JARAICEJO HEATHLAND - THE THREE BRIDGES OVER THE ALMONTE RIVER - ALVAREZ ORCHID PARK - ARROCAMPO NATURE RESERVE
WEATHER: another beautiful sunny day but the constant strong wind persisted and kept our sighting numbers down, it was a very cold wind too!
It is amazing to watch such a variety of species from the car park of the hotel! A stonking male Black Redstart flitting about right outside the restaurant window whilst we ate breakfast! We saw the Redstart again as we laoded up the buis together with Crag Martin, Red-rumped Swallow, Woodchat Shrike, a Hoopoe called from the distant and we had flyover Black kites, Griffon and Black Vultures and lots of common species.
record shot of a Red-rumped Swallow taken from the car park of the hotel
It took 30 minutes to drive to the Heathland on then hills above the village of Jaraicejo, boy was it caold up there. The group were well wrapped up except for the young ladies who didn't seem to notice the cold weather. We soon found our first Dartford Warbler, it showed well intermittently and we all got to see it. The Specktacled Warbler which also breeds on this heath did not show, perhaps it has not returned to these breeding grounds yet!
the heathland at Jaraicejo
During our search we found Crested Larks, Goldfinches, Linnets, lots of Corn Buntings and plenty of Vulture activity and even a fly over Black Stork.
The three bridges is a wonderful site a few clicks down the raod from the heath, I always stop there because it is so picturesque and it gives you an instant historical window into travel throughout the ages. The three arches of the15th century Almonte Bridge can still be walked, it is a beautiful site.
from the old to the new - three bridghes over the Rio Almonte at Jaraicejo
You can get good, close up, views of Crag Martins and Spainish Sparrows as they both breed there, the river also supports many other species, howvere, today was quite quiet. We saw White Wagtail, Woodchat Shrike, Grey Heron and we heard Common Nightingale and Cetti's Warblers. The sky had ever-present raptors, mainly Vultures but also both Red and Black Kites, Common Buzzard and Common Kestrel, we also saw Ravens but no big eagles.
The Orchid Park just outside of Alvarez was our next destination, a limestone ridge covered in olive groves supports 18 species of orchid (including hybrids), We had a wonderful time there, it was more sheltered from the wind and it warmed up. A lots of species were going over but we saw 9 of them.
the view from the orchid park over Alvarez and Aroocampo nature reserve in the distance
Naked Man Orchid
Yellow Orchid
woodcock bee-orchid
Conical Orchid
Champayne Orchid
Tongue Orchid
We then spent a lot of time trying sort out food in the town, the supermarket didn't stock too much and the restaruants were packed full, apparently work in the local Nuclear Power Station was going on and dozens of workers had descended into the town to eat lunch!
We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting the Lakes and reedbeds of the Arroyocampo Nature Reserve. Several raised hides give you good views over the reed beds, but today it was so windy that we saw very little. Our first walk produced several Purple Heron sightings, along with Little and cattle Egrets, a single Squacco Heron, Cormorant, Grey Heron and we had several sightings of a couple of Kingfishers.
Squacco Heron
In the reedbeds we had glimpses of both Savi's and Cetti's Warblers, but nothing sat up and sang as they usually do at this time of the year, I blamed the wind.
From Hides 1 and 2, we added a few species, distant Gull-billed Terns, a flyover Spoonbill, our first Hoopoe sighting of the trip and a pair of Zitting Cisticolas gave us incredible flight views as they battle against the wind, bouncing and zitting at the same time. We also watched Purple Herons on their nests and a Purple Swamphen with a couple of chicks.
Purple Swamphen
The sky was always full of Vultures, one mixed flock of about fifty birds stayed around for most of our visit. We added Marsh Harrier to the list with several sightings but our search for Black-winged Kite went unrewarded.
these Griffon Vultures were circling over us!!!
From Hide 4, which is a couple of kilometers further on through the village of Saucedilla, we found our only wader, a Common Sandpiper and we had good views of a bunch of Iberian Magpies that were feeding in and around an oak woodland.
We left the area around 5:30pm, wind-blown and tired, hopefully the weather forecast of lighter winds tomorrow will give us a better day as we visit the 'plains' to look for Bustards and Sandgrouse.