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.
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!
