We had an arrangement to meet Yani, our guide, at the hotel in Lliria at 10.00am from where she would take us to our appointed hides.A traffic free drive from Alicante took 2 hours.
We were to be split in to two groups of three myself,Mike and Paul, the other three being Rich,Steve and Cornelius. We dropped off the latter three at their hide before heading back towards Valencia and a hide in a disused quarry.
The hide was set up with a small drinking pool on a raised bed to give decent eye level photo opportunities. Like every other hide we used, you photographed through mirrored glass but although you lose a little light we were to have bright sun all week so it wasn't a problem.
The action was continuous right from the moment we arrived.
We were still setting up when the Blue Rock Thrush put in an appearance.
I think everyone had it high on their wanted list, none of us had seen one at close quarters before.
I think I was the only one who got a shot of it, but there would be further opportunities we were confident.
No time to think about what we'd missed, the birds just kept coming.
There were two supposed stars for this hide, Black Wheatear being the first.
I found the males extremely difficult to expose correctly in bright sunshine.
The white's in the bird's tail easily blown if you tried to expose detail in the blacks.
The female was a little less challenging being a paler shade of brown.
Before I knew it I was collecting "best ever" images of several species.
Rock Sparrow
and especially the beautiful Serin.
The smaller birds were all chased away by the aggressive White Wagtails who seemed to claim the drinking pool as their territory.
Water was scarce in the vicinity but the wagtails didn't want to share. You had to be quick to catch the Serin before they were chased away again.
Some of the visitors we are very familiar with at home in the UK.
Goldfinch
Song Thrush
The more attractive Grey Wagtail
and Collared Dove are all common UK species but we only had a few visits from each one during our entire week's birding.
Another species seen often enough in the UK is Common Kestrel.
But rarely do you get to see them at such close quarters and we had a pair too!
They were such frequent visitors we got fed up taking "best ever' snaps!
Were these the Kings of the Hide though? In a word "No"!
The smaller birds kept away when they were present and that included those bully boys the White Wagtails too.
No, the undisputed ruler was the Hoopoe and the other special for this hide.
We didn't nickname this one "Psycho" without cause. We discovered that a small round hole had been bored through the hide wall at the bottom corner of the window and that was the first port of call for the Hoopoe. He's start with a few gentle taps but before you knew it he was going berserk hurling himself at the window attacking it furiously. Now we knew it was mirrored glass so maybe he was attacking his own reflection but I have a feeling it was more about not getting fed that got him so wound up!
Mind you, there was no shortage of food either. There was seed as well as mealworms for those that prefer their protein in such fashion.
It was good fun, well initially anyway, trying to capture the moment the bird swallows their dinner.
We would later have reason to hold a grudge against the Hoopoe but more of that later!
To complete our sightings for that first day we had Crested Lark on two occasions
Black Redstart on numerous visits but only the female.
but my personal favourite was the furtive but determined Sardinian Warbler.
another victim of the bully boys his visits were usually very brief so you had to grab the moment as soon as it appeared.
As with so many other shots I took the majority were sent to the recycle bin but I was happy with what I had got.
I'd spent days trying unsuccessfully trying to get a decent image of this species on my last trip of 2018 so this was indeed satisfying.
That first afternoon set the bar for the rest of the week. Would it live up to this? If it did we were in for a great week ahead!
We were duly picked up by Yani and returned to the hotel to compare notes over a beer with the other three.
Their day had been eventful for more reasons than one. Their space had been invaded by hunters and they had abandoned their hide when the shooting got too close for comfort and they started to fear for their safety. Having been unimpressed with what I'd seen of the hide set up I made a mental note it was one to avoid.
Yani had outlined our plan for the week. A proposed visit to a distant hide to photograph Cranes was cancelled as illegal hunting had dispersed the birds so it was decided it better to avoid an unnecessary journey which at least had the benefit of not having to change hotels for just one night, and for that matter split the group of 6 for three days.
The evenings would prove to be almost as as enjoyable as the days as it was always good fun comparing notes of what we had seen whilst enjoying a San Miguel.
It was an early start the next morning though.Our group, No 2, was heading in to the mountains whilst Group 1 was due to visit the much anticipated Goshawk hide.
TBC
We were to be split in to two groups of three myself,Mike and Paul, the other three being Rich,Steve and Cornelius. We dropped off the latter three at their hide before heading back towards Valencia and a hide in a disused quarry.
The hide was set up with a small drinking pool on a raised bed to give decent eye level photo opportunities. Like every other hide we used, you photographed through mirrored glass but although you lose a little light we were to have bright sun all week so it wasn't a problem.
The action was continuous right from the moment we arrived.
We were still setting up when the Blue Rock Thrush put in an appearance.
I think everyone had it high on their wanted list, none of us had seen one at close quarters before.
I think I was the only one who got a shot of it, but there would be further opportunities we were confident.
No time to think about what we'd missed, the birds just kept coming.
There were two supposed stars for this hide, Black Wheatear being the first.
I found the males extremely difficult to expose correctly in bright sunshine.
The white's in the bird's tail easily blown if you tried to expose detail in the blacks.
The female was a little less challenging being a paler shade of brown.
Before I knew it I was collecting "best ever" images of several species.
Rock Sparrow
and especially the beautiful Serin.
The smaller birds were all chased away by the aggressive White Wagtails who seemed to claim the drinking pool as their territory.
Water was scarce in the vicinity but the wagtails didn't want to share. You had to be quick to catch the Serin before they were chased away again.
Some of the visitors we are very familiar with at home in the UK.
Goldfinch
Song Thrush
The more attractive Grey Wagtail
and Collared Dove are all common UK species but we only had a few visits from each one during our entire week's birding.
Another species seen often enough in the UK is Common Kestrel.
But rarely do you get to see them at such close quarters and we had a pair too!
They were such frequent visitors we got fed up taking "best ever' snaps!
Were these the Kings of the Hide though? In a word "No"!
The smaller birds kept away when they were present and that included those bully boys the White Wagtails too.
No, the undisputed ruler was the Hoopoe and the other special for this hide.
We didn't nickname this one "Psycho" without cause. We discovered that a small round hole had been bored through the hide wall at the bottom corner of the window and that was the first port of call for the Hoopoe. He's start with a few gentle taps but before you knew it he was going berserk hurling himself at the window attacking it furiously. Now we knew it was mirrored glass so maybe he was attacking his own reflection but I have a feeling it was more about not getting fed that got him so wound up!
Mind you, there was no shortage of food either. There was seed as well as mealworms for those that prefer their protein in such fashion.
It was good fun, well initially anyway, trying to capture the moment the bird swallows their dinner.
We would later have reason to hold a grudge against the Hoopoe but more of that later!
To complete our sightings for that first day we had Crested Lark on two occasions
Black Redstart on numerous visits but only the female.
but my personal favourite was the furtive but determined Sardinian Warbler.
another victim of the bully boys his visits were usually very brief so you had to grab the moment as soon as it appeared.
As with so many other shots I took the majority were sent to the recycle bin but I was happy with what I had got.
I'd spent days trying unsuccessfully trying to get a decent image of this species on my last trip of 2018 so this was indeed satisfying.
That first afternoon set the bar for the rest of the week. Would it live up to this? If it did we were in for a great week ahead!
We were duly picked up by Yani and returned to the hotel to compare notes over a beer with the other three.
Their day had been eventful for more reasons than one. Their space had been invaded by hunters and they had abandoned their hide when the shooting got too close for comfort and they started to fear for their safety. Having been unimpressed with what I'd seen of the hide set up I made a mental note it was one to avoid.
Yani had outlined our plan for the week. A proposed visit to a distant hide to photograph Cranes was cancelled as illegal hunting had dispersed the birds so it was decided it better to avoid an unnecessary journey which at least had the benefit of not having to change hotels for just one night, and for that matter split the group of 6 for three days.
The evenings would prove to be almost as as enjoyable as the days as it was always good fun comparing notes of what we had seen whilst enjoying a San Miguel.
It was an early start the next morning though.Our group, No 2, was heading in to the mountains whilst Group 1 was due to visit the much anticipated Goshawk hide.
TBC
Having a property just below Alicante I'm following your blog with interest. Looking forward to the next instalment
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