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A bird-packed morning at Albufera de Valencia.

Earlier in the week I enjoyed a bird-packed morning with my friend John at the huge wetland site of Albufera de Valencia. The wetlands that extend throughout the entire length of the region’s coast are especially exciting at this time of year, as the area is located right on a major migration flyway. As with all birding sites, some days are better than others, but today, Albufera didn’t disappoint! One of the coastal lagoons at Albufera de Valencia – vital feeding grounds for passage migrants Our first stop at a small reserve gave views of great numbers of Shelducks as well as Common Pochard, Red Crested Pochard and Teal. We also saw Avocet, Ruff, Black Winged Stilt and plenty of Glossy Ibis, a bird that is now widespread throughout the entire region. Marsh Harriers were still around in good numbers too. Then, as we walked out of the hide through the woods, we saw a small flock of Pallid Swift – my first of the year. The surrounding scrub was full of birdsong – Serin, Cetti’s Warbler, Great Tit and Chaffinch were all making their presence felt! A small flock…

Wetlands of Alicante

The autonomous region of the “Comunidad Valenciana” comprises three provinces – Castellon, Valencia and Alicante. In terms of a birding destination, perhaps the best known is that of Valencia, especially for its huge wetland site of Albufera. However, the province of Alicante contains some fascinating habitats, including some excellent wetland reserves where a great deal of critically important conservation work takes place. Over the years, I´ve enjoyed many trips to this region with clients and friends, so was looking forward to spending last Friday there. The wetlands of Alicante, with its mountainous interior in the background Together with friends Itzy and Bea, I began the day at a coastal saltpan where we saw huge numbers of Greater Flamingo, large gatherings of Great Crested Grebe and Northern Shoveler as well as Audouin´s Gull and Slender-billed Gull. That was all within the first five minutes! We wanted to devote most of our time to the vast wetlands that have played such an important role in the conservation of Marbled Teal and Red-knobbed Coot. This area also provides wintering grounds for Spotted Eagle, which migrate from north east Europe. Their return is always…

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…

Re-introduction of Ospreys to the Valencia Region

Absolute dedication to one of Europe´s most magnificent raptors : The re-introduction of Ospreys to the Valencia Region I was recently very kindly invited to spend the evening with Itzy Colodro Sainz and María José García Roselló of the organisation Magic&Nature to see up close the work they are doing on a project to re-introduce Ospreys to the wetlands of the Valencia Region. This project is supported by local government, specifically Conselleria de Medio Ambiente CV and is backed scientifically by Fundación Migres. At a local level, it is also supported by the Town Halls of Pego, Oliva, Denia and Jávea and is collaborated in by Magic&Nature and Acció Ecologista Agró. Ospreys are often seen on passage in our region, especially during post breeding migration when they stop to rest and feed at many of the coastal wetlands that make the Valencia area so bird-rich. However, as a breeding species, they became extinct in the Valencian Community in the 1980´s, their final nesting site being in Alicante Province. They managed to cling on to breeding territories in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, but due to many and varied…

Winter Press Trip.

The week before Christmas, I spent four fabulous days with three of the UK´s leading writers from the birding world – Dominic Mitchell, David Chandler and David Callahan. With the support of the Tourism Department of the Valencian Comminity, Turespaña, Hotel Gran Playa Santa Pola and the Tourism Departments of the provinces of Castellon and Valencia, we designed and organised this press trip to showcase the value and attraction of the Valencia region as a winter birding destination. With additional input from Carolina Garcia (Reigos Levante), Pau Lucio (Bird Watching Spain) and Virgilio Beltran (Actio Birding), we put together a trip that took us to all three provinces and a huge diversity of habitats. Each day had its priority species, most of which were winter visitors to the area although some special resident species were included too. On the first day, we only had a few hours as the flight arrived in Alicante in the early afternoon. Therefore we headed straight for the saltpans of Santa Pola. Here we soon began to list a good number of species, the highlights including Spoonbill, Purple Swamphen, Audouin´s Gull, Greater Flamingo and Osprey. …

A Birding Trip on a Rainy Day

A few weeks ago I provided a birding trip on a rainy day to Albufera de Valencia for two clients from England. They were staying at El Parador Golf & Resort at El Saler which is inside the natural park and they were keen to explore the birdlife of the different ecosystems of the area. Despite the forecast, we were looking forward to the day. First, we drove to a small reserve area in the south of the park, to look for one of the target species of the day… Purple Swamphen and we succeeded, we enjoyed awesome views of many birds. We agreed we were going to have a challenging day trying to escape from the rain and luckily we had begun well. We continued driving to our next stop when we had suddenly to stop.. an Osprey was perched on a pylon, giving magnificent views. Next stop was at the main reserve of the natural park, it was early autumn so a great time for waders! After a short walk through the forest, we arrived at an observatory where we had amazing views of Black-tailed Godwit, Black-winged Stilt,…