Looks like you've had a good trip.
This blog is inspired by our friends Larry and Nicky, who are writing a blog already on this site about what they are seeing on their travels overland to New Zealand. Plenty of Birds but no planes in sight. Not wanting to fly either, we set off March 9th on a 3 month road trip to Morocco in our van. We thought we'd let everyone know what we've been seeing on route, starting with a visit to Bolougne hoping to catch a sighting of the WALLCREEPER which had been seen there for 5 to 6 weeks before. On arriving at the site the weather was appalling we none the less did the usual procedure of climbing down the slipppery steps, scanning the area to no avail. After an hour of combing the cliffs and feeling rather damp, we headed back to the van.
Other birds seen;
1 FIRST YEAR GLAUCOUS GULL
4 KITTIWAKE
1 REDBREASTED MERGANSER
After dipping on the wallcreeper in Bolougne and heading south anyway, we decided to try for them in their wintering grounds at a place called Bruniquel 40Km north of Toulouse. We discovered this site, a beautiful medieval town, after reading a report in the Essex birding magazine. We arrived on site 11th March early in the morning and started scanning the walls of the chateau, where they were meant to frequent. After a couple of hours, we headed back up to the chateau front gate way and had just given up hope when, just a few metres ahead of us, we found the bird that Kev particularly has wanted to see for many years. The beautiful red flash of the WALLCREEPER was clearly and spectacularly seen even with the naked eye but unfortunately flew off after just a few minutes, not to be seen again. We were left euphorically trundling off down the hill and on into Spain.
Also seen in Bruniquel on that day;
2 BLACK KITE
4 COMMON BUZZARD
1 FIRECREST
2 BLACK REDSTART
2 RAVENS nesting in the cliff below the chateau walls.
Our first stop in Spain was the luxury accommodation of the forested Sant Cugat, an outer district of Barcelona. After spending 5 days catching up with old friends and exploring the surrounding area, birds seen included;
1 RED BACKED SHRIKE adult male
1 GOSHAWK
4 HAWFINCH
lots of CRESTED TITS and FIRECREST
Heading further south, we reached the Ebro Delta on 15th March. This is another area read about previously in bird reports and we had high expectations of what we might see. First of all, we went to the El Garxal area. We saw an amazing 65 species amongst the marshland after only an evening and morning spent there. The best of birds being;
4 AUDOINS GULL
3 PURPLE GALLINULE
1 SLENDER BILLED GULL
22 GLOSSY IBIS
17 COMMON CRANES
1 SHORT EARED OWL
1 OSPREY
4 WHISKERED TERN
1 CASPIAN TERN
50+ BLACK WINGED STILT
and too many MARSH HARRIERS to count.
What a fantastic place and especially stunning river side park up.
The next morning, we decided to check another part of the Ebro Delta, a place called L'Encanyissada. The lagoon can be viewed from the observation tower opposite the information centre or from the bridge on the road to Poble Nou. As we arrived a quick scan over the reed beds produced at least 5 MARSH HARRIERS. Also from the obs tower, we saw;
100s of GREATER FLAMINGOS feeding in long lines, an impressive sight.
1 SLENDER BILLED GULL seen at close range
2 AUDOINS GULL
1 CASPIAN TERN
4 WHISKERED TERN
2 SANDWICH TERN
lots of CATTLE and LITTLE EGRET
Another update of our trip will be uploaded when we reach another email shop. We are now in Morocco by the way. Hope you enjoyed the story of our trip so far. Bye for now...
Hello there and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum
Looks like you've had a good trip.
Hi everyone, we're back again and time has moved on since we were at the Ebro Delta. Due to the clutch on our van literally disintegrating on us over the Sierra Nevada we were plotted up in one place visiting friends for some time getting greasy helping to fix it and waiting for parts! So we had little time for birding apart from seeing everyday species anyone would see in Spain. Birds seen over that 3 weeks include;
GREAT SPOTTED CUCKOO
BLACK EARED WHEATEAR
ROCK BUNTING
BLUE ROCK THRUSH
BOOTED EAGLE
SHORT TOED EAGLE
GOLDEN EAGLE
LESSER KESTREL
ALPINE SWIFT
PALLID SWIFT
Now the van is fixed, we headed on to Gibraltar. When we arrived in the area, we checked the wind direction, which was in the West, so we headed for the rock instead of Tarifa (West wind is best for the rock and Easterlies for Tarifa). We ended up at the bird observatory at Jews Gate looking out over the sea towards Africa. What an awe inspiring site watching large groups of migrants drifting in over head from Africa. This is a particularly good site for migrating Raptors because of the 2 closest land masses, since they can not migrate for a long distance over sea where there are no thermals. Birds seen afternoon of 11th and morning of 12th April were;
21 GRIFFON VULTURES
3 EGYPTIAN VULTURES
102 BOOTED EAGLES (DARK and LIGHT PHASE)
19 SHORT TOEDs
296 BLACK KITE
1 OSPREY
3 SPARROW HAWK
13 BLACK STORK
6 WHITE STORK
33 GREATER FLAMINGO
1 GARDEN WARBLER (seen in the hand just after being rung)
The 13th April we parked just behind the beach a few kilometres along the coast from Tarifa. A well known spot for free parking for local people and the travelling community. Birds seen in those 3 days include;
4 GRIFFONS
1 EGYPTIAN VULTURE
11 BOOTED EAGLE
3 SHORT TOED
1 MARSH HARRIER
14 WHITE STORK
1 CASPIAN TERN
3 WOODCHAT SHRIKE
1 PIED FLY CATCHER
1 SPOT FLY
20 NORTHERN WHEATEAR
14 KENTISH PLOVERS
6 NIGHTINGALE
Next stop Morocco! We'll give you another update in a few days and to who ever responded last time, we certainly are losing a few pounds in sweat down here in Mezouga on the edge of the Sahara. Best regards for now...