Today's visit to the Torrox Lagoon was intended to be a quick routine visit but turned out to be an almost three hour walk around one of my favourite spots. As soon as I arrived I spotted a species I had never seen before, at barely ten metres away, hiding in the reed beds: a spectacular Little Bittern. I had to switch quickly to manual focus to get a somehow decent shot of this extremely secretive bird.
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| Common Redstart |
A few hundred metres further I stepped off the main track again to get closer to the reed beds. I heard and saw a pair of Kingfishers and several Reed Warblers. Without specific preparation it is nearly impossible to take great photographs of these species with so many branches in the way and the birds constantly moving.
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| Little Bittern in hiding in the reed beds |
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| Little Bittern keeping an eye on me |
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| Male Kingfisher |
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| Reed Warbler |
Fortunately there were also some birds that were easier to photograph, like Cormorant, Little Grebe, Grey Heron and Eurasian Coot, to name but a few.
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| Cormorant |
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| Little Grebe |
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| Grey Heron in flight |
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| Coot |
A few birds of prey were visiting the lagoon as well today. I spotted three Kestrels, one Osprey and a Booted Eagle.
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| Hovering male Kestrel |
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| Osprey |
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| Booted Eagle |
The last species I noted down during this visit included Common Redstart, Pied and Spotted Flycatcher. Over thirty different species in what was supposed to be a routine walk on a late summer morning.
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| Little Egret urging a turtle to go of its rock |
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| Whinchat |
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| Pied Flycatcher |
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| Common Redstart |
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| Around thirty Common Pochards floating on the water |
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| Great Crested Grebe |