Birding in Alicante - Bird Watching in Alicante Guided Tours

A Cloudy Day in Alicante Revealed Some Great Birds

The past couple of weeks have been exceptionally wet in the east of Spain, with some areas receiving a year’s worth of rain in around ten days! Although this bodes well for the coming spring, as water levels were unseasonally low, it hasn’t provided great conditions for birding! So, with a change of plan, last weekend I headed to the wetlands of Alicante instead of the high steppe. The trip was for David, a regular client from the UK, who I always look forward to seeing. Almost all of the region was subject to rain, but we chose a little corner of Alicante that looked to be cloudy but with very little rainfall. We expected quite a lot of mud, so after the drive to the coast, we put on wellingtons and headed out across the reserve. We immediately heard and then saw Corn Buntings, and then with an eye on the skies, enjoyed views of passing Red-rumped Swallows, Barn Swallows and House Martins, together with my first Common Swifts and Alpine Swifts of the year. Migration was well and truly underway! Red-knobbed Coot As we walked along the shore…

Children´s Presentation On House Martins

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of giving two presentations to groups of children from two schools close to my home in Banyeres de Mariola, in rural Alicante. The presentations were about House Martins, a bird that has suffered a huge decline in numbers across central and northern Europe in recent years. In Banyeres de Mariola, there is a healthy population of House Martins, with nesting colonies present throughout the village. The aim of the talks was to raise awareness, create interest and to help the children to value these little birds that return from Africa each year to breed here. The children were between six and eight years of age, and it was such a pleasure to see them so interested in the topic of nature, migration and conservation. Our next potential steps are to do a nest census, counting the number of active nests in the village, and to install some artificial nest cups. Many thanks to all involved in making this project happen, especially the Tourist Information Office of Banyeres de Mariola. Esta semana, tuve el placer de hacer dos presentaciones a grupos de niños de…

Migration time at the wetlands of Valencia!

This time of year is always really exciting, as the spring migration is getting underway, so new arrivals are always popping up – be they summer visitors or birds on passage. There are still a few winter visitors hanging around too, which always add to the enjoyment of birding here in March. Audouin’s Gull Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting Suzanne, a very well travelled and keen American birder, and of spending a day exploring one of Valencia’s many coastal wetlands with her. We made the short trip from the city and were soon on the beach, watching Audouin’s Gulls, a passing Hoopoe and a Black Redstart. As we strolled up the coast, watching over a lagoon we had views of Shoveler, Gadwall, Common Pochard, Red Crested Pochard, Teal and a Garganey. Cetti’s Warblers were calling from all around us, and squabbling with each other for territory. A Kingfisher made a brief appearance, and Reed Buntings and Zitting Cisticolas were plentiful. Zitting Cisticola We made a stop at an observatory, again overlooking a lagoon, and set up the scope. This gave us great views of White Headed Duck…

A sunny February day on the steppe.

The steppe zone that´s located to the south west of the region is an area of extremely high, open plains that in winter can be subject to gale-force winds and sub-zero temperatures. However, last Friday was an exceptional day, with clear blue skies, virtually no wind and temperatures touching 20 degrees C! The birding trip had been arranged by a local lady for her husband John, as a Christmas present, and after a chat on the phone, we’d decided on the steppe. The day began as usual with a coffee stop in a small farming village before we headed across the fields in search of birds. Our first stop, a vantage point with huge views, saw large flocks of Linnets, a few Crested Larks and a Spotless Starling that posed nicely for a photo. Spotless Starling We then moved to an old farm whose outbuildings provide nesting spots for colonies of sparrows. We actually saw three species – House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow and Rock Sparrow, including a leucistic House Sparrow that was almost uniformly white. Buzzards were circling above us in the warming air, and Corn Buntings were calling from…

A February Day at Albufera de Valencia with Judy

I recently had the pleasure of providing a day of guided birding at Albufera de Valencia for an Englsih lady called Judy, who has lived in southern France for many years. A very well travelled and experienced birder, she wanted to explore this huge wetland site and to experience at first hand the bird life that thrives here. Having collected Judy from her hotel, we made the short trip to one of Albufera’s key reserve area where we looked out over a small lagoon. Here we saw Greenshank, Dunlin, Black-winged Stilt, Teal, Shelduck and Common Pochard. A Zitting Cisticola called from nearby reeds and Chiffchaffs and Sardinian Warblers constantly flitted around, feeding on insects in the vegetation. We then stopped at a salt-water lagoon where we had quality views of Black-necked Grebe, Little Egret and Slender-billed Gull. Crag Martins were feeding on the wing in huge numbers, and whilst we were watching them, a Booted Eagle suddenly flew over, circling above us, giving excellent views. We then headed across the rice fields, stopping along the way to watch Marsh Harriers hunting over the reed beds. In the muddy rice paddies…

Masses of Gulls & Glossy Ibis at Albufera de Valencia

As is often said, “a picture paints a thousand words”. But in this case, it’s a video that I hope portrays the sheer spectacle that I experienced at the huge wetland site of Albufera de Valencia yesterday morning. At this time of year, the flooded rice fields are drained and ploughed in readiness for the planting phase. This results in the earth and mud being churned up, revealing a rich food source for thousands of ibis, gulls and egrets. It’s hard to express what the sight of such vast numbers of birds is actually like – even still photos don’t really do justice. This is why I chose to shoot this short video and share it with you. On this occasion, the majority of gulls were Black-headed, although in amongst them there was a Common Gull too! But the Starling-like murmurations of Glossy Ibis are the key spectacle. I hope you enjoy it!