We set off from Liverpool airport on Thursday 13th November for our now annual short break to south west Spain. This year however was slightly different. The withdrawal of Ryanair flights to Seville, forced us to fly with Easyjet to Faro in Portugal, and then drive across the border to our destination in Spain. We also decided to stay in a seaside town called el Portil, rather than our usual hotel in el Rocio, Donana. We took this decision because el Portil is quite central for many good birding areas, including Portugal, yet it still allowed us to visit the Coto Donana. Once again we were lucky with the weather during our stay, with sunny, cloudless skies, and temperatures which ranged from 26’C at midday to 1’C overnight. There was hardly a breath of wind after the gentle breeze of the first day. Dusk was at about 6:30pm Spanish time.
We touched down at Faro airport at 10:50am, and by 11:30 we had collected our baggage and the hire car and were on our way. The first stop was less than 10 minutes drive from the airport, just before the beach resort of Praia de Faro (which is clearly signposted as you leave the airport). I’ve always found this a good spot for Caspian Tern, and today was no exception, with three of these magnificent birds, with their ridiculously heavy carrot red bills flying around the bay, and plunge diving with incredible ferocity. Also here, a decent selection of waders, but mainly common stuff.
Then it was on to another favourite spot of ours, Quinta de Lago, a golf resort which has inexplicably been allowed to be built in the heart of the Ria Formosa nature reserve. This is a well known spot to many British birders. From the hide we had great views of at least five Purple Gallinules, one Glossy Ibis and 20 Red-crested Pochard. We ended the day at nearby Ludo salinas, which held hundreds of White Storks with a single, unexpected Black Stork, 60 Spoonbills and hundreds of ducks, mainly Wigeon. Also, lots of Azure-winged Magpies and Waxbills.
The following day we were up early and exploring the local area. Our first destination was Laguna de el Portil, about a mile from where we were staying. There were plenty of ducks on the lake, including Pintail and Shoveler, and also a few Black-winged Stilts and a couple of Black-necked Grebes, but overall, it was a bit disappointing. In the woodland we had Crested Tits, Black Redstarts and Green Woodpecker. We decided to head for our second destination of the day, the Marismas de Odiel, opposite the city of Huelva and about 10 miles from el Portil.
Dwarfed by it’s neighbour the Coto Donana, the Marismas de Odiel is still a large reserve, almost completely surrounding Huelva, and perhaps 10 miles long by as many wide. In summer, it is home to the largest Spoonbill colony in Europe, so a flock of 40 on the saltmarsh was not a great surprise. Also on a flooded area of saltmarsh, a flock of 40 Black-necked Grebes. Over the river, we saw three Ospreys in the air together, and later a fourth, and on the saltmarsh there were lots of Marsh Harriers and single female Hen Harrier.
On the west shore of the river Odiel the road leads on to a spit, miles long which leads to a lighthouse. As you head down the spit, the saltmarsh gives way to sand dunes, and here we found four Audouins Gulls on the shore, (three adult and a 2nd winter), and six Stone Curlew in the dunes. A Lesser Kestrel hunted in the dunes, and was briefly joined by a common Kestrel for comparison. In the marsh next to the visitor centre, we found two Western Iberian Painted Frogs. Chiffchaffs were in every bush or tree, and this was a feature of the holiday, though we didn’t bother trying to work out if they were resident Iberian or wintering “British”.
On Saturday, we decided to have a break from the coast, and head inland. Our destination was the beautiful mountain region of the Sierra Norte de Sevilla, which is part of the Sierra Morena and as the name implies, is just north of Seville. Our route took us through Constantina, Cazalla and across a mountain road to Santa Ollala del Cala. This was a completely different environment to the dry coastal area.
The rolling hills rise to a modest 900m, and there are many decidous trees, which provided a wonderful display of autumn colour, red, yellow and gold. We spent the morning searching these damp woodlands for amphibians, specifically Fire Salamader which has a separate race in these mountains, but in this our efforts were in vain. They did however yeald a good selection of woodland birds, notably many Nuthatches, Short-toed Treecreepers and three species of woodpecker, Green, Great Spotted and best of all, Lesser-spotted.
We were surprised to find many Crag Martins still in the area, flying around some of the larger old buildings, and once the temperatures rose in the afternoon, the vultures took to the air, with one flock alone containing over 100 birds, mainly Griffons, but also a few Black. In the foothills we came across a couple of Black-shouldered Kites.