An evening sky-watching and a morning on the track near San Pablo
Saturday 27th August - Evening – Eastside of Gaucin
At last the endless Levante (east-wind) has eased off, it seemed to blow forever, Saturday was very still and as expected the flow of migrating raptors started trickling through.
the driest time of the year - no smoking please!
At 6:30 I climbed up to my top terrace to watch this mini-spectacle, for 30 minutes I counted 181 Honey Buzzards, 51 Black Kites and 1 Booted Eagle, none of these birds were very high and they all headed down the Genal Valley towards Sierra Crestellina.
Sunday Morning - 28th August - Marchenilla Track
The absence of wind instigated a venture a little further afield this morning. At 8:30am I drove down to San Pablo and turned onto the Marchenilla Track.
Short-toed Eagle - a really well marked old bird
A two-hour walk failed to produce the number of migrants I was expecting but 6 Short-toed Eagles, 2 Booted Eagles, Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel and a single Montagu’s Harrier was enough to keep me occupied. One unexpected sighting was of a BLACK-WINGED KITE, never seen one of those along this track before.
A record shot of BLACK-WINGED KITE
Other migrant sightings included: Woodchat Shrike, Red-rumped Swallow, Melodious Warbler, European Bee-eater (60+), Common Starling 20+ (my first for this autumn) and lots of Common Swifts.
Zitting Cisticola
As I was leaving small groups of Honey Buzzards started to form above the hillsides, I counted 25 in the valley and saw plenty more as I drove back up the mountain to Gaucin.
Relaxing with a cup of coffee - using my favourite Corn Bunting mug