Tuesday 19 July, Rio Guadiaro, Cortes de la Frontera, 0730-1000hrs, cool at first, mostly sunny: Another early start for Wingspanner and me as we headed down to the river at Cortes de la Frontera. We soon saw several warbler species in the trees and dead branches along the river; Melodious Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, Iberian Chiffchaff, Blackcap but best of all a scarce Sedge Warbler. Down on the shingle were several White Wagtail and Grey Wagtail, including several juveniles, and Little Ringed Plover (see photos, the bright yellow eye showing nicely in the second one!).



Also seen were Kingfisher, Booted Eagle (2 pale morphs), Short-toed Eagle, Griffon Vulture, Grey Heron, Spotted Flycatcher, Stonechat, Woodchat Shrike, Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, large numbers of Common Swift, a few Pallid Swift and a couple of Alpine Swift. There were large groups of, mainly juvenile, House Martin on the electricity pylon wires (see photos) although we did spot one Sand Martin in amongst them.


Finally, we saw a couple of Rock Sparrow (see photos in the second one the yellow throat spot is just visible if you zoom in!).