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 to head for a hide, where we’d be under the cover of a roof! It indeed began to rain a few minutes before our arrival, but thanks to the heat of the day, we soon dried out! Once in the hide, we had views of Collared Pratincole, Greater Flamingo, Glossy Ibis, Black-winged Stilt and Great Crested Grebe. The nearby bushes held Spotless Starling and Tree Sparrow. A Great Reed Warbler was singing in front of the hide, giving great views.
Collared Pratincole
The rain soon cleared so we headed for another observatory where we had good views of White Headed Duck (with young), Red Crested Pochard, Common Sandpiper and Purple Heron. We walked back along the beach to check out another lagoon, where we saw Night Heron, Marsh Harrier, Purple Swamphen and Great Egret.
Female White Headed Duck with young
We visited a bar for a coffee break, chatting and looking out to sea. The weather was holding fine so I suggested that we visit the inland part of the reserve. This rewarded us with views of plenty more Marsh Harriers, Red Crested Pochard and Little Grebe. The day was brought to a close by a lovely sighting of Turtle Dove. The minute that we arrived back at the car, the rain started again. Great timing! Despite the unsettled weather, we’d made the most of the day and our efforts had been rewarded by some great birding moments. It had been a pleasure to see Jeff and Dee again – birding in good company is about as good as it gets!
Turtle Dove
The species list for the day included…
Common Pochard, Mallard, Serin, Audouin’s Gull, Black Headed Gull, Yellow Legged Gull, Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Whiskered Tern, Collared Pratincole, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Greater Flamingo, Barn Swallow, Swift, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Little Tern, Spotless Starling, Tree Sparrow, Cormorant, Black Winged Stilt, Glossy Ibis, White Headed Duck, Common Sandpiper, Red Crested Pochard, Purple Swamphen, Great Egret, Moorhen, Night Heron, Purple Heron, Magpie, Marsh Harrier, House Martin, Turtle Dove, Wood Pigeon, Kestrel, House Sparrow, Collared Dove, House Martin.
Written by Dave Warrington.