Donana and Algarve Nov 18th – Dec 4th 2008. J H johns Part 1
It’s that time of year for another trip to the Donana area of Spain and Portugal’s Algarve for some decent weather and birding, after the miserable summer and autumn we’ve had I’m really looking forward to it.
Left Camborne Railway station 18.15hrs on 17th Nov. for Bristol Temple Meads, bus to Bristol Airport arriving there about 22.50 hrs for the usual sleepless night before my flight to Faro at 08.15hrs the next morning.
18th Nov.…Flight out on time and even landed 20mins early at 10.25hrs. Picked up hire car, a Fiat Punto, from Air Auto and set off in glorious sunshine for Castro Marim on the Spanish border.
Birded the salt-works area for a few hours which gave a good start to the holiday with several 100 Mediterranean Gulls and smaller numbers of Black-headed, Yellow-legged and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 5 Little Terns (unexpected at this time of year), Flamingos, Spoonbills, Little and Cattle Egrets, Grey Herons, White Storks, Dunlin, Little Stint, Sanderling, Turnstone, Ringed and Grey Plovers, sev.100 Black-tailed Godwits, Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Black-winged Stilts, Common and Green Sandpipers, Snipe, Lapwing, Coot, Moorhen, Mallard, Teal, Gadwall, Shoveler, Pintail, 2 Grey Lag Geese, Little Grebe, Cormorants, Linnet, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Serin, Black Redstart, Stonechat, Meadow Pipit, Black-billed and Azure-winged Magpies, Bluethroat, 2 Southern Grey Shrikes, Sardinian and Fan-tailed Warblers, Chiffchaffs, White and Grey Wagtails, Crested Lark and Skylark, sev. Hoopoes, Kingfisher, Kestrel, Buzzard and 4 Marsh Harriers.
A quick look around the Reserve area added Dartford Warbler, another Southern Grey Shrike and Marsh Harrier and a superb male Hen Harrier.
Time to head across the border into Spain for Hinojos and the Hostal Pino Donana, my accommodation for the next four nights. I found this place ideally situated for easy access to all the Donana areas to be visited and would recommend this hotel to anyone wishing to make a trip to this fantastic birding area. Rooms are cheap for Spain at 22 euros/night for a single room, well maintained and spotlessly clean. The town offers several places to eat and drink and as a bonus the owner speaks excellent English and is extremely helpful if any advice is required.
19th Nov….A trip along the Corredor Verde was first on the agenda. Sparrowhawk the first bird seen soon followed by Southern Grey Shrike, 3 Rock Sparrows with a group of Tree and House Sparrows, Corn Bunting, Serin, Crested and Skylarks, Sardinian, Fan-tailed and Cetti’s Warblers, Raven, Hoopoes, Azure-winged Magpies and a few late Swallows. This took me up to the Laguna de Mancho Zurillo which was very low on water and apart from a few Coot, Grey Herons and Cormorants was unusually quite for birds.
The stretch from here to the Isla Mayor road was still passable with care and 400+ Cattle Egrets in a field being ploughed was quite a sight, Lapwings, Red-legged Partridges, Kestrel, Buzzard, Red Kite, Marsh Harriers and an Osprey fishing the river brought me up to the Night Heron roost in the Tamarisks where many birds were present.
On to the Canada de Rianzuela from here, passing through the Entremuros 30 Spoonbills, c.20 Black Storks, Grey Herons and Little Egrets were feeding/resting along the river, Reed Bunting and Fan-tailed Warbler in the reedbed and a few gulls and storks in the rice fields. Rianzuela however held many birds, sev. 1000 Shoveler – the water seemed covered by them, large flocks of Avocet and Black-winged Stilts were on the far side of the lake but a bit far away to estimate numbers, certainly way up in the 100’s if not 1000’s. Mallard, Pochard and Red-crested Pochard were mixed in with the Shoveler (as could have been anything else!). Flamingos and Spoonbills could also be picked out in the distance as could the large numbers of Cormorant that roost here, 3 Marsh Harriers quartered the area, Red Kite and a p.ph. Booted Eagle also put in appearances. The Jackdaw colony here – the only one in the surrounding area still seemed to be doing well.
Stopping at the Dehesa de Abajo centre gave Crested, Woodlark and Skylarks, Black Redstart and Hoopoe while further along the road the small pools, sometimes good for Red-knobbed Coot, were too low on water but had a few Swallows and House Martins hawking insects and several Cattle Egrets on the grass.
Returning to the Night Heron roost a little before dusk I counted over 300 birds taking off and heading out for their feeding grounds. A bonus was a Black-shouldered Kite flying over my head and starting to hunt the area and another one near the Dehesa de Pilas turning as I was heading back to Hinojos.
Interesting report - thanks. I saw my first spoonbill of any species at Castro Marim in 1999. I notice that the spoonbill in your photo is colour-banded. You mention amazingly large numbers of some of the species.
Allen
[QUOTE=Allen S. Moore;1358301]Interesting report - thanks. I saw my first spoonbill of any species at Castro Marim in 1999. I notice that the spoonbill in your photo is colour-banded. You mention amazingly large numbers of some of the species.
Allen[/QUOTE]
There's no exaggeration either Allen, it really is a great time of year for large numbers of birds.
If you get the opportunity try a trip yourself you certainly won't be disappointed.
Regards
John