Alpine Accentor in Spain - Page 2 of 2 - Valencia Birding

Winter Press Trip.

The week before Christmas, I spent four fabulous days with three of the UK´s leading writers from the birding world – Dominic Mitchell, David Chandler and David Callahan. With the support of the Tourism Department of the Valencian Comminity, Turespaña, Hotel Gran Playa Santa Pola and the Tourism Departments of the provinces of Castellon and Valencia, we designed and organised this press trip to showcase the value and attraction of the Valencia region as a winter birding destination. With additional input from Carolina Garcia (Reigos Levante), Pau Lucio (Bird Watching Spain) and Virgilio Beltran (Actio Birding), we put together a trip that took us to all three provinces and a huge diversity of habitats. Each day had its priority species, most of which were winter visitors to the area although some special resident species were included too. On the first day, we only had a few hours as the flight arrived in Alicante in the early afternoon. Therefore we headed straight for the saltpans of Santa Pola. Here we soon began to list a good number of species, the highlights including Spoonbill, Purple Swamphen, Audouin´s Gull, Greater Flamingo and Osprey. …

2 day guided birding break from Valencia

I recently had the pleasure to provide a 2 day guided birding break from Valencia for a couple of returning clients from England. It was fantastic to welcome Saff and Andy back to Valencia and spend these days together with them. They first came last autumn when they were guided by Dave to the wetlands of Albufera de Valencia. They became good friends and decided to meet for a coffee the day before the trips. They were keen to see different species and habitats this time, so we decided to visit the steppe and the mountains to provide them with their target species in these diverse environments. They were staying in the city centre combining a cultural city break with a couple of days of birding. On day one, we made the trip to the steppe, the goal of the day was Great Bustard. So after a journey to the area of interest we started birding as soon as we arrived, scanning the fields. At first we had good sightings of Crested Larks, Thekla Lark, Rock Sparrow and Iberian Grey Shrike. On the way to the next site, we had…

2 day winter birding break.

February continued to be a busy month with this fabulous 2 day winter birding break for a lovely couple who have become friends and loyal clients of Valencia Birding. Not only have they been out with us on numerous occassions, but they also made the effort to visit us at BirdFair in the UK last year. It was therefore a great pleasure to welcome back Jan and Rab. They were making one of their regular visits to Spain and once more had chosen to incorporate a birding trip into their plans. After previous discussion, they had opted to make Banyeres de Mariola their base for two nights, being well placed for some of the regions best sites. On day one we met for morning coffee in a small town in the Alicante province, after which we made the short journey to the starting point of our mountain bird trip. We had originally planned to do a much longer mountain walk but the recent cold spell had left many of the north facing mountain trails covered in ice, so we chose a shorter route that should give us most of the…

5-Day Birding Holiday

We recently provided a 5-day birding holiday for a group of RSPB members from Northern Ireland. It was made more special by the fact that the leader of the group had previously attended a trip with us and had recommended us to her local group. We´d worked with Pat to design a tailor-made trip, focussing on habitat diversity, a few special target species and authentic and traditional accommodation. As such, we put together a 2-centre break. They arrived at Alicante airport on an evening flight from Belfast, where we were waiting to welcome them. After their arrival we made the easy journey up into the rural interior of Alicante Province and to their guest house for the first half of the trip, L´Alqueria del Pilar, a converted farmhouse in the village of Banyeres de Mariola. After a good night´s rest and a leisurely start we began our first day : Day 1 – Mountains The first day was designed to include very little travelling, and a walk in the mountains of the Sierra de Mariola Natural Park. The plan for the morning was a circular walk of some 5kms, through high…

6-Day Winter Bird Watching Holiday

The huge habitat diversity of the Valencia region of Spain allows us to provide a superb 6 day birding holiday. In late February of this year, we were fortunate to deliver exactly that for Gourmet Birds, a well established specialist bird watching holiday provider from UK. We´d worked very closely with them to design a bespoke trip, taking in some of the region´s best birding venues and carefully selected accommodation to hopefully result in a memorable trip. Day 1 – Salt Marshes and Lagoons The group arrived relatively early into Alicante airport. Therefore, without wanting to make the first day too long, we did choose to spend a few hours birding at a couple of the salt marshes that are situated within very easy reach of the airport. The usual Flamingoes were feeding on the salt marshes in huge numbers, providing a striking welcome to Spain for our guests! As we strolled by the first lagoons, we also enjoyed views of Audouin´s Gull, Little Stint, Shelduck, Reed Bunting and Black Redstart. We were also treated to views of three Spoonbills in flight. We then moved on to another site that…

Birding in the mountains of Valencia

Day 3 of Charles´4-day birding trip to Valencia took us to the inland mountains of the province of Alicante. Birding in the mountains of Valencia doesn´t usually yield an extremely long species list, but with a little effort it can provide views of some very special species that thrive in the rocky peaks of the region. After the easy drive from the city, we stopped for a morning coffee in a small town, allowing sufficient time for the morning mist to clear from the peaks and valleys. We were already at a height of 600 metres, and the mist cover had brought the temperatures down to around 6 degrees C. However, the sun soon began to break through, allowing us to begin the short walk through a dramatic rocky gorge. The first species that we spotted included one of the day´s targets – the Blue Rock Thrush. Although the male is much brigher blue in the breeding season, even in it´s winter plumage it´s still a striking bird. We then spent a little time trying to get good views of the often illusive Sardinian Warbler, but were suddenly interupted…