{"id":1532,"date":"2011-12-17T00:32:02","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T23:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carsingtonbirdclub.co.uk\/cbc\/blog\/?p=1532"},"modified":"2011-12-17T18:33:10","modified_gmt":"2011-12-17T17:33:10","slug":"birding-in-valencia-spain-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carsingtonbirdclub.co.uk\/cbc\/blog\/birding-in-valencia-spain-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Birding in Valencia, Spain (update)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Pre-Christmas Trip up onto the Steppe<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u00b4s always a privilege to be asked to provide guest posts and it is with gratitude that I write this.\u00a0 I hope that it\u00b4s of interest.<\/p>\n

An important role of mine as a birding guide is to constantly visit my favoured sites as many times as possible throughout the year.\u00a0 This is essential in order to maintain and develop knowledge of an area and it\u00b4s changing characteristics and bird life throughout the seasons.\u00a0 That way, we ensure that our clients are taken to the sites that are \u201cat their best\u201d whenever their visit may take place.\u00a0 That today\u00b4s trip meant that I avoided having to go Christmas shopping only seemed to reinforce its value!<\/p>\n

Our destination was the vast upland Steppe of Castilla de la Mancha, some 90 minutes\u2019 drive due west from our home base of La Drova.\u00a0 This is an area for which I have real affection.\u00a0 It\u00b4s a tough place to live and work, as the majority of this land is situated at over 900 metres above sea level.\u00a0 The summers are relatively short but fiercely hot whilst the winters can be savage, with nights of -20o<\/sup>C not unheard of.\u00a0 The locals work mainly on the land, most of which is used for cereal farming although recently there\u00b4s been new developments of vine-yards.\u00a0 It\u00b4s a tough life up there and the farming villages seem untouched by the passage of time, but despite their remoteness, the locals are surprisingly welcoming and friendly.<\/p>\n

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It\u00b4s fair to say that you have to work for your birds and be prepared to move around in search of them.\u00a0 However, with effort, some local knowledge and a little luck, the area can provide some memorable days and great birding.\u00a0 It\u00b4s a place of surprises and each visit turns up something new, like a Red Kite or flocks of \u201con-passage\u201d Dotterel.<\/p>\n

To make the most of the day we left home at 7am on a dark and windy morning.\u00a0 We were however rewarded for our efforts by views of a fox that we caught in the headlights as we drove through a local wooded area.\u00a0 We stopped and watched as he turned and looked straight at us before running up the hill into the trees.<\/p>\n

Having driven through a beautiful day-break we left the main Valencia – Albacete road and headed out across the steppe.\u00a0 The morning provided a good omen from the outset as we immediately spotted a group of 23 Great Bustards strutting across the fields just 200 metres from the road.\u00a0 Having parked the van, we left the warm cab to be greeted by a bitterly cold wind that made it feel close to freezing point\u2026welcome to Castilla de la Mancha – it\u00b4s not always warm in Spain!\u00a0 Despite this we enjoyed superb views of these majestic birds for over 10 minutes before they took flight across the plains.<\/p>\n

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Our next stop was a favourite lagoon.\u00a0 This time prepared for the wind, we strategically parked the van so we could use it as a shelter as we set up the scopes!\u00a0 The usual busy flocks of Rock Sparrow were flitting around as were Goldfinch.\u00a0 A lone Fieldfare made a brief appearance, followed closely by a female Black Redstart.<\/p>\n

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Crested Larks and Lapwings were around in good numbers too.\u00a0 On the shore of the lagoon a Little Ringed Plover scurried around.\u00a0 Scoping across the water revealed Shoveler, Shelduck and Teal.\u00a0 As we stood there, proving that awful instant soup can taste heavenly when out in the freezing cold, a Buzzard passed over and landed in the edge of a nearby field.\u00a0 Then another highlight \u2013 a pair of Hen Harriers appeared over the hill and flew characteristically low over the fields, giving superb views.\u00a0 After a while we retreated to the van and headed on to our next lagoon where we watched Teal, Little Grebe, Pochard, and yet more Shelduck and Shoveler.\u00a0 A pair of Yellow Legged Gulls flew by before settling on the water.\u00a0 A flock of Spotless Starlings landed on one of the barns and Skylarks were also around in good numbers.<\/p>\n

After a welcome coffee break in a village bar we set off across the steppe once more where we made various stops to scan around.\u00a0 We were indeed rewarded by the day\u00b4s second view of a flock of Great Bustard, probably the same birds as earlier but nonetheless great to see.\u00a0 Skylarks and Crested Larks were plentiful as were Kestrels.\u00a0 A Little Egret was feeding by the shore of a small pond and was soon joined by a Cattle Egret.\u00a0 A raptor passed over but was too far away to give a positive ID although Booted Eagle was the likelihood.<\/p>\n

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The third and final lagoon, beside which we sat in the hide gave great views of Kentish Plover, Ruff, Flamingo, Wood Sandpiper and an over-wintering Black Winged Stilt.\u00a0 Scoping across the water gave views of huge numbers of Shelduck, Shoveler and Teal.\u00a0 A Marsh Harrier passed by extremely close over the reeds.<\/p>\n

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Satisfied with a superb day out we headed back across the plains, making a few more brief stops during which we had super views of Stonechat, Green Woodpecker and Iberian Grey Shrike.\u00a0 As we all know, sometimes you have to brave the weather and put in a little effort, but when you do, the rewards are often fantastic!\u00a0 With some superb views and a species list of 37, today had been such a day.<\/p>\n

I hope you\u00b4ve found this post to be of interest, and I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and plenty of great birding in 2012 \u2013 don\u00b4t forget to look me up if you fancy a trip over here to Valencia.\u00a0 Feliz Navidad!<\/p>\n

David Warrington \u2013 Bird Watching Guide.<\/p>\n

www.valenciabirding.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Pre-Christmas Trip up onto the Steppe It\u00b4s always a privilege to be asked to provide guest posts and it is with gratitude that I write this.\u00a0 I hope that it\u00b4s of interest. An important role of mine as a birding guide is to constantly visit my favoured sites as many times as possible throughout […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[343,338,342,339,344,340,341,284],"class_list":["post-1532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-carsington-bird-club","tag-albacete","tag-birding","tag-castilla-de-la-mancha","tag-david-warrington","tag-great-bustard","tag-spain","tag-steppe","tag-valencia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carsingtonbirdclub.co.uk\/cbc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carsingtonbirdclub.co.uk\/cbc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carsingtonbirdclub.co.uk\/cbc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carsingtonbirdclub.co.uk\/cbc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carsingtonbirdclub.co.uk\/cbc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.carsingtonbirdclub.co.uk\/cbc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carsingtonbirdclub.co.uk\/cbc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carsingtonbirdclub.co.uk\/cbc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carsingtonbirdclub.co.uk\/cbc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}