Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Hans and his family from the Netherlands. We had previously spoken about their intended trip to Valencia and they’d decided to include two days birding within their week-long break in the city.
Day 1 – Albufera de Valencia.
On our first day, we visited the vast wetland site of Albufera de Valencia, less than 30 minutes drive from the city centre.
This was their first visit to Albufera, and Hans had previously explained that they would like to include an element of culture and history into the day. With that in mind, we began the day at the visitor centre where I provided a brief talk on the heritage, natural history and the cultural aspects of the area. We then went to the first hide where we had views of Greater Flamingo, Little Ringed Plover, Black-winged Stilt and Little Egret. A Kingfisher also made frequent appearences, darting across the lagoon in front of us. Wildfowl included Mallard, Shoveler and Shelduck.
Juvenile Black-winged Stilt
A short walk through the forest gave us views of Long-tailed Tit and Cetti’s Warbler as well as plenty of passing Barn Swallows and Sand Martins. Once at the next hide, we saw Ruff, Avocet, Little Grebe and Little Stint.
We then left the reserve to head across the park to another, protected reserve where “green filters” play a huge role in the improvement of water quality, removing organic contamination through a completely natural process. Once in the reserve we had views of both adult and juvenile Whiskered Tern, Redshank, Marsh Harrier, Great Egret and Cattle Egret. Calls from overhead took our attention to the sky, where we saw a flock of passing Caspian Terns.
Whiskered Tern
September is very much a summer month in Valencia, so by lunchtime it was getting hot. Instead of buying sandwiches and having a picnic, we decided to take a break during the hottest part of the day and go to have a traditional paella lunch (Albufera de Valencia is the birthplace of this most famous Spanish dish). So, for the next hour or so, we enjoyed some quality local cuisine and chatted about birds, family, travels and home. Once we’d finished off with coffees, we headed out across the rice paddies, enjoying views of Marsh Harriers along the way, to a small reserve where I was hoping to see Squacco Heron – one of the targets of the day. Indeed, we did, in fact we saw three resting in the same shady little spot by a pond. Whilst watching them, a Little Bittern flew by too.
Squacco Heron
We ended the day next to a coastal lagoon where we saw Little Gull, Greenshank, Kentish Plover, Common Tern and Little Tern. We also had a brief view of a Booted Eagle in flight. It had been a very successful and most enjoyable day, so already looking forward to our next day together, we made the short journey back to Valencia.
Day 2 – Steppe.
On Sunday morning I collected the family from a very quiet Valencia city centre and we made our way south west to the steppe area of our region. After just under 90 minutes drive, we made a brief stop in a village to enjoy a morning coffee and to buy sandwiches for the day. We then began the birding, the first species being Northern Wheatear and Crested Lark. Barn Swallows were passing through in good numbers and we also saw a few Swifts.
A couple of stops further into the day and we finally got our first view of the day’s key target bird – Great Bustard. A little later as we were driving off-road through farm tracks, we saw these magnificent birds again, this time in flight.
Great Bustards
The weather was cooler than down at the coast, so we set up a few chairs under the shade of some trees by a lagoon and enjoyed lunch whilst watching Little Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Gadwall, Pochard and Greater Flamingo. We were delighted to see so many White Headed Ducks here too – a healthy mixture of male, female and juveniles.
White Headed Duck
After an exploration of the higher steppe where saw Iberian Grey Shrike, Whinchat, Iberian Green Woodpecker, Kestrel, Buzzard and more Wheatears, we ended the day by a lagoon where we saw a small group of Lapwing, Ruff and a Ringed Plover. More than satisfied with all that we’d seen, we decided to head back to Valencia, where we arrived in the early evening, allowing Hans and family to take a rest before choosing a restaurant for dinner.
Whinchat
It had been a great couple of days, with a lovely family, great landscapes and some fabulous bird sightings.
Written by Dave Warrington.