Wild About Spain Blog

Montes de Malaga

24/8/2014

The Montes de Malaga is a natural park just north of the City which rises up to 1000 m and is covered in Aleppo pines. Andalucia was originally de-forested in the 15th century by the Catholics to provide timber for construction and shipbuilding and to make way for agriculture. This denudation caused repeated flash flooding in Malaga so from 1930 -1950 the area was replanted. It had once been a valuable wine producing region until the disease phyloxera wiped out the grapevines in the late 19th century. There is currently a project to replace the pines with broad leaved trees to improve the soil and increase bio diversification.

Not having visited this location before Elena and I decided to stay overnight in the country Hotel Humaina to join the Andalucia Bird Society field trip starting very early the following morning. On arrival however we had a walk around the hotel gardens and the surrounding area & picked up some woodland birds including Nuthatch, Coal Tit and various others, most of which I couldn't identify as they flitted around so quickly.

Coal Tit

Nuthatch

The most interesting sight however was of the wild boar family that hovered around the edge of the hotel terrace hoping for food from the staff, they were indeed rewarded with figs which were devoured with gusto. There were at least four young adult Jabali and eight piglets, all very healthy looking. It is difficult to resist their pleading eyes and we discovered that they really like sugar lumps.

Wild Boar family (Jabali)

Next morning we met our guide Luis Alberto at seven and even before first light heard a nightingale call and spotted a Robin flying across the grounds. As soon as the light was good enough we set off for a walk up a trail that took us above the hotel. A lone Short-toed Eagle floated and hovered in the sky above us and very soon it was joined by a party of Black Kites.

Black Kites

The Kites gradually swelled in numbers to more than twenty birds, wheeling around gradually making their way west on migration, a fine sight.

Small birds were about in some numbers, including Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Crossbill and best of all a single Dartford Warbler which was apparently a first for Luis in this location.

Crossbill

Great Spotted Woodpeckers

After breakfast at the hotel we were joined by other ABS members for a nine am field trip which turned out to be extremely pleasant walking in delightful surroundings with some stunning views across to the coast, taking in all the sierras and peaks of the Axarquia across to the Sierra de Los Nieves and beyond. We saw most of the birds encountered on our earlier walk, with the exeption of the Black Kites and Dartford Warbler, but we added Crested Tit, Firecrest, Great Spotted Woodpeckers (3), Booted Eagle, Kestrel, Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits, Common and Pallid Swifts, Barn and Red-rumped Swallows and Spotted Flycatcher. There were probably many that I have forgotten but by 1 pm it was getting quite hot and most birds hunker down for a siesta at this time, so we returned to the hotel for a pleasant lunch before making our own ways out of the Montes de Malaga.

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Waterside Birding

11/8/2014

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Early August is not known as a good time for birding in this part of Spain, it's too early for passage migrants and otherwise too hot and dry for most species. This year however there seems to be more about, particularly waders and other water species. This Little Bittern for example is one of several that have taken up residence at the Charca de Suarez.

Little Bittern - ixobrychus minutes

Here's a shot of a juvenile in that classic Bittern pose with the long neck and bill extending upwards. East Anglian birders know this as 'Bitterning', a posture adopted by the Great Bittern to camouflage itself amongst the reeds. I'm not sure why this youngster is looking upwards here though, perhaps he has spied a juicy grasshopper to supplement his mainly froggy diet.

As well as the Little Bitterns it is a pleasure to see Kingfishers back at the Charca again. There are several flitting around the edges of the main lagoon and I was lucky enough to see one catch some fish, which is a healthy indication of the status of the water, something I had been concerned about for some time given the relative absence of bird life for a while.

Kingfisher - alcedo atthis

Spotted Flycatcher -muscicapa striata

As well as the Bitterns and Kingfishers there is a group of young Black-crowned Night Herons in residence. I am not sure if they were bred here or if they arrived from somewhere else, but they are a welcome sight, even if they do always lurk at the far side of the lagoon, too distant for good photography. The same cannot be said for Spotted Flycatchers, of which there are many. Can there be an easier bird to photograph? I don't think so. This one perched on a convenient bullrush directly in front of the hide, inviting the paparazzi to shoot....... so I did, several times!

Spotted Flycatcher - muscicapa striata

Cattle Egret - bubulcus ibis

Another avian poser is the Cattle Egret. There are so many of them and they are not particularly wary of people so they give plenty of opportunity for close-up studies. Here´s a couple, the first with a touch of blue from the convolvulus (bindweed) flowers which fortunately grow so profusely here in Spain. The second shot is a real portrait, in it we can see a hint of peach in the head feathers, last traces of the fading breeding plumage.

Cattle Egret portrait

Kingfisher alcedo atthis

Another shot of a Kingfisher coming in to land. I was disappointed not to capture him with a fish in his beak, saw it happen & did get a shot but not good enough to post.

Grey Heron - ardea cinerea

Talking about coming in to land, it can be a good opportunity to capture a wingspread, such as in this shot of a Grey Heron with undercarriage down, putting on the aerial brakes for a controlled landing.

The Little Egret below was landing by a shoal of fish in the Rio Velez on Saturday this week.It was a foggy day along the coast and I quite like the misty look in the photo, it makes a cool change from the harsh sunlight I normally shoot in.

Little Egret - egretta garzetta

Here are a few record shots. I don't know why I was surprised to see Nightingales at la Charca but it is not noted for them. They are not recorded often after the Spring breeding period anyway once they stop singing. Common Sandpipers will I expect become a regular feature now that the new wader pool is open, it is already showing some very promising signs.

Nightingale - luscinia megarhynchos

Common Sandpiper - actitis hypoleutis

It was nice to see a nice male Red Avadavat on the island in the main Lagoon. Although I did get a poor record shot I choose to use an archive shot here that I have not posted previously. Better to show a good photograph of this non-native species as it is so spectacular.

Red Avadavat

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Sierra Nevada

1/8/2014

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Short-toed Eagle

A lone Short-toed Eagle surveys the surrounding landscape from a rocky perch in a high and remote area of Sierra Nevada. Soon he will resume his arial search for snakes and lizards that make up his diet, but for now he rests and enjoys the view.

And what a view it is, away to the South are the peaks of Alcazaba (3369m), Mulhacen (3479m) and Veletta (3396m), still with patches of snow visible on 31st July.

We are at the start of the Camino Lavaderas de la Reina, a remote walk to waterfalls and mountain springs in the northern stretch of Sierra Nevada, a long way from the hotels and cable cars of the ski resort. Perhaps because of the quiet and remoteness, birds abound here. Griffon Vultures wheel overhead, a Golden Eagle looks down on us from high altitude and a smaller Booted Eagle makes a welcome fly past.

Golden Eagle

Griffon Vulture

Booted Eagle

Black Wheatear -

Lower down Black and Northern Wheatears appear on almost every rock. The Black Wheatears seemed less wary of us humans than usual, probably because they are not used to people up here. Anyway I was pleased to finally get a decent shot of this attractive but wary species.

Tawny Pipit -

On the ground I was surprised to see so many
Tawny Pipits foraging in the dry grass, often in company with Linnets and a few Thekla Larks. Tawny Pipits are not usually seen in large numbers but here they were prolific.

Linnet

Tawny Pipit

Elena, Ancy, Don, Leslie and Phyl with Valetta

Here is a photo of our merry band of travellers, from left to right Elena, Ancy, Don, Leslie and Phyl. Behind them the ground rises up to the peak of Valetta. Ancy and I know it well as we have skied down from the summit on occasions.

Black Redstart chick

Black Redstarts also like this terrain. It looked very much like it had been a good breeding season as we saw lots of juvenile redstarts, wheatears and pipits.

Whitethroat

This is a bird I was pleased to get a shot of. We do not see many Whitethroats down on the coast. Up here however there was an abundance of them in the low scrub. They are difficult to photograph in dense shrubs and thorny bushes so it was nice to see one out in the open on a bare rock. I thought they might be Spectacled Warblers at first which are very similar but expert opinion (Mick Richardson) thinks Whitethroat is more likely, they are known to be a regular species in this area. Also upon reflection the tail is quite long and the bill a little heavy for a spectacled warbler

Surprise bird of the day was undoubtedly the group of three Woodlarks that were foraging on the ground with the Linnets and Tawny Pipits. We were above the tree-line so I was not expecting to see this species, but my ID was confirmed by Mick, definitely Woodlarks, very nice.

Woodlark -

The Hermit -

Sierra Nevada is generally excellent for lepidopterists but being a bit late in the summer the dry conditions had seen off most of the wild flowers and butterflies too. Black Satyr was the most obvious species. I will not list every species but will mention a new one for me, the Hermit, just one shot of an insect at rest.

Also I found a small pond which had attracted a large number of Great Banded Graylings and this photo of a couple trapped in a spiders web is an interesting shot. hereafter are a couple more examples of butterflies noted during the trip.

Silver Studded Blue

Common Blue

There were many other species seen but some were conspicuous by their absence. I did not see a single Fritillary of any variety, very few Meadow Browns, no Brimstones or Cleopatras, Tortoiseshells, Red Admirals, Orange Tips, not many Gatekeepers and only a few Marbled Whites. Very poor really.

Great Banded Grayling

Silver Spotted Skipper

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