AFTERNOON, CIRCULAR WALK BELOW THE VILLAGE
WEATHER: another fantastic sunny day, cloudless, warm, with no wind.
We left the village around 2pm on a track from Calle Tinajones which takes you down into the Genal Valley passing below the Castle. We returned on a narrow footpath arriving at the bottom of Calle Casares, this circular walk can be done in about 30 minutes, it took us 2 hours because we stopped so many times to admire the wonderful views and the very active bird/insect life.
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| looking down the main track |
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It was great to see the 'wintering' Booted Eagle again, we had 3 different sightings and yet I still failed to photograph it. The little blighter crept up from behind us on two occasions and flew across the bright sunlight, the third view was too distant.
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| Sierra Crestellina with Almond blossom in the foreground |
A 'kettle' of 49 Griffon Vultures clustered in the valley between Sierra Crestellina and Gaucin and both Common Kestrel and Common Buzzard showed up too.
The bushes, trees and open fields produced many bird sightings with the usual fare of Blackcap, Black Redstart, Chiffchaff, Song Thrush, Sardinian Warbler, Robin, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Blackbird and Blue Tit.
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| Gibraltar and Morocco in the distance - taken from the track |
A Short-toed Treecreeper was nice to see, as was a single Firecrest and a Great Spotted Woodpecker drummed in the distance. The pink almond blossom was starting to break out all over the place and was buzzing with bees, it really felt like a sunny June day in the UK!
This really warm winter spell enticed several butterflies out on the wing, we saw Cleopatra, Large White, Painted Lady and Clouded Yellow, also, and to our great delight, we saw a Hummingbird Hawk Moth.
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| a young Iberian Wall Lizard sunning itself |
We said goodbye to the beautiful surroundings as we re-entered the village, we'll be back on April 4th.