bird watching trips Valencia - Page 5 of 40 - Valencia Birding

Another productive autumn day at Albufera de Valencia

7th October 2022 At this time of year, our wetlands are particularly interesting as many migrants, especially shorebirds, are passing through the region on their voyage from Europe to Africa. Today’s trip was for Mary from New Mexico, who was visiting Valencia with a friend and was keen to fit in a day’s birding whilst here. It was another grey day, as storm fronts had been moving through for a few days, but we succeeded in staying dry throughout the trip, despite being surrounded by sharp, localised showers. Marbled Teal Our first spot, at a reserve area, gave us a couple of very welcome surprises – Marbled Teal and a Collared Pratincole (October is relatively late for both, although Marbled Teal can often be seen in the south of the region). As we were sitting in the hide, a Kingfisher made a brief appearance, perching beautifully in front of us for a minute or so, before flying off into the reeds. Kingfisher Careful scanning then revealed a Teal, probably recently arrived as this is a winter visitor here, a Grey Plover and a Common Sandpiper. The next hide gave views…

Avoiding the storms at Albufera de Valencia

6th October 2022 It had been some time since Paul, a retired farmer from the UK, had contacted me to arrange a day’s birding at Albufera so it was a pleasure to finally meet him. He was taking a break with family and friends in the city of Valencia and was keen to include a birding trip in his plans. The long, hot summer is finally coming to an end, and as always in early autumn, we´ve had a few storms lately. The forecast for the day of our trip included an amber warning for heavy rain, but knowing that such weather can be very localised, we opted to meet as planned. I collected Paul from his hotel under a grey sky, and as we made the short drive to Albufera, it did indeed rain quite heavily. However, as soon as we parked the car and got out, the rain stopped! Common Sandpiper Our first site – a small, protected wetland reserve gave us views of Dunlin, Little Stint, Little Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Black Winged Stilt and Greater Flamingo. Wildfowl included Shelduck and Shoveler. This is a great time…

An Early Autumn Day at Albufera de Valencia

Last weekend I provided a day trip to Albufera de Valencia for two lovely and very interesting people from Scotland, who also have a home in the Valencia Region of Spain. The trip was bought by Red for his wife Lorna´s birthday and had been planned for a while. The timing was designed such that the heat of the summer should be behind us and the early autumn migration should provide us with some interesting sightings. Having collected them from Valencia´s very elegant “Valencia Nord” railway station, from where we made the short journey to Albufera, we began the day in a hide from which we saw Greater Flamingo, Avocet, Black Winged Stilt and Common Sandpiper. As we were about to leave, a Green Sandpiper flew into view too. A good start to the trip! Greater Flamingo We strolled through the reserve, listening to Sardinian Warbler and Cett’s Warlber and arrived at the next hide which gave us excellent views of Black Tailed Godwit, Ruff and Shelduck. Lorna and Red were interested to learn more about how this huge wetland was formed, so we returned via the visitor centre where…

Global Bird Fair 2022

July 2022 After the past two years of Covid restrictions and cancellations, and an extremely busy spring 2022 season, it was fabulous to see the Global Bird Fair swing into action at Rutland Showground in England. I had the privilege of attending not only as Valencia Birding, but in a support role for the Valencia Region Tourist Board and the Association of Birding Guides of the same region. For such a major fair, everything had been put together at extremely short notice, and Tim Appleton´s team had obviously done an excellent job of making it all work. As I always say, the work that results in things that go well is all too often invisible, and it was clear that the team of volunteers had been burning the midnight oil. All credit to them! The fair was very well attended, and blessed with wonderful sunshine on all three days. It was great to see the birding community get together again, to meet so many new people, and to catch up with old friends and clients from around the world. We had some great “neighbours” too – the stands next to…

A summer day in the mountains of Valencia

Raptor expert and falconer Paul contacted me earlier in the year to arrange a birding trip to the mountains of Valencia during his short break in the city. The day finally arrived, and coincided with a heatwave across the Iberian peninsula! We spoke a few days prior to the trip to ensure that we would take all necessary precautions, and decided to go ahead! Paul from the UK, a passionate raptor expert We enjoyed a comfortable journey from Valencia, heading inland for around an hour unti we arrived at a historical hill-village where we had a morning coffee with the locals prior to beginning the birding. The trip involves a short walk, which we opted to do at the beginning of the day, before it got too hot. Our stroll through a riverside forest gave us plenty of opportunities to listen to the song of Nightingale, Cetti´s Warbler and Golden Oriole, and gave us views of Spotted Flycatcher, Rock Sparrow, Sardinian Warbler, Blackcap, Serin and Melodious Warbler. Spotted Flycatcher We returned to the car and drove further up the valley where we parked in the shade of some pines and…

10-Day Bird Photography Trip

May 2022 Thanks to the kind support and recommendations of some previous clients from Singapore, I was contacted early this year by Sudip, who was interested in a 10-day bird photography trip in the Valencia Region. After some considerable email exchanges, his priorities and target species became clear, and work began on designing the perfect plan. As he wanted a combination of field and hide photography, ten days gave us the time and opportunity to deliver a twin-centre holiday. Accordingly, the first half of the trip was spent in the province of Alicante, using the beautiful and historical village of Biar as his base. (I stayed in my home in the mountains very close-by). Sudip really appreciates good food too, so I chose an authentic guest house where there is also a high quality restaurant serving local dishes at reasonable prices. For the second half of the trip, we moved to Valencia, where Sudip stayed in a small hotel in the heart of the historical quarter. Biar, in the highland interior of Alicante As the trip was focussed firmly on high quality photography, this report deals with the key species…