Trip to the ‘El Hondo/El Fondo’ Reserve in Alicante

It’s not often that I take a trip out of the province of Murcia, but having had a long weekend at the ‘Delta del Ebro’ where I missed two lifers, when I heard about a ‘Spain-tick’ at the El Hondo reserve in the form of a Laughing Gull, only an hour up the coast, I thought I’d take a look.  Plus I wanted to check out all the changes I’d heard had been made to the information centre area.  So, on Saturday 18^th April after checking the lighthouse gardens at Cabo de Palos and then doing some household tasks, I made my way up to El Hondo, arriving at just after 1pm.  I went directly to the visitors centre, and I must admit I was quite impressed with what I saw there.  On my previous visit with Mick Brewer earlier in the Spring, there was heavy earth-moving machinery everywhere, but now the visitors centre was more or less on an island, the water surrounding it not being particularly deep – ideal for Marbled Duck and waders.

 For those who've not seen it yet, one of the pools that surround the visitors centre

 

I wasn’t 100% certain as to where to go, knowing only that I was looking for the furthest hide on the ‘green route’ on the ‘La Raja’ pool.  This is quite a walk, and I was quite pleased that it was a relatively cool day (with the temperature ‘only’ reaching 24ºC in the heat of the afternoon).  I made my way round the ‘Raja’ pool, stopping at each of the observation hides (as much for a short rest in the shade as anything else), but although I saw some good birds, there was no sign of the gull.

Some of the birds seen on my way around the lagoon

 

 Adult Mediterranean Gull

 Greater Flamingos

 Purple Heron

Grey Heron

 Cattle Egret

 Another Purple Heron

 Black-headed Gull

 Another Cattle Egret

 Red-crested Pochard

 Avocet

 Male Black Winged Stilt

 Female Black Winged Stilt

 Squacco Heron

I finally got back to the information centre, and decided that I would go and sit at the ‘Volcam’ hide and have my sandwiches there, as normally when I go to this hide it is in the morning, and so with bad light (always looking into the sun).  By now though, it was late enough in the afternoon to have the sun to one side, and what was more important, the hide had a bench to sit on!

 Marbled Duck (or Teal as it was formerly known)

So I stayed there and had lunch while people drifted in and out. I kept an eye on the groups of Black-headed and Mediterranean Gulls that were on the various islands, and I got talking to some Irish people who I later found out were ‘FaceBook’ friends of mine (hi Brian and Rachel), and had just about had enough of being there when I noticed another distant spit of land to the far left had some gulls on it.  Scoping through them, Brian and Rachel must have thought I’d gone mad when suddenly changing from whatever subject we were talking about I said ‘I think I’ve got it!’  And with the magnification ranked up to the full 60x, there it was in the heat haze, totally unmistakeable, being an almost blue-grey colour as opposed to the white and light grey of the Black-headeds and Meds.   A first winter bird, larger than the Black-headeds, about the size of a Med., dark almost all over with a dark bill and upper breast.  Boy was I happy!  We sat watching it for a while and then I decided It was time to make my way back home, so I left at about 5-30pm.

 A couple of 'record' shots of the Laughing Gull, in the centre of the picture.  Note the much darker colour compared to the Black-headed Gulls.

Full list of birds seen

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis); Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus); Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos); Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna); Pochard (Aythya farina); Red-Crested Pochard (Netta rufina); Shoveler (Anas clypeata); White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala);  Marbled Teal (Marmaronetta angustirostris); Little Egret (Egretta garzetta); Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis); Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralloides); Little Bittern (Ixobrychus minutes); Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea); Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea); Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus); Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus); Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus); Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus); Coot (Fulica atra); Crested Coot (Fulica cristata); Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio);  Collared Pratincole (Glareola pratincola); Black Winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus); Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta); Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius); Stone Curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus); Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos); Little Stint (Calidris minuta); Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea); Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus); Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola), Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis); Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus); Mediterranean Gull (Larus melanocephalus); Laughing Gull Larus atricilla); Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus); Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto); Pallid Swift (Apus pallidus); Bee-eater (Merops apiaster); Hoopoe (Upupa epops); Crested Lark (Galerida cristata); Swallow (Hirundo rustica); Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica); House Martin(Delichon urbicum); Cetti’s Warbler (Cettia cettia); Fan-tailed Warbler (Cisticola juncidis); Reed Warbler(Acrocephalus scirpaceus); Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceas; Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala); Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator); Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis); Jackdaw (Corvus monedula); Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor); House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) Serin (Serinus serinus); Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris); Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) Corn Bunting (Miliaria calandra).

Happy birding,

Richard

For more up to date birding information, search for ´Richard Howard' on FaceBook

Sierra Espuña and the Saladares del Guadalentín

Hi all,

 

Last Thursday (12th March), with superb weather for photography, I decided to call into the ‘Pozos de la Nieve de Murcia’ (Murcia Snow Pits) in Sierra Espuña (for further details see my post of the 13th February 2014).  My last visit there back in January wasn’t too successful, with it being very cold, and there being a strong northerly wind blowing, and the pools there had run dry so there was no water for the birds to drink.  So although there has been some snow since then, it was with bated breath that I approached the ‘pozos’.  On my way up to them, there was plenty of birdsong around, mainly of Coal Tits singing, but I also picked out the high pitched song of a Firecrest.  The song, quite similar to that of a Goldcrest although slightly stronger, is still a fairly quiet one, and so it defies the imagination as to how the male manages to pull in a female.

 Coal Tit - one of many heard singing

 Firecrest - quietly singing away ...

 ... and waiting for a mate

On reaching the ‘pozos’ I found my fears about possible lack of water to be unfounded – there wasn’t a lot but enough water below the hawthorn bush so that the birds perch in it before dropping down to the ground for a drink and bath.  So positioning myself with the sun directly behind me, I just had to wait to see the birds.  I sat there for a couple of hours and built up quite a list of birds that came down to drink.  It was impossible to photograph all of them as once they get into the bush, they are almost lost to view.   The species that came down were Blackbird, Redwing, Ring Ouzel (at least 25 of these still around), Black Redstart (it must have been a day of passage for these as I saw at least 15 of these), a couple of Blackcaps, Crested Tit, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Linnet, Chaffinch, Cirl Bunting and Rock Bunting. 

 One of the commonest birds seen during the morning - Black Redstart ...

 ... and the other common bird, Ring Ouzel

 

 Another Ring Ouzel

 Female Black Redstart

 One of the alpine 'alpestris' sub-species

 Watching me watching the birds, a Barbary Sheep (Ammotragus lervia) or Arrui

 Regularly flying over, (Red-billed) Chough

 Male Ring Ouzel in lookout mode

 Female Ring Ouzel ...

 ... and another

Flying over on several occasions were Chough (of the ‘Red-billed’ variety), a couple of Ravens and Carrion Crows and a single Peregrine shot through with some avian prey. Beginning to get a bit stiff, I left the ‘pozos’ at about 1-30pm and headed back to my car for a sandwich lunch.  A perfect time made all the better by the lack of people on a bright sunny and warm morning.

And on my way back it was quiet and windless enough that I heard a Crossbill calling and then could hear another one as it was munching its way through a pine cone, and found a third in another nearby tree – the full family, male, female and juvenile.

 

The Crossbill family - ma ...

 

... pa ...

 and baby

It was as I was having my lunch in the car that I realised that I hadn’t seen any Short-toed Treecreepers yet this year, and so instead of taking my usual route out of the Espuña reserve (via Aledo), I took the other route out, passing the ‘Centro de Visitantes Ricardo Codorniu’.  It is close to this visitors centre that I know of some sites for the Treecreepers, so I stopped here for a while, and heard and saw a minimum of three of these little delights singing and running up the tree trunks.

 Short-toed Treecreeper

As it was still quite early when I left Espuña, I decided to make a short call into the ‘saladares del Guadalentín’ on my way home.  I wasn’t expecting to see much, as I’ve realised from previous visits that the afternoon can be pretty quiet here, but I did have a couple of Kestrels (one of which could easily have been a Lesser Kestrel, but I couldn’t get close enough to confirm i.d.),  three Marsh Harriers, a Raven, my first Great Spotted Cuckoo of the year, and on the ground various Stone Curlews, Red-legged Partridges and my first Lesser Short-toed Larks of the year (surprising this considering they are all year round residents).

 Marsh Harrier

 Great Spotted Cuckoo

 Great Spotted Cuckoo

 Displaying (and fighting) Stone Curlews

And that was it for the day – a relaxing day out inland from the coast.

Ciauu

Out and About, and Fuerteventura

Hi all,

Having written nothing in my blog for a while, I thought it was about time I did, even if only to let you all know I'm alive and kicking!

One of the reasons has been because birding has been pretty quiet of late - with high north / north-westerly winds blowing for almost a month now, very little has been seen.

I have however been out locally on the odd occasion when the wind has dropped, mainly just around the Mar Menor, but also the lighthouse gardens at Cabo de Palos - preparing myself for the new season.

On the afternoon of Monday 16th February I called in at Cala Reona (Cabo de Palos), as it was the only place locally out of the wind.  I was hoping to see some passerines, but found none at all - but I did come across an adult Gannet that was flying in circles within the bay and eventually launched down into the water.  Due to the waves (even there!), I couldn't see if it caught anything but presume it did as it stayed on the water cleaning itself and slowly drifted out of the bay.  At the same time a breeding plumaged adult Cormorant dropped in.

 Gannet that decided Cala Flores was a good place to fish ...

 ... to be joined later by an adult breeding plumaged Cormorant ...

... landing tail first on the water

At the lighthouse on Saturday the 21st February, once again the very pale dove was to be seen in the carpark - the one that I think may well be a Barbary Dove, but I still have to hear it call to be able to confirm identification.

 The probable Barbary Dove that appears to have spent the winter at the lighthouse area at Cabo de Palos

The same morning off the lighthouse rocks was a flock of at least 2,000 Balearic Shearwaters feeding, moving around in smallgroups and sometimes being harassed by a couple of Great Skuas.  It's quite a while since I've seen so many more or less stationary off the point.

Also there, a weak movement of Gannets (mainly adults) south, a few Audouin's Gulls and 4 adult breeding plumaged Mediterranean Gulls north.

In the afternoon, a visit to the sailing club at Los Urrutias produced a few Black-headed (coming into breeding plumage) and Slender-billed Gulls, plus a single Little Egret, the latter looking very smart in their breeding attire.

 Adult Slender-billed and Black-headed Gulls

 Very smart looking breeding plumaged adult Little Egret

On Sunday, 22nd February, on an afternoon visit to the Mar Menor at Punta Brava (just west of Los Urrutias), I saw that the recent winds had formed a 'weedbank' of seaweed in a couple of areas just off the beach, and the birds had taken no time at all in finding them.  More than 70 Black-headed Gulls plus more than 20 Slender-billed Gulls, some looking respendant in their pink breeding plumage.  Waders were to be found as well, with 25 Turnstones, 4 Ruff, 7 Ringed Plovers and a single Oystercatcher, the first I've seen this year.

 At Punta Brava, plenty of gulls, Turnstones, Ruff and a single Oystercatcher

At the beginning of the month (February), I had twelve days outside of the Iberian peninsula, spending a week on the Canary Island of Fuerteventura, and a few days back in the UK.  The Fuerteventura visit was an actual holiday and my first ever visit to the Canary Islands.  I have written a separate trip report about my visit, which can be seen using the following link (to access, just click the link - if that doesn't work, you will need to copy and paste the link into your browser):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8jcbmkcesryjnm7/Fuerteventura%20Trip%20Report.pdf?dl=0

And if you want to see some of the video footage I took of one of the island's specialities, use the following link:

Houbara Bustards, Fuerteventura, 3rd / 4th February 2015