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Sunday 28 August 2016, Gaucin, hazy sunshine, light SE wind, 33C

A very warm and humid day, but plenty of raptor migration to see:
14:00-15:00hrs: 83 Honey Buzzard (groups of between 6 and 38 birds), 12 Booted Eagle, 2 Short-toed Eagle, 134 European Bee-eater (groups of 43, 39 and 52)
16:30-17:00hrs: one group of 50+ Booted Eagle (moving through in front of Sierra Crestellina, then heading west at the wind turbines, this was the biggest single group I've seen), 1 Honey Buzzard, 1 Short-toed Eagle, 2 Common Buzzard
 
Local birds included the usual dark morph Booted Eagle and its occasional pale morph companion, plus 3 Common Swift, a Barn Swallow, 20+ House Martin and a singing first summer Blue Rock Thrush on a roof in Barrio Alto.

An early evening walk along the paseo alongside the (Gaucin-Algeciras road) produced a further 2 Honey Buzzard, a very tame Thekla Lark, Stonechat and, a first in the village for me, a Monarch butterfly (one has been reported near the castle recently).

Observations from Tim B:
Hundreds of Honey Buzzard again today. They started early (1100h) - I counted 200 in an hour late afternoon, but most were high and distant.
A minimum of 6 Swifts over the village, a female Sparrowhawk and a Peregrine this evening.

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