Sierra Nevada

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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