Then a quick look at Laguna de Medina. Still high water level almost up to the boardwalk & drowning the tamarisk scrub but in February the level gauge was several feet under water. Stand out birds 60+ Bn Grebe, 4 Wh Duck & 7 Wood Sandpipers 2/2

Last day birding with Neil. A stop at the Sociedad Gaditana de Historia Natural reserve at Casa Colorada (NE from Laguna de Media) produced 5 Marbled Duck - presumably from the society's reintroduction programme. Also LRP, Common Sandpiper, Avocet, R-c Pochard, etc 1/2

I'm well, ilthsnks, it's nice of you to ask. I trust you're well too. There were some white -headed LtTs in Kent years back but my best view of one was in Japan. I didn't realise that they also had more pink on the back too than our birds.

The white headed form is even more impossibly cute!

A change from my usual sunset from the terrace ... the Moon and Venus putting on a better show than my camera phone can show.

The Embalse de Barbate remains very full after two winters with heavy rain. The 'river' in 1st photo previously a modest stream (with Bee-eaters nesting in banks), drowned trees in 2nd in far side of the service road & in past I've walked under the viaduct in the 3rd! Local lagunas also full.

2 targets found AM exploring the campo south of Medina Sidonia; Imm Spanish Imperial Eagle & displaying Little Bustard. Former slowly increasing, latter declining sharply. Photo of bustard field in foreground & new olive plantation on hill behind tells you why! 2x ticks for Neil (his BoC photos)🪶

Great late AM/early PM birding at Barbate - hundreds of Pratincole, many waders, dozens of Woodchat Shrike, many Common Redstart, warblers etc. Star birds a thunbergi W Yellow Wagtail & a very lost Rose-coloured Starling (2nd I've found in Cadiz!) 🪶

NB - starling photo deceptive as body feathers were pinker & wings darker, cheeks & throat turning blackish so also darker. Mandy did v. well as she was on crutches with leg in plaster having had an accident before they arrived. So couldn't accommodate in Casa Cantelo but found an alternative

A great late morning/PM birding at Marismas de Barbate with Neil & Mandy Colman - good nos of waders, dozens of Woodchat, trees alive small birds (inc many Common Redstart), a superb thunbergi Yellow Wagtail plus a very tatty R-c Starling in peculiar moult - 2nd I've found in Cadiz Province 1/2.

Walked a newly (re)opened footpath from Alcala down to the service road - Woodchat, Nightingale, Cetti's, Griffons, Booted & S-t Eagles.

Griffon passing the terrace

Housing behind the terrace blocks the view

A cold wind & shade = a very chilly AM session in Alcala: 6 Sh-t & 22 Booted Eagles, 10 Black Kites & 1 Egyptian Vulture heading north (plus 120+ Griffon & 21 LKs drifting around). Migrating BoPs over high from behind the houses so easy to miss. By 11:00 I was 🥶 so retreated downstairs for coffee 🪶

I meant my previous post to be my last tonight but had notification of a wonderful £100 donation to @alzheimerssoc.bsky.social for my birding guide to Cadiz Province raising the total in Liz's memory to £6,842. Sunset from the terrace as Lesser Kestrel danced above made it a very emotional moment

Tonight's finale a Black Vulture over the terrace just before 20:00. It took me years to see my first here in Alcala but I now see one on most visits. Picked up as a dot yet somehow still looked "different", no idea why! Yet still haven't got Ruppell's here despite it being regular on the coast.

Windy but mostly sunny in Alcala de los Gazules today. Mainly local BoPs on view - a SIE, LKs & Griffons (plus a single Booted pushing through). Then, typically, in the early evening (19:00) a flock of a dozen Black Kite drifted over heading north. The magic of migration! 🪶

Now clouded over, cool & threatening rain so decamped downstairs for coffee. Only 10 LKs was a disappointing count for here but good to see a distant juv. Spanish Imperial Eagle (soaring with c20 Griffons). It took years to get a confirmed sighting here but now expected.

I knew there'd be someone ... which is of course why I mentioned it! 😉.

Tea, toast & marmite (with marmalade in reserve) on the terrace - is there a better way for a British birder in Spain to start the day? I don't think so 😀🪶

Evening on the terrace here in Alcala de los Gazules. Maximum count of 19 Lesser Kestrels (low for here in April) & only one nesting in the old tower by the house (usually 3+). Is it the cool evening or have they declined sharply? Also a Black Kite, a Booted Eagle & an Osprey (plus dozen Griffons)🪶

Good to see some more movement on garden bird feeding but ultimately we need a rethink, not just because of disease but because making common birds commoner can make rare ones rarer #Ornithology #UKBirding
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

An hour later 🌧️ stopped play ☹️

A dense fog this morning in Alcala de los Gazules (Cadiz), then shopping for essentials and meeting friends for ☕ meant a late start ... first scan at 12:50 netted 30+ Griffons & half a dozen Lesser Kestrels. Lazy terrace birding at its best! 🪶

Churros & chocolate - a classic Spanish breakfast. There's no better place to buy this classic than from the stalls outside the fabulous covered market in Jerez de la Frontera and no better place to enjoy it than sitting in the early morning sunshine as the world goes by. Fabulous Andalucia!

Arrived in Jerez this evening en route to Alcala de los Gazules. Good to see so many swift whizzing around the old buildings in the evening light & astonished that I could hear the closer ones! Unfortunately, I didn't catch any with my mobile's camera but what a, superb church!🪶

I must add a third comment - Bewick was not only a brilliant artist, but also a kind & generous one. He was an early pioneer of feeding garden birds, so it would be a travesty to deny him his eponymous swan!

He's a neglected genius - his was the 1st well-illustrated bird book available to the wider population & was a standard work for decades. Serendipitously, I later discovered that my daughter had gone to primary school with the writer's son. She never knew his mum was a writer! 2/3

I'm 20 yrs late to the party, but I've been reading Jenny Oglow's biography of Thomas Bewick- a superbly written biography that's also an interesting exploration of the politics and intellectual milieu of NE England in the late 1700s/early 1800s. Bewick is shown to be an admirable character 1/2

Well done, Leeds! Let's hope that they beat the money-bags opposition in the semis & two Championship teams meet in the Final. That'd be brilliant!

As with other recent visits, I continue to be very impressed by the amount of excellent management work carried out at Stodmarsh by @naturalengland.bsky.social 2/2🪶

Spring has sprung - walked the circuit around Stodmarsh (Kent) this AM - 3 booming Bitterns, a glorious male Wheatear, a Swallow, a dozen Chiffchaffs, half-a-dozen Blackcaps, Willow & Sedge Warblers (only one each of the latter two as I struggle to hear them but more present). 1/2🪶