Another Wednesday arrives,and Birdwatchalpujarras are taking clients out for the day. We decided to take a run out to the marshland outside Padul, a patch we’d been wanting to get back to for some time and where we thought the walking would be a little easier.
After a short drive from Lanjaron we were soon parked just inside the reserve. Almost immediately the wetland habitat brought the scratchy song of Reed Warblers, singing from cover in the reedbeds. This summer visitor to the region has been a nice find, and with singing males holding territories every twenty or thirty metres or so it’s good to have them locally in such numbers. We soon had brief flashing glimpses of Cetti’s Warblers, warm red-brown backs distinctive as they disappeared back into cover, their sudden outbursts of metallic song adding to the Reed Warblers’ clicks and churring.
A pause at one of the hides along the way gave us good views of terrapins, heads up out of the water or hauled out sunning themselves. As we cleared the reedbeds and walked on through flat farmland at the far end of the reserve we had good views of Corn Buntings, sounding like jangling keys and breaking glass as they sang from wires and treetops. Stonechat added some interest, bright summer plumage on the males bringing a welcome splash of colour…and then a Woodchat Shrike, chestnut brown, black and white, one of the more flamboyant seasonal migrants up from Africa and a bird I had hoped we’d find for our guests for the day.
You’ve never got all the answers in birdwatching, and the mystery for today was a call I simply couldn’t identify. From cover in the low grasses and weeds on the farming plots around us came a “zeet…zeet…zeet” call that for now has got me beaten. Another “as yet unidentified warbler” that failed to show and offer any clues. Watch this space because I’ll not let it go!
We took a bit of time to watch a pair of Kestrels patrolling and hovering overhead and then one of the highlights of the day…a Bonelli’s Eagle, large and powerful, with the tell-tale white patch on its back. With only a few hundred pairs left in Europe it’s scarce and localized at best so to find one here regularly is a real bonus…glad we had clients along with us for that one!
As the heat of midday increased we parted company with our visitors but there is always work to do…we’ve been watching flocks of Bee Eaters just outside the village for a few weeks now and took the oppurtunity to check their whereabouts early evening. Still very glad to find them but with numbers down it looks like we’re picking up stragglers. Where the big concentrations of a month ago have moved on to is a question we’ll be addressing in the coming days…
