Andalucia – Day 7 Sierra de las Nieves and Gaucin

Sat 31 May 2014

Sierra de las Nieves

As this was our last day in Spain, we decided to have a shorter day so that we could do some sight-seeing in Gaucin in the afternoon. We drove about 30km to the north-east to Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park. This is high up in the mountains; all of today’s birding was above 1,000m.

Our first stop was at an open picnic area near the entrance to the park. The first sighting was of a Hoopoe as we parked the car. Great tit and Long-tailed tit were a couple of common species that we had not ticked as yet this week. A Cuckoo called from the forest, and after a few moments searching we managed to get a view of it in our ‘scopes. A stone drinking trough was attracting many birds down to drink, notably Spotted flycatcher and Crested tit.

We drove on further into the park until the track became too rough for our hired Seat Altea to go any further. We continued on foot, firstly through woodland, and then through more open, rocky terrain. Blackcap, Robin and Bonelli’s warbler were singing and a fine Subalpine warbler showed well to David and me. A Griffon vulture and a Booted eagle glided over and at last we found a Peregrine. In some flatter heathland near a farmstead were Linnet, Corn bunting, Stonechat and Northern wheatear. Fledgling Dartford warblers sat on a wire fence begging food from their parents.

The track lead us higher into pine forest where we stopped by a small stream hoping to see birds coming down to drink. In the tall pines we found Firecrest, Nuthatch, Coal tit and, soaring over the canopy, our only Sparrowhawk of the trip.

Retracing our steps back to the car we saw the stonechats and Dartford warblers again, along with Melodious and Spectacled warblers. We drove back to the picnic area and had lunch at one of the tables.

On the drive home we stopped at the cafe high on the Ronda road again, hoping to see some eagles. All we managed to spot were a Short-toed eagle and Griffon vulture in the far distance.

Gaucin

Back in Gaucin the three of us wandered up to Castillo del Aguila (Eagle Castle) in the late afternoon sunshine. This medieval castle sits on a promontory above the village and we enjoyed magnificent views of the village and surrounding mountains, and down towards Gibraltar and the coast 40km away.  A nice relaxing way to end our birding tour of Andalucia.

See also Bob’s Wingspan blog for Day 7.

Today’s List
Griffon Vulture	Eurasian Sparrowhawk
Booted Eagle	Peregrine
Woodpigeon	Cuckoo
Swift	Hoopoe
Woodchat Shrike	Jay
Red-billed Chough	Coal Tit
Crested Tit	Great Tit
Blue Tit	Wood Lark (h)
Long-tailed Tit	Western Bonelli’s Warbler
Melodious Warbler	Blackcap (h)
Dartford Warbler	Spectacled Warbler
Subalpine Warbler	Firecrest
Wren	Blackbird
Robin	Stonechat
Northern Wheatear	Black Wheatear
Spotted Flycatcher	Chaffinch
Goldfinch	Linnet
Corn Bunting	Cirl Bunting
36 Species
	Click here for the week’s full list

            

This is the list of butterflies we saw during the week (compiled by Alan Strachan).

Scarce Swallowtail	Large White
Small White	Bath White
Clouded Yellow	Berger’s Clouded Yellow
Black Veined White	Cleopatra
Small Copper	Lang’s Short-tailed Blue
Brown Argus	Monarch
Painted Lady	Grayling
Meadow Brown	Gate Keeper
Spanish Gatekeeper	Small Heath
Speckled Wood	Wall Brown
Southern Gatekeeper	Common Blue
Small Skipper	Rock Grayling
Spanish Marbled White	Red Underwing Skipper
Knapweed Fritillary	Moroccan Orange-tip
Sage Skipper	Large Tortoiseshell
Lulworth Skipper	Queen of Spain Fritillary
Marsh Fritillary	Dusky Meadow Brown
Dusky Heath	Holly Blue
Brimstone	Large Skipper
Small Tortoiseshell	Adonis Blue
Spanish Chalk Hill Blue	Silver Studded Blue
42 Species