I make no apologies for the length of this report - it doesn't deserve shortening!
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DONANA & EXTREMADURA
18TH – 25TH October 2006 with Donana Bird Tours
19th October
Our flight had been booked with Ryanair from Liverpool-Seville but the night before we were due to fly I checked my e-mails to find one from Ryanair telling us that there was to be a strike by baggage handlers at Seville airport on the day of our flight. We couldn’t take any luggage to put into the hold – all had to be taken into the cabin with us and ‘all’ was one small bag each weighing no more than 10 kgs. No cosmetics, lotions, toothpaste, deodorant, suncream, hair spray, hair gel etc. could be taken. We scrounged two small suitcases off friends and re-packed with absolute necessities (unfortunately my coloured hair gel is a necessity(!) but this couldn’t go so I had to spend the week looking like an old lady!) I think it was at this stage that I threw a paddy and said I didn’t want to go!! Bob travelled in a pair of trainers and this was the only footwear he had for the week, as his walking sandals weighed quite a bit. I took too many t-shirts and not enough cropped trousers; Bob had too many pairs of shorts and not enough casual trousers!
On arrival at the airport we left the car with Skypark and they drove us to the terminal. Two ladies in the check-in queue hadn’t been told of the new baggage arrangements and had to decant what they could into plastic bags to take onto the plane – they each put on about 5 t-shirts and 2 pairs of trousers! A kind man they met there took their suitcases home with him for collection after their holiday, otherwise they would have to pay £6 a day for each case to be stored at the airport.
At ‘Security’ my mascara was taken off me and thrown away. But I had two pens in my pocket which the woman officer knew about and didn’t taken them! One of the security people said to Bob “You’ve got everything but the kitchen sink in here” when he took off his fleece. What do they expect? It was an OK flight – actually more leg room than chartered flights we have been on in. And of course when we got to Seville we didn’t have to wait at a carousel.
John Butler, of Donana Bird Tours, met us promptly there and we drove to our hotel, about an hour away in Hinojos – the Hostal Pino Donana - where an evening meal was waiting for us. In the morning while we were waiting for John we used to watch children passing the open doorway on their way to school. Instead of carrying the huge rucksacks on their backs that our kids do they had little wheeled trolleys with their bags on. I’m sure this would catch on in England – but maybe it wouldn’t be considered ‘cool’. Maybe not ‘cool’ but very sensible.
John collected us the next morning, and our holiday proper began. In Huelva province we visited El Rocio, a ‘horse-orientated’ village with sand underfoot throughout – no tarmac in sight. Each May a pilgrimage takes place here. Looked over the lagoon here which had plenty of water due to the recent – and ongoing – heavy rain storms and showers. Amongst other birds here we had shoveller, pintail, white storks, little and cattle egrets, snipe, avocets, black-tailed godwits, lapwings, black-winged stilts, whiskered terns, red kites, marsh harriers, spotless starlings, white wagtails, goldfinch and grey heron .
At Le Dehesilla and the Arroy de la Canadas, in addition to lots of the above we also had 3 redstarts, 2 kingfishers, serin, stonechats, linnets, jackdaws and hoopoes.
We ate our picnic lunch at El Acebuche – very civilised with a table cover on the picnic table – and as we ate, azure winged magpies flew down for scraps. Beautiful and elegant birds. This had been one of my ‘must-see’ birds and I wasn’t disappointed. Other birds in this area were pied flycatchers, Iberian chiffchaffs, great tits, blue tits and little grebes. Further on our travels today we had ravens, spotted flycatchers, robins and a southern grey shrike.
20th October
We explored the northern marshes this morning, but there were constant & heavy rain showers. At the Dehesa de Pilas and Partido de Resina we had, amongst others, 2 kingfishers, yellow wagtails, a good view of the usually hidden zitting cisticola, corn buntings, stonechats, crested larks, white storks & common buzzards. A lifer for both of us was spotless starling.
Along the Entremuros and out to the Cano de Guadiamar we saw an amazing 50+ spoonbills, avocets, green sandpipers, a black stork, 2 great white egrets, greater flamingoes and many calandra larks.
Then to the Isla Mayor ricefields in the La Cantarita region where rice harvesting is in progress.
In the fields which have been harvested, and ploughing-down is taking place thousands of birds were present. Ringed and little-ringed plovers were there; lapwing, dunlin, little egrets, redshank, greenshank, 30+ little stint, yellow-legged and black-headed gull. A lifer for Bob was the black tern of which there were 4 present. Purple swamp-hens were showing well, as were over 100 glossy ibis, shovellers, little grebe, common pochard, willow warblers & whinchats.
On the road as we progressed through the ricefields, we saw crayfish crossing in front of us. When we stopped they put their huge claws up in the air as if to challenge the vehicle! These little creatures lived in the flooded ditches that criss-crossed the fields and tracks and occasionally we would see long nets in the water that were put down to catch them – presumably they would be sold to restaurants.
As we drove back home, at the Canada de Rianzuela there were over 400 black-winged stilt, a few pintails, jackdaws and a southern grey shrike. A black-shouldered kite was hunting near us at the Dehesa de Banco.
21st October
Today we left Hinojos for 3 days in the Extremadura region. John‘s wife, Rebecca, joined us for this trip and we thoroughly enjoyed her company. Stopped off at a roadside cafe for coffee and we sampled the local delicacy – thin slices of cured ham which were cut off a haunch for us. There were many of these legs hung up behind the counter, with hooves attached!
First stop was the site at Las Doblas where our first find was a flock of Spanish sparrows and some crested larks. Just for a change, it started raining (!) so we didn’t spend long here. We had lunch at Aldea de Cano but soon after driving off we came to a stop as a flock of 35 vultures circled overhead. After scanning them John pointed out 26 griffon vultures and 7 black vultures. After Caceres we turned onto the plains and after a few minutes had our first encounter with c24 great bustards. There were two on the ridge but as we scanned along the rest came into view, feeding as they moved along. Nearby were many other species, including more southern grey shrikes, little owls, calandra larks, spotless starlings & red-legged partridge. Some time later, as we crossed the Rio Almonte, we saw numerous crag martins and a woodlark.
22nd October
Today was spent in the Monfrague National Park. Beautiful mountainous scenery. The weather was atrocious with heavy rain and high winds. As a break came in the weather, we got out of the vehicle and scanned around. The Castillo de Monfrague gave us good views of both griffon & black vultures and a flock of common swifts. At the Pena Falcon – a huge rocky crag – there were plenty more of the same but also 2 Bonelli’s eagles, barn swallows & black redstarts. Not many smaller birds as they were being driven under cover by the bad weather. But we did see a small flock of 6 long-tailed tits (irbii), willow warblers & a nuthatch. Saw another Bonelli’s eagle at La Bascula and a pair of great crested grebes at Portilla de Tietar. While we were watching the vultures come into roost at the Pena Falcon later in the day, we saw what looked to be otters swimming across the river to the foot of the crag. On closer inspection they turned out to be a family of wild boar!
Some cork had been harvested from cork oak trees in the woods. They looked very strange with the bright rusty coloured bare tree trunk which will grow and then be harvested again in about 7 years time.
23rd October
We woke to torrential rain and hoped for some breaks when we drove onto the Belen plains. Birded from the vehicle. Later in the morning we had a break in the rain and some stone curlews landed nearby. A green sandpiper was seen in a ditch and numerous northern wheatears; 6 red kites, hoopoes, jackdaws, woodlarks, calandra larks and ravens. John spotted one great bustard then as we got the scopes out and all scanned, there were 11 in total. As we returned to Belen for lunch John spotted 5 little bustards out on the plain about 60 mtrs. away. While we were watching these took off and more joined them. We had good views of the two groups of 18 and 26 birds. I was pretty thrilled about these and John took great pleasure in reminding me what I’d said at the beginning of our trip “Bob really would like to see the bustards, but I’m not bothered one way or another” !!! Silly woman! But they really weren’t at the top of my list of ‘must-sees’. On my list were the sandgrouse which we saw later on the Santa Magascar plains – both pintailed sandgrouse (60+) and black-bellied sandgrouse (2) It had now stopped raining and the light was much better and on the plains near Caceres we saw white wagtails, corn bunting, meadow pipit, a Thekla lark, green sandpiper, both vulture species,kestrels, little owls, spotless & common starlings, a greenshank, a small group of very wet and bedraggled-looking red-legged partridges, and Iberian magpies.
24th October
Back in the Donana region and travelled to some of the best birdwatching sites in the west of the region, beginning with La Rabida on the east bank of the Rio Tinto. This is where Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492 on his voyage of discovery to the Americas. On the mudbanks we found whimbrels, redshanks, common sandpipers, ringed plovers, greater flamingoes, gulls & sandwich terns with flying collared doves and white storks. 100 mtrs. away on the river was a flotilla of 46 black-necked grebes.
On the long straight road in the region, bordered by stone pines, there are many speed ramps and John told us that these had been installed to try and cut down speeding because so many Lynx had been killed in the region. And we passed an official (an environmental official) at the side of the road who was paying a great deal of attention to a dead animal. We didn’t stop, but I got the impression it might have been a lynx. We passed a few dead dogs on our travels but nobody took any notice of these.
8 Caspian terns (will always know these now as ‘carrot’ terns, courtesy of Rebecca!) were seen at the Marismas de Rio Peidras together with sandwich terns, numerous waders, an osprey, black-billed magpies and good views of Sardinian warbler in the shrubs. At Ribera were ringed, Kentish & grey plovers, black-winged stilts, lesser black-backed gulls, redshank, greenshank, dunlin, mallards, cattle egrets and 5 red-rumped swallows.
Our next stop was the Laguna el Portil where rain curtailed our visit, but not before we had seen 3 species of grebe, common pochard, shovellers, gadwall, greater flamingoes & black terns. At Marismas del Odiel a high tide meant that waders were not so easy to find but we still had ringed & grey plovers, turnstone, sanderling, curlew, whimbrel, lots of little stint, dunlin, black-tailed godwit, redshanks, 20 greenshank, spoonbill, little & cattle egrets Also here we saw Audouin’s gulls, 4 slender-billed gulls, 2 ospreys, marsh harriers, sandwich terns & 10 more Caspian terns. I really hope I’ll be able to identify these birds when I see them in England – and when I’ve nobody to advise what they are. (e.g, the slender-billed gull is elegant and pinkish; the Caspian tern has a carrot in its mouth!) Next we drove through deep puddles to the Estero de Domingo Rubio. This was very productive in the shape of a white pelican that flew ponderously over our heads for 5 minutes before disappearing into the distance. Also here were osprey, spoonbills, little egrets, cattle egrets, grey herons, black-winged stilts, little ringed plovers, teal, moorhens and coots.
25th October
Our last day and we awoke to torrential rain which carried on through breakfast and the first hour or so of driving. We visited the Corredor Verde and within 15 minutes had found 2 black-shouldered kites, common buzzards, red kites, common kestrels and an osprey. As we drove along we also saw goldfinch, greenfinch, crested larks, tree sparrows and cattle egrets. There were over 200 black-crowned night herons at the usual nesting site in the reeds and at one time 100 were flying close to us. At the Dehesa de Abajo/Canada de Rianzuela were several hundred black-winged stilts and c70 avocets. Also seen there were several jackdaws, barn swallows and sand martins.
Back to the Isla Mayor rice fields and in those that had been harvested were hundreds of white storks, 2 black storks, avocets, grey herons, ringed, little ringed & Kentish plovers, 40 little stint, yellow-legged and black-headed gulls, yellow wagtails, zitting cisticolas and a large flock of c700 glossy ibis.
After lunch, we crossed to the eastern side of the Rio Guadalquivir and visited the Brazo del Este where, apart from those birds already recorded, we found marsh harriers, shovellers, teal, wigeon, great crested and little grebes, greenshanks, c30 purple swamp hens, spoonbills and little egrets and 9 more black storks.
The heavens opened once more so John drove us straight to the airport – the rain bouncing off the road and visibility almost nil!
The rain really didn’t spoil the holiday for us – it was a wonderful experience from start to finish. The hotels John chose were excellent with a lovely big room at each one. It was a brilliant introduction to Spain for us both, and we look forward to returning. Thanks John & Rebecca for making it so memorable.
(The birds underlined in the text are lifers for us both) Oh! I notice they aren't underlined now I've transferred it from 'Word'. Not going to mess about with it in case I lose some of the text.
Sandra
Excellent report Sandra, shame about the rain. You've whetted my appetite for Spain, up to now always been a Portugal visitor.
Fabtastalous stuff Sandra. Thanks for sharing.