birding holidays spain - Page 2 of 9 - Valencia Birding

An autumn day at Albufera de Valencia

Autumn is always an interesting time at the vast wetland site of Albufera de Valencia. The rice fields are steadily being flooded after the recent harvesting and of course post-nuptual migration is underway, especially exciting here as the region is right on a major flyway (its network of coastal wetlands serving as crucial feeding grounds). Last week I enjoyed a day out with Jeff and Dee, experienced global birders but first timers to our region, so they were keen to see what bird life it holds. Audouin´s Gull was top of their target species. Accordingly, we began the day at a small coastal lagoon, separated from the sea by an extensive dune system. Upon arriving, there was a gull on the water not far from us, but once in the binoculars, we found it to be a Slender Billed. A Sandwich Tern was also diving for fish and huge flocks of Common Starlings were wheeling around above the forest. The Common Starling is a winter visitor to this region, and can often be seen with the resident Spotless Starling. Slender Billed Gull Great Crested Grebes were also out on the…

Autumn 2020 Bulletin

Dear all, I´d like to begin this Bulletin by sending my sincere and best wishes to you all. 2020 has provided trying times for us all, and I hope that you are all well and that you continue to remain safe and healthy. The lockdown that we all endured only served to reinforce the importance and uplifting effects of having birds around us. Like many, in the early days of the pandemic, I was confined to birding from our balcony for many weeks, and later only in the immediate neighbourhood, before being finally granted the permission to travel further. On that note, I´d like to extend my thanks to all who wrote during this time to share details of their bird sightings. This helped to bring positivity and to underline the fact that we´re all in this together! My local birding experience revealed a few surprises, including the number of raptors that passed over the city of Valencia on Spring migration, including Marsh Harriers, Short Toed Eagles and Lesser Kestrel. I found a pair of Whitethroats that were nesting right next to our apartment, and saw huge numbers of Zitting Cisticolas…

Re-introduction of Ospreys to the Valencia Region

Absolute dedication to one of Europe´s most magnificent raptors : The re-introduction of Ospreys to the Valencia Region I was recently very kindly invited to spend the evening with Itzy Colodro Sainz and María José García Roselló of the organisation Magic&Nature to see up close the work they are doing on a project to re-introduce Ospreys to the wetlands of the Valencia Region. This project is supported by local government, specifically Conselleria de Medio Ambiente CV and is backed scientifically by Fundación Migres. At a local level, it is also supported by the Town Halls of Pego, Oliva, Denia and Jávea and is collaborated in by Magic&Nature and Acció Ecologista Agró. Ospreys are often seen on passage in our region, especially during post breeding migration when they stop to rest and feed at many of the coastal wetlands that make the Valencia area so bird-rich. However, as a breeding species, they became extinct in the Valencian Community in the 1980´s, their final nesting site being in Alicante Province. They managed to cling on to breeding territories in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, but due to many and varied…

Birding in the Wetlands of Alicante

Having spent much of the summer birding around the area surrounding my house in the highlands of the interior of Alicante, last week I was happy to enjoy a change of scenery and to visit one of the region´s premium wetland sites with Wendy McNeill. A keen birder, Wendy is also an accomplished musician, and often finds inspiration in nature for much of her work. She is currently working on a number of projects where she uses art as a vehicle to get across the message of how we should value and protect nature. Today was about discovering a new area for her but also to provide such inspiration from what she saw. So, instead of working to develop a tick list, we focussed much more on looking carefully at the environment, its bird life and some of the stories behind its key species. Our first stop was to simply watch with amazement the thousands of Greater Flamingo that were feeding and resting in the salt marshes. This year, Greater Flamingo has successfully bred in Alicante – the first time in 37 years! Greater Flamingo As we watched them, we…

Improvements to Mountain Birdlife Spring & Summer Trip!

Our “Mountain Birdlife – Spring & Summer” trip has been an extremely popular choice from the moment of its creation and I´ve had many happy days with clients who have enjoyed the magnificent birds that can be seen on this outing. However, I´m always looking to improve and evolve and one of the relatively few positives that the Corona Virus situation has given me is more time to do just that. I´ve spent a few days exploring some new areas around the general vicinity of the sites where this trip takes us to, with a view to adding more habitat diversity. After a few unproductive outings, my efforts were rewarded and I´m now delighted to report that I´ve been able to improve this already fabulous trip. Last week, I carried out a “test drive” using my friend John as a willing guinea pig! We made the comfortable and very scenic journey from Valencia, and stopped briefly at our first spot to look for Bonelli´s Eagle. After only a few moments, we had super views of a young bird in flight. (This trip can also be adapted to include a session…

A morning at my local wetland site.

As (Corona Virus) restrictions are currently being eased, I recently enjoyed a morning´s birding at one of our local wetland sites with my old friend John. We´d arranged a birding trip together just before the lockdown so had to cancel and for obvious reasons hadn´t seen each other since early March. Although I´ve been birding regularly on my own, this was my first trip with another person, so the social aspect was most welcome! Applying the measures with regard to masks, distancing and common sense, we met and began our morning with a walk along the coastal stretch of the site. We immediately heard the song of Common Reed Warbler and then spotted a Turtle Dove that flew by. Then we had good views of my “lockdown bird” Zitting Cisticola, so named as during the time when I couldn´t leave my neighboorhood in Valencia, I found lots of them inhabiting patches of waste ground and urban allotments. A Great Reed Warbler then popped onto the top of a reed and began singing right in front of us, which is always a fabulous thing to see. We decided to spend a…