Cracking finch flocks, a confiding woodpecker and some crisp winter sunshine eases the post Spain blues

After my travels in Spain I have to admit I'm struggling a wee bit with my 'get up and go' as far as local nature trekking is concerned and quite frankly feel a bit 'birded out', but with a trip up to Wykeham Forest in the offing soon and hopefully a chance of Crossbills (a bird I've never photographed before) and maybe even a lucky Goshawk or 2 if my guide is up to the challenge .... (no pressure there then Mikey!), I'm slowly getting back to grips with a Yorkshire winter and easing my way back into work. Already champing at the bit for another trip away somewhere!




Common Buzzard mob, Elvington 2nd Jan 2014

Meanwhile, I've done my best to make the most of the few good weather days up here in Yorkshire and a recent trip to Elvington Woods, nr Wheldrake Ings, produced a few good finch flocks, Fieldfares and, Mistle Thrushes in the fields, Skylarks overhead and the daily mobbing routine of the local Buzzards by Carrion Crows ...














Stacks of Bullfinches about too but not enough males posing for my camera and great to see my first Whooper Swans of the year at Wheldrake too ...  too distant for my lens alas.

My home from home at Askham Bog though has once again come up with the goods with all the common winter visitors ... Redwing, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Siskin, Redpoll, Marsh & Willow Tit all showing well plus a relatively confiding Great Spotted Woodpecker .....

Great Spotted Woodpecker, Askham Bog



Great Spotted Woodpecker, Askham Bog

There's a Kingfisher here too at the moment offering fleeting views as it darts along the drains and dykes... sneaking up on it and getting a decent pic will be a challenge (especially as I'm likely to be working!)

Siskins have been relatively abundant on the Bog recently and although they race through the Alders, a few tarry and provide the odd good shot ....

Siskin, Askham Bog, Jan 2014

Siskin, Askham Bog, Jan 2014

Common Redpoll, (male) Strensall Common

Not as crisp as either the weather over the last couple of days or those lovely Siskins at Askham, these pictures of Redpolls are just typical of the ones I've seen recently ..... half hidden, top of the trees, but always entertaining! These were on Strensall Common today and part of a flock of 60 or so.

Again plenty of Bullfinches with at least 10 seen along with a big flock of about 200 Chaffinches and a similar number of Fieldfares... all a bit quiet apart from that though.



Common Redpoll, (female) Strensall Common





Common Redpoll, Strensall



The last leg ... a Wallcreeper moment in Jaca, vehicle worries but all done and back safe n sound!



Trip progress - Fuentes de Nava (A), La Grajera (B), Jaca (C)

Ok here's my last post from the Spain trip plus a bird report of all the birds I saw - the report took me ages to compile and not perfect but started to get a bit OCD about it so stopped, had a drink or 2 and decided it was 'good to go'! Here it is - Roadtrip (Spain, Nov / Dec 2013)- bird species - all comments welcome.


Grey Headed Woodpecker, La Grajera

So then, the final leg of my journey - from the Fuentes de Nava in Castilla y Leon, via La Grajera and Jaca, then back through the Pyrenees and into France, though tinged with a bit of sadness at leaving Spain and a significant degree of anxiety over the noises emitting from my van (more later), was relatively tranquil and did in fact bring me 2 new 'lifers'. First of which was a splendid Grey Headed Woodpecker at the  La Grajera reservoir, nr Logrono - a bit of a park with golf course attached, an empty car park and several suspicious looking blokes wandering around (never had I been so concerned about my vehicle!). By now of course I was on the hunt for new species and thought this place looked good for Crossbills. None seen sadly but the Grey Headed Woodpecker in a children's play area was a terrific bonus! Thought I might have had one of these a couple of years ago in France but after watching this one - the way it looked and behaved, totally different from a Green Woodpecker, I'm satisfied I didn't.

Grey Headed Woodpecker, La Grajera

Red Squirrel, La Grajera, Castilla y Leon

Such a bleak feel to this place ...bare trees, cold winds and stacks of berries in the bushes were a stark reminder that although my skin was brown and hair sun kissed, it was in fact winter and I was heading north and right into it! There were Blackbirds, Song Thrushes galore here plus 20 or so Redwings and a distant flock of 20 or so unidentified thrushes that looked suspiciously like Fieldfares to me but could just as easily have been Mistle Thrushes or Blackbirds. No Crossbills, but at least 5 Firecrest along with Coal & Long Tailed Tits, 10ish Blackcaps and several Red Squirrels busily foraging for nuts on the forest floor .. yep it was winter that day alright!


Onwards and upwards I pushed, trying to ignore the horrendous noise in the van ... by this time I was pretty sure it was a big bearing gone on the driveshaft - disconcerting to say the least and as I passed back into Aragon the frailty of my vehicle was such that I passed up on the opportunity to drive up to the deserted village of Esco, abandoned in the year I was born (1959) after the damming of a stretch of the Aragon river created the Yesa resevoir and ruined the livelihood's of the farming community there (all General Franco's work!). Got an awesome pic of the place though ... light was just right with the setting sun highlighting the mountain ridge behind which I think is called Sigues


Esco (deserted village) at last light

Embalse de Yesa, Aragon

Eventually I reached Jaca and the nearby birding hotspot of San Juan de Pena, high up in the pre Pyrenees, a place I commend and highly recommend ... 





Jaca itself is a splendid place, although a popular destination for Spanish holiday makers and winter sports (the city was in the running to host the 2014 Winter Olympics), its well enough off the beaten track and not at all touristy, and thoroughly Basque! I stopped at a campsite here for a couple of days to explore the mountainous habitat up nr the monastaries of San Juan de Pena, primarily for a last chance of grabbing a Wallcreeper sighting .... I was lucky and got one, just one and sadly I wasn't savvy and alert enough to get a pic, but what a lasting image I will have in my mind's eye! Ok so why did I nearly wet my pants? Birdwatchers everywhere will understand this but to the non initiated a sighting of a Wallcreeper is a bit of a 'holy grail' experience ... its a bit like a treasure hunter discovering a Viking helmet on a beach, or an antique dealer coming across a piece of genuine Thomas Chippendale furniture .... it's just special!

Now I've searched and searched for a pic of Wallcreeper in the same aspect as I saw mine but couldn't find one so you will have to imagine. Here's the setting - I was looking out from a viewpoint nr the old monastery at San Juan de Pena -  it was mid morning in bright sunlight and I'd stood there for an hour because the light and the view was so inspiring, didn't see much .. a couple of Jays and some distant finches flying through the trees that's all ...


Viewpoint from San Juan de Pena

Then I saw a bird that I initially took to be a Great Spotted Woodpecker floating across the valley, took a look through the bins and got an eyeful of red / pink colour that didn't look right, it's almost fluorescent pink for god's sake ... saw the same colours on flamenco dresses in a shop in El Rocio! Its a f****** Wallcreeper flying right across the valley right in front of me and backlit in the sun! Where's the camera? oh shit it's gone!  Just imagine this magnificent thing ....

Wallcreeper, (google images)

..... flying across that valley in the sun. I don't expect non birders to understand why I nearly wet myself but the sheer beauty of the bird and the setting made for magical moment. The way it was, it could even have been a bird migrating  down from the mountains into the warmer climes of the valley (as they do in the winter). Alongside the Great Bustards and the Lammergeiers that was just about my best birding moment of the whole trip and one of those memories that is permanently etched on the brain!

 



Old monastery, San Juan de Pena

I had a wonderfully invigorating stroll around up here, both the old and new monastaries were interesting .. here's the old one (circa 920) - in the shadow of the same cliff face it was built from (that's where my Wallcreeper was heading and you can maybe see why!)


Now look, I'm neither an architect or town planner but impressive as it is I wouldn't have passed this ......

Old Monastary, San Juan de Pena

 

... and this is the new one, not sure when this was built, less impressive than the old to my mind but higher up and surrounded by forest and mountain views I'd certainly consider giving up all my vices and accept a retreat there!

New monastary, San Juan de Pena

 .... some nice seasonal Holly berries up here too


Holly, San Juan de Pena

.... and just about the weirdest image of a Treecreeper I've ever taken ... in the grounds of said monastery.



Treecreeper in the snow, San Juan de Pena



Bar, Jaca

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Back down in Jaca it was warmer and before I hit this bar and got a bit giddy with some of the locals with my limited Spanish, my last good birding moment in Spain was a Peregrine Falcon chasing a Lapwing over the town and towards those mountains and monasteries. Another awesome moment to go with the rest!





My kind of bar, Jaca (nearly made an offer for one of those Strats!)

By lunchtime the next day I was well into France and heading for my sister's place in the Poiteau Charente. Toyed with the idea of taking in a coastal site on the way to grab a couple of birds I hadn't yet seen - Oystercatcher (can you believe that!), Ruff & Balearic Shearwater but decided against. I was looking forward to some catch up time with my sis and Mark, a hot shower and the opportunity get drunk and play some music .... oh and a chance to get the van seen to. I got all that and it was great to spend some time again in France with my old musical comrades ... good times!!

It was a wrecked bearing on the driveshaft .... diagnosed and repaired within 48hrs at a Ford dealer in Chauvigny - 280 euros (could have been a lot worse!).

So that's that .... I did it, it was something I promised myself when I retired and planned for 6 months. Worth it? I'll say .... where next!!??

Post script and slightly amusing little anecdote ..... when I got back to Jane & Mark's in France, whilst I was doing a bit of sorting out in the van, I happened to be looking at the car stickers on the back window, attached by a previous owner of the van no doubt and things I'd only half looked at before, and blow me ... of the half a dozen stickers, 2 were from Jaca and 2 from Salamancar! That van's done this journey before!!!! True ... weird or what!!

The journey back pt1 ... Castilla y Leon, freezing fog around Madrid, a different goose and some sheep!

Road-trip progress: 8th - 9th Dec 2013

And so to my 10th and penultimate post from the late autumn/ early winter trip to Espagne, and what a trip it has been. Memorable in so many ways but I'll save the round up till I've knocked up some kind of report / species list and gathered together all the best pics on some kind of gallery ....I don't mind spending a chunk of my xmas day doing that, strange bod that I am!




Christmas in Seville

Talking of Christmas .... MERRY XMAS EVERYONE! and all that follow my little blog on here and on #bagginstim..... thank you for your time.





After the dramatic scenery of Extramadura and the relative calm of Sevilla, I encountered some horrendously inclement weather as I tracked up west of Madrid .... freezing fog and lots of it settling on my windscreen made for 'uncomfortable' driving, especially at night and with local cars on the tail of a dawdling Englishman in a slightly broken Transit van!

So in less than 1/2 a day's driving (albeit northwards) I went from this lovely sunshine in Northern Extramadura, and me enjoying it ....

Lovely autumn colours nr El Torno, Extramadura

Yes enjoy that son boy 'cos it ain't shining up north!

..... to this the next morning

Wake up call, it's Winter! 8.30am, Zamora car park.

.... I so wanted that shop in the pic above to be selling hot coffee! (it wasn't). Van started first time though and it was definitely time to move on. The forecast was for more of the same for the next 3 days around these parts which was a shame because I'd really wanted to take in Vilafafilla for my last chance of more Great Bustards and other steppe birds, and I did drop in but it was hopeless ... the whole area was in a deep freeze and cloaked with thick fog, so absolutely no chance of seeing another one of these. If your Christmas turkey could fly it might look a bit like this!

Great Bustard in flight ... so wish I could have seen one like this!

I hadn't seen much for the past couple of days, northern Extramadura was pleasant but quiet apart from large lark & finch flocks, including another Citril Finch and the curious site of c40 Meadow Pipits and c20 Chiff Chaffs feeding together whilst above them maybe 400 Starlings perched on telegraph wires, this was nr some unremarkable water course between Toril and Serrejon, but somehow synonymous as far as the density of these particular birds.

I was in going home mode for sure but I was still yearning for at least another couple of days of good weather and good birding ... and indeed I got them. Travelling up through Castilla y Leon, the fog suddenly lifted and somehow (no satnav remember!) I navigated myself to Fuentes de Nava, nr Palencia - a piece of reclaimed agricultural land and now one of the most important wetland sites in Northern Spain.

The omens were good, en route, stopping for break somewhere nr Palencia, a bird on a wire I'd initially taken for a Kestrel turned out to be a Merlin (one of several I've seen recently) but none as photographable as this one.... nice!

Merlin on the wire, nr Palencia

Fuentes de Nava with flying Teal in the foreground

De Nava itself isn't as picturesque and dramatic as some of the other wetland sites I've visited on this trip but oh man it was just nice to feel some warmth again and be able to get out and walk some distance.

Fuentes de Nava_9dec2013

Not quite the diversity and numbers of birds either but certainly plenty of wintering Greylag Geese that's for sure .... never easy to estimate such numbers but I guesstimated about 2500! There were maybe half a dozen Spanish birders / photographers knocking around and as I found further south, this annual invasion of tens of thousands of geese really seems to take their fancy ... are we in the UK missing something here or what?

Wintering Greylags at Fuentes de Nava

..... or maybe they were attracted by something a little more unusual because (and here's the thing and I think benefit of taking stacks of pics) when I was reviewing said pics later something caught my eye. Take a look at this initially discarded photo of the same flock of Greylags -

Greylags at Fuentes de Nava .... check out the goose extreme left!

.... here's said goose on the left and it's definitely a White Fronted .... and I'd scoured the whole flock on the day for a 'different goose'!!!

Half a White Fronted Goose .... havin it!

Fuentes de Nava .. sun was shining but there's ice in that dyke!

... hehe, i'll have to rummage through the rest of my geese pics for more or maybe even a stray Bean Goose!!


Nice place this was and just what I needed ... somewhere big and rangy to walk about in with the sun on my back .... after that dreadful freezing fog it was almost heaven!








Teal across Fuentes de Nava

The light was superb late on in the afternoon ... just look at the colour on these Teal flying across one of the lagoons there.













Marsh Harrier over Fuentes de Nava

Other notable sightings from around here were at least 8 Marsh Harriers, 1 Hen Harrier, another Merlin, 1 Black Kite, a Water Rail (heard), 30ish White Storks, good numbers of common ducks - Teal, Wigeon, Shoveller, Gadwall, 1 Green Sandpiper, 20 or Dunlin, 1 Common Sandpiper and a Jack Snipe amongst 10 or so Common Snipe, 1 Water Pipit, 20 or Skylarks amongst the many Crested Larks and a singing Blackcap (albeit sub song, it was nice to hear).

White Stork overhead, Fuentes de Nava

Later on, as I was sat outside my van enjoying the sun and a sandwich, and thinking about where to go the next day, a local herdsman with his dog and his sheep made their way across the field, flushing geese as they went. It made for a lovely picture ....

Sheep herding amongst the geese, Fuentes de Nava

Looking at that picture above and all it says to me, it feels slightly odd as I sit here back at home in the UK watching the Simpsons at Christmas (best tv I could find!), posting about events that even now, less than 2 weeks later, seem a world apart! One of my lodgers just told me about grown men staggering drunk around the streets of York wearing xmas tree and advent calendar costumes, singing crappy old Slade songs ..... reckon you'd catch the herdsman in the picture doing that?

The wild Southwest of Bonanza and Brazo Del Este... thousands of birds, a fab tractor and some stunning location shots.

'Tis with a slight tinge of sadness that I leave Tarifa and begin my northward journey back, but its a fool who dashes away when the riches abound and its the wetlands where most of the action seems to be occurring, so rather than head due North, I dally awhile around the Rio Guadalquivir and my first port of call is Bonanza, just outside Sanlucar de Barameda and now part of the Donana nature reserve. Been here before many times in the Spring but never at this time of the year. Surrounded by Parcel Pine forest on one side and salt pans on the other, Bonanza never disappoints!!

Booted Eagle, Bonanza



Booted Eagle, Bonanza

These shots of a Booted Eagle flying over the pine trees was my first of the morning ... no idea what its doing on the 2nd shot!



Black Stork, Bonanza

I'd seen my first Black Storks over La Janda the day before and boy are they wary! Unlike the White Storks they fly at the first hint of camera movement ... one distant shot here followed by one flying away .... I do manage a few better shots later.... ugly critters really aren't they!

Black Stork, Bonanza

It's difficult to convey the sheer number of birds here in Spain in the Winter, on a daily basis down here I witness massive flocks of Meadow Pipits, White Wagtails, Larks, Finches as well as huge numbers of Chiff Chaffs, Black Redstarts, Robins, Stonechats ... and that's without mentioning raptors, storks, egrets, ducks and waders! Almost too much to take in sometimes. Here's a bit more of Bonanza and then its on to Brazo Del Este.

Banks of the Guadalquivir, Bonanza

 

Bar Tailed Godwit, Bonanza

Caspian Tern, Bonanza

Chiff Chaffs galore... not the best of pictures but this is typical. Point your bins or camera just about anywhere and there'll be up to half a dozen around .... only 3 in the pic below but you get the picture! 

Chiff Chaffs.... typical vista!

Common Waxbill, Bonanza



Greater Flamingoe, Bonanza ... off centre, dammit!!

 
A little further North and on the East of the Guadalquivir lies Brazo Del Este - a subsidiary river and system of drainage dykes that again hold huge numbers of Storks, Waders, Raptors as well as smaller birds in the many wet fields, many of them rice paddies .... its yet another birding heaven!

I kid you not, when I arrived in the late afternoon, the first thing I witnessed was a field full of about 300 White Storks .... and then I realised this was just one of many fields, with just as many Storks, some Black Storks, Glossy Ibis, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed & Black Headed Gulls, Marsh Harriers everywhere... even had a flock of Golden Plover (new bird for the trip!)

Here's a photo montage because time is short for blogging and I'm doing this in bed in a hotel in El Rocio and its already gone midnight!!

One White Stork ...

 



Lots of White Storks!! Brazo Del Este

In total, I don't know, but over 2500 White Storks at Brazo alone.

Black Stork, Brazo Del Este

Several Black Storks here too... maybe 15 in total.


Black Storks, Brazo Del Este

 ........ nice Spoonbill pic

Spoonbill, Brazo Del Este

Always been drawn by birds following the plough in the UK .... usually its looking for something different amongst Black Headed Gulls (almost always to find just that), but how about this for something different .....ace retro tractor for a start! Sky in the background is a bit weak but still a good action shot ....


Storks, Ibis & Gulls following the plough, Brazo Del Este




Wet field, Eucalyptus Tree, Pumping station and van pic! Brazo Del Este

Talking about 'locations' - this was not staged, just where I happened to park the van for a stroll, but what pic for the scrapbook!













I'd stopped to scan for Bluethroats, seeing this as a likely old spot .....

Likely Bluethroat location



Bluethroat from loads away!

.... and sure enough if I zoom in on one particular spot on the above (can you see it?!) there was indeed a Bluethroat. Slight cheat involved here because admittedly, I knew there was one there somewhere, but again its the sheer numbers of birds here that continues to astound ... I must have had 20 Bluethroats at Brazo!

Rubbish image of course and highly cropped but here's the zoom in on the right.






Interesting irrigation structures around here, shame I didn't get the birds in focus.....!

Irrigation and Cormorants, Brazo Del Este

Nowt much to write home about, neither bird and certainly not the photograph, but this has to be one of the most difficult birds to get anywhere near to even a distance shot ..... its a Lesser Short Toed Lark, only included here as a record shot and my first ever pic of one. At least you can make out the diagnostic eye ring!

 

 

 

Drainage dyke & Penduline Tit location

This is where I had my 2nd 'lifer' of the trip, a smashing view of a Penduline Tit ... just on the top of one of the nearest mast heads!










Dragonfly species, Brazo Del Este

Lots of dragonflies about here still, maybe they last right through the year? Have to get the field guide out to this one .....

















Nice female Marsh Harrier coming down a drain, just before she clocked me!



Female Marsh Harrier, Brazo Del Este

2 awesome and bird filled locations in 2 days and then I hit the Donana national nature reserve proper and El Rocio is my base for another couple of days before I head up to Extramadura. More from here in my next post.