Trip Reports

14th April 2022 When Stuart contacted me to arrange a day´s birding for him and his son Alex, I immediately began to look forward to our trip. More than anything because Alex is just 9 years old, and it’s always a privilege to be able to support and inspire young birders. We met at one of Valencia’s many wetland sites, and after a chat about the plans for the day, began our walk. It was immediately clear that Alex was not only extremely enthisiastic, but that he knew his stuff too! The day got off to a great start as…

11th April 2022 Earlier this week I provided a birding trip to the Valencian coastal wetlands for Wil, a very experienced ornithologist from the Netherlands. As I’ve written previously, migration this year is generally later than usual owing to freak weather conditions in March, so April is turning out to be a really interesting time for birding here in the Valencia region. Northern Wheatear Having made the short journey from the historical quarter of Valencia, we began our walk along the beach. As soon as we left the car, we had views of Audouin’s Gull on the coast and Tree…

8th & 9th April 2022 Since I established Valencia Birding over eleven and a half years ago, I’ve been blessed with many clients who have returned time and again, and have become friends. They all know who they are and it’s a privilege to know them and to design and provide trips for them. Last week I did just that for Andy and Saffia from the UK. I think it’s fair to say that they fell in love with the city of Valencia during their initial visits, and as their previous trip was cancelled as the Covid pandemic hit, it…

4th & 5th April 2022 I recently had the pleasure of spending two days with Jim and Consuelo from the USA who were visiting their daughter in Valencia. As very keen birders, they were eager to include a couple of days of birding in their trip, and so we eventually opted to go for a day at the wetlands and a day in the mountains. Day 1 – Coastal Wetlands We were still suffering the after-effects of a freak weather system, and although the heavy rains had ceased, our first day was a little windy. We drove from their apartment…

2nd April 2022 March 2022 was the wettest on record for over 60 years, which in some ways was a positive point as the mountains and hills of our region were previously very dry and its reservoirs were unusually low. That all changed very quickly! The prolonged wet weather had a delaying effect on migratory bird movement, so as soon as the rain stopped and the sun broke through, we were expecting a migration explosion! With perfect timing, I was delighted to meet Abhishek and Shweta from India and to spend the day with them at the Valencian Coastal Wetlands.…

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…