jerbarker.co.uk: Trip report - Southeast Spain May 2005

Murcia (southeast Spain), 15-27th May 2005

Jeremy Barker

Introduction
Sites visited
Detailed itinerary

Introduction

Stayed at my parents' house - a half-rebuilt farmhouse, about 4km from Bullas, which is itself a little to the west of Murcia city. We flew Exeter-Alicante with Flybe, and then had a c.1 hour drive to the house.

The weather throughout was clear and sunny, though a stiff breeze on a number of days made birding difficult, especially for passerines. Temperatures up to 34°C, plenty of heat ripple even at 7 a.m. at Santa Pola! Nice to be warm though!!

Detailed itinerary

May 15th: we arrived at c.1400 at Alicante airport, picked up the rental car (€300 with full insurance from Record Rent-a-car) and drove to the house (this is the house my parents bought last autumn, a little to the east of Bullas, well inland in Murcia province). Walked up the hill behind the house to corner of the track, but most of the time was spent making the house fit to live in! The area around is mainly almond and olive cultivation, with some cereals and bits of fallow ground. Very arid, and looks like it has been heavily overgrazed in the past, often with nothing much better than Garrigue vegetation. Typical birds: Woodchat and Southern Grey Shrikes, Spotless Starling, Crested Lark and Woodlark, Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Sardinian Warbler - the usual mix! One of the garden's Black Wheatears was present in the afternoon, with a 'sharpei' Green Woodpecker just up the track.

May 16th: Drove south through Pliego (lots of Pallid Swifts) to the Sierra de Espuña, turning into the centre of the National Park at El Berro. The route took us through pine woodland onto an area of open cereals and abandoned farmland, with abundant Turtle Doves, Crested Larks and Corn Buntings - birds that featured prominently throughout the trip. The first Rock Sparrows and Red-rumped Swallows were found here; again proving to be quite common. After being denuded of trees, and suffering severe erosion, the middle of the park was replanted in the late 1800s with various conifers. A few short walks into the trees produced Robin, Mistle Thrush, Short-toed Treecreeper, Firecrest and Sardinian Warbler, as well as a small artificial pond with Pool Frogs cackling away. A reasonable variety of other wildlife included typical butterflies (Common and Scarce Swallowtails, Cleopatra and Blue-spot Hairstreak), with an Emperor Dragonfly hunting through the trees at one point, several Red Squirrels, and a few Large Psammodromus lizards.

We drove on down through the park to the southern border, where there's supposed to be good habitat for Dupont's Lark. However, the trees are rapidly encroaching on the grassland, and several houses have been built in the middle. We did find a nice Thekla Lark, but decided not to bother returning for Dupont's. The return up the west side of the park produced a nice pale-phase Booted Eagle and some more Red-rumped Swallows.

May 17th: Variety was in order, so we headed off for the Mar Menor. This is a big bay essentially, which has been almost closed off with long spits of land. The usual unrestrained building along the coast makes it pretty ugly, but there are salinas to watch at both the north and south ends, and some open scrubby areas on the west side (which are apparently owned by the military). The small gap between the spits is due to be bridged soon, so it should be possible to drive in a complete loop around the site. The weather was unhelpful, with a very stiff westerly wind throughout the day, making it almost impossible to see many passerines.

First stop was the salinas at the north end, where we immediately picked up Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Greater Flamingo and Little Tern. A flyby female Little Bittern was the only one of the trip. A number of Shelduck were swimming behind the flamingos, and a solitary Black-necked Grebe dived in front. Spanish Yellow Wagtails were much in evidence! We found an area with some paths leading to the beach, behind some clumps of pines that made a fairly effective wind-break. As I was admiring a pair each of Woodchat Shrikes and Spotted Flycatchers, Sandra said 'Bushchat!' - and there indeed was a smart Rufous Bushchat! Naturally we had to admire it for a little while, but then decided to wander on. A Spiny-footed Lizard crossed our path at this point... A short visit to an isolated lagoon between the Salinas and the sea produced a Little Stint, Dunlin and a number of Common Terns.

Next stop was at a small estuary on the west side of the Mar Menor, where we had fleeting views of Zitting (or Fan-tailed, if you prefer!) Cisticola, a nice Southern Grey Shrike and a fly-by Audouin's Gull. We also found Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly, Black-tailed Skimmer, Red-veined Darter and an apparent Ischnura graellsii ('Spanish Blue-tailed Damselfly').

The southern salinas were disappointing, with just a handful of Flamingos and a small Yellow-legged Gull roost. Even more disappointing was the Sierra de Fausilla, mentioned as a Trumpeter Finch site in the 'Where to watch' book. The entire valley on the western side is a huge complex of oil refineries and petrochemical manufacturing, with massive amounts of building going on. The roads as marked on the map didn't exist any longer (or were closed for the building, perhaps), and all in all it was a bit of a disappointment!

May 18th: Visited the Embalse de Alfonso XIII and then ended up driving much further than anticipated through to the Sierra de Alcaraz. We began with a fossick around the Embalse, scanning the farmland areas and finding many Black-eared Wheatears, Bee-eaters and Rock Sparrows, as well as Red-legged Partridge, Common Sandpiper and Golden Oriole.

We then went on west past Calasparra to the Sierra de Alcaraz, stopping for lunch at the Rio Mundo. We had several more familiar birds here - Cetti's Warbler, Blackcap, Robin and Wren for instance, along with Beautiful Demoiselle and Large Red Damselfly. Other birds on the journey were Roller, Alpine Swift, a fly-by Black Kite, Cirl Bunting and Buzzard. The Sierra de Alcaraz area was better: the birds included a couple of Short-toed Eagles, Woodlark, Cuckoo, Blue Rock Thrush, Golden Oriole, Crag Martin, Red-rumped Swallow and Spectacled Warbler, as well as many Moroccan Orange-tips, a Brimstone, Cleopatra, Western Marbled White and Mazarine Blue (and a Fritillary species that resembles Glanville?!), Ocellated Lizard, Psammodromus and an egg-laying Broad-bodied Chaser.

The return journey was a bit of a nightmare though, going back through the Sierra del Baladre we got stuck behind a lorry. The map showed an alternative route through Las Minas, so we tried that. Big, big mistake - the road terminated in an abandoned railway station and we had to drive all the way back round, and promptly found ourselves behind another lorry... Some compensatio was found in another two Rollers, and a number of Bee-eaters, Black-eared Wheatears and Woodchats, but the drive was a bit tense for some reason!

May 19th: We had a bit of a lie-in to recover from the driving, and then went for a walk along the Via Verde (the Green Road - an abandoned railway track) from Niño de Mula along to the end of the 3rd tunnel. The most interesting birds were another pale-phase Booted Eagle, a pair of Rock Buntings, Crag Martin and numerous Red-rumped Swallows, though we also saw Spanish and Western Marbled Whites, Lulworth Skipper and another Ocellated Lizard.

The afternoon was spent at La Rafa, just to the south of Bullas - a waterfall along the Rio Mula which seems to be very popular for young couples! The birds were standard, with a pair each of Melodious Warblers, Nightingales and Cirl Buntings, plus a nice show-off mae Golden Oriole, but we also saw a number of Mediterranean Demoiselle (Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis), Platycnemis latipes, Blue-eyed Hooktail and Golden-ringed Dragonfly, as well as Pool Frog and what appears to be a juvenile Viperine Snake (I have photos...)!

May 20th: We drove across to Santa Pola, just to the south of Alicante via the surrounds of El Hondo, starting at about 6 a.m. to get past the worst of the traffic and to watch before the worst of the heat. The area round El Hondo immediately came up trumps - after watching stacks of Cattle Egrets picking over recently-harvested fields, we drove past a small pond which had several Marbled Teal dabbling happily by the road! A quick park-and-scuttle gave us brief views before they flipped back over the reeds towards the main lagoon. Feeling smug, we listened to some Great Reed Warblers graunching away in the reeds, then headed on to another layby. We then struck it lucky again, with a Squacco Heron flying over the reeds, accompanied by Night Heron and Whiskered Terns, with backing vocals by Moustached and Reed Warblers!

Santa Pola was equally entertaining - several hundred Flamingos, a Montagu's Harrier, Red-crested Pochard, Slender-billed and Mediterranean Gulls, Night, Grey and Purple Herons, Whiskered, Little and Common Terns, and yet more Marbled Teal! By this stage we were a bit birded-out, so we headed back for a siesta, and had another crack at the Embalse de Alfonso in the early evening. The birds were much the same as before, though with Thekla Lark and Little Owl added, but the dragonflies were better - Red-veined Darter, Black-tailed Skimmer, Common Blue Damselfly, and apparent Ischnura graellsii and Goblet-marked Damselfly (Cercion lindenii). We also found Sage, Marbled and Lulworth Skippers and Spanish Gatekeeper.

May 22nd: Still feeling a bit weak, so we went back to the Sierra de Espuña, then tried a brief visit to La Rafa - big mistake to go on a Sunday afternoon. The main interest was insects again, with Dusky Heath, Sage and Marbled Skippers, Spanish Marbled White, Spanish Gatekeeper and Blue-spot Hairstreak on the Sierra, plus Lesser Emperor and probable Gomphus simillimus at La Rafa.

May 23rd: Another big day - we headed up to the steppe area east of Albacete, first to the Pinilla area, between Hellín and Albacete, then further up to Laguna de Pétrola, Laguna de Salobrejo and Laguna de Saladar. Immediate interest, with several calling Quail, a singing Short-toed Lark, Black, Black-eared and Northern Wheatear and a pair of Great Spotted Cuckoos.

Laguna de Pétrola continued the interest - whilst Sandra was busy sorting out a Lesser Kestrel (I never did get to see it properly) I was trying to find sandgrouse - could hear both species calling, but saw Pin-tailed only distantly. A pair of Black-bellied Sandgrouse were more obliging though, flying past close, and then stopping off for a drink at the lagoon. We finally found a small hide to view the lagoon, went in, and immediately picked up another 8 Marbled Teal! Quite, quite bizarre. Other birds here: Tree Sparrow, Curlew Sandpiper, loads of Kentish Plover, Ringed Plover, Little Stint, Lapwing and a pair of Shelduck with a downy chick.

Laguna de Salobrejo had less interest, mainly because it was very hazy by now - a couple of hundred Flamingos and a Montpellier Snake were the best of it, although we did find Chough and Subalpine Warbler nearby. Laguna de Saladar was better - closer to the road for a start! We added a Little Ringed Plover and calling Water Rail here, and filtered vainly through the Coots for Red-knobbed Coot.

The return via the Cieza-Mula road was enlivened by some smashing views of Calandra Lark!

May 24th: We visited the Sierra del Baladre again (gluttons for punishment?), driving back along to the Las Minas area, and then north to the Embalse de Camarillas. We went on back to try the north end of the Embalse de Alfonso XIII (forget it) and the neighbouring Embalse de Carcabo. There is a large colony of House Martins present on the lip of the dam at hthe south end of the Sierra del Baladre - many hundreds of birds wheeling close around us as we watched them. A number of Alpine Swifts were circling at the Embalse de Camarillas, with a smaller House Martin colony there. We also found our first Trithemis annulata here (Purple-blushed Darter). Other than a Roller just north of this Embalse, the morning was quiet, but the afternoon livened up a bit. The north side of the Alfonso was a bit of a waste of time, just another Rock Bunting to show for the journey, but Carcabo had much more. Several pairs of Chough and Crag Martins were wheeling round near the dam, and a Blue Rock Thrush and Melodious Warbler gave good views. We also found more Trithemis, Lesser Emperor, Scarlet Darter (Crocothemis erythraea) and Cercion, and a weird-looking grasshoppery-thing! On the return along the road, we found a fairly fresh Red-necked Nightjar corpse, so decided it was worth returning! The evening visit provided a brief view of the nightjar - a live one - plus several Scops Owls and a distant Tawny Owl.

May 25th: We travelled southwest of Caravaca, to the Rio Luchena, then up to a small ford at the edge of the Sierra de María. The road was marked on the map as going on up into the sierra, but the ford was a little too deep for the hire-car, and the gravel track had been steadily deteriorating, so we returned to the metalled roads to Velez Rubio/Blanco. The river was beautiful - lots of dragonflies, clear water, quiet and sunny. Couldn't ask for much more! We finally found a few Griffon Vultures here, as well as another large Ocellated Lizard and a fine adult Ladder Snake. The Sierra de María also produced several more Rollers, one Booted and two Short-toed Eagles, lots of Chough and Rock Sparrows and Rock Bunting.

A return visit to the Carcabo-Cieza road gave Sandra a brief view of Red-necked Nightjar, and Scops, Tawny and Little Owls were calling. Trolling down the road finally paid off when we found a male Red-necked Nightjar sitting, and singing, in the middle of the tarmac! He sat for a little while, then flipped up and off into the darkness - I couldn't stop grinning for the next 24 hours!

May 26th: We returned to Santa Pola in the early morning again, with much the same mix of species as before, though a trio of Glossy Ibis and a couple of Spoonbills over the pools, and an adult Audouin's Gull on a dry salina were a bonus. Sandra then insisted on swimming, so I booted through the scrub for a while, picking up Mediterranean, Mallow and Lulworth Skippers before joining her at the beach, where a couple of Sandwich Terns were fishing.

A final visit to La Rafa in the afternoon/evening produced more views of the snakes - an adult and a juvenile this time, along with a male Southern Skimmer.

May 27th: After clearing the house up and packing, we visited the Mula Embalse, then had a brief jaunt round El Hondo and Santa Pola. There was just time to squeeze in a singing Lesser Short-toed Lark at Santa Pola before we had to return to the airport...

Trip reports

Murcia (southeast Spain), 15-27th May 2005

Jeremy Barker

Introduction

Sites

Detailed itinerary