The Medina Lagoon in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, has always been one of my favourite destinations and today's visit lived up to all my expectations, once again. Although it was a very breezy day, I decided to go out, mainly to test my new pair of binoculars.
 |
| A huge flock of Eurasian Coots taking to the air |
Every time I go to this birding hotspot, I first turn left to the first watchpoint, a comfortable wooden structure where I could spend hours relaxing and enjoying the views over the lagoon. Every season there is something different to see. This time I witnessed a huge flock of Eurasian Coots, several hundreds of them. It is a really impressive sight to see them take off altogether. While I was sitting on a bench overlooking the site, I was joined by several song birds, like the European Serin and Nightingale.
 |
| European Serin |
When you walk to the hide which is about a kilometre away from the starting point, you can enjoy the songs of so many birds, mainly Goldfinches, Greenfinches and Nightingales. I saw a Nightingale sitting on a branch, but I guess I will have to wait until another visit to be able to take its photo, because I missed it by a second. I could sometimes hear them sing barely five metres away, hiding in the bushes, but they are very difficult to capture on camera.
I was fortunately enough to catch a Spotted Flycatcher.
 |
| Spotted Flycatcher |
When there were no songbirds to see, it was worth having a look at the lagoon where hundreds of Flamingos were gathering. The lagoon is only about 50 cm deep, so it is an ideal and vast site for them to forage.
 |
| Flamingos foraging |
Once arrived at the wooden hide, I spent a long time observing a lot of different species, mainly Flamingos and Coots but also different species of ducks, gulls and waders, all the time accompanied by singing Nightingales and Sardinian Warblers.
 |
| Panoramic view from the main hide over the lagoon |
I found myself in the middle of a thunderstorm and had to shelter in the hide for more than an hour, but guess what, I did not feel bored for a second with so plenty to see and hear.
 |
| A foraging Greater Flamingo, a really intriguing species |
 |
| A Greater Flamingo in flight |
 |
| A male (L) and female (R) Gadwall |
 |
| Two Eurasian Coots |
When it stopped raining, I decided to walk back to the car. I could take some more interesting photos, among them this one of a young European Stonechat.
 |
| A juvenile European Stonechat has caught an insect |
In this little birding paradise I observed a nice total of 25 different species:
- Northern Shoveler
- Gadwall
- Mallard
- Great Flamingo
- Eared Grebe
- Common Wood-Pigeon
- Eurasian Coot
- Black-winged Stilt
- Pied Avocet
- Common Sandpiper
- Lesser Black-backed Gull
- Glossy Ibis
- Eurasian Spoonbill
- Eurasian Kestrel
- Barn Swallow
- Common House-Martin
- Cetti's Warbler
- Sardinian Warbler
- Eurasian Blackbird
- Spotted Flycatcher
- Common Nightingale
- Euopean Stonechat
- European Greenfinch
- European Goldfinch
- European Serin
Looking forward to going back to this marvellous place, hopefully on an early summer morning!
Henry.