19-20/04 : double entry, Juanar & Fuente de Piedra

Two mornings out when I should have been finishing off the huge translation (which I have finished this morning and sent off to Madrid) but needs must at times.
19/04 - Juanar: Having awoken early I decided to hie me off to Juanar, a place which I haven't visited in at least 18 months for a variety of reasons. I wasn't intending to walk far but get there, stroll around the first 500 or so metres from parking down below, up the path, through the gates and to the end of the pines. I achieved that and all was looking quite good until 4 school buses from Marbella disgorged first a group of teenagers who were exceedingly noisy and whose teachers did damn all to shut them up, in spite of my sarcastic comment to one about the noise level and lack of control. On the other hand, three of the buses were full of years 1-3 and their teachers did have them under control.
Fortunately, I had done and seen virtually all that I wanted to before this invasion of the barbarians with the more interesting sightings being Coal Tit, Nuthatch, Bonelli's Warbler and the first of several Great Spotted Woodpeckers. A quick coffee in the parador (where de Gaulle wrote his memoirs and slagged off perfidious Albion) revived me and as I went out of the parador entrance a super little Crested Tit, perhaps the most engaging of this family in western Europe, bounced out of the pine and offered brief but excellent views. I went a couple of hundred meters up the track past the tennis court, picking up more Great Spotted Woodpeckers - I must have seen/heard six between calling and drumming and also heard a Green Woodpecker - a 'Yaffle' as they call them in some parts of the UK, plus a Nightingale heard and 2 female Pied Flycatchers and a single Firecrest.
Not a bad morning at all and pleasant in general but sorry, no photos to enlighten this text.

20/04 - Fuente de Piedra: I had arranged to meet Chris Feare at 09.00 and when I left the coast the weather wasn't bad, with some cloud but only light winds. By the time I got to the top of Las Pedrizas the cloud was down, visibility was not more than 25m and when a blast of wind hit the car in front, moving it half a meter right, I slowed rapidly and just in time, whilst the high van behind heeled over somewhat. Down on to the Antequera plain - the vega - it was mostly sun but the wind persisted and it was frankly cold and not overly pleasant once out of the car at Fuente de Piedra. The wind kept passerines down under cover, rocked the telescope and generally made birding less than 100% enjoyable and we lasted until only 11.00.

Wood Sandpiper just realising that it's going to be 
photographed and about to leg it for cover

There are still quite a few Wood Sandpipers around, they really are present in goodly numbers this spring and we also saw 2 Green Sandpipers and a single Common Sandpiper, but Redshank numbers have fallen. There was a distant flock of 100+ small waders, very probably stints we felt and which flashed back and forth but too far away to get any sort of identification, but we did see 4 Little Stints and 8 or 9 Ruffs which were more occupied sheltering from the wind in the vegetation. Of the passerines little, as they too were keeping under cover, but we did see a Yellow Wagtail, heard a Reed Warbler and I thought I heard a few phrases from a Great Reed, but the wind was not helpful. Not a roaring success of a morning but there will always be better days ahead..