Trip Reports

Last week I was delighted to meet Albert, a scientist from Illinois, USA who had contacted us to arrange a day trip to the wetland site of Albufera de Valencia.  He wasn´t an avid lister, but had a passion for birds and as this was his first birding trip to Spain, we chose to aim for quality views of the most “important” species. We began our trip at a reserve area where we had great views of a male Sardinian Warbler, Black Redstart and Marsh Harrier.  We then moved to a different hide from where we watched Black Winged Stilt,…

I´d been looking forward to welcoming back Stephen and Pennie since they´d booked yet another return trip to Valencia earlier this year.  We´d previously enjoyed many happy days together so it was great to see them here again.  Both keen birders, Stephen is also an experienced field photographer, and is very well travelled in pursuit of his hobby. We decided upon a return to Albufera de Valencia as this ever changing environment can differ greatly from month to month, plus Purple Swamphen was a key target bird for them both.  We began at a small protected reserve area where we…

Last week, I enjoyed a great trip with Ville from Finland.  A very experienced birder and professional biologist, he was in Valencia for a conference and had extended his stay to include a day on the steppe.  He was particularly keen to see Great Bustard as he´d never seen it before.  We also added White Headed Duck to the list of target species as this would also be a “lifer” for him. Having made the comfortable drive from Valencia, I was happy to discover that Ville was keen to have a coffee before we began our birding!  We did so…

Reflection. Following the summer holiday period, Autumn is always a time of reflection, thinking back over the year so far whilst at the same time looking ahead at what remains, particularly with migration in mind. We still have a few late summer visitors here, but in general the autumn migration is well underway. This week has seen huge mixed flocks of Swifts, Martins and Swallows passing through the region but what has been more noticeable has been the sheer numbers of Bee Eaters on the move this week and last. Waders are currently the big draw though, especially at our…

As I tend to spend the hottest months of the year in the rural interior to the south of our region, we often provide trips towards the end of the summer to the extensive wetland systems of Alicante.  In early September I was delighted to provide such a trip for Mark from UK.  We met at the British Bird Fair in August and quickly arranged a date during Mark´s stay in our area.  Recently retired from the RSPB, Mark is an experienced and knlowedgeable birder and a pleasure to be with. We met close to Alicante airport and made the…

Just before our summer break, I was delighted to design and provide a 4 day birding trip around Alicante for two clients from the UK.  Robin and Simon are both experienced and very well travelled birders.  Robin was on a quest to see all the European bird species and prior to the trip, he had less than 30 species left to see!! His key priorities were Red-knobbed Coot, White Headed Duck and Red-necked Nightjar, but we also added Iberian Green Woodpecker (Picus sharpei) to that.  Their flight arrived in Alicante in the afternoon, so once I´d met them there, we…