Gredos
Birdwatching in Spain | Birding in Spain | Birdwatching tours in Spain
THE GREDOS MOUNTAINS AND EXTREMADURA – 7 days
The stunning beauty of Spain’s backbone and the European Raptor Paradise of Monfragüe
Dates: 20-26 April 2009
Cost per person: 1250 Euros (single supp. 140€)
Day 1 :
We meet at Madrid airport in the morning and we spend
the day making our way to the Gredos Mountains, stopping at various points with
chances of seeing various raptors such as Booted Eagle, Spanish Imperial Eagle
and Montagu’s Harrier as well as Lesser Kestrel and Red-Billed Chough.
Depending on time, we may stop at the small medieval town of Ávila to
enjoy the site of hundreds of Common Swifts coming in and out of their nests
in the XIIth century city walls. Our final destination will be a small
country hotel in one of the villages in the heart of the Northern slopes of
the Gredos where we shall spend three nights. These mountains, described by
the 20th century Spanish writer Unamuno as “Spain 's back-bone”,
divide the great central plateau of the Iberian Peninsula. They form the frontier
between the harsher continental conditions to the north and the milder Mediterranean
climate to the south. This gives rise to a rewarding diversity of wildlife in
a relatively limited area.
Days 2-3 :
We spend these two days exploring the various habitats
and wildlife of the area of the gently rolling slopes of the northern side of
the mountains where the climate is globally continental, and characterised by
small oak woods, Scots pine forests, mountain streams, mountain pastures, heaths
and scrubland where Bluethroats, Ortolan and Rock Buntings, Dartford
Warblers, Yellow Wagtails, Dippers, Rock Thrushes, Skylarks, Common Crossbills,
Crested Tits, Fire and Goldcrests, and many birds of prey such
as Honey Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Short-toed Eagle, Golden Eagle breed.
Day 4 :
Driving across one of the main passes which cut through
the mountain range we make our way down towards the southern plateau, travelling
through terraced plantations of olive, cherry and fig trees, through cluster
pine and sweet chestnut trees, finally reaching the wide open country of the
plains of Extremadura studded with cork and western holm oaks and
a myriad of wild flowers. These are the so called “dehesas”, the
result of centuries of interaction between man, cattle and the Mediterranean
forest. They cover wide regions of Spain and are of great ecological importance.
This is the land of the Azure-winged Magpie and the Spanish
Imperial Eagle.
Located amidst these dehesas is the National Park of
Monfragüe. This reserve is a magnificent remnant of the scarce
genuine Mediterranean forest and scrubland where evergreen oaks, strawberry
and turpentine trees, and wild olive trees thrive. This thick vegetation provides
an ideal breeding habitat for the Spanish Imperial Eagle, one
of the most endangered raptors in the world, and for the Black Vulture which
is abundant in the area. On and around impressive rocky outcrops scattered through
the park, Griffon and Egyptian vultures, Bonelli's Eagles, Eagle Owl and
many other raptors are found as well as Choughs, Alpine Swifts, Blue
Rock Thrush and the shy and scarce Black Stork. Monfragüe is
one of the best sites in Europe to observe raptors. Sardinian, Sub-alpine and Dartford
Warblers may also be seen.
This whole day is spent in this raptor paradise stopping at a series of
strategic viewing points of the park.
In the evening, we settle in the small rural hotel El Alcaudón in
the village of Serrejón, situated on the edge of the Park and surrounded
by the savannah-like landscape of the dehesas. This will be our hotel
for the remaining three nights of this tour.
Day 5 :
We spend the whole morning on the shores of the nearby Arrocampo reservoir
which has an interesting community of wetland birds such as Purple Gallinule,
Little Bittern, Night and Purple Heron and various species of egrets among
many others. In the afternoon we shall tour through the beautiful surrounding dehesas in
search of its typical birds such as the Hoopoe, Azure-winged Magpie,
Woodlarks, Bee-eaters, Southern Grey and Woodchat Shrikes.
Day 6 :
We head south towards the medieval town of Trujillo and
spend the morning in the surrounding plains of Belén and Santa Marta
de Magasca. These sustain an amazing variety of birds and have important populations
of Great and Little Bustards, Pin-tailed and Black-bellied
Sandgrouse, Spanish Sparrows, Calandra and other Larks, Great
Spotted Cuckoo, etc. Depending on the amount of recent rainfall, some
water birds such as Black-winged Stilt and Common Sandpiper may
be seen. If there is time, we may enter the lovely medieval town of Trujillo
to visit its central square where Common Swifts, Lesser
Kestrels and possible Pallid Swifts may be seen. In
the evening we return to our hotel in Serrejón for one last
night.
Day 7 : We drive back to Madrid airport aiming to be there at 15:00 hours, making various stops along the way. The exact itinerary and stopping locations will depend on our target species for this last day, depending on what has been or not been seen throughout the trip. Some of the species that we could be looking for and find on our way could be Golden Oriole and Black-shouldered Kite