Andalucia

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Seven Day Tour - Andalucia Mar 28th - Apr 4th - 2012 - £650

Seven Day Tour - Andalucia Apr 5th - Apr 12th - 2012 - Migration Tour - £650-4 places

Seven Day Tour - Andalucia May 7th - May 14th - 2012 - full

Seven Day Tour - Andalucia Sept 3rd - Sept 10th - 2012 - Migration Tour - £650

These 7 day tours are based in Gaucin, Andalucia and include:- airport transfers, seven nights accommodation plus breakfast, packed lunch and delicious home-cooked evening meals with wine. Accommodation is in our comfortable apartments found at the rear of our house in Gaucin or just a few meters away at another lovely apartment. Your birding time will include six full days guided birding and two short outings on arrival and departure day - subject to flight times. These tours are competitively priced at only £650 per person based on a minimum of two people sharing a twin room, single supplement £150.

The tours are flexible, 7-day holidays, we go where the birds are to be found. Weather, bird movements and the discretion of the guide will dictate each day's outing. We do our utmost to cater for all your needs and if you have a specific “wanted list” we will incorporate the necessary sites into your holiday.

During the September & April Tours we will spend a little more time in the area of Tarifa and Gibraltar so that we can look at the Raptor Migration which at least is fantastic and at best spectacular.

Typical Itinerary

Day 1

Malaga/Gibraltar Airport collection - a visit to the Guadalhorce Natural Park. Plenty to see there with up 50 species recorded on a typical visit. A good chance of White-headed Duck, Monk Parakeet, Bee-eater, Hoopoe, Audouin's Gull, Zitting Cisticola, Red-rumped Swallow, Woodchat Shrike, Serin, Osprey, Booted Eagle and several species of wader.

Day 2 - 7

Visits to the beautiful, scenic mountains around Casares, Gaucin, Cortes, Jimena, Montejaque and Ronda may produce sightings of: Black Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush,Rock Thrush, Rock Bunting, Rock Sparrow, Pallid Swift, Alpine Swift, White-rumped Swift, Red-billed Chough, Griffon Vulture, Short-toed Eagle, Honey Buzzard, Bonelli's Eagle, Golden Oriole,Golden Eagle, Hawfinch, Wryneck, Cirl Bunting, Bonelli's Warbler, Orphean Warbler, Firecrest, Woodlark, Thekla Lark, Red-necked Nightjar.

A couple of days will be spent in the lowlands and on the coastal plains near Tarifa, Bolonia, Zaraha, Gibraltar & Vejer. Birds to look for there include: Rufous Bush Bobin, Olivaceous Warbler, Montagu's Harrier, Marsh Harrier, Purple Swamphen, Little Bustard, Stone Curlew, Collared Pratincole, Short-toed Lark, Calandra Lark, Bald Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Purple Heron, Little Bittern, White Stork, Spoonbill, Little Swift, Slender-billed Gull, Caspian Tern, Lesser-crested Tern and the rare Ruppell's Vulture & Long-legged Buzzard.

Day 8

Return to Malaga airport. A morning birding excursion if time allows to a local site.

For further details of these 7-day tours based in Gaucin, Andalucia and for a more descriptive itinerary of where you will be taken during your holiday please read the individual 1-day tour pages

Personalised Holidays

We also cater for individuals and small groups of two to four people. We can take you where ever you want to go within our tour region (100km range of Gaucin) and we can show you specific species if you have a 'wish-list'. This type of tour cost £110 per day per person (minimum 2 nights) and includes, full board accommodation, picnic lunches, checklist, use of telescope, binnoculars and guiding throughout. For a full 7-day break the cost is only £750!

If you are interested in arranging your own personnal holiday and want to choose your own tour dates please contact us with your date requirements using the contact form. We will e-mail you with a acknowledgement/confirmation within 48 hours.

Andalucia - Winter Break

Seven Day Tour - Andalucia Feb 28th - Mar 6th - 2012 - £650

Southern Spain is a great place to visit during February because the climate is so mild and very similar to the pleasant English spring days of late April. You can leave the drab, dark days of the English winter behind you and enjoy clear blue skies and fabulous clear light.

Bird watching at this time is very interesting because you get to find out where some of the northern European species spend their winter and you can catch up with quite a few scarce European breeding species.

Reed-fringed coastal lagoons and estuarine salt marshes support a great number of wintering birds with some surprises in store. The Bluethroat, though very elusive, maybe encountered along the scrub line and Penduline Tits may be found feeding in nearby reed-beds. The larger lagoons host Shoveler, Teal, Pintail and Greylag Geese. Along the salt marshes and river banks we may find a whole host of waders such as, Golden and Black-bellied Plover, Black-winged Stilt, Pied Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Lapwing, Snipe, Little Stint, Greater & Little-ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Dunlin, Ruff, Redshank, Greenshank, Common and Green Sandpiper. Gulls and Terns may also be present with Audouin's and Slender-billed Gull, Sandwich and Caspian Tern a good possibility. Smaller passerines may include, White Wagtails, Zitting Cisticola, Serins, Black Redstart, Chiffchaff, Bramblings, Siskin and Blackcaps. The lagoons and marshes are patrolled by Peregrine Falcons, Merlin, Marsh and Hen Harriers, Osprey and Kestrels.

Larger inland lagunas hold Greater Flamingo, Purple Swamphen, Red-knobbed Coot, White-headed Duck and occasionally Marbled Duck. Common Crane, Glossy Ibis, Great Egret and large flocks of Calandra Lark. Little Bustard and White Stork may be found in other areas not too far away from our base.

A day in the mountainous region near Ronda should add the likes of Black Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush, Ring Ouzel, Rock Bunting, Rock Sparrow, Cirl Bunting, Red-billed Chough, Griffon Vulture, Bonelli's and possibly Golden Eagle. The Hoopoe sometimes over-winters along with small numbers of Barn Swallow, House Martin, and Water Pipit.

On a winter bird-watching break such as this you may see up to 150 different birds including some prized species.

What is included in our 7 day Andalucian tour?

• Airport transfer.
• Seven night’s accommodation with breakfast, home cooked evening meal and wine.
• Six full days of guided birding and some birding on arrival and departure days.
• The guiding services and all land transportation.
• Picnic lunches and drinks on each day tour.
• A "tick-list" of seasonal birds of the region.

What is not included?

• Air fares.
• Personal holiday insurance.
• All items of a personal nature, i.e. Drinks and telephone calls.

Birds and Butterflies Summer Breaks 4 nights/5 days - £550

July 23rd - 27th 2012 - Full

July 29th - 2nd Aug 2012 - 4 places

Aug 6th - 10th 2012 - 4 places

From late June until early September the variety of butterflies on the wing in Andalucia is prolific. Over 140 species have been recorded in the region and many are found on our doorstep here in Gaucin.

These summer breaks combine both bird and butterfly watching to give you a huge insight into the wealth of the Andalucian wildife. Your accommodation is the same as with our regular bird-watching tours and are detailed here

The Birds

During these short-breaks some time will be spent looking for 5 swift species; White-rumped, Little, Pallid, Alpine and Common Swifts, also Rufous Bush Robin, Olivaceous and Orphean Warblers, Collared Pratincole and many more.

A day in the mountainous region of Grazelema will provide us with an opportunity to look for Bonelli's Eagle, Black Wheatear, Rock Sparrow, Rock Bunting and Rock Thrush. All in all a great summer trip with some glorious weather, great birds, wonderful butterflies and beautiful scenery.

During late August/ early September we will concentrate on the migration hot-spots around Tarifa and Gibralta where vast flocks of birds can be seen as they congregate along this part of the coast ready for the short hop across the Strait of Gibraltar to North Africa.

All you have to do is book your own flights and travel insurance and leave the rest to us.

The Butterflies

Wherever we go there will be butterflies on the wing, the most common at this time of the year are Cleopatra, Two-tailed Pasha, Marbled Whites, Swallowtails, Monarch, Fritillaries, many Blues including Marazine, Spainsh chalk-hill, Green-underside,Iolas,Adonis & Silver-studded. There are also several Graylings, Heaths, Whites, Hairstreaks, Gatekeepers and lots of Skippers to keep us busy.

For the more enthusiastic butterfly watcher we can take a more thorough search in the Sierra de Grazelema Natural Park which is a prime location for many species. Most notable records for the park include mallow, southern marbled, sage and safflower skippers, both swallowtails, Spanish festoon, black-veined white, large tortoiseshell (often on the wing from February onwards), cardinal, many fritillaries - Niobe, Queen of Spain, Provençal, knapweed, Aetherie, Spanish and marsh - two-tailed pasha, dusky heath, dusky meadow brown, Spanish and southern gatekeepers, rock, tree and striped graylings, nettle-tree butterfly, Spanish purple, blue-spot and Provence hairstreaks, purple-shot copper (subspecies boyarensis), long-tailed, African grass, Osiris, Lorquin’s, green-underside, Iolas, Panoptes, false Baton and Spanish chalk-hill blues.

Another excellent area for butterflies is the nearby Sierra de las Nieves a parque natural of some 20,172ha and also a Biosphere Reserve. This karst landscape is found to the east of Ronda incorporating extensive Spanish fir forests. On the higher north-facing slopes the parque supports abundant Spanish Lorquin’s and green-underside blues, Spanish fritillary, western marbled white and many butterfly species mentioned above.

Included in this 5 day tour:

1. Airport Transfer
2. All meals
3. Accommodation in apartments in the idyllic 'White Village' of Gaucin
4. 3 full days nature watching plus as much as time allows on arrival and departure days.
5. All ground transport
6. The services of the guide
7. Welcome reception
8. Seasonal bird & butterfly checklist.

What is not included?

• Air fares.
• Personal holiday insurance.
• All items of a personal nature, i.e. Drinks and telephone calls.