Trip Reports

Coto Donana & Tarifa April 2011

Our first day involved getting the group assembled; Conor & Ann were collected from Malaga Airport at 11:30am 
and then Peter, Alison & Gordon were collected from Gibraltar Airport at 2:30pm it was the shortest visit to Gib 
that Conor and Ann were ever going to make. John and Estelle were to arrive on Sunday to join the group for the 
last 6 days. 
From Gibraltar we took the short drive to our hotel in the foothills above Algeciras where we reconvened at 4pm to 
head off for a short birding session. We drove to El Bujeo, a small picnic area situated along the main N340 just 
above Pelayo, it consists of open grassy areas, thick scrub and some mature eucalyptus trees. A pair of Ravens
flew over as we emerged from the bus, quickly followed by 4 Griffon Vultures and in the scrub we found a
Woodchat Shrike, Common Redstart (a nice male) and a few Barn Swallows flew by. 
As we walked through the shrubs we found several Bonelli’s Warblers (a couple were singing), Blackcap, 
Common Whitethroats, Iberian Chiffchaff (also singing), Common Nightingale (heard only), Stonechat, Cirl 
Bunting, Serin and a few common species. 
Not a bad start to our holiday, we returned to the hotel and got ready for our dinner which was served at 8pm.