BERDUN TO ZARAGOZA WITH STOPS AT MALLOS DE RIGLOS AND EMBALSE DE SONTANERO
DAY 5 - NOVEMBER 26TH 2017
After a lovely breakfast we loaded up the bus and drove into the centre of Berdun where Peter our host gave us a very interesting tour and an informative commentary of local village life and a sight into the history of the town.
A group of some 20+ Griffon Vultures hung over the village like a group of kites on strings, we also saw another Peregrine Falcon, a Goldcrest and a few common species.
It was a lovely day, bright sunshine but still a cold northerly wind kept the temperature down into single figures, it was very cold in Berdun but by the time we arrived at Riglos it had warmed up quite a lot.
We walked through the village of Riglos escorted by Alberto and Peter and took a path beneath the huge 'towers' of pudding stone (conglomerate rock) which rise some 300 meters in vertical columns above the village. It is a wonderous sight and a superb site for raptors, vultures and wintering Wallcreepers.
During our stay there we caught brief sightings of two Wallcreepers, dozens of Griffon Vultures, Red-billed Chough and a Sparrowhawk. back in the village we stopped for a coffee and watched a Hawfinch in a nearby orchard.
We were running out of time as we had to be at the airport in Zaragoza by 3pm but Alberto our guide managed to get us to the Embalse at Sotonera in time for a picnic lunch. During our picnic we saw a few waders on the shoreline of the reservoir which was had a very low water level. We saw Common Shelduck, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and few other species too distant to identify.
We said goodbye to Peter from Berdun as we departed for the airport, Alberto got us there in plenty of time for our late afternoon flight back to Stansted. We all gave Alberto a resounding 'thumbs up' for organising and leading our 'Recce trip'.
The plane left more or less on time and the temperature back in the UK was only slightly warmer than that we had left in Zaragoza.