GAUCIN, ANDALUCIA - TRIPS TO THE RIO GUADIARO OVERHEAD MIGRATION
FOR MY SECOND WEEK IN SPAIN I WAS JOINED BY DAWN AND WE SPENT 8 NIGHTS IN OUR HOUSE IN GAUCIN.
garden sightings from our terraces include: Black Kite, Griffon Vulture, Short-toed Eagle and a huge number of hirundines. Big flocks of Barn Swallows, House Martins with a few Crag Martins can been seen each night, they must be roosting near the Castle. I also see Common and Pallid Swifts and two evenings ago a good number of Alpine Swifts were overhead.
We also made two recent visits to the Rio Guadiaro where we sat under our favourite tree (Narrow-leaved Ash) and produced a good list of species and two ticks for my 'River List'.
the view from under our favourite tree along the Rio Guadiaro
Several groups of Bee-eaters have been heard but we haven't seen them from the house. I have counted 3 species of butterflies in the garden: Large White, Southern Speckled Wood and a garden tick: Common Swallowtail (we usually only get Scarce Swallowtails).
Common Swallowtail on my bougainvillea
Grey Heron, Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, White Wagtail and a 'river tick', Yellow Wagtail ( a flock of about 25 birds ) - mostly the central European subspecies 'flava' , Some common species were always present: Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Firecrest, Jay and the odd Booted Eagle.
White Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
a group of four Yellow Wagtails
a shot of the male - 'flava' Continental Yellow Wagtail (blue-headed)
Many Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs (including Iberian Chiffchaff) the odd Blackcap and a second River Tick - Pied Flycatchers were also seen. Non-migrant warblers were; the ever present Cetti's Warbler, Sardinian Warbler and a family party of Zitting Cisticolas visited the sedges nearby.
Willow Warbler
This Pied Flycatcher came down to drink
a second Pied Flycatcher seen a 100 meters down river
Other species noted: Long-tailed Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper, Eurasian Nuthatch (heard), Stonechat, Griffon Vultures, many House Martins coming down to drink with Crag Martins, House Sparrows and a Cirl Bunting.
Common Kingfisher
A few dragonflies were flying around the river I noted Violet Dropwing, Small Pincertail, Broad Scarlet and Epaulet Skimmer.
A Violet Dropwing
Broad Scarlet
Butterflies include; Small Copper, Clouded Yellow, Short-tailed Blue, Meadow Brown and quite a few small-white types that never settled.
A Clouded Yellow in flight
the same butterfly settled