DONANA,DONANA, DONANA IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME.

Last week PEDRO WELLS and I spent a week in the south west of Spain visiting the splendid bird watching area of Donana,we stayed in the small town of Villamanrique,centrally situated for most of the local reserves.The top birds in no particular order were :-white stork,bee eater,woodchat shrike,collared pratincole,booted eagle,short toed eagle,lesser kestrel,glossy ibis,spoonbill,purple heron,serin,red rumped swallow,black kite,great reed warbler,penduline tit,azure winged magpie,night heron,nightingale,and many others.Here are some I managed pictures of.

WHITE STORK

WOODCHAT SHRIKE

LESSER KESTREL

YELLOW WAGTAIL

SHORT TOED EAGLE

CRESTED LARK

HOOPOE

NIGHTINGALE

BOOTED EAGLE

BEE EATER

GLOSSY IBIS

PURPLE HERON

BLACK WINGED STILT

SPOONBILL

KNAPWEED FRITILLARY

WOODCHAT SHRIKES MATING

HE DIDN`T EVEN SAY GOODBYE.

WHITE STORK AT NESTING SITE VILLAMANRIQUE.

IS IT A BIRD?

NIGHT HERONS LEAVING ROOST AT DUSK,the mosquitoes came out too.

WALL BROWN

      "EL ROCCIO"

WONDERFUL LAND

A TYPICAL LANDSCAPE- CORRIDOR VERDE

A SHADY CHARACTER!

AZURE WINGED MAGPIE(taken on a previous trip)

HOW THE PENDULINE TIT WAS NAMED.We watched the male collecting cotton fibres from the barbed wire fence to make this fantastic home.

The nearest we got to a LYNX.

COLLARED PRATINCOLE-these super little birds were quite numerous in the area,this one at Huevla.

The weather was terrific, warm and sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky all week,a real pleasure to be out birding without 6 or7 layers on.

I could go on but I`ll leave it at that for now,if you want to go there and want more ifo,don`t hesitate to contact me.

GOOD NIGHT.

GOLDEN PLOVER

Saturday morning at the Hoe,found a golden plover resting on the sea wall,it took flight out to sea then circled back a couple of hundred yards further on and landed once more.I couldn`t see it on the ground as it was so well camouflaged,but when I almost stumbled over it again it only moved a few metres and allowed me to get some reasonable views.

GOLDEN PLOVER

I left it to rest and went on my way to the eastern end where the black redstarts have returned.

BLACK REDSTART male,think this is the blackest black redstart I have seen at the Hoe.

RED KITE IN THE MORNING

Last week at Samphire Hoe,the action was mostly at sea with gannets feeding off shore along with red throated divers,great cested grebes, and a lingering shag.The bluethroat showed up after lunch in the bramble patches near the car park.
 Sunday morning on the cliffs brought a few yellowhammers and corn buntings and a red kite floated by on the breeze,the assumed male raven is still working hard providing food for the family.kittiwakes are back on the nest sites and continue the easterly movement towards St Margarets and beyond.

GREAT CRESTED GREBE

GANNETS GALORE

RED THROATED DIVER with a large fish which was eventually swallowed

RTD moulting into breeding plumage

SHAG

SUNNY SUNDAY about time too.

FAT YELLOWHAMMER- LOTS OF BREAD AND LOTS OF CHEESE?

LITTLE BIT OF BREAD &NO CHEESE

We tried to attract the attention of two fellahs looking for peregrines as the kite floated behind them,but to no avail.

RED KITE

 RAVEN with rather worn plumage..