Strait of Gibraltar, september 2019

Raptor and stork migration at Tarifa, 14th.-18th. of September 2019

We had the annual september tour to watch the migration from Europe to Africa, at the most narrow stretch around Tarifa, Spain.

The weather was unusual hot, with temperatures up to 30 C. Mostly calm, easterly winds; the Levante.

As for numbers of raptors and storks, I would say they were pretty normal based on my experience from the past years.

Hundreds of Black - and White Storks, good numbers of Black Kites, Short-toed Eagles and Booted Eagles. Further, there were still small groups of Egyptian Vultues and singles of Montague's Harriers.

Of the more rare raptors, we had both a juvenile Spanish Imperial Eagle and also a Black-winged/shouldered Kite around Tarifa. The latter is resident at La Janda, but it is rare to see them heading towards the Strait.

What was a bit dissapointing, was the low numbers of migrating passerines. Very few hirundines, swifts and few migrants in the bushes.

The only smaller bird with some visible migration was flocks of 10-50 beeaters that appeared quite frequently.

I also took a short trip up to La Janda one morning, but it was very quiet, dry and just underlined the impression of low number of birds, except for the migration storks and raptors.

Evevery morning I took a walk along the Los Lances beach. There were some Short-toed- and Calandra Larks and the plentyful Corn Buntings in the fields. On the beach there were the normal wader mix of Dunlins, Sanderlings, some Whimbrels and sandpipers.

As usual, there were a lot of birders around Tarifa. People from the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Swedes, Portuguese and of course many Spaniards.

 In addition to the birding, we had a good time, again renting the same apartment, top floor with marvellous view of the Atlantic and Africa. As the weather was hot, we did some swimming in the sea.

In Tarifa at this time of the year, the number of tourists is declining, so the most numerous group are the kiters. They seeem, however, to be mostly resident here. Whether december, february or september, they are always there.

 The East coast of Spain suffered from lots of rain and floodings recently, but the southern part of Andalucia got little. So, it was dry as usual. Rain is really needed to increase the wetlands and green up the fields. More photos here:

Video here

Videoclips from birdwatching in Andalucia

Tarifa 17th to 22nd of February 2019

Meeting spring in Southern Spain February 2019

We had five days in Tarifa, with day trips around in the Cadiz province. We rented the apartment of David Jensen for the second time. Being one of the southern most situated flats on the European mainland, it gives you perfect views of the Atlantic, Los Lances beach, Morocco and even the Mediterreanean. An obvious choice.

The weather was nice and warm, with however a prevailing, strong easterly wind; the Levante. First day, we had a day trip up to Medina Sidonia, then via Laguna Medina up to Jerez de la Frontera. We have never stopped in the sherry town before, so we decided to do that now. However, I would not say it gets on our top-10 list. It has rather few must-sees and looks a bit "worn". It is however the sherry-capital of Spain, so it could be visited just due to that.

The next day trip we had was about trekking in the Alcornocales; the large cork-oak area lying just inland from Tarifa. A natural park and in fact the biggest cork oak forest in Spain. We had studied the possible paths in advance and chose to drive through Alcala de los Gazules and up to the parking area which is the start if you would like to walk up to the El Picacho. We took the route up there, taking about 1,5 hours up and about 1 hour down again. Not very challenging but somewhat steep at the end. When up there, you have a fantastic view of the Alcornocales and the white villages- the pueblos blancos dotted around. 

As for the many pueblos blancos we have visited, I would not say that Alcala is among the top three. Vejer de la Frontera is in my mind the most interesting, followed by Arcos de la Frontera and Grazalema. 

As for birding this time, it was a bit hampered by the heavy easterly winds. It was still, however, migration going on with small numbers of swallows, Black Kites and some seabirds going north. The most spectacular was the constant stream of Cory's Shearwaters coming in from the Atlantic and flying into the Strait. At least over a thousand on one of the days.

What was very nice to experience was the comeabck at Laguna Medina. Formerly one of the absolute most intersting lakes in Spain, but for a decade or more, it has suffered from the introduced carp fish. Now, it was teaming with coots, ducks, grebes and gulls. We had lots of Shovelers, Coots, Gadwalls, White-headed Ducks, Red-crested Pochards and Pochards.

Finally, on th birding side, I had a pair of the local resident Bonelli's

Eagle, just along the track going from Punta Camorro and along the strait. It is really worth to walk here, also due to the rather unspoilt nature due to the fact that it was formerly a military area. Mentioned should also be the fact that the Bald Ibises are back on their breeding cliff at Barce de Vejer. I counted 20 birds there one of the days.

So this was the fourth trip in a 12 month periode. We will be back, but perhaps not before september for the autumn migration!

More photos here: