I am not long back from a trip to the Ronda/Grazalema area. I went with my brother Neil and I have attached some of his pictures. We stayed for 3 nights at the Cortijo de las Piletas, 10km outside Ronda and we would recommend it to anyone planning to stay in the area. Pablo and his wife Elisenda speak excellent English and were very welcoming. It is an old converted farmhouse and they have some nice touches such as an honesty bar.
We’ve both been birding for only 3 years. It is the first time that we have gone abroad birding so it was going to be a steep learning curve. We had wondered about using a guide but decided to go our own way-we might see less but would probably learn more from finding our own birds
I remember reading a thread a while back about birds seen whilst having a beer and this place would take some beating. We were relaxing having a beer outside having just arrived when I saw a bird fly across a field and land on a rock. Neil had his bins and looked and it turned out to be a Wryneck! We also were entertained at this spot by an occasional Griffon Vulture drifting over, a pair of local Booted Eagles, Barn and Red rumped swallows, Spotless starlings, Corn Buntings and Nightingales. The booted eagles have even been known to drink at the swimming pool and Elisenda has a picture of one on the steps of the pool.
Breakfast did not start till 8.30 so we explored some of the minor roads near our hotel. There were many Crested larks and Corn buntings. We found Little owls at 3 sites. Melodious and Bonellis warblers were fairly common. We also saw a pair of Hoopoes. More surprisingly I found a Lesser short toed lark-I didn’t think they would be in this area. On the last morning we were treated to a pair of Short toed eagles overhead-as they flew away they were joined by 5 others to make a total of 7.
On the way from Malaga we stopped by the Rio Guadalhorce at Alora. Time was short as we had been delayed getting our car at the airport and by then getting horribly lost and taking a circuitous route to get there. It had been suggested that the river might be dry at this time of year but Spain has obviously had affair amount of rain this year and the river was in good flow. We only had an hour or so but saw 5 Black winged stilts, several Little ringed plovers, a Common sandpiper, Bee-eaters, Hoopoes, Sardinian warblers, a Little Egret and many of the commoner birds.
We spent the best part of a day doing the circuit from Grazalema to Ubrique and El Bosque. At the lower levels we saw the first of many Woodchat Shrikes and our only Southern Grey Shrikes. At a picnic stop we saw our first Griffon vulture and a hard to see Bonelli’s warbler. We parked the car outside Villaluengo and headed up a track in to the hills. 50 yards up the track a Black eared wheatear was singing. A short distance on we spotted a couple of Rock buntings. Higher we climbed and we saw the first of 2 female Black wheatears. A Dartford warbler put in a brief appearance and some more black eared wheatears showed. A Cuckoo landed a short distance away giving good views. A couple of Choughs were seen. Raptor activity had been less than expected. It was after lunch that we saw our first Booted eagle. More Griffon vultures drifted over. We drove up to Puerto del Boyar where it was cool and windy. Neil spotted a singing Cirl Bunting at the top of a pine to provide the last birding highlight of the day…..
To be continued
Sounds great Mark and some fine pictures from Neil. The picture you've labelled as Lesser Short-toed Lark looks like a Corn Bunting though!
Thanks for the report. Brings back happy memories of Grazalema, one of the finest places on the planet.