Search This Blog

Saturday 08-Saturday 22 July 2023

Back in Gaucin for a couple of weeks. During our stay it was mostly sunny and 32-36C during the day, with a peak of 40C on Wednesday 19th. Not the best time for birding, nor ideal weather, but here are a few things of interest that I saw:

In and around the village
Griffon vulture (mostly fairly small groups of 2-6 birds)
Booted Eagle (dark and pale phases)
Short-toed eagle
Sparrowhawk 
Bee-eater (noisy flocks of up to 20 birds just south of, and over, the village)
Common swift 
Pallid swift 
Alpine swift (over the paseo, west of the village, with other swifts)
Barn swallow 
House martin
Pied/white wagtail 

South of the village/Camino de Gibraltar 
Short-toed treecreeper (family party)
Firecrest 
Stonechat 
Bonelli's warbler
Melodious warbler 
Sardinian warbler 
Blackcap
Nightingale (calls heard)
Greenfinch 
Goldfinch 
Chaffinch 
Linnet
Cirl bunting 
Spotless starling
Jay
Great-spotted woodpecker 
Green woodpecker (heard)
Golden oriole (heard only, in trees in the valley below the village)
Woodchat shrike (adult and at least two juveniles)

West slopes of El Hacho
Rock bunting
Southern grey shrike (male singing from top of shrub - possible breeding territory? One was beginning to hang around there back in 2016.....).
Blue rock thrush (including two juveniles)

Woodland behind the gasolinera 
Crested tit 
Long-tailed tit
Firecrest 
Nuthatch (heard)