Great Bustards & Cranes.
On Friday 1st February, we provided a day of guided bird watching to the steppe and lagoons of Castilla de la Mancha in Eastern Spain for a couple from UK. Andrew and June were well travelled birders and had visited Spain many times. Their target species for this trip was the magnificent Great Bustard. We travelled from their hotel in the beautiful town of Xativa, heading up onto the high steppe. Although there was a strong wind blowing across the plains, the light quality was excellent. After a brief coffee stop in a farming village, we set out in the…
Bird Watching at Albufera de Valencia
On Tuesday 8th January, together with two local birders, I enjoyed a leisurely day in the Natural Park of Albufera de Valencia. We began our day by generally exploring some of the rice fields on the west side of the park. The usual Little Egrets, Cattle Egrets and Grey Herons were in abundance in amongst which were a five Great Egrets. A female Marsh Harrier passed low over the stubble, flushing out a Snipe. A pair of Stonechats were flitting around the edges of a field and an Iberian Grey Shrike spent a few minutes on an overhead cable close…
A Christmas Birding Trip to the Steppe & Lagoons of Eastern Spain
On 22nd December, we provided a guided bird watching trip to the steppe and lagoons for a client from the Netherlands. Norbert, a very well travelled and experienced birder was holidaying in the Valencia area and was keen to see the bird life that this superb region has to offer. The morning had dawned bright and clear but as we climbed up onto the steppe, it became quite cloudy with a little light drizzle in the air. After a coffee in a local farming village, we set out across the fields towards the day´s first lagoon. Something caught our eye…
December on the Steppe.
On Tuesday 11th December we provided a guided trip for a local group of birders. We decided upon the steppe and lagoons of Castilla de la Mancha as the venue. Despite being a little chilly, we were fortunate in that there was no wind and a clear blue cloudless sky. As we scanned the surrounding plains from our first stopping point we saw a distant flock of Great Bustards although they were too far away to provide good views, even with the scopes. We hoped for further sightings later in the day so set off to check out what was…
Another amazing day at the Valencian Coastal Wetlands!
On 4th December, we arranged a trip to the Valencian Coastal Wetlands for a group of 8 local birders. After the obligatory morning coffee, we parked the van near the beach. The day got off to a fantastic start the moment we got out of the van with immediate views of a Kingfisher perched on a reed overhanging a small canal. Things then turned from the sublime to the ridiculous as a bright green bird flew by…one that we identified as a budgerigar!! After some discussion about whether we could include it on the list, we headed to the first…
Guided Birding in Valencia
On Sunday 21st October, I spent a very enjoyable day with some great clients from Kidderminster, UK. Stella and Richard are both keen nature lovers and in recent years have been particularly interested in birds. They were keen to explore the Valencian wetlands and to see the classic species of this diverse area. We started our day at one of the reserves within the natural park of Albufera de Valencia where we began by scanning the lake for wildfowl. We soon had good views of Red Crested Pochard, Shelduck and Teal. We also had great views of both male and…