Trip Report: magical winter birdwatching at the Padul wetland reserve
As our birdwatching friend Marianne and I stepped out of the car at Padul this morning, I made a point of suggesting we might be lucky with one of our regular species at this wetland habitat, the Southern Grey Shrike. As it happened, the shrike never made an appearance…but was quickly forgotten as we enjoyed [...]
Trip Report: Wheatears, Shrikes and Golden Eagles!
We had guests on board today as we once again headed off up the mountain, to get a good, end-of-the-month look at what the local hillsides have to offer at this changeable, busy time of the year. We ended up having a thoroughly good time today, and managed to put some interesting local favourites on [...]
Birdwatch Alpujarras Android App
Birdwatch Alpujarras is pleased to announce the release of a free app for your Android mobile. This will enable you to keep up to date with the bird life in our part of Andalucia by receiving our birdwatching reports direct to your phone. Simple to install :- just click on the photo and you will be taken [...]
A close encounter with the Bee-eaters of Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche
With numbers definitely down this year on our local patch around the village of Lanjaron, Bee-eaters were a “must-see” for our field-trip to Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche. Kiersten was sure she had located a possible nest-site here last year, and the search for a breeding colony was one of my priorities for [...]
Common Swallowtail Butterfly – Papilio machaon
The Common Swallowtail butterfly can be seen in abundance here in Andalucia. The butterfly has a strong, fast flight and pauses frequently to hover over flowering herbs and sip nectar. It can be found in alpine meadows and hillsides. They often congregate near summits to compete for passing females. At lower altitudes you will see it in gardens. The typical [...]
The Alpine Accentors of Sierra Nevada
Kiersten has once again returned from Spanishhighs duties up in the mountains, with some terrific new shots of another true alpine survivor! A bird of barren, boulder-strewn slopes, the Alpine Accentor Prunella collaris breeds at high altitude in the Pyrenees, the Alps and locally round the Mediterranean region into the Balkans. The high peaks of [...]
The Roller – brand new images of this exotic seasonal visitor!
They say patience is a virtue! Bold, alert and spectacularly beautiful…we’ve waited a long time to bring you images of this wonderful species, and we’re thrilled to have this summer migrant on our lists at last. The Roller Coracias garrulus is the sole representative of a predominantly African family, returning from wintering grounds to breed [...]
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 Happy New Year from the Birdwatchalpujarras team!A very happy New Year to all our readers…and what better way to pass on our season’s greetings than with this familiar character? The Robin is a year-long, breeding resident across most of Iberia, but like elsewhere in mainland Europe it’s a shy and wary woodland bird in Spain and can be difficult to see [...] |
 Nuthatch, Firecrests and a Southern Grey Shrike…December on the hillsides of LanjaronWith a flight booked for Christmas in the UK, I’ve still had time for one last trip up the mountain before the break, and we headed off last week on familiar tracks for Puente Palo. The hillsides had a bleak, exposed feel to them that day… and it has to be said as we wound [...] |
 New shots of the Chiffchaff, a favourite winter visitorA pale stripe over the eye, a dark stripe through the eye, and a pale crescent beneath it…regular readers of our posts will be more than familiar with the ID mantra of today’s familiar species, the Chiffchaff. We reported on the annual arrival of this seasonal visitor back in October, and huge numbers of this [...] |
 Our first ever shot of a Fan-tailed Warbler!The Fan-tailed Warbler Cisticola juncidis is something of an oddity in Europe, being the sole, regional representative of a widespread African and Asian genus. Also known rather gloriously as the “Zitting Cisticola”, this slightly strange looking character was one of no less than five warbler species we recorded recently at the Padul marshlands, and makes [...] |
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