An Autumn Day on the Steppe

Bird Watching Holidays

Last Friday morning dawned into a beautiful bright autumn day, a little breezy, but dry with no rain forecast. Perhaps a perfect day to venture up onto the high steppe region that lies around 90 minutes drive west of Valencia. So, together with Maria Jose and Itziar of Magic&Nature, that´s exactly what I did. Following the lockdown in the Spring and then the scorching summer heat up there, this was the first time in months that I´d visited this area and it certainly felt good to be back. Firstly, we called into my favourite bar to say hi to the owner and to grab a quick coffee before we headed out onto the fields. Almost as soon as we stopped at the first viewpoint, we saw a Red Kite and a Buzzard. Crested Larks were calling from the scrub close to us and large flocks of Linnets were flitting around. Onwards we pressed, to check out some old farm buildings that usually hold Rock Sparrow. We were in luck and enjoyed great views of these pretty yet tough little birds. It was time to scan the fields with the scope,…

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Migration Medley!

Valencia Birding

“Bluethroat!” Followed closely by… “Squacco Heron!” “Barn Swallow!” “Teal!” All birds that one could expect to see at different times of year here in Valencia, but the wonderful thing about birding during the autumn migration period is the fabulous overlap that occurs. This is exactly what I enjoyed this last week as I spent a morning at my local coastal wetland. After a long spell of hot weather, I was relieved to wake to a cloudy morning with no wind, so headed down to the coast to see what was around. Bluethroat As soon as I began my walk, I heard and then caught a glimpse of a Cetti´s Warbler. Whilst trying to get a better view of this illusive creature, I heard a few Common Reed Warblers calling to each other. As I watched and waited, I saw a group of nine of them, feeding in the reeds and working their way through the reserve. Common Reed Warbler is a summer visitor and breeds each year at this site, but during the morning I saw over thirty birds, all presumably on passage. All the time I was on site,…

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Autumn 2020 Bulletin

Dear all, I´d like to begin this Bulletin by sending my sincere and best wishes to you all.  2020 has provided trying times for us all, and I hope that you are all well and that you continue to remain safe and healthy. The lockdown that we all endured only served to reinforce the importance and uplifting effects of having birds around us. Like many, in the early days of the pandemic, I was confined to birding from our balcony for many weeks, and later only in the immediate neighbourhood, before being finally granted the permission to travel further. On that note, I´d like to extend my thanks to all who wrote during this time to share details of their bird sightings.  This helped to bring positivity and to underline the  fact that we´re all in this together!  My local birding experience revealed a few surprises, including the number of raptors that passed over the city of Valencia on Spring migration, including Marsh Harriers, Short Toed Eagles and Lesser Kestrel.  I found a pair of Whitethroats that were nesting right next to our apartment, and saw huge numbers of Zitting Cisticolas…

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Urban Birding in Valencia

As previously detailed, here in Spain, we´re now enjoying a little more freedom as the Covid-19 lockdown is being gradually eased.  We have a short time-slot in the mornings and again in the evenings when we´re able to go for a walk within a 1km radius of home.  I´m not yet able to make the short trip to my local wetlands, beach or to the mountains that I can see from home, but the new situation has given me the opportunity to look much closer at the bird life that´s on my doorstep. Only last night, whilst strolling around the neighbourhood, I heard a singing Nightingale, saw hundreds of Swifts, a Kestrel and a Glossy Ibis in flight.  But the point of this article is to outline in a little more detail my outing last Sunday morning. Our neighbourhood of Benimaclet enjoys what you could term as the “best of both worlds” in that it was once a village, separated from the city of Valencia, so still has many of the original houses, narrow streets and church square.  It´s very much a family orientated residential area, and is within a…

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A short “birding break” in Valencia.

I´ve often said and written that it´s a real privilege to welcome back returning clients, and last week was one of these special occasions.  I´d first met Alexia from Sweden a couple of years ago when she booked a day´s birding with us.  She subsequently returned a year later, this time in Spring and with her friend Lena, and we enjoyed a fabulous day in the mountains and a day at the wetlands.  This was her third time with us, and she´d carefully designed a break to include a couple of days in the historical town of Xativa and a short stay in the city of Valencia as well as two days of birding with us.   As we´d planned to visit the steppe, I collected Alexia from her hotel in the historic quarter of Xativa as it´s on the way from Valencia.  It was such a pleasure to welcome her back!  We continued the journey and after a quick coffee stop, we began exploring.  Numerous flocks of Linnet were flitting around, and we also had good views of Crested Lark, Black Redstart, Stonechat and Rock Sparrow. Some scanning of…

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A special time to be at Albufera

Last Friday, I provided a day trip for Andy and Lydia from the UK.  They were spending a weekend in Valencia and wanted to include a day´s birding in their break.  The vast wetland site of Albufera de Valencia is surrounded by rice fields, and the different phases of the rice cycle influence greatly the habitat and therefore bird life of the park.  During the month of February, the flooded fields and gradually drained and ploughed, and the sight of huge flocks of gulls, egrets, herons and ibises that follow the tractors is one not to be missed.  More on that later… We began our visit at one of the park´s protected reserve areas, where we started the day with perhaps one of the highlights, a Ferruginous Duck that was resting in amongst a group of Common Pochard.  Other wildfowl included Shelduck, Red Crested Pochard and Teal.   We then turned our attention to shorebirds, and enjoyed views of Black-winged Stilt, Ruff, Greenshank and both Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits.  Crag Martins were feeding in flights and Marsh Harriers passed over the reed beds.  A Booted Eagle came to rest in a…

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