Birdwatch Gaucin

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)

Wednesday 20 September 2017, Wokingham, partly cloudy, light S wind, 15C

As the weather here begins to turn autumnal, the Common Swifts have already left us and small groups of Barn Swallow and House Martin pass overhead on their way to warmer southern climes, it seems as good a time as any to call a halt to the Birdwatch Gaucin blog. I'm going to be based in the UK for the foreseeable future so it seems like the right thing to do. I've really enjoyed reporting on Gaucin bird sightings for the past 8 years and sincerely hope that someone else will fall in love with the village and it's bird-life and take up the mantle.

Anyway, enough of that; who needs to be in Gaucin when you can see mega-cool birds like Grey Phalarope (or should I call it 'Red' as it now seems to be named?) in your own 'back yard'? An absolute beauty that dropped in for just a couple of hours last week!

Grey Phalarope

The local Common Buzzards, Red Kites and Mistle Thrushes aren't bad either....

Common Buzzard

If I don't look at them they'll all go away! Magpies intimidate a Buzzard

Red Kite having a wake up wing stretch

A rather handsome Mistle Thrush

All the best,

Paul

Tuesday 22 August 2017, Wokingham, cloudy, calm air, 22C

It may not have rained every day in August, as one of the more unreliable tabloid newspapers forecast, but we haven't exactly been reaching for the sun cream, either. Today has been fairly typical of late, largely overcast and humid.

Birding at the local gravel pit (now a nature reserve) has been pedestrian as all the lovely wader-friendly shallow pools have coalesced into one large lake just in time for Autumn migration. Common Tern and Sand Martin have had a good breeding season but a pair of Great-crested Grebe are now on their third attempt following previous lost nests as a result of a (probable) mink attack and flooding.

There are a few post-breeding mixed Tit flocks (Great, Blue, Long-tailed and Coal) around now with the occasional Chiffchaff amongst them and they are always worth checking through just in case there's something more interesting in there. In fact I added Coal Tit to my Wokingham 'garden list' just at the weekend!

Juvenile Common Tern

Grey Heron

Kingfisher - almost the classic 'No Fishing' photo!

Red Kite in the gloom

Good news for Bearded Vulture (Lammergeier) in Andalucia, as two chicks fledge, click on link to read more:
Bearded Vulture successes

Tuesday 25 July 2017, Wokingham, partly cloudy, calm air-light W-NW wind, 23C

A cool start to the day but cheering up late afternoon to leave a nice warm evening. During the last couple of weeks of changeable weather I've managed to 'dip' on yet another local Mediterranean Gull - this one a summer plumaged adult, too! Wader passage has been slow, with just a few Green and Common Sandpiper and a very small bird, that we eventually agreed was a tiny Dunlin, through (and one fly-over Black-tailed Godwit).

Good to see some interesting juveniles around with the nearby woods/hedgrows producing young Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat and Wren. There are still agood number of Common Swift here, though the rain forecast for tomorrow may send a few on their way south.

When not birding there have been some lovely early Blackberries to snack on!

Red Kite

juvenile Common Whitethroat

adult Common Whitethroat

Early Blackberries!

Saturday 08 Jul 2017, Wokingham, mostly sunny, light N-NW wind, 27C

Today's light breeze and lower temperatures were a bit of relief after a couple of very still, hot and humid days when temperatures hit 32C. This may be the UK, but there is a risk that this may turn into a 'proper' summer!
As is normal for this time of year, birds activity is reduced as they concentrate on breeding and feeding the resultant progeny.
Locally we have a pair of Barn Owl, of which I've only managed to get the following distant photo. They have four chicks, that should be fledging soon, so maybe I'll have more luck later on.


Adult Barn Owl

As 'reverse' wader passage begins we've seen Redshank, Ringed Plover, up to 6 Little-ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper and Green Sandpiper but, as yet, nothing 'exciting'.
Today saw the highest count of Little Egret of the summer with 8 gracing the ex-gravel pit shallows:

2 of 8 Little Egret and a Grey Heron - interesting how posture changed the apparent size of the (same-sized) Egrets

Green Sandpiper

Grey Heron

juvenile Grey Wagtail

Little Egret

Beyond the lake is a landfill area with Methane release valves. Not sure if this was just a heat thing or if Methane escape was a factor, but recently cut grass was picked up in a mini-whirlwind.

Landfill Methane valve

Grass cuttings pulled up by a 'whirlwind'

The reason for a bird-free 'scrape' was explained by a visiting young Red Fox!

Red Fox

Some good news for Andalucia's Bearded Vultures

This year a total of 6 Bearded Vultures will be released in Andalucia, as part of the reintroduction project there. Last weekend one bird named Larva was released in Cazorla, and yesterday two birds were released in mountains of Castril.

Click here: Bearded Vultures to read more:

Wednesday 21 June 2017, Wokingham, sunny, light S-SW wind, 32C

Flaming June it is as the warm spell continues into Midsummer's Day.
The recent local birding highlight was a 1st summer Mediterranean Gull but excuse me if I'm not overly excited having seen plenty in Spain over the years! Also, despite being 'ever present', it manages to time its absences perfectly with my visits....
A male Kingfisher was showing well this morning, and there was a brief glimpse of a Barn Owl, hunting low over the reedbed no doubt looking for breakfast for its 4 chicks.
On the 14 June I finally got a good look at a local Hobby then a couple of days later was treated to the spectacle of 5 of these wonderful raptors hawking insects over water near Stodmarsh in Kent.
There are still lots of dragonflies around which is great to see.