Denia Bird Watching - Page 18 of 18 - Valencia Birding

2 Day Birding Break in Valencia

I recently provided a 2 day birding break in Valencia for a couple of returning clients from my home town of Sheffield. It was fantastic to welcome Jonathan and Caroline back to Valencia and to spend these days together with them. They first came last autumn when they visited the wetlands of Albufera de Valencia and the mountains with us. They were keen to see Albufera again, but in winter and also wanted to visit the steppe, in particular to see Great Bustards. This time they were visiting with friends and were combining a cultural city break with a couple of days of birding. On day one, we made the short trip to Albufera, and started birding as soon as we began the journey by watching a Booted Eagle who has made Valencia port his winter home this year. We then visited a reserve area where we sat in a couple of hides for a while and enjoyed views of Shelduck, Teal, Marsh Harrier and more Booted Eagles. We then spent a little time watching a rice field that held plenty of Snipe and in the surrounding reeds we saw Tree…

Winter Birding in the Mountains of Valencia.

Yesterday, I was delighted to kick-off the new year at Valencia Birding with a trip for a fantastic couple of clients from Germany. Olaf and Marina are experienced and well travelled birders and had requested a day of winter birding in the mountains of Valencia as part of their new year break. The weather forecast was perfect – cool but sunny and with little or no wind. After a comfortable journey from their apartment in Valencia, we arrived at our destination and once fuelled with coffee we began our walk. The first twenty minutes of the route that lead up through semi-open mountain forest was fairly quiet, but after that we were soon enjoying great views of Crested Tit, Coal Tit and Long-tailed Tit. As we approached the high point of the route, we paused to check out some movement in a pine tree and were rewarded with views of Firecrest. A few more minutes walking took us to the summit of a rocky peak where we were hoping to see Alpine Accentors, one of the day´s key target species. A little searching revealed two birds, feeding on a rocky…