bird watching costa blanca - Page 14 of 14 - Valencia Birding

Birding in Valencia

This is Day 2 of the 4-Day trip that we recently provided for Charles from London. One of the biggest advantages of birding in Valencia is the close proximity to some wonderfully varied habitat. After yesterday´s trip to the steppe, today we visited the coastal wetlands followed by a visit to a highland forest overlooking the Gulf of Valencia. The day began with a short drive along the coast to one of the region´s superb wetlands. However, before we arrived at the usual starting point, something over the sea caught our eye. We found a safe place to stop, and quickly took our binoculars. We were greeted with the amazing sight of a huge flock of shearwaters, skimming low over the water. Closer inspection revealed that it was a mixed flock of Yelkouan and Balearic Shearwaters. Both species are frequently seen along the Valencian coast throughout the winter months – a superb start to the day! As we were watching the Shearwaters, dozens of Crag Martins were flying around us, picking off airborne insects. These resident martins breed on the high cliffs of the region´s mountains but each winter they…

January 2016 Bulletin

Introduction We´d like to begin this bulletin as usual by wishing everyone a very happy and safe New Year. We hope that 2015 was a good birding year for you all and that 2016 will bring even more pleasures. Although the time has passed extremely quickly, it´s now a year since Yanina joined Valencia Birding, and together we´ve made huge progress. We´d like to briefly review what´s been a great year for us and to provide you with an update of our news and developments. To help us to maximize the levels of service and experience that our clients enjoy, we´ve made some additional investments this year. This includes a recent new vehicle, as well as some upgrades to binoculars and cameras. As always, in 2015 we had the pleasure of meeting some great clients from all over the World, and have enjoyed some superb birding trips together. We´ve also been especially privileged to welcome back many returning clients, some for their third return visit. Trip Advisor Our clients are absolutely central to all that we do, and whilst we´re on that subject, we´d like to extend a heart-felt thanks…

2 Day Birding Break in Valencia

Yanina and I have recently provided a couple of days of guided birding for clients from Paris. They had planned a winter break in this beautiful city and had previously contacted us to arrange a 2 day birding break in Valencia as part of their trip. We´d discussed the best options for this time of year, and had agreed upon a day in Albufera and the coastal wetlands, followed by a day exploring the steppe and lagoons of Castilla de la Mancha. They were well travelled and experienced birders and were eager to see what this area offers. The truth is that we had a couple of fabulous days…both of which held some amazing surprises! Day 1 – Albufera & Coastal Wetlands Having collected Christine and Alastair from central Valencia, we drove to Albufera where together with Yanina, we went into one of the park´s restricted reserve areas. Whilst driving through the flooded rice paddies, we had great views of Glossy Ibis, Great Egret and Southern Grey Shrike, indeed a good start to the day. Once in the reserve, we stopped to scan over a small lagoon and enjoyed views…