A February Day at Albufera de Valencia with Judy

I recently had the pleasure of providing a day of guided birding at Albufera de Valencia for an Englsih lady called Judy, who has lived in southern France for many years. A very well travelled and experienced birder, she wanted to explore this huge wetland site and to experience at first hand the bird life that thrives here. Having collected Judy from her hotel, we made the short trip to one of Albufera’s key reserve area where we looked out over a small lagoon. Here we saw Greenshank, Dunlin, Black-winged Stilt, Teal, Shelduck and Common Pochard. A Zitting Cisticola called from nearby reeds and Chiffchaffs and Sardinian Warblers constantly flitted around, feeding on insects in the vegetation. We then stopped at a salt-water lagoon where we had quality views of Black-necked Grebe, Little Egret and Slender-billed Gull. Crag Martins were feeding on the wing in huge numbers, and whilst we were watching them, a Booted Eagle suddenly flew over, circling above us, giving excellent views. We then headed across the rice fields, stopping along the way to watch Marsh Harriers hunting over the reed beds. In the muddy rice paddies…

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New Year Birding in Valencia

Birding in Valencia

Valencia Birding kicked-off 2022 with our first clients of the year on 2nd January – Magdalena and Erik from Austria. They were on a short break in Valencia and wanted to include a birding trip in their plans. We opted to visit the wetlands close to the city, as a way of making the most of the relatively short days this month. After a short drive from the city, we began the walk along the beach, stopping to watch Audouin’s Gull, Chiffchaff, Serin, Kingfisher and what was my first bird of 2022 the previous day – Black Redstart! Black Redstart Whilst watching Marsh Harriers gliding low over the reeds, another raptor flew into view, albeit much higher – an Osprey, a bird which we’ve seen quite a lot of recently. We scanned over a lagoon where Shovelers were gathered in large numbers, and also found Teal, Purple Swamphen, Little Grebe and Yellow-legged Gull. We then chose to concentrate on an area of scrub that has been holding good numbers of passerines in recent weeks. Today was no exception ans we were soon watching Serin, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Reed Bunting, Tree…

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A stormy day at the Valencian Coastal Wetlands

Valencia Birding

Last week, just before moving to our home in the mountains for the coming months, I had the pleasure of providing another trip for Jeff and Dee. They had previously been on a trip to Albufera de Valencia with me and this time wanted to visit another of the area’s wetlands. The weather had been quite stormy during the week and the day of the trip was also a little unsettled, so based on the forecast, we opted to begin a little later than planned to allow the rain to pass through first. Having met in central Valencia, we were still at the wetlands by before 11am. We could see rain fronts away to the south but so far we were dry! On our previous trip, Jeff had been eager to see Audouin’s Gull, and by coincidence, this was the first bird that we saw today! We had great views of a pair, preening on the beach. Sandwich Tern, Common Tern and Whiskered Tern were all making feeding forays and Swifts and Barn Swallows were around in good numbers. Whiskered Tern The sky had begun to darken, so we opted…

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A day exploring the wetlands of Valencia.

Valencia Birding

Last week, I spent a very enjoyable day with Rod, Anita, Rudolf and Harrie, exploring the coastal wetlands of Valencia. The trip was organised as a way to celebrate Anita’s birthday, so had an extra special touch. It was their first time at this particular site, so I was determined to try and get the most from the day for them. As soon as we left the car, we saw a Serin in a roadside tree and then heard a Nightingale singing in the bushes. Our first quality view of a bird was actually of one of the day’s target species – the very elegant Audouin’s Gull. Audouin’s Gull As we began our walk alongside a series of coastal lagoons, we enjoyed views of Purple Heron, Red Crested Pochard, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe and Glossy Ibis. We opted to remain at an observation point for a while and to wait to see what would appear. Within a few moments we had views of singing Great Reed Warbler and a pair of Marsh Harriers in flight over the reeds. Movement in a small island of tall vegetation revealed a Little…

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Sometimes you just have to look under your nose!

Earlier in the week, I had a couple of hours free one morning. That didn´t give me the time to drive to my local wetland or to get to the mountains, but it did give me the time to take another look at a canal that flows past the nearby agricultural town of Alboraya into the Mediterranean. The surroundings are not particularly attractive, one side is bordered by an industrial estate, but the other side is farmland, largely vegetable fields. At the end of the canal, one reaches the beach, where a tiny estuary is formed. So, within the distance of only a few kilometres, the habitat changes dramatically, and all his right next to the city of Valencia. Traditional farmland on the northern city limits of Valencia I began my walk along the footpath, which was busy with walkers and cyclists, all of them oblivious to the fact the only a few metres away from them was a pair of Purple Swamphens, indeed with a chick which one of the parents was feeding. It was almost a surreal moment to see this incredible creature successfully breeding practically next door…

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Storm Filomena and its effects on birding in Valencia

Valencia Birding

The first days of the new year here in Spain brought disruption, destruction and tragically death, all due to Storm Filomena. The entire country was affected – the south was hammered by gale force winds, huge waves and 20% of the usual annual rainfall in a single day. With the exception of the coastal areas, almost all of the nation was blanketed in snow. Up to 50cm fell in Madrid, resulting in hundreds of blocked roads, as well as the closure of the airport and the cancellation of rail services. In the Picos de Europa mountains in the north of Spain, records were broken for the coldest recorded temperature, with a weather station logging a nightime low of -35.6 degrees C! All of this brought huge impacts to all aspects of daily life for millions of people, much of which has been written about elsewhere. But what effects did it have on birdlife? Here in the Valencia Region we witnessed some very interesting results… Much of the coastal region of the Comunidad Valenciana is well protected by the mountain ranges to the west. Much of the region has a flat…

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