Spain 2019 out and about again!

All 6 of us were up and about fairly early but we all hung around to say goodbye to Cornelius, Paul and Yani too when she came to pick them up to take them to the airport.
The rest of us had made a decision on what to do that last day but sometimes plans don't quite work out as intended. All I would say is, when ever you hand over your passport, whether you might be checking in at a hotel or handing it over at some other place, just make sure it's your passport and thus avoid unnecessary stress when you realise you have someone else's!
Mike and I ended heading back to Alicante before Rich and Steve.
The first port of call was a reserve near the city where White-headed Duck can be seen. It was nice to be out in the fresh air again instead of in a box but boy was it fresh!
We had a howling gale and despite sticking it out for a few hours we didn't get to see the duck in question.It's a shame as I wanted to see the reason the Ruddy Duck ( an American import) was eradicated from Europe to stop them breeding with the White-headed ones. The following photo was taken locally to where I live over 10 years ago and I haven't seen one since.

Ah well, a journey wasted perhaps. We were told that there was a pair in residence but they must have taken refuge from the wind by hiding in the reed bed along with nearly everything else that was about.
On the open water it was quite choppy.

And only those that loved being under the waves seemed to be prepared to put up with it.

No, the Coot we were after was to be seen some distance away at another reserve south of Alicante. With nothing doing, we decide to go for it and although it was a good 45 minute journey it proved very worthwhile. The Red-knobbed Coot is only found in Southern Spain where Europe is concerned and to be honest at first appearance it was a bit underwhelming, however, when the sun came out later it made all the difference!

Quite a handsome bird after all.

There was another bird of note , well in as much as one I had never seen outside of captivity that is.
The Marbled Duck.

Again, not really eye grabbing but at least it put my number of "lifers" for the trip up to three when I included the Bonelli's Eagle.
The reserve had more to offer than just those two though.
Some nice birds to add to my 2019 list!
Western Swamphen.

Yes that's it's name now it seems, used to be Purple Gallinule, Purple Swamphen but now no Purple at all.It's been divided in to 6 different species and this is the European version and always a lovely bird to see no matter what you call it!
It was still very windy and as I'd packed my tripod away in the suitcase my lens had to be hand held and to be honest I struggled.

Some distant Glossy Ibis took flight but I still had the 2.0TC on the 600mm and it's not the best combination for those shots.


We found where they had moved to later on on our way home but it was now too dark to be worth trying to re-assemble our gear from the back seat of the car.
There was one last treat in store before we left though. 

And it wasn't the Black Redstart male either!
Better than that.
When the Redstart flew Mike followed it to try for some pictures in better light, meantime I decided to go for the Red-knobbed Coot now the sun had made a brief appearance. He came back to show me the images he's taken of one of my favourite birds of all time.
Bluethroat!
I went off to look for it in the area he told me he'd seen it. At first I had no luck but then "Bingo".
A bit distant but I'm not complaining.

What a cracking way to end the day, to end our trip too.

Amazingly it could have had an even sweeter end too. As we were packing our gear away in the car park, suddenly there was a commotion out over the lagoon. Both Male and female Hen Harriers flew over the very spot we had been standing 15 minutes ago. What an opportunity that would have been!
Ah, well. I would still have had the 2.0x converter on the lens and would no doubt have struggled. 
We returned to the Ibis hotel in Alicante to meet up once again with Steve and Rich. They had been lucky and caught sight of a single Alpine Accentor, a species neither Mike and myself had seen before, but dipped out like ourselves on the White-headed Duck. Still they were happy bunnies too.
A last night's supper and a few beers in celebration were called for. 
It had been a good week, the weather had at least been largely sunny even if the wind had counted against us. This was probably the most successful and enjoyable trip for a few years.
Who knows, we might repeat something similar next year.
I wonder where?!
Anyway if anyone has any extra questions don't hesitate to ask.
cheers
Dave

Spain 2019 Day 7 Time running out.

So there we were, Day 7 already and still some unfinished business, particularly for our Group. We were really keen to see Rock thrush and Crested Tit. Group 1 on the other hand had seen everything we had with the exception of Mistle Thrush and female Kestrel.
Our hide options however were now very limited, in fact so limited we were given a choice of one!
We were to go to the one I really didn't fancy, the one we renamed the Hunter's Hide which was the one Group 1 had abandoned on the very first day. It was good for Blackcaps they said but they didn't enthuse anymore than that. A Firecrest had been seen and photographed earlier in the week we were told, Group1 had heard it but not seen it. It had a lot of appeal so with no alternative to choose that's were we headed. Group 1 meanwhile were back to the Reflection hide.
The big problem was it was now very windy indeed. The upland hides would be useless because of the wind and they had even had rain and sleet where the Ring Ouzels where so they wouldn't be performing either.
The Hunters hide it was then!
And a Blackcapfest .

There's only so many shots you can take.

so I won't be trying for the ones that are in our garden this year!

I don't know what they were feeding on but as the day wore on, the more yellow their faces appeared.

It all got a bit boring if I'm honest.
My favourite was the shot in the rain.

Yes, we had wind and rain at one stage.
We'd had plenty of Blackcap opportunities the previous day too se we were desperate for something new.
On the whole that wasn't to be.

Just the usual suspects.

It's amazing how complacent you can become in just 7 days!

As time went on we began to realise we were not likely to see the Firecrest.
Small compensation was a visit by a pair of Chiffchaff

The bramble perch working well!

Although they were the only ones we saw all week they were not exactly high on our wish list.
We rang Yani and asked if we could move to the Goshawk hide for the rest of the afternoon to try for the Crested Tits. She told us it would be a lost cause, it was far too windy there, why didn't she ring Group 1 and ask if we could take their place in the Reflection Hide?
We were unanimous in that it was Crested Tit or nothing! It had become a shared amusement that every time Yani said something was a certainty through bad luck it hadn't happened. Think Bonelli's and the Rock Thrush! She didn't make rash predictions, it was based on experience.  
We decided that if she said it wouldn't happen there was a better chance it might!
So it was back to the Goshawk hide we went, and yes, she was correct, there was a fierce wind blowing. We asked was it possible to bait the Goshawk hide too but her answer was that there were clients using the hide the next day so if it was fed the day before it might not turn up as it wouldn't be hungry. Oh well, so be it.
Things didn't look good for 90 minutes or more then suddenly we had a visit!

Despite the wind, a single bird appeared at the baited pine cones.

The size of the cone brings home how small the bird is but isn't the best for photos! The wind flattened the crest too.
We weren't sure if that was our lot but luckily the bird returned . Only once, but enough to grab a better shot than on the first visit.


That was it then, job done!
Along with Group 1 we headed back to the hotel in Yani's People Carrier. The day at the Reflection Hide had't brought any Cresties in there so our decision not to try and swop was vindicated too.
So that was it, our 7 days of hide photography was over but we still had a day left to our own devices which would end up back in Alicante.
Yani had provided us some ideas to work on so we had something to mull over a beer before dinner.
TBC

Spain 2019 Day 6 Crisis Point!

Today was the day so much rested on, not just for our group but for all six of us.
Group1 were down for another attempt at the double which we'd successfully completed two days previously. Goshawk in the morning, Bonelli's Eagle in the afternoon.
Our group was heading for the Rock Pool hide in the morning, the Reflection Pool hide in the afternoon. That was where Group 1 had been the previous day and they had had great views of the Blue Rock Thrush that owned the rock, guarding it for hours at a time. We were told it was a dead cert! They had later moved on to the reflection Hide where they had views of Crested Tit albeit just before they were due to be picked up.
I was hopeful for both. I didn't realise at the time but the Crested Tits had been viewable from the other two positions in the Goshawk hide and the other two did at least get some shots, on the other hand I had been the lucky one to date with the only shots from our group of the Thrush.
Hopefully all this would change today.
I made one big decision before we left the hotel. I was going to travel light. A recent operation on my back still causing some pain and numbness in my legs but more worrying, I seemed to have picked up a painful knee problem to which I could only assign to having sat awkwardly in the hide the previous day. I knew that the Rock Pool hide involved a short uphill walk so the less I carried the better. My 600mm lens stayed in the hotel and instead I had just my 100-400mm plus a 1.4 teleconverter. More of that later, in the meantime the scramble up the hill and for the first time everI felt my age as I had to use my tripod as a walking stick to take the pressure off my knee.
Still I got there and soon all three of us were sat in the hide eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Thrush!
This is the Rock Pool...not what you might have imagined I don't suppose!

It was some feat that managed to manhandle this large rock some distance and taken several people to do so. A small pool of water was created for each visit by topping up the pool from a supply of bottled water. No wonder the site was guarded jealously by the Thrush. There was little evidence of water for miles around. You could see stunning almond groves for as far as the eye could see.

Beautifully manicured plots, they relied on irrigated water during these dry periods. Today was going to be dry but the weather was changing, a lot more cloud cover and the wind was really quite strong.
We sat and waited..... and waited.....and waited. There was little sign of anything, let alone the Thrush.
Word came through that Group 1 had the Goshawk in front of them for over an hour. Good news there then.
Eventually the first bird appeared, a Rock Bunting. We'd seen them at the other mountain hide but they looked much better here as they were perched on rocks!

The light wasn't the best though

but we were at least encouraged that life still existed up here in the wind!

For a brief while we had visits from several other birds too.

The Crested Lark looked good in this rocky terrain too

There was disappointment when a male Black Redstart, our first, flew in from behind us for the briefest of visits and I certainly didn't see him looking any where other than ahead of us.

He might come back!
But he didn't.
Along with a single Robin we had another bird to photograph, the humble House Sparrow.

It seemed illogical that that we'd find them here, off their normal terrain but this one looked good anyway!

Much better than the ones frequenting the hotel car park who were usually sat on the fence, however, I'd been grateful to see Spotless Starlings sat there on most days.

In the Rock Pool hide though we were beginning to despair of seeing the Thrush. If it hadn't turned up to defend the rock when 5 other birds were present it can't be in the vicinity. The wind was getting stronger too so eventually we decided to move on and try our luck at the Reflection Hide.
At least when we arrived at our new destination the sun had come out again so the light wasn't an issue. The wind though was quite fierce. We felt for the guys up at the Bonelli's hide knowing that if it was strong here it was gale force up there. Would their chances be ruined by the wind? Apparently not! They stuck with it and eventually the female Eagle landed and fed for 15 minutes or so. Great Stuff!
The reflection hide was basically a huge concrete table with a pool in it. The pool and seed attracted quite a lot of birds , the majority by far being Blackcaps.

The female of the species is an exception to the rule that the males are more attractive of the two,

We had as many as 4 all lined up along the pool's edge. Sometimes with other species.

There, I've included a Robin shot at last!

It's the one bird that seemed to be nearly everywhere, as indeed was the Sardinian Warbler!

Thrilled to get some decent images of this species on Day 1, I was now getting quite complacent about them however there was a bonus. Our first decent opportunity of photographing a female.

The wind continued to blow.

as demonstrated by another strong gust here.

We witnessed birds struggling to keep their feet on the table without being blown off. Suddenly I spotted something in the corner of the pool, at first I thought it was a piece of twig blown off a nearby tree. Oh no, this was my favourite sight of the day!

I couldn't believe it, a snake!

Snakes need a drink too.

It's a perfectly harmless Horseshoe Whip Snake but we didn't know that at the time!

They can grow up to 1.5 metres but this was just a third of that size. We debated to whether we should move it as it might scare off any birds but was it poisonous? Were we at risk! It's generally agreed that snakes with round eyes are not venomous, those with slit eyes are. King Cobras are deadly though and they have round eyes! Paul, being nearest the door volunteered to go, I decided to go with him to get some close up shots but the snake was off like a shot the moment the door opened. Amazingly it vanished in to thin air and how it appeared on top of the table was a mystery too. Seems they can travel to places you wouldn't expect! With hindsight maybe we should have left it to see what would have happened, I can't think it was a threat to any birds but there again what does it eat?
Anyway, with that visit over the next best thing was another Black Redstart male visiting.
It landed right in front of us.

With my 100-400mm plus a converter attached the minimum f stop is F8. At this distance the depth of field would be too shallow so to keep the whole bird in focus I closed down the aperture to f10. The downside is that as the bird was likely to move or the wind might move it, I needed a higher shutter speed. I opted for 1/1250th of a second. Using auto-iso ( apologies if you have no interest in photography!) this then bumped it to 10,000. which would horrify some!
Looks OK to me but I just take photos for fun really.

Back to f8 can you see what I mean about depth of field on the next one, the tail feathers are not sharply in focus. It's a lower shutter speed too, just 1/400 sec so auto-iso produced 1600.

Not sure which is preferable really. Anyway, the female took up some better positions and poses than we'd previously had seen.

Sadly though, the Crested Tits didn't appear before pick-up time.
Still, there was much to celebrate back at the hotel with everyone pleased that Group 1 had done the double. We were envious too that instead of Black Rabbit, the Goshawks had been baited with not one, but two perches of Red-legged Partridge, a much more natural looking and less gory prey for these photographs.  Once again though only the female Goshawk had come down to eat, likewise only the male Bonelli's. Two birds hadn't appeared at the provided food for nearly a week now.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but instead of going to the reflection pool we should have requested a visit to the Goshawk hide for our turn for an afternoon session.We might have had the male Goshawk back as they often reappear late afternoon and meantime we'd have had an opportunity of Crested Tits which appear on a very regular basis..usually.
Mind you, we'd have missed the snake!
TBC