Gilly was busy so I was on my
own picking up Paul from Los Gallardos this morning. We were heading for
Las Norias the far side of Roquetas. It was grey skies and drizzle to
heavy showers as we drove down the A7/E15 motorway. We met up with Alan and Richard at the junction 420 service station and then made our way
the the first causeway at Las Norias. Thankfully the weather had
improved with only a few droplets falling. We were met by numerous Crag
Martins (avión roquero) flying around. On the water there were loads Shovelers (pato cuchara) together
with all the common grebes.
I
spotted a distant group of wildfowl which included both Red-crested (pato colorado) and Common Pochard (porrón común) and White-headed Ducks (malvasía cabeciblanca). Then a great surprise...a
House Martin (avión común)! A Night Heron (martinete) flew over along with
Black-headed (gaviota reidora) and Yellow-legged Gulls (gaviota patiamarilla). Alan spotted a distant group of
Teal (cerceta común). The bushes were alive with Chiffchaffs (mosquiteros comunes).
We
moved to the next observation point. Alan saw a Zitting Cisticola (buitrón) as we
parked up. Off the rocky point there were more Red-crested Pochard and some
Gadwall (anade friso) as well some Teal (cerceta común). A small flock of Dunlin (correlimos común) and Little Stint (correlimos menudo) flew past and landed, as did a Meadow Pipit (bisbita pratense) arrived there.
| 1stW Slender-billed Gull |
We
drove round to the second causeway where there more Meadow Pipits (bisibita pratense) and Alan spotted a Chaffinch (pinzón común) and also Crested Lark (cogujada común) and
Black Redstart (colirrojo tizón). Paul spotted a couple of roosting Night Herons (martinetes) on the far
bank. As we walked up towards the small bridge a Cattle Egret (garcilla bueyera) flew over,
but was immediately overshadowed by a flight of 18 Night Herons (martinetes) flying in
to the reed beds. Another (or the same) House Martin (avión común) was seen. And the
sun was shining!
We
headed towards Roquetas, adding a couple of Hoopoes (abubillas) on the way. After a
coffee stop we drove towards the reed beds and lake. As I was driving, I
missed the Marsh Harrier (aguilucho lagunero) immediately to our right, but once stopped
over the other side near the hotels we saw two individuals. The lake
contained at least 500 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (gaviota sombría) and a similar number of
Black-headed Gulls (gaviota reidora) and of Coots (focha común) in two huge rafts. Twenty odd Black-necked Grebes (zampullín cuellinegro)were synchronised diving.
| Spotted Redshanks |
As there were only four of us, we all got in my 4x4 and made our
bumpy way to the Salinas de Cerrillos, some 4 kilometres further into
the reserve. Usually a wader hotspot, unfortunately the water level
was high. On the only sandy island above the water level sat two adult
Yellow-legged Gulls (gaviota patiamarilla), a couple of Cormorants (cormorán grande) and a 1st winter Slender-billed Gull (gaviota picofina) with two or three Black-necked Grebes (zampullín cuellinegro) on the pool to our left. A Dartford Warbler (curruca rabilarga) showed well on the shrubs and many Chiffchaffs (mosquiteros comunes). Richard won first prize
for best spot and bird of the day with a Great White Egret (garceta grande) over to the
right. I spotted the 20 odd Spoonbills (espátulas) on the causeway and on our way back
we added Audouin's Gull (gaviota de Audouin). We found a pair of Spotted Redshank (archibebe oscuro) feeding
next to a normal Redshank (archibebe común) so it was good to see the comparison between
the two species. We stopped off at the "Red Knobbed Coot" pool. They
seem to be no more, although we did see the more common ducks, including White-headed (malvasía cabeciblanca).
A good day's birding. 50 species seen and the weather god was with us!
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