After last night's horrendous fires stretching from just north of Malaga to the outskirts of Marbella, Gaucin was enshrouded in thick clouds of smoke early this morning. We could smell the fire throughout the night, the full moon was a blood red and a covering of ash covered our cars and houses.
We drove from Gaucin at 7am for a shopping trip to Gibraltar and Soto Grande. On the way back we saw 75 Honey Buzzards in various size flocks.
Throughout the afternoon over Gaucin we saw a trickle of Honey Buzzards, a couple of Common Buzzards, Booted Eagles and at 6pm a Bonelli's Eagle joined a flock of 8 Honey Buzzards over the house.
Tuesday 28 August, Gaucin, light E-SE wind, sunny, 35C: A good start to the day with a Hawfinch visiting the gardens between Calle Convento and Calle del Pino. There was very little raptor migration to be seen with just 37 Honey Buzzard far away over the wind turbines at 1120hrs and 8 more over the village at 1400hrs. Local Common Buzzard and Short-toed Eagle were showing well below the village to the south during the afternoon and 20 or so European Bee-eater were wheeling around very close to the houses in Calle Convento. A short walk along Camino de Gibraltar from 2000-2100hrs produced a good bird list including 2 Pied Flycatcher, 4 Spotted Flycatcher, Firecrest, Great-spotted Woodpecker, European Nuthatch, a family group of 4 Cirl Bunting, a group of 6 Sardinian Warbler feeding on the track and a Chiffchaff sp. (probably Iberian given the prominent yellow supercilium). No bird photos as I'm trying out a wide-angle lens on the 'scope and having enough trouble getting on the birds let alone taking photos! Here's one of Sierra Crestellina at dusk from the camera.....
On this day last year we saw the most impressive numbers of Honey Buzzard passing over Gaucin; so far this year I haven't seen anywhere near that rate of passage. The question is, have the birds gone through further afield, have they been missed, or are they yet to come.....?
On this day last year we saw the most impressive numbers of Honey Buzzard passing over Gaucin; so far this year I haven't seen anywhere near that rate of passage. The question is, have the birds gone through further afield, have they been missed, or are they yet to come.....?
Monday 27 August, Gaucin, partly cloudy, light-fresh SE wind, 32C: Despite the change in wind direction the raptor migration followed a similar pattern to yesterday suggesting, as perhaps you might expect, that the wind conditions at the point of origin have a more significant effect on the route than our local conditions. Observations as follows:
0900hrs: 1 Honey Buzzard N-S over centre of village
1055hrs: 27 Honey Buzzard, 4 Black Kite N-S over centre ofvillage
1110hrs: 22 Honey Buzzard N-S over centre of village
1150hrs: 23 Honey Buzzard, 1 Booted Eagle N-S over centre of village
1545hrs: 220 birds (mostly Honey Buzzard but also a small number <10 -="-" a="a" accurate="accurate" algeciras.="algeciras." along="along" and="and" before="before" bit="bit" black="black" carrying="carrying" constant="constant" counts="counts" crestellina="crestellina" de="de" distance="distance" est="est" genal="genal" kettling="kettling" kite="kite" made="made" martin="martin" on="on" over="over" p="p" passing="passing" right="right" rio="rio" san="san" sharp="sharp" sierra="sierra" species="species" tesorillo="tesorillo" the="the" then="then" towards="towards" tricky="tricky" turbines="turbines" turning="turning" wind="wind">1600hrs: 30 Common Swift N-S
1930hrs: 115 birds (again mostly Honey Buzzard) direction as above.
Throughout the afternoon and early evening there were occasional singles/twos of Honey Buzzard following the direct N-S route over Gaucin.
0900hrs: 1 Honey Buzzard N-S over centre of village
1055hrs: 27 Honey Buzzard, 4 Black Kite N-S over centre ofvillage
1110hrs: 22 Honey Buzzard N-S over centre of village
1150hrs: 23 Honey Buzzard, 1 Booted Eagle N-S over centre of village
1545hrs: 220 birds (mostly Honey Buzzard but also a small number <10 -="-" a="a" accurate="accurate" algeciras.="algeciras." along="along" and="and" before="before" bit="bit" black="black" carrying="carrying" constant="constant" counts="counts" crestellina="crestellina" de="de" distance="distance" est="est" genal="genal" kettling="kettling" kite="kite" made="made" martin="martin" on="on" over="over" p="p" passing="passing" right="right" rio="rio" san="san" sharp="sharp" sierra="sierra" species="species" tesorillo="tesorillo" the="the" then="then" towards="towards" tricky="tricky" turbines="turbines" turning="turning" wind="wind">1600hrs: 30 Common Swift N-S
1930hrs: 115 birds (again mostly Honey Buzzard) direction as above.
Throughout the afternoon and early evening there were occasional singles/twos of Honey Buzzard following the direct N-S route over Gaucin.
Sunday 26 August, sunny, light W-NW wind, 35C: Lots of raptor movement early evening as follows:
2015hrs: 89 Honey Buzzard and 11 Black Kite in thermal 'kettle' over the Rio Genal to the East of Gaucin passing in front of Sierra Crestellina
2030hrs: 115 Honey Buzzard (kettling, as above); also 2 Alpine Swift over the centre of village
2040hrs: 155 Honey Buzzard and 6 Black Kite heading N-S over the centre of the village.
2105: Despite being quite gloomy by now, 22 Honey Buzzard and 3 Black Kite heading NE-SW over centre of village.
2015hrs: 89 Honey Buzzard and 11 Black Kite in thermal 'kettle' over the Rio Genal to the East of Gaucin passing in front of Sierra Crestellina
2030hrs: 115 Honey Buzzard (kettling, as above); also 2 Alpine Swift over the centre of village
2040hrs: 155 Honey Buzzard and 6 Black Kite heading N-S over the centre of the village.
2105: Despite being quite gloomy by now, 22 Honey Buzzard and 3 Black Kite heading NE-SW over centre of village.
Friday 24 August, sunny, light W-NW wind, 35C: The change of wind direction in the past couple of days has cleared the haze from the sky but there's no let up in the temperatures with the unfiltered sun feeling hotter than ever. The westerly wind seems to have pushed most of the raptor migration eastward and as such there has been very little visible from Gaucin; today there were a couple of small groups of Honey Buzzard high over the northern end of Sierra Crestellina (just about visible in the 'scope!) with 22 at 1850hrs and 13 at 1910hrs.
Wednesday 22 August, Gaucin, hazy sunshine, light SE wind, later SW, 36C: If you could brave the heat there was quite a bit of raptor passage to be seen today.
1110hrs: 3 Honey Buzzard, 3 Booted Eagle (2ad 1juv)
1215hrs: 6 Honey Buzzard
1530hrs: At least 200 Swift, including some Pallid
1545hrs: 60 Black Kite
1630hrs: 1 female Montagu's Harrier - quite low over the village then moving NE-SW across the Rosa Alta ridge
2010hrs: 65 Honey Buzzard in a thermal 'kettle' over the East of the village (wind direction had changed to SW by this time)
As well as the passgae birds there were also a dozen or so Bee-eater on the wires below the village, 3 Common Buzzard over Rosa Alta at 1930hrs, a couple of sightings of Common Kestrel, the local Short-toed Eagles (x3) and Booted Eagles (x2), and an Alpine Swift amongst the remaining late afternoon Swift flock.
1110hrs: 3 Honey Buzzard, 3 Booted Eagle (2ad 1juv)
1215hrs: 6 Honey Buzzard
1530hrs: At least 200 Swift, including some Pallid
1545hrs: 60 Black Kite
1630hrs: 1 female Montagu's Harrier - quite low over the village then moving NE-SW across the Rosa Alta ridge
2010hrs: 65 Honey Buzzard in a thermal 'kettle' over the East of the village (wind direction had changed to SW by this time)
As well as the passgae birds there were also a dozen or so Bee-eater on the wires below the village, 3 Common Buzzard over Rosa Alta at 1930hrs, a couple of sightings of Common Kestrel, the local Short-toed Eagles (x3) and Booted Eagles (x2), and an Alpine Swift amongst the remaining late afternoon Swift flock.
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