
Sighting of the day was a very unexpected Hen Harrier that flew low across the golf course and out of sight behind some buildings before I had a chance to line the camera up on it. Nice to see though and it gave me the incentive to drive over to the Guadalhorce Reserve to see what else might be about.

I was more interested however in the appearance of a Bonellis Eagle which I was not expecting. Neither by the looks of things, were its Booted cousins, who took a dim view of a larger raptor appearing on their patch, and so a bit of an aerial dogfight ensued. The smaller Booted guys were somewhat nimbler in flight, and given that he was outnumbered four to one, it is perhaps not surprising that Bonelli beat a hasty retreat. And after a couple of pleasant hours birding, so did I.