The Plains Of Spain With No Rain 24 April 2022 Wild Spain Custom Tour
The Plains Of Spain With No Rain 24 April 2022 Wild Spain Custom Tour
One of THE birds to see in Spain - male Great Bustard just wonderful!
After a delicious and plentiful breakfast we headed out into the morning sunshine, what a beautiful cobalt blue sky. We were greeted by a stunning male Black Redstart in the hotel car-park as “oily” Spotless Starlings sang above and a male Serin performed his “butterfly” display flight.
A short drive, passing Black Kites and Woodchat Shrikes, took us to a beautiful area of steppe, the plains of Spain, carpeted in glorious wildflowers. We were soon enjoying frame filling views of one of our most sought-after species of the trip – Great Bustards. And oh they really are great! Two of the huge males were in full “foam bath” display where these amazing birds seem to turn themselves inside out and inflate their chests and strut about looking most bizarre indeed. Meanwhile the females seemed to take no notice at all. To be out on these plains in beautiful weather, with the wildflowers and the bustards was just magical. But of course there was lots more, Calanadra Larks filled the air with their wonderful songs as Marsh Harriers quartered the flower filled steppe, Lesser Kestrels whizzed about while Griffon and Cinereous Vultures just soared slowly over – where to look! Unusual calls told us where to look next as Black-bellied Sandgrouse swept over the steppe such wonderful birds and we were lucky on this occasion seeing several small flocks, they can be tough to find. Our first Montagu’s Harrier of the trip floated over a yellow carpet of flowers in the sunshine just wow! Back to the Great Bustards and we soaked up more views of these incredible birds – this is why we love our tours in Spain so much.
We enjoyed many sightings of Hoopoes on this very special custom tour - Wild Spain.
At a nearby reservoir we enjoyed close up views of Thekla’s Lark singing in the sunshine along with Little Ringed Plovers and our first gulls of the trip – Lesser black backs. Crag Martins put on an amazing show flying so close but never easy to get a good photo of these fast-moving birds. Then huge excitement as two Great Spotted Cuckoos flew in! Such fantastic birds and always a thrill to see these long-tailed, long-winged birds.
We then headed back across the steppe stopping to see our first European Rollers and photograph a pair of Hoopoes posing on the fence – such amazing birds and always a joy to see.
Lunch was at a great bar that served up huge portions of freshly cooked tapas and we feasted outside watching European Bee-eaters, Spanish Sparrows, Lesser Kestrel and a real surprise bird a Black Stork soaring against the blue sky – wow!
Rainbow birds! European Bee-eaters another bird we enjoyed over and over again.
Then on to another reservoir which has forest around it providing super habitat for many birds. A Common Nightingale sat out in full view singing and we enjoyed lovely views, we heard so many during this tour and did see a good number. European Bee-eaters were feeding near the track and camera skills were put to the test again with this fast flying species – Debbie did amazingly well taking superb photos of these “rainbow” birds. The water itself was rather quite though an Osprey on a rock was a nice surprise and a breeding plumaged Black-necked Grebe looking stunning in the sunshine.
We headed back to Trujillo and enjoyed another wonderful dinner.
What a wonderful start to our custom Wild Spain tour! We would love to arrange a custom Birdwatching Trips tour for you or you and a small group, maximum of six guests, anywhere you would love to enjoy great birds. Just drop us a line here and we can do the rest…
info@birdwatchingtrips.co.ukWe have run our special custom tours to many destination here in the UK and overseas including Spain, Finland, Borneo, Ecuador, South Africa so just ask and we can help.