When you look at this area in Google Earth or on most maps, you see it is indicated as a wet zone. Really there is only water at the beginning of the route, in the Guadalete river, flowing to the reservoir. It is a vast area near the town of Bornos that became protected in 1989. From what I have seen in photos on other blogs I seem to understand that there was water in this area in a not so distant past. Now everything is covered with trees and bushes.
I didn't spot any herons or wader birds, because of the absence of water in this area. After the rain we had about a month ago I was expecting to see at least some water, but everything was mostly dry. The visit to this place was worthwhile though, I spent five hours walking around and observing.
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| Wonderful landscape with Grazalema mountains in the background |
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| An image to illustrate how dry everything was, even in winter |
It is a pity that there are no signs along the track. You can't really get lost, but you might find it difficult to get to the end of the track without any indications. My advice is to stay as close as possible to where the water is supposed to be, in westerly direction.
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| Trees have grown everywhere in what used to be covered with water |
I must say, the landscape here is impressive. From the highest point of this route the views are truly beautiful.
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| One of the wonderful sights along this route |
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| View from one of the hills with the Bornos reservoir in the far distance |
I mostly saw songbirds like Stonechats and Goldfinches.
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| Stonechat (female) |
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| Stonechat (male) |
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| Great Tit |
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| Robin in flight |
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| Robin |
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| Chiffchaff |
Climbing the hills can allow you to photograph the birds of prey with something else in the background than a clear blue or white sky. I was lucky to see a buzzard from above. |
| Buzzard flying in the valley |
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| The same Buzzard against a blue sky |
I spotted a few rabbits, which explains the presence of so many raptors.
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Osprey |
At one stage this afternoon I came across a dilemma: photograph a Robin that was sitting on a branch really close, or focus on the pair of Black-winged Kites in a treetop on the opposite side. Fortunately, I managed to take decent photos of both species.
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| Robin |
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| Black-winged Kite |
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| Black-winged Kite striking |
On my way back to the car I spotted a Kestrel high up in a tree. It was looking for prey on the ground and took a few dives when it saw something, but without any result. After ten minutes I thought it had flown off and I continued my walk. I didn't see the bird anywhere, but all of a sudden it came diving from a branch above my head straight to the ground where it had spotted something to eat. I am not sure if it was a bird or a small mammal, it all happened so quickly. The sensation was incredible, observing the precision and speed in the bird's manoeuvre and all at only a few metres from me. I felt more excitement than during the latest James Bond movie that I watched recently. Nature is absolutely amazing and always full of surprises.
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| Male Kestrel |
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| Male Kestrel |
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| Male Kestrel hovering in the air |
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| Male Kestrel close-up |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Peregrine Falcon, the fastest bird in the world |
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| A rather sinister-looking Raven |
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| Hilly landscape |
So instead of rare wader birds I saw a whole collection of interesting birds of prey. Definitely a place to go back, probably to wait patiently for that one unique shot sitting in a hide!
Henry.