10/05 : río Almanzora & Palomares

This is a Thursday evening blog from Dave, and mine from Wednesday is still in the process of having its 160+ photos sorted, although Bob has put his on-line in birding Axarquía, so the chronology will be out of sync. Mine will be out tonight, if all goes well (does it ever?).

News is that the imm. Bateleur Eagle that was seen to enter from Africa some three weeks since is still in the Tarifa regions, it being seen over Tarifa on 08/05. There have been some very heavy entries of Honey Buzzards these past 10 days and they are still pouring in although my friend Ron from Scarborough tells me that the first female appeared in the area he weatches some 10 days since. When they move, they move!

There are no photos in this blog.

Having spent a very expensive few days in the UK seeing the kids and grandkids (best birds being a pair of Bullfinches), I decided to do an evening visit to the Rio Almanzora followed by a check on the state of the Red-necked Nightjar site at Palomares beach.

     Colin, Sandra, Val, Rob, Gilly and I met up at the "ford" beach side of the Desalination plant and wandered along the embankment overlooking the rambla. It being 8pm the sun was in our eyes, but we did manage to see Little Ringed Plover and Black-winged Stilt. Small birds included Goldfinch, Serin and Greenfinch. Also seen were Pallid Swift, Barn and Red-rumped Swallow and House Martin. A pair of Great Spotted Cuckoos noisily flew round us. A Nightingale made fleeting appearances. A Spotted Flycatcher gave us good views. A Common Sandpiper was seen down the gully. On the water deposit was a small flock of Pochard and Mallard. On the water beyond the "weir" was a Greenshank. On the way back Gilly spotted a flight of 8 Turtle Doves.

     We then headed to Palomares. The village is famous because in the mid sixties, after a mid air collision during refuelling, the US Air force mislaid three atomic bombs. We parked up next to the beach at the rear of the Repsol garage. There was a large compound of pipework & a large digger which suggested a lot of disturbance in the area. A pack of 4 stray dogs patrolling the scrubland where the Red-necked Nightjars roosted couldn't help either. We were well covered to protect us from midges and mosquitoes. As dusk passed a pair of Stone Curlews flew in, landing within view. Gilly and I both heard a distant Red-necked Nightjar call. About 5 minutes later we were lucky enough to see one flying above the horizon between the garage and the copse of pine trees. Everyone saw it. Any view of a nightjar is a good one! 28 species for the evening.