, at least 2 Azure Winged Magpies, a single Booted Eagle (light phase) and a group of 5 Night Herons flew over.  Best of all, the temperature was a cool 23º!

After everyone was awake and we’d had breakfast, we went across country to a village called Peñafiel where we were to have lunch, calling in to another village en route for elevenses and beer.  I personally am not much of one for buildings and architecture, but the bullring/square in Peñafiel was quite something.  The square looked like some old Tudor town square with all the wooden terraces, and all overlooked by a very impressive castle.  Apparently the square is one of the oldest in Spain.
 Part of the crew, in front of the church

Us again, in the town square

 Another of the square and bullring

The castle overlooking the town

The lunch itself was quite simple, a salad with roast suckling calf and local wine.  The food and wine was organised by one of the group who works in one of the local bodegas (the Ribera del Duero) and can only be described as EXCELLENT.  The location was also simple but unique – a room in an old house with a wooden table and wooden bench seats, and if you got too hot, you could always go into the house’s own bodega – a tunnel driven into the hill behind the house, at least 50 metres long and with small rooms off it, all kept at 15º both winter and summer by the air passing through the tunnel.  15º may seem a lot, but compared to the midday outside temperature of over 30º, it felt like a fridge.

The Bodega of the house

 
 Lunch!

The rest of the day was just spent sampling the  many different bars, both in Peñafiel and then back at Viana de Cega.

 Not sure what they've seen!

Day 3 – 22nd August 2012 - Viana de Cega (Valladolid)  - Caboalles de Abajo (León)

We said goodbye to Viana de Cega about 8-30 a.m., and set off once again up the A-6 autovia.  Just outside León itself on the AP-66 at around 10-30, on a pitstop for diesel and other necessities, over a field opposite the petrol station we noted a group of 16 Lesser Kestrels, and 6 Common Buzzards.

Our next destination was the Pico La Mesa, Puerto de la Cubilla, on the Leon/Asturias border, a very high area where we hope to get some alpine species.  We came off the AP-66 near to the reservoir ‘Embalse de Barrios de Luna’.  Having crossed over the suspension bridge there and climbing up the hill towards Roblada de Caldas, I noticed at the side of the road a shrike that just didn’t seem like the shrikes we see down south (Woodchat and Southern Grey), so we stopped for a look, and sure enough, it was a male Red-backed.  Slightly further up the road was another, and in surrounding fields we spotted at least 2 Tree Pipits and a couple of Whinchat.  Although I know nothing about the area, I suspect they were birds on migration, as to me it seems strange that two adult male Red-backed Shrikes would tolerate being so close together if in their breeding territory.  Also there were Crag Martins, Mistle Thrush, Green Woodpecker, Chaffinch, Black Redstart, Blue Tit, House Sparrows, Magpies and White Wagtails.  We continued on to Roblada de Caldas, but when we got there we found that we couldn’t drive all the way to the Puerto de la Cubilla – we would have to leave the car and make a 2 hour walking trek each way to get there.  As time was tight and we still had quite a way to go anyway, we decided against it, hoping that one of the other sites for alpine birds might be easier.

Getting back on the CL-626, at around the km.37 marker, we crossed a river where we noted a couple of White Stork, as well as Southern Grey Shrike, Green Woodpecker, Kestrel and Common Buzzards.

We turned off the CL-626, taking the LE-495 into the Parque Natural de Somiedo (Asturias), and in the park we had 3 Short-toed Eagles, Common Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Peregrine Falcon, Common Kestrel, Goldfinch, Linnet and White Wagtail.  Stopping at Pola de Somiedo (the main town in the park), we picked up some maps and directions as to where to go from the information centre.  We decided not to do any birding there that day, as it was by now time for lunch and we wanted to get on to our next lodging place.  We therefore took a rapid lunch in Pola de Somiedo and came out of the park, got back on the CL-626, passed through Villablino and went on to Caboalles de Abajo which was to be our base for the next couple of nights.  After unloading all our bags at the hostel, we had a drive around, further along the CL-626, calling in at the ‘Centro del Urogallo’ or Capercaille Centre in Caboalles de Arriba where we had Serin, Garden Warbler and Stonechat, and also up the LE-497 which on crossing the border again into Asturias, becomes the AS-213.  Here we spent a few hours looking for our next target species, Brown Bear, but without success.

 
 View over the Somiedo Natural Park

The nearest we got to Capercaille - this plastic one in the 'Capercaille Centre'!

Day 4 – 23rd August 2012 - Caboalles de Abajo (León) / Parque Natural de las Fuentes del Narcea, Degaña e Ibias (Asturias).

We spent the morning travelling around the Parque Natural de las Fuentes del Narcea, Degaña y Ibias with the hope of getting Woodland birds such as Black Woodpecker, but the weather was very much against us, being very misty, so apart from not seeing much, birds weren’t calling either.  We did however come across (and almost run over) a Roe Deer.

Typical landscape in the P.N. Fuentes del Narcea, Degaña y Ibias

After lunch, and after continuing our tour, we decided to have another look at the LE497/AS213.  This is a mountainous area, and we pulled off the road onto one of the few lay-by areas.  Behind us, we had up to 12 Common Buzzards hunting, some hovering, others just quartering the area, and also a female or immature Hen Harrier, and 4 or more Common Kestrels.  In the valley below in front of us was a large group of Chaffinches, and a surprise, 2 Yellowhammer.  Also around the area were a couple of Chough, 2 Ravens and 2 Great Tits.
On top of the hills/mountains in front of us were at least 11 Southern Chamois.  We could see a small run down village or farm some way off, and there were people there with telescopes scanning the mountain in front of us, but try as we may, we couldn’t see anything on the mountain.  It was starting to get late and just as we were starting to get despondent, a vehicle pulled up a little way off and out got 3 people with bins and scopes.  They hadn’t been set up 5 minutes when one of them asked if we’d had any luck with the bears.  We said no, and he said he was watching one at that moment!  It took a while, but he got us all on the bear, which was much higher up the mountain than we’d been looking, in the screed area.  But we all got it!!  And we must have watched it for about 15 minutes in total.  What a good one to get in the bag.  We had more than one glass of wine with supper that night!

 
   Searching for Bears

 
The lower slopes of the valley

 
 And the higher areas showing the screed areas where we eventually saw the Bear

 
  We had a number of Common Buzzards flying around us, including this one that settled
  
Day 5 – 24rd August 2012 – Lagos de Saliencia, P.N. de Somiedo (Asturias)  - Rinlo (Lugo)

Having got the maps of the P.N. Somiedo a couple of days previously, we decided to take a look at one of the areas there, the Lagos de Saliencia.  These are a group of five high glacial lakes, and we had been told that there were Otters in the more remote ones.  We slowly drove up the mountain road, stopping off at various points to check for birds, but it wasn’t until we reached a small group of houses almost at the top that I saw our first birds of note, at least 3 Alpine Chough perched on overhead electric cables.  We made another stop before reaching the carpark at the top, where we saw more Alpine Chough, heard Common Chough, saw 2 Golden Eagle, Common Buzzard, 11 Griffon Vultures, 2 Kestrels, 2 Blackcap and surprisingly, a Tree Pipit that landed in a small tree in front of us and was preening itself for around four minutes, giving us excellent views.

 
 View through the valley, across the Natural Park

Up at the carpark, we had a female or immature male Montagu’s Harrier, and walking down to the first lake we had around 8 Black Redstart including a well grown young bird still being fed by its parent, and a couple of Rock Buntings.  Further down the track we came across a young male Rock Thrush.  The first lake itself had no life in it, but a Common Buzzard did come down and perch on a rock at the side of it.
 The first of the 'Lagos de Saliencia'

 Partway back down we stopped for a beer, to be followed by this cow!

Due to time constraints, we decided not to go on to the further lakes as it involved a lot of climbing (although not difficult climbs, they were a fair way off), and it was getting hot (around 25º), and we were getting hungry!
Stopping off en route at a bar for a quick drink (and being followed in by a cow), we went back to Pola de Somiedo for a late lunch.  Then off again to our next overnight stopping point, Rinlo, on the Cantabrian coast in Lugo, Galicia.

The coastal town of Rinlo, taken from the harbour

In the late afternoon, a walk around the harbour at Rinlo produced a couple of Common Sandpipers, 14 Turnstone, a single Sanderling, plus ‘flava’ Wagtails, a Black Redstart and Stonechat.

Day 6 – 25th August 2012 – Rinlo  (Lugo) – Estaca de Bares (A Coruña) – O Vicedo (Lugo)

After a walk around the picturesque beach ‘Playa de los Catedrales’ (rock formations with narrow channels between them which people say are like cathedral naves), seeing Wrens, Common Whitethroats, Black Redstarts, single Fan-tailed Warblers and Common Swift, and a single adult Common Gull, we carried on along the north coast into Galicia, arriving at midday, and booked in for a few nights at a hostel in O Vicedo (Lugo).  We had a quick lunch and then went up to the ‘Estaca de Bares’, probably the most famous sea-watching site on the Spanish peninsula.
Driving up to the seawatching station, we had a Common Buzzard hunting, hanging on the wind like a Kestrel.  At the seawatch site there were already several people with scopes set up, so we set ourselves up for the afternoon session.  The height of the cliffs there are about twice the height of those that I am used to at Cabo de Palos, and due to this you can see a lot further.  However, a lot of the birds were passing quite a long way out, and high magnification was needed a lot of the time.  The conditions were fairly calm, with a NW wind force 2-3, and as you are looking north, light conditions were excellent, and the list of birds seen when we finished at around 9pm was quite impressive; 17 Great Skua; 29 Pom. Skua, mainly adults, light phase with full spoons; 8 Arctic Skua; 5 Sooty Shearwater; Herring Gull; Lesser Black-backed Gull; Sandwich Terns; Comic Terns; 1 Arctic Tern (flying with a group of Comic Terns, but flying much lighter and with full long tail feathers); Ringed Plover; Grey Plover; around 2,000 Cory’s Shearwater; around 3,000 Manx Shearwater, at least 30 Balearic Shearwater; 1,000 + Gannet.  Other birds seen were a female Sparrowhawk flying around the rocks, a single Stonechat, and 3 Shag on an offshore islet, but we did miss up to 5 Long-tailed Skuas!

 As you enter onto the peninsula at Estaca de Bares, there always seemed to be Buzzards hanging in the wind

 General view from Estaca de Bares over the Cantabrian Sea

The 'Estaca de Bares' bird observatory

Day 7– 26th August 2012 – Estaca de Bares (A Coruña)

Today we spent more or less the whole day at Estaca de Bares, in 2 sessions, one from 9-20 to 13-30, then after a late lunch back to Estaca de Bares for a quick siesta and then seawatching again from 17-15 to 21-00.  The movement of birds seen was not so spectacular as yesterday, with lighter easterly winds in the morning, and ENE in the afternoon session.  Neither were there as many people seawatching in the morning, but apparently this was because the majority of the ‘regulars’ had gone out on a boat trip, where apart from seeing all the seabirds we had seen yesterday, they also had a sighting of a petrel close enough to be able to identify it as Fea’s Petrel as opposed to Zino’s Petrel (getting all the facial and bill details), which if accepted will be the first for Spain, although there have been several generic ‘pterodroma’ petrels seen over the last few years!
Differences to yesterday’s birds were fewer Pom. Skuas (4 in the morning and 8 in the afternoon) but much more Arctic Skuas (41 in the morning and 11 in the afternoon); groups of Oystercatcher (totalling 25 in the morning and 98 in the afternoon) and a few Black-tailed Godwits and Whimbrel,  and 18 Common Scoter flying west.  We also had a few Common Dolphins showing themselves far out, but I DIDN’T manage to get onto the few Great Shearwaters or the single ‘pterodroma’ petrel that was seen!

 

 One of the few birds close enough to be photographed, a Gannet mid-dive

Day 8– 27th August 2012 – Puerto de O Vicedo (Lugo), Estaca de Bares, Ortigueira, and Cabo de Ortegal (A Coruña)

A look around the harbour at O Vicedo where we had breakfast, gave us Common Sandpiper, Herring Gulls, Yellow-legged Gulls, Black-headed Gull, Whimbrel and a single adult Greater Black-backed Gull.

In the harbour were both Yellow-legged and Herring Gulls..
...and also a single adult Greater Black-backed Gull
We decided to see how Estaca de Bares was looking although there was very little wind, so we seawatched there for an hour, but there was very little different from the previous morning.  We decided to go on to the area of Ortigueira, apparently one of the best areas for waders on the NW coast.  While the tide was low, leaving several sandbanks uncovered, we had 12 Redshank, 14 Little Egrets, 5 Knot, 3 Dunlin, 3 Grey Heron, 12 Cormorant, 20+ Mallard, 7 Bar-tailed Godwit, 11 Sandwich Tern, 5 adult Greater Black-backed Gull, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 2 Mediterranean Gulls (adults in winter plumage), 200+ Curlew, 100+ Whimbrel and 140 Oystercatcher.

This morning there were two Common Buzzards hanging on the cliff updrafts

We then move on to the Cabo de Ortegal which is the next cape to the west of Estaca de Bares (also very high), and is known at Point Zero, where the Cantabrian Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean.
Here we had a picnic lunch, but saw few birds apart from Yellow-legged Gulls – 8 Gannet, 4 Cory’s Shearwater sat on the water and around 15 Manx Shearwater.

Returning to Estaca de Bares (having travelled so far to see the place, we had to make the most of it, even if it was quiet), we did another afternoon of seawatching.  Again nothing too special to report apart from a group of around 125 plover which I have down as Golden, we left a bit earlier that on previous days (it was quiet; we were hungry and rain was on the way), and so we missed another sighting of pterodroma’ petrel by minutes!

Day 9 – 28th August 2012 – Estaca de Bares (A Coruña) – Villardeciervos (Zamora)

Spending another hour and a half seawatching from Estaca where once again it was ‘quiet’, and with no prevision of things improving before Thursday (30th), we decided to move on to our next stop, looking for Wolves in the Sierra de la Culebra, so we once again headed off in the car, this time south bypassing Lugo city, on the A-6, and taking the LE-133 and ZA-111 to the A-52 and on to Villardeciervos (Village of Red Deer) where we were to stay for a couple of nights.

We stopped en route near to Destriana on the Rio Duerna along a short track to have a picnic lunch, and here we saw a couple of Booted Eagles, several House Martins, 2 Jays, Great Tit, 2 Long-tailed Tits, Spotted and 4 Pied Flycatchers, 3 Cirl Buntings and heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker ‘chipp’ing away.

We booked into the hostel where we were to stay, and then went out on the search for Wolves.  We had two spots to try, and at the first one we found one of the local guides with a family also looking for wolves.  He told us that they had been seen from there the evening before, but in the morning a local farmer had let his cows into the field, so he didn’t think they’d be seen there as they don’t like any human interference to their area.  He packed up and went on to another site where he as lucky, and managed to film a group of 6 pups playing!  We stayed for a while longer and saw a Wild Boar and 3 Red Deer, a Barn Owl plus several Dartford Warblers and a couple of Pied Flycatchers, but eventually took the guide’s advice and went to the other site we had.  Here we were unlucky as it wasn’t the correct site – the correct site was where the guide had gone, and if we’d gone there, we’d have seen the pups.  We finally gave up when it got dark.

Number 1 site for the Wolves, but no luck here

Day 10 – 29th August 2012 – Villardeciervos – Lago de Sanabria - Villardeciervos  (Zamora)

Wolves are normally only seen first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon, so we were up before dawn and back at the first site we visited yesterday at 7-15 am.  It was definitely cold, only 2ºC and as it got light we saw a couple of Red Deer (male and female) plus the Dartford Warblers and Pied Flycatchers and a single Hoopoe and a couple of Jays, but little else, so at 9-30 we went on to the correct second site.  We stayed for ¾ of an hour, but there was no sign of any Wolves – we ‘only’ saw around 8 Dartford Warblers, 6 Willow Warblers and 3 Pied Flycatchers, and by 10-15 the heat-haze was such that it was impossible to see anything at distance.

 Commonest bird here was Dartford Warbler

To fill the day, we decided to take a trip via small villages to the ‘Lago de Sanabria’ stopping off en route at the ‘Lago de Sanabria’ information centre where we saw Woodlarks in the gardens, and then stopped at the Puebla de Sanabria, a very pretty town complete with castle, where we had lunch.  

 Puebla de Sanabria - town square

 Puebla de Sanabria - town square

 Puebla de Sanabria - beleive it or not, the Land Registry office!

 The castle overlooking the town

And just another building!

We then came back to Villardeciervos where Inés and Cuco had a swim at the beach at the 'Embalse de Valparaiso' just outside of town, while I looked for birds.

 One of a few Pied Flycatchers around the beach area...

 ...together with a few Willow Warblers

Then back to the Wolves for an evening session, once again without success.  As we had a day free that we hadn't decided what to do with yet, we decided to stay here for one more night giving us two more sessions to look for the wolves.

Meanwhile, back at Wolf site number two, still nothing - things are starting to look grim!
Day 11 – 30th August 2012 – Villardeciervos, Bermillo de Sayago, Embalse de Almendro, Ermita del Castillo Fariza, Villardeciervos (Zamora)

Another cold, early start at the 2nd viewing spot, but without any luck ‘just’ Red and Roe Deer, so we decided to go back to the first spot, where once again we had no luck, just a Short-toed Eagle flying over, and a group of three Red Deer, two males and a female, with the males head-butting each other.  Small birds seen were 2 Hoopoe, 2 Pied Flycatcher, 6 Dartford Warblers and 6 Chaffinches.

After breakfast, we spent the rest of the day towards the south, around the ‘Parque Natural de los Arribes del Duero’ which is a national park around the River Duero which divides Spain from Portugal.  Most of this river valley consists of sheer cliffs, very good for raptors and Black Storks.  We stopped off at the ‘Embalse de Almendra’ and the ‘Ermita del Castillo’ near Fariza.  At the ‘embalse’ we saw breeding Griffon Vultures, Bee-eaters and Northern Wheatear, and at the ‘Ermita’ more Griffon Vultures, 3 Golden Eagles, a single Bonelli’s Eagle, 6 Golden Orioles (all males, in a flock), a dozen more Bee-eaters and heard a single Pied Flycatcher.

 Searching for Vultures at the 'Embalse de Almendra'
 
 View from the 'mirador' at the 'Ermita del Castillo',,,

...and looking the other way

 And the 'Ermita' itself

But to me more interesting was one of the villages we went through to reach these places, Bermillo de Sayago, as here we had 13 Griffon Vultures fly over high and 6 low Red Kites and 4 Egyptian Vultures, at least one Short-toed Eagle and 14 Common Buzzards, and I wonder if in the village there may have been a rubbish-tip which was attracting so many raptors/scavengers.  We also had a group of around 30 Pied Flycatchers together in a field – they must have been a migration group.

 Short-toed Eagle typically perched on a post...

 ...and the same bird or possibly another in flight...

...and a Red Kite

Back looking for the wolves at about 6-30pm at our second site, and this time SUCCESS.  At 7-20pm, Inés noticed movement in a field beyond a line of pine trees, and getting the scopes onto the area, 4 Wolves!  Two of them gradually moved down the hill towards us but eventually were hidden by the pines in a valley.  Then a third did the same, but the 4th remained quite a while (and was lost to view for about 20 minutes) but when it came back into view it had obviously found/hunted something to eat as it could be seen moving something around and eating.  It leisurely moved around and eventually sat down behind some plants and was not seen again, but the total time watching all four must have been around 50 minutes.  We stayed till it got dark and the full moon had risen quite high, but didn’t hear any baying to the moon!

 Once again, searching for Wolves, at site number two - and this time we got them!

 And nightfall at the second site

Back in Villardeciervos, to celebrate, we all decided to have steaks - Cuco had one of Beef, and Inés and I had one each of Red Deer!

Day 12 – 31st August 2012 – Villardeciervos, Villafáfila  (Zamora), La Granja and Palacio de Riofrio (Segovia) to Los Belones (Murcia)

As we were there, we had to have one last look for Wolves, but weren’t too bothered when we didn’t see any!  A 7-30 am start with the temperature at -2º, we stayed till 9-30, but then decided it was time for breakfast and to pack up and get on our way. 

 Our home for the last few days

 Villardeciervos - Town of the Red Deer (wonderful roast)!

 And the other hostal in the village - with the superb restaurant

  After breakfast and a stroll around the very quiet village, we headed on east via the A-52 and then south on the A-6.  Still in the province of Zamora, and as we were so close-by, we called in at Villafáfila, famous in the winter for the large flocks of wildfowl (principally Geese) and Cranes.  However, the lakes were totally dry, and the only bird of note was a male Montagu’s Harrier flying along the side of the road.  We had to stop to try to get photos as it was so close, but then had a brush with the law as a Guardia patrol went by and told us we weren’t allowed to stop.

Montagu's Harrier seen at the side of the road
Carrying on south, as it was only around 50km off our route, we called in to La Granja (Segovia) for lunch, and then the Palacio de Riofrio which is set in 4km of gardens, at the back of which there is one of the largest breeding zones for Black Vulture in Spain.  Here we had 3 Booted Eagle, 15 Griffon Vultures, 3 Black Vultures, 2 Azure-winged Magpies, 2 Southern Grey Shrikes, a juvenile Woodchat Shrike, a couple of Red Kites and 20+ Roe Deer.

 The gardens of the Palacio de Riofrio

And the Palace itself

While overhead, a Black Vulture
From there on, it was a solid slog back to Los Belones, noting three Great Bustards in a field en route close to where we’d seen them flying on our way out, but apart from that, nothing out of the ordinary, and got back to Los Belones at around 10-30pm.

Apart from the obvious birds and animals, the two bird species that really stood out were the Common Buzzards and Pied Flycatchers, just purely on numbers seen.  It may just be that we hit them on prime migration time, but they did seem to be everywhere.

So in summary, a total of 12 days, and around 4,000km travelled.  We didn’t have time in the end to cover the alpine birds, but this gives us an excuse for another trip.  With the sea-watching, we could have hoped for more and better birds, but that’s sea-watching for you, and at least we did have one good afternoon of seabird passage.  We also probably spent more time than we’d have liked looking for Wolves, but that did give us the excuse to go to other places we probably wouldn’t otherwise have seen, and we did get the two emblemic species of Brown Bear and Wolf.

My thanks and gratitude to Cuco who did all the driving and to Clemente Alvarez Usategui for much of the site information.

Bird species seen/heard (total, 123)
Cory’s Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea)
Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus)
Balearic Shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus)
Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus)
Gannet (Morus bassanus)
Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis)
Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)
Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
White Stork (Ciconia ciconia)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra)
Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus)
Black Vulture (Aegypius monachus)
Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)
Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)
Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus)
Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus)
Bonelli’s Eagle (Hieraaetus fasciatus)
Red Kite (Milvus milvus)
Black Kite (Milvus migrans)
Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus)
Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus)
Montagu’s Harrier (Circus pygargus)
Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)
Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus)
Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus)
Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni)
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa)
Great Bustard (Otis tarda)
Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)
Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)
Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria)
Knot (Calidris canutus)
Sanderling (Calidris alba)
Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)
Dunlin (Calidris alpina)
Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus)
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)
Redshank (Tringa totanus)
Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa)
Bat-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)
Curlew (Numenius arquata)
Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)
Great Skua (Stercorarius skua)
Pomarine Skua (Stercorarius pomarinus)
Arctic Skua (Stercorarius parasiticus)
Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus)
Common Gull (Larus canus)
Mediterranean Gull (Larus melanocephalus)
Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)
Yellow-legged Gull (Larus cachinnans)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus)
Greater Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
Sandwich Tern (Sterna sanvicensis)
Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)
Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)
Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus)
Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
Barn Own (Tyto alba)
Swift (Apus apus)
Hoopoe (Upupa epops)
Bee-eater (Merops apiaster)
Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (H) (Dendrocopos major)
Crested Lark (Galerida cristata)
Woodlark (Lullula arborea)
Crag Martin (Ptyonoprogne rupestris)
House Martin (Delichon urbica)
Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis)
White Wagtail (Motacilla alba alba)
Iberian Wagtail (Motacilla flava iberiae)
Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)
Robin (Erythacus rubecula)
Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus)
Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)
Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)
Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra)
Stonechat (Saxicola torquata)
Rock Thrush (Monticola saxatilis)
Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus)
Blackbird (Turdus merula)
Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)
Garden Warbler (Sylvia borin)
Whitethroat (Sylvia communis)
Dartford Warbler (Sylvia undata)
Fan-tailed Warbler (Cisticola juncidis)
Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus)
Goldcrest (H) (Regulus regulus)
Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)
Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)
Great Tit (Parus major)
Coal Tit (Parus ater)
Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus)
Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus)
Short-toed Treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla)
Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio)
Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator)
Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis)
Azure Winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus)
Magpie (Pica pica)
Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)
Alpine Chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus)
Carrion Crow (Corvus corone corone)
Raven (Corvus corax)
Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor)
Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)
Linnet (Carduelis cannabina)
Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)
Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris)
Serin (Serinus serinus)
Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)
Cirl Bunting (Emberiza cirlus)
Rock Bunting (Emberiza cia)

Mammal species seen (total, 8)

Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)
Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis)
Red Deer (Cervus elaphus)
Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus)
Southern Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra)
Brown Bear (Ursus arctos)
Wolf (Canis lupus)
Wild Boar (Sus scrofa)

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