 ANDALUCIA
Spanish specialities and autumn migration
Saturday 18 September - Saturday 25 September 2010
Price: £1295 pp Single Supplement: £105 pp Deposit: £300 pp
 
Price includes return scheduled flight from London – Andalucia,
airport taxes, ground transportation, comfortable en-suite hotel accommodation,
all meals, incidental tips, and the services of Leader Ian Ford, joined
by another from our main guiding team with more than 7 clients. Max 14
clients.
More raptors migrate across the Straits of Gibraltar annually than any
other site in Europe. Counts suggest upwards of 200,000 pass between July
and November, plus over 100,000 White Stork and all of Western Europe`s
Black Stork. A daily stream of thousands filter southwards through Spain,
with concentrations in different places according to the weather. If the
weather is unsuitable for passage, birds continue to funnel into the area
each day until there may be 10,000 individuals waiting to cross the Straits.
Our guides know where to look for these waiting birds.
Target raptors for the week include Honey Buzzard, Black Kite, Red Kite,
Egyptian Vulture, Griffon Vulture, Short-toed Eagle, Bonelli`s Eagle,
Booted Eagle, Montagu`s Harrier, Lesser Kestrel and Spanish Imperial Eagle.
Golden Eagle, Black Vulture, Eleonora’s Falcon, Blackwinged Kite,
and Long-legged Buzzard are also possible.
Local species include Marbled Teal, White-headed Duck, Redknobbed Coot,
Purple Gallinule, Greater Flamingo, Glossy Ibis and Penduline Tit in the
wet “marismas”, Balearic Shearwater, Cory`s Shearwater, Audouin`s
Gull, Slender-billed Gull, Caspian Tern and Lesser Crested Tern on the
coast, Azurewinged Magpie, Spotless Starling and Spanish Sparrow inland
and other birds including migrating Alpine Swift, Pallid Swift, Crag Martin,
Red-Rumped Swallow, Hoopoe and Bee-eater. There is a good variety of habitat
from rocky and sandy seacoast, marsh, lagoon and rice-fields, to cork-oak
woods, rich scrubland and hilly sierras, all of which we will explore.
This is a real feast of birds in a warm and inviting Mediterranean environment. Many of the local towns are unspoilt “pueblos blancos”, and we will spend time investigating areas away from the main tourist ‘costas’. Our base for the week is a family-run hotel in Zahara de Los Atunes, a small fishing town on the Costa de la Luz, on the Atlantic coast north of Tarifa.
ITINERARY
Day 1 Saturday
Travel to our hotel from the airport and possibly visit local sites before dinner.
Day 2 Sunday – Day 7 Friday
We spend a good deal of this holiday around the town of Tarifa, checking raptor passage from some of the many excellent viewpoints near the roads. We have favourite spots, and will also use up to date local knowledge to get the best birding. Passerine passage will be from different viewpoints, and we will be flexible to give the best birding.
Other important locations include La Janda and Benalup for farmland and wetland birds (and more raptors), Los Barrios and the Ojen valley for scrub and woodland species and the Palmones estuary for waterside and seabirds.
We visit Laguna de Medina and other lagoons for Marbled Teal, White-headed Ducks, Red-knobbed Coot, and Purple Gallinule, then drive to the vast coastal area of Sancti Petri for shorebirds. A visit to the Alcornocales cork woodlands for local and migrant passerines is also enjoyable. We go north to Bonanza Salinas, and continue up the Guadilquivir river to Trebejuna and the huge wild marshes of Brazo del Este. Masses of waders, flamingos, heron and egret species, both Storks, Glossy Ibis, Purple Gallinule, Penduline Tit, and Azure-winged Magpie can also be found here.
Day 8 Saturday
A last chance to visit productive local spots before heading to the airport.
Please note: all itineraries are given as a guide only. Actual
holiday content may vary according to the judgement of your guide, and
elements beyond our control (eg weather).
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