With a major excursion cancelled today through illness on the team, all we’ve got time for is a quick afternoon run out to a favourite local mountain. An impressive rocky gorge before the climb uphill rarely disappoints and before long we had really good views of a Lesser Kestrel, patrolling the skies overhead. The craggy habitat here is perfect for a couple of our local specialities…a Black Wheatear soon showed well, along with a bright, male Blue Rock Thrush perched in the sun on a rock above us. A pair of Choughs soaring over the cliffs was a welcome surprise…first sighting this year of this impressive member of the crow family.
The slow drive up the track brought Rock Bunting and the usual Serin, Chaffinch and tits. As we worked our way higher the trees gave out to sparse dry scrub and with that came Stonechat and then Black-eared Wheatear, another striking summer visitor from Africa and a bird we’ve been lucky to find in some numbers. Pockets of pine trees on the higher local slopes are often worth checking for more specialized species and for only the second time this month we found a Crossbill, a juvenile bird feeding on the ground below the trees. Unmistakable streaky brown plumage and trademark “crossed” beak.
Ruined buildings along the track always look good for Black Redstart, a bird we’ve found here before…today however they produced our best views yet of Rock Thrush. A pair this time, the speckled camouflage of the female in strong contrast with the brilliant colours of the male. Spectacular summer visitors to the higher slopes in our region, and great to find again! A pair of Blue Rock Thrush as we made our way down added to another great day before another first of the year as we entered the gorge. Red-rumped Swallows, a Mediterranean hirundine I thought we’d been seeing locally, but I still wanted a really clear decent view. Great views also of Black Wheatear, with four or five on the way back through the gorge, and Blue Rock Thrush to finish the afternoon off. One of our longer regular routes but always worth the effort…hope the photographs I took through the day do it justice! See slideshow below.
