BIRDING TRIP: El Palancar Trail, Los Barrios, Spain

The comments I had read about this trail were not always positive. Nevertheless, if you follow my advice, I am sure you can have a great time at this place. Your GPS will guide you the beginning of this route without any problem, the access road is in perfect condition. There is place for three cars to park right at the entrance, but you will almost certainly have to leave your car somewhere nearby as those places will already be taken. But again, no problem, plenty of space on the side of the road.

The route is 8 kilometres long, with the highest point at 246 metres. You will find pine trees along a big part of the trail. If you follow the indicated route, you will see that the track is in a very good state, although in rainy conditions I think this will be a different story.

The inevitable Griffon Vulture

At the beginning of my walk I spotted many Griffon Vultures, Common Swifts and two Booted Eagles.

After a kilometre or so you come across a sign that says 'Casas Cueva', or Cave Houses. I obeyed my curiosity but regretted that soon. The cave houses must be out there somewhere, but I didn't find them and almost got lost. The only positive side of my detour was an encounter with a Stonechat.

I soon continued my way on the main track and reached a viewpoint, from where I could observe 40 Storks soaring high up in the sky.

View from the main viewpoint

Some of the Storks

While walking I realised that many birds are breeding at the moment, because I noticed many of them catching lots of insects, undoubtedly to feed some hungry chicks waiting in the nest. I must have got really close to the nesting site of an Iberian Chiffchaff. The bird acted a bit nervously but remained around the same place as I tried to take a good photo.

Iberian Chiffchaff with a beakful of insects

Another feeding bird, this time a female Chaffinch

Also this Blue Tit has caught a delicacy

I would not say this site is packed with birds. You have to be very patient and a bit lucky to see them. I caught a glimpse of Crested Tits, a Melodious Warbler and a Bonelli's Warbler.

A Crested Tit in a pine tree

Melodious Warbler

Bonelli's Warbler

Sardinian Warblers can be hard to see, but they give away their presence by their song. If you are patient enough they seem to trust you after a while a then it is almost as if they want you to take their photo before you move on. I can never resist such an offer.

A playful Sardinian Warbler begging me to take its photo

Now a good piece of advice. When you come upon this arrow, follow it.

This arrow indicates the path that leads down to the lower part of the track

There are only two reasons why you would ignore it. You may want to enjoy the interesting view at the Strait of Gibraltar, Gibraltar itself, Algeciras and even Africa on clear days.

Spectacular view in the distance

The other reason may be that you want to end up with bleeding knees and chins, like I did. The shrubs are really dense and the path gets a bit tricky at times, definitely not the way to go when it's wet, please bear this in mind. If you go this way, expect some beautiful scenery, but not many birds.