Trip Reports

For the past seven weeks, my birding has been confined to what I can see from the balcony.  Although, as detailed in previous articles, this has often revealed a few surprises, it´s obviously been very limited.  I also have to say that I don´t feel too comfortable standing there with a pair of binoculars in case it causes unease or discomfort amongst the neighbours.  However, a few days ago, whilst reading in the living room, a bird song caught my attention.  After searching through the trees that fill the square below the balcony, I found it – a Willow Warbler!…

As those who know my philosophy of birding will already be aware of, I place great emphasis on looking closely at and paying particular attention to the bird life that surrounds us, even the most common species. In a recent article, I mentioned this as having particular relevance during the Corvid-19 lockdown, when most of us are confined to birding in our gardens. It can not only help us to appreciate the beauty of our more common birds, but also helps us to easily spot something that maybe a little out of the ordinary. Well, today I´d like to bring…

This has been the first post for a while, so before I begin, I´d like to say that I hope that you´re all keeping safe and healthy and wish you all the very best as we make our way through these tough times. For more than obvious reasons, I can´t write much about any recent birding trips!  However, it´s always interesting to see what´s passing through in the skies above Valencia and what´s about in the area immediately surrounding our apartment.  I hope that you´re all enjoying the bird life that´s close to you, be it in your gardens or…

I´m writing this article simply as a humble reflection on how the Covid-19 situation has impacted on our world of birding, and how we can take just a few positive points from what is obviously a severe and terrible situation. Firstly, and above all else, we of course send out our love and best wishes to everyone, and wish you all the very best of luck at all levels as we progress through such unprecedented times. Lock-down The lock-down hit us here in Spain just over two weeks ago. At the time, I was with my family in our house…

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…

I recently provided a 2-day trip for Gordon and Heather from the UK. They are very experienced birders who we met at the British Bird Fair last year.  They had planned a trip in their motorhome and wanted to include two days of birding with us when they were in the Valencia region.  We agreed on a day in the mountains and a day on the steppe. First, to the mountains… After I collected them at their campsite beside the beach we made the relaxed drive to our first stop in a quarry surrounded by natural crags too.  Our targets…