Download 2014 Brochure (.pdf) - Ornitholidays

S PA I N
Spain – The Pyrenees
Montane Raptorfest
Wednesday 18 June – Wednesday 25 June 2014
Principal Leader: Steve West
2014 Cost: £1,699 single room supplement £120
Madrid
Bilbao
Villafranca
Isaba
his two centre holiday allows us to explore a wide range of habitats and hopefully find some
T of the more elusive birds of the Pyrenean ranges, foothills and dry steppe. At this time of year
the mountains will also have a fine show of butterflies and plants to complement the avifauna. We
can search oak forest to look for European Honey Buzzard, Iberian Chiffchaff and Middle Spotted
Woodpecker, while the dry grasslands hold Stone Curlew, Black-bellied and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse,
Greater Short-toed, Lesser Short-toed, the rare and elusive Dupont’s, Thekla and Calandra Larks,
Tawny Pipit, Lesser Kestrel, Black-eared and Black Wheatears, Spectacled Warbler and European Nightjar.
SPAIN
Birds of prey are a particular attraction on this holiday, and over 16 species have been recorded, including Lammergeier, Golden, Short-toed and
Booted Eagles, Northern Goshawk, Red and Black Kites and Montagu's Harrier. At high levels, one can expect other species, such as White-winged
Snowfinch, Alpine Accentor, Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush, Citril Finch, Alpine Chough, Ring Ouzel and Water Pipit. In the foothills and on the plains,
White Stork, Black Woodpecker, Alpine Swift, European Bee-eater, Blue Rock Thrush, Eurasian Hoopoe, Crested Lark, Melodious, Dartford, Sardinian,
Subalpine and Western Bonelli's Warblers, Crested Tit, Golden Oriole, Woodchat Shrike, Red-billed Chough, Rock Sparrow and Cirl, Rock and Ortolan
Buntings can all be expected. In particular, we will make a special effort to find Wallcreeper, that most sought after of mountain birds.
We shall make a special effort to look for some of the myriad butterflies found in this region at this time of year. Chamois and Alpine Marmot also make
for two interesting additions to the mammal list.
ITINERARY
Days 1 to 3
We leave London on a flight to Bilbao, where we
meet up with our guide Steve West and collect
our mini-buses and travel to our hotel near
Villafranca, where we stay for three nights. We
make an early start the next morning, as out on
the steppes it can get quite warm by midday.
However, our time at the Bardenas Reales
should be very rewarding, as target birds here
include both Black-bellied and Pin-tailed
Sandgrouse, virtually all the Spanish larks
including even the rare Dupont’s Lark, Blackeared
and Black Wheatears, Lesser Kestrel,
Spectacled Warbler, Tawny Pipit and Stone
Curlew, amongst others. After lunch we will head
to an inland lake close to our hotel. The open
cereal fields and dry terrain surrounding the lake
are home to Montagu’s Harriers and some of the
birds we may have seen in the morning. The
lake itself is usually well-stocked with birds,
which at this time of the year should include
Red-crested Pochard, Great and Little Bitterns,
Bearded Reedling, Purple Heron, Western
Marsh Harrier, Black-necked Grebe, Cetti’s
Warbler, Penduline Tit and Black-winged Stilt.
For our second full day in this area we walk
through a riverside woodland bursting with
birdsong mainly from Cetti’s Warbler, Common
Nightingale and Blackcap and look for some
interesting bird species such as Eurasian
Wryneck, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Green
Woodpecker, Common Kingfisher, Melodious
Warbler, Eurasian Golden Oriole and Penduline
Tit. Nearby there are wide expanses of undulating,
non-irrigated farmland and rough pastures, ideal
habitat to house the small remnant populations of
Great and Little Bustards of Navarra. If we have
any time left over after birding these areas we can
investigate a Mediterranean hillside to get to grips
with its typical warblers and other birdlife.
Days 4 to 7
Today we travel north-east from Villafranca into
the Pyrenees towards our base at Isaba in the
Roncal Valley, where we stay for five nights. It’s
Western Pyrenean panorama
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For a previous tour report or further information please call: 01794 519445