Bird Watching in Valencia - Page 16 of 65 - Valencia Birding

Birding in the Wetlands of Alicante

Having spent much of the summer birding around the area surrounding my house in the highlands of the interior of Alicante, last week I was happy to enjoy a change of scenery and to visit one of the region´s premium wetland sites with Wendy McNeill. A keen birder, Wendy is also an accomplished musician, and often finds inspiration in nature for much of her work. She is currently working on a number of projects where she uses art as a vehicle to get across the message of how we should value and protect nature. Today was about discovering a new area for her but also to provide such inspiration from what she saw. So, instead of working to develop a tick list, we focussed much more on looking carefully at the environment, its bird life and some of the stories behind its key species. Our first stop was to simply watch with amazement the thousands of Greater Flamingo that were feeding and resting in the salt marshes. This year, Greater Flamingo has successfully bred in Alicante – the first time in 37 years! Greater Flamingo As we watched them, we…

There seem to be some birds that are always with us.

It´s well documented that during the Corona Virus lockdown, many of us found comfort and indeed inspiration in watching the birds that immediately surrounded us. Since the quarantine, I´ve adopted a slower pace to my own personal birding trips, choosing to spend more time standing or sitting still and connecting much more with the nature around me. Only this morning whilst I was having my cup of tea in the garden, a juvenile White Wagtail landed right beside me, chased a few insects and flew off towards the pond. A Sardinian Warbler then flitted between the low bushes next to me. Then, as I was looking out of the kitchen window, a Western Bonelli´s Warbler appeared in one of the nearby pine trees. Special moments indeed. It was during a recent birding session that it occurred to me that there are some birds that have always been part of our lives and seem to accompany us wherever we are. For me, such a bird is the Common Swift. I´m often asked which is my favourite bird, and although it´s a difficult one to answer, I always have to say Common…

A note from the hills of Alicante.

As the World remains constrained within the grip of the Corona Virus pandemic, like so many others, I´m finding such peace and inspiration from the birds around me. As every year, I´ve moved away from Valencia to spend the summer months in our little house in the hills in the rural interior of Alicante Province. The house is exceptionally simple but is surrounded by rolling hills, crags and olive groves. I often base myself here when working with clients who wish to discover this almost unknown corner of Spain and I always love to share this very special place and the joy that its bird life brings to others. As this year, for obvious reasons, that´s not possible, I´d like to share a few special moments with you by writing. I´ve been here for around two weeks now, and the first week is usually a busy one, preparing the house and doing a few repair jobs. However, on most days, a group of Griffon Vultures have appeared, circling over the valley. A Hoopoe often visits the garden and the Bee Eaters are once again nesting in the lane that leads…

Improvements to Mountain Birdlife Spring & Summer Trip!

Our “Mountain Birdlife – Spring & Summer” trip has been an extremely popular choice from the moment of its creation and I´ve had many happy days with clients who have enjoyed the magnificent birds that can be seen on this outing. However, I´m always looking to improve and evolve and one of the relatively few positives that the Corona Virus situation has given me is more time to do just that. I´ve spent a few days exploring some new areas around the general vicinity of the sites where this trip takes us to, with a view to adding more habitat diversity. After a few unproductive outings, my efforts were rewarded and I´m now delighted to report that I´ve been able to improve this already fabulous trip. Last week, I carried out a “test drive” using my friend John as a willing guinea pig! We made the comfortable and very scenic journey from Valencia, and stopped briefly at our first spot to look for Bonelli´s Eagle. After only a few moments, we had super views of a young bird in flight. (This trip can also be adapted to include a session…

A morning at my local wetland site.

As (Corona Virus) restrictions are currently being eased, I recently enjoyed a morning´s birding at one of our local wetland sites with my old friend John. We´d arranged a birding trip together just before the lockdown so had to cancel and for obvious reasons hadn´t seen each other since early March. Although I´ve been birding regularly on my own, this was my first trip with another person, so the social aspect was most welcome! Applying the measures with regard to masks, distancing and common sense, we met and began our morning with a walk along the coastal stretch of the site. We immediately heard the song of Common Reed Warbler and then spotted a Turtle Dove that flew by. Then we had good views of my “lockdown bird” Zitting Cisticola, so named as during the time when I couldn´t leave my neighboorhood in Valencia, I found lots of them inhabiting patches of waste ground and urban allotments. A Great Reed Warbler then popped onto the top of a reed and began singing right in front of us, which is always a fabulous thing to see. We decided to spend a…

Fabulous News – Greater Flamingo Breeds Successfully in Alicante.

A combination of factors have combined to provide the ideal conditions for Greater Flamingo to breed successfully at one of Alicante´s salt marshes for the first time in 37 years! This site is one that we usually include in our multi-day birding breaks and is very reliable for Greater Flamingo, but the news that they have been able to successfully breed there is delightful. More about the factors that have provided such ideal conditions… In January of this year, the region suffered from huge storms with incredibly high rainfall. Following this, early Spring in Alicante was also much wetter than usual. This resulted in the water levels at all wetland sites increasing, but as this sudden increase was due to rainfall, it also reduced the salinity of the water. The reduction in salinity then resulted in a huge increase in the population of the brine shrimp Artemia salina, the principal food of Greater Flamingo. The birds also enjoyed a period of relative calm, firstly as there were far fewer humans around because of the Corona Virus lockdown, and secondly because predators such as foxes could not get close to the…