Bird Photography in Valencia

Last week, I had the pleasure of providing a birding break in Valencia for a client from Cambridge, England.   Stephen is an experienced wildlife photographer and a keen birder and wanted to focus on bird photography in Valencia. He was visiting Valencia and wanted to discover the habitats and bird life of this extremely diverse region and to capture this on film.  I planned a 2 day trip for him.  One to the mountains and other to the wetlands. On day 1, I collected him from his hotel and after an hour´s drive we stopped for a morning coffee and a talk about the species that we were hoping to see. As soon we parked, Griffon Vultures appeared in abundance.  Hundreds of House Martins were passing through on migration. Whilst we were walking through the mountain gorge, we enjoyed great views of Sub-alpine Warbler, Sardinian Warbler and Common Whitethroat.  At the end of the walk, we were finally rewarded with views of Black Redstart and a brief view of Blue Rock Thrush. Lizards and spiders also formed part of the photographic interest.  It had been a great day in…

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Birding and Nature Photography Trip

Yesterday I provided a birding and nature photography trip for a client from Italy.  It was his second trip to Valencia and he wanted to photograph some of the fabulous bird species of the Albufera de Valencia Natural Park. I collected him from his hotel in the city of Valencia where he´s spending a week´s holiday with his family.  As he´s a keen wildlife photographer, he´d contacted Valencia Birding to arrange a day trip which would be close to the city whilst visiting some of the areas natural spaces. At this time of the year, the bird life in l´Albufera is distributed in different areas of the park, depending on which rice fields have been ploughed, thus influencing food availability.  So, our first stop was in the western part of the Natural Park, where we found an amazing sight – over 2,000 flamingos, plus thousands of gulls, egrets, herons and glossy ibis. After this wonderful spectacle, we visited a protected reserve area with a magnificent biodiversity.  Species included Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit and Greenshank. Next stop was in the Devesa forest, a natural native Mediterranean pine forest.  We watched and photographed…

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Wildlife & Landscape Photography at Albufera de Valencia

On Saturday 19th October we held the first of our Wildlife & Landscape Photography Courses at Albufera de Valencia. Valencia Birding, Mabel Jover and Vicente “El Torrenti” teamed up to provide an intensive day of practical and theory sessions in and around the Natural Park of Albufera de Valencia. Special thanks must go to the superb nature reserve Tancat de la Pipa for providing a great venue for the morning´s theory and practical sessions. The day started with morning coffee at the traditional Albufera fishing port at Catarroja where everyone had the chance to meet each other and to discuss the general plan for the day. After a brief drive to Tancat de la Pipa, we began the course with a theory session that was based upon : – Camera Settings. – Exposure. – Shutter Speeds. – Techniques for landscape images. – Techniques for bird photography, and how to capture images of them both still and in flight. There then followed a practical session within the nature reserve before we headed out across the partially flooded rice fields to capture shots of Cattle Egrets, Little Egrets and Herons…all classic species…

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Wildlife Photography for Beginners

In conjunction with naturalist and Albufera boatman “El Torrenti” and professional photographer Mabel Jover, we are delighted to launch a one-day wildlife photography course at Albufera de Valencia. By combining our diverse areas of expertise, this course will provide the opportunity to visit some of the lesser known areas of Albufera de Valencia, learn the correct photographic techniques for capturing images of its birdlife and landscape, and to learn much more about the bird species that this beautiful Natural Park provides home to. For further specific details please contact us by email NatureTrailSpain@gmail.com or telephone +34633117310    

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