TRANSFER FROM TARIFA TO MALAGA AIRPORT WITH STOPS IN THE MOUNTAINS NEAR TO RONDA
WEATHER: another overcast morning with light winds. Sunny in the mountains later and the top temp at Malaga was 32C
We said goodbye to Bernie as we daparted the Hotel just after breakfast, she was staying on in Tarfia for another couple of nights, whilst we headed for the hills on the way to Malaga. We saw a few raptors as we crossed from Tarifa to Algeciras, but not many.
it took us nearly 90 minutes to reach the first stop some 12km south of Ronda. We parked in a road side pull-in and scanned the rocky terrain from there. On one side we had a deep ravine with steep rocky sides and on the other we had gently sloping, rocky terrain, with dried up shrubs and flowers. The rocky landscape was ideal for Black Wheatear and we found one after about 5 minutes, it was a cracking male but he moved off before I could set up my scope. Sue then found a Stonechat and a Sardinian Warbler whilst a party of Long-tailed Tits passed by.
the Valley of the 'Dolmenes de Encinas Borraches'
Ther next was in a wide flat-bottomed with tamarisk scrub, some hawthorne bushes and dry pasture with very large cows chewing the cud. We found a Common Redstart just as we passed through the gate onto a dirt track and two Thekla's Larks called and showed themselves ahead of us.
Common Redstart
Within ten minutes we had found at least four Northern Wheatears and a family party of Black-eared Wheatears, Sue found the colourful male. Goldfinches and Linnets dashed about more Stonechats appeared.
The Iberian Grey Shrike was an excellent find by Sue then she followed that up with a Black Redstart, this girl was on fire. Whilst admiring the Shrike I picked out a Subalpine Warbler but sue couldn't get on it with her bins. More larks and a second Common Redstart showed up as we left the track, we scanned the high peaks of the surrounding mountains and found a Blue Rock Thrush, some Griffon Vultures circled over the peaks too. We had seen 5 out of 6 target species so far today so we were well pleased.
Black Redstart
Juvenile Black-eared Wheatear
We drove to the San Pedro road by-passing Ronda, we stopped at a roadside cafe for a coffee and a last bit of birding. From our seats on an open terrace we scanned the mountains of Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park. A Short-toed Eagle circled in the distance, we had just logged a Booted Eagle as we approached the cafe.
a distant shot of the Iberian Grey Shrike - you can't get near them without some serious stalking!
All of a sudden a huge flock of Griffon Vultures appeared over the mountains, they just kept on coming. Eventually we estimated over 100 birds were in the sky, an amazing sight. As we were watching the Vultures a similar sized flock of Bee-eaters appeared much closer, Sue was made up, she loves Bee-eaters.
there are approx 50 Bee-eaters in this shot
We continued our journey to Malaga, arriving at the airport at 1:40pm, I dropped Sue off and went off to get myself some lunch. I had a couple of hours to kill before Dawn was arriving so I drove the short distance to Desembocadura de Guadalhorce Natural Park. I only walked along the east bank and listed a dozen or so birds, two of which were new for the trip list: Mediterranean Gull and Monk Parakeet - can I count them now my clients have gone?
I collected Dawn who arrived on time and we drove to our Spanish House in Village of Gaucin, another week of sunshine was ahead of me can I cope!!!