Trip Reports

Having established Valencia Birding back in 2011, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting an array of lovely people along the way, many of whom have become firm friends. Jan and Rab from the UK spend a considerable amount of time on the Costa Blanca and have been loyal friends and supporters of Valencia Birding since the early years. Together we’ve travelled through the regons wetlands, mountains, steppe and forests and have shared many special birding moments together. Earler this month I was delighted to get together with them again. Firstly, we spent a morning together, walking around Oliva Pego Marsh,…

6th & 7th March 2024 I recently provided a 2-day birding trip for a couple from Lewes in the UK. They had spent a few days in the city of Valencia, before moving to the historical town of Xativa, from where we arranged our birding. They had previously been on birding trips in Spain, but never in this region, so we began with a day at Albufera. Rice fields of Albufera The rice fields were in the process of being drained, prior to being ploughed and levelled in readiness for sowing of seed, so it was important that we knew…

I recently spent a very special day with two great clients from Scotland. Brian and Maria were staying close to Alicante on a short break, and wanted to include a day’s birding. The day was especially important as it was Brian’s birthday and he’d asked if it would be possible to see three specific species. He’s a very experienced and well travelled birder, and was eager to see White Headed Duck, Red Knobbed Coot and Greater Spotted Eagle. One of Alicante’s many coastal wetland sites. We spent the day at one of Alicante’s many wetland sites, which always provide excellent…

I’ve spent the past two days out in the field with clients, both at the wetland site of Albufera de Valencia. I was honoured to spend these days with two lovely couples, from Sweden and the UK respectively. Flooded rice fields and big, blue skies provide typical Albufera winter scenes Greater Flamingos At this time of year, the majority of the rice fields are flooded, and many of them contain huge gatherings of Glossy Ibis, Cattle Egrets, Little Egrets, Lapwings and mixed flocks of gulls, namely Lesser Black Backed, Black Headed and Yellow Legged. Perhaps the most striking of these…

It was great to begin the New Year with a trip to Albufera with Sally and Pete, a couple of clients who have a home in this region and wanted to explore the lesser known corners of this huge wetland. We met close to their base in the village of Pego and made the comfortable journey to the south side of the park where we began the day amongst the rice fields. When the fields are recently ploughed and partially flooded, they are riven with shallow gullies and therefore need to be closely scanned to reveal the smaller birds that…

I’d like to begin this post by wishing everyone a very happy, healthy and bird packed 2024. Last year was something of a record for Valencia Birding, with more clients than any year since our foundation in 2011, so I feel very grateful to all for such support, and very much look forward to the coming year. Over the next few months, we’ll be adding some new trips and birding breaks, so please watch out for that. As always, we continue to offer a range of “standard” trips, but often provide specially designed outings and holidays depending on the clients’…