Sunday 28 August, Gaucin, a few clouds, warm, light SE wind: There was a large Honey Buzzard passage this afternoon. Most of the birds seemed to be following the river Genal then gaining height on thermals between Gaucin and Benarraba before taking a roughly N-S route over the village. I watched from 1615-1645hrs from a terrace in Calle Convento and recorded 315 Honey Buzzard, 3 Black Kite and 1 Common Buzzard. I then went down the road to watch from opposite Venta Socorro on the Gaucin-Ronda road hoping for better views - I wasn't disappointed! Between 1700-1745hrs I saw 898 Honey Buzzard, 18 Black Kite, 2 Common Buzzard and 1 Harrier sp. (most likely Montagu's). At times it was quite awe-inspiring as yet more birds appeared out of the heat haze to drift up and join one of the 'kettles' taking advantage of the thermal lift. In total 1213 Honey Buzzard recorded in a little over an hour!

In addition there were a few 'local' birds; 3x Booted Eagle (all Pale Morph), 1x Short-toed Eagle and 20 or so Griffon Vulture.

Back on the terrace from 1925-1940hrs I saw a further 525 Honey Buzzard and 3 Black Kite.

Thursday 25 August, Guadiaro River, Cortes de la Frontera, 0800-1030hrs, clear, warm, light SE wind: Wingspanner and I had a short trip out to the river at Cortes and recorded a good range of species. It wasn't long before we had brief glimpses of a Kingfisher and better views of Grey Wagtail, White Wagtail and Cetti's Warbler. There were plenty of other warblers around including Melodious Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Iberian Chiffchaff and a Common Whitethroat. In the dried fields and surrounding trees and bushes we saw a juvenile Woodchat Shrike, a good flock of 25 Rock Sparrow, Jay, Spotless Starling, several Spotted Flycatcher, Serin, Cirl Bunting, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Chaffinch. Along the gravelly riverside there were Grey Heron, Common Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover and a Sparrowhawk swooped down giving them all a fright. On the hills to the north there was a flock of 55 European Bee-eater, Short-toed Eagle and a restless Peregrine that made a couple of sorties in search of food. In the skies there were still a few Common and Pallid Swifts, several Barn Swallow, a couple of Red-rumped Swallow, small flocks of House Martin and one or two Crag Martin. We had very good views of a party of Golden Oriole; a male, a female and three juveniles - see not very good photo of the still brightly-coloured male!
Interestingly, despite similar weather conditions to previous days, there was no sign of raptor migration neither during this trip nor during the afternoon in Gaucin. Presumably thr weather conditions at the point of departure, or en-route, are of more significance.

Wednesday 24 August, Gaucin, sunny, very warm, light E-SE wind: Lots more Black Kite and Honey Buzzard passing through. Numbers from 1600hrs to 1745hrs as follows:
1600hrs: 120 Black Kite moving N-S over village and rising on the thermals to the west of Sierra Crestellina.
1615hrs: 15 Black Kite, movement as above.
1630hrs: 28 Honey Buzzard kettling to N-E of El Hacho.
1645hrs: 64 Black Kite and 3 Honey Buzzard moving N-S over centre of village.
1700hrs: 44 Black Kite and 37 Honey Buzzard moving N-S over centre of village.
1715hrs: 7 Black Kite and 40 European Bee-eater moving NE-SW to the NE of El Hacho.
1730hrs: 60 Black Kite, 20 Honey Buzzard and 65 European Bee-eater moving NE-SW to the NE of El Hacho.
1745hrs: 15 Black Kite and 50 Honey Buzzard moving NE-SW to the NE of El Hacho.

Throughout this time there was a steady passage of Barn Swallow, a couple of pale morph Booted Eagle and just half-a-dozen or so Common Swift flying around the village.

Tuesday 23 August, Gaucin, sunny, warm, light SE wind: Significant passage of Black Kite and Honey Buzzard this afternoon; counts as follows: 16:15hrs, 120 Black Kite and 25 Honey Buzzard east of the village presumably following the river Genal; 16:30hrs, 250 Black Kite and 100 Honey Buzzard moving N-S over the centre of the village; 17:15hrs, 250 Black Kite and 150 Honey Buzzard moving N-S over the centre of the village; 1930hrs, 6 Honey Buzzard moving E-W over the village; 1945hrs, 60 Honey Buzzard east of village. These numbers are likely to be underestimates as the birds were mostly invisible to the naked eye and those heading N-S were spread over quite a wide front; in view of this there could have been many others that went undetected. There were times between 16:30hrs and 17:30hrs when the sky was alive with birds and I didn't know where to look to start counting!
Also a flock of 70 European Bee-eater over Calle Convento at 18:30.

Sunday 21 August, Gaucin, mostly cloudy, warm: Strange cloudy, thundery day, always threatening rain but only a few drops fell. 23 Black Kite over the west of the village at 1700hrs then a further 98 following the river Genal to the east of the village at 1800hrs. Also 3 pale morph Booted Eagle hanging around most of the afternoon and a group of 10-15 European Bee-eater wheeling across the valley and up to the village and back for most of the day; they are so noisy it always sounds like there are hundreds of them!

Friday 19 August, mostly sunny, very warm with a few high white clouds, little or no wind - welcome weather after the big thunderstorm around 0100hrs last night! No evidence of raptor migration today with just the occasional Booted Eagle and Sparrowhawk drifting around. Here are some photos of the Red-rumped Swallow nest along the Los Ranosos track, showing its proximity to the dining table and the red rump of the adult clearly showing as it enters the nest to feed the young. It will be interesting to see when the young migrate as they will have quite a task to feed themselves up to 'migration weight'.

Thursday 18 August, sunny but humid, 34C: Two Honey Buzzard seen soaring high over Cerro de Joven opposite the petrol staion in Gaucin then heading off SW at 1930hrs. Presumably early reverse migration?