I’m writing this after a very busy spring period packed with day trips and birding holidays for clients from across Europe and the States. The wetter than usual start to the year means that our wetlands all have plenty of water so are in really good shape, and gave us plenty of very happy days. Nesting and rearing young is in full swing, with good numbers of Collared Pratincoles, and mixed colonies of Terns including Common, Sandwich, Little, Elegant, Gull-billed and Whiskered.
Whiskered Tern
Collared Pratincole with Little Tern
The wetlands of the region also hold species that are on almost everyone’s “to see” list. Perhaps the most popular of these are White Headed Duck, Marbled Teal and Red-Knobbed Coot.
White Headed Duck
Marbled Teal
Red Knobbed Coot with chick
Recent multi-day birding holidays also took in the mountainous peaks of the inland of Alicante, where Griffon Vultures rule the skies. These giants share their habitat with raptors including Peregrine Falcon, Golden Eagle, Bonelli’s Eagle and Short Toed Eagle. Smaller neighbours, but still fabulous to see in their dramatic surroundings include Chough, Raven, Crag Martin, Alpine Swift, Blue Rock Thrush and Black Wheatear.
Griffon Vulture
Blue Rock Thrush
Black Wheatear
When on multi-day birding holidays, we always venture to the far corners of the region where olive groves end and steppe habitat begins. This environment needs some effort, but the rewards are great, and during the spring, the fields are bordered by wonderful displays of poppies. Our recent ventures into this area have rewarded us with sightings of Great Bustard, Stone Curlew, Iberian Grey Shrike, Woodchat Shrike, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Calandra Lark, Short Toed Lark, Thekla Lark, Rock Sparrow and Lesser Kestrel, to name just a few.
Great Bustards
Spring wild flowers bordering cereal fields
Calandra Lark
No trip to the region is complete without taking a trip to the Mediterranian coast to see some of the gulls of the area, and this is what we’ve done many times in the recent weeks. Here, favourites include gulls such as Audouin’s, Slender Billed and Mediterranean.
Slender Billed Gull
Audouin’s Gull
This spring has been extremely busy, and I’ve been blessed with so many lovely and really interesting people, I’m very grateful to all the new and returning clients that have made the season so great. We’ve enjoyed many happy days together, hopefully building birding memories that will last. The month of June also looks to be busy, but I’ll post more on that later!
Written by Dave Warrington.
Valencia Birding.