This week I turned 40, a milestone I have not been looking forward to, but one I could't escape. However I was able to escape the UK for some Spanish summer sun. Located in the province of Tarragona in southern Catalonia, the Delta de l’Ebre is an impressive natural landmark which attracts thousands of nature-lovers each year. Where the Ebro River meets the Mediterranean Sea, the Delta de l’Ebre is home to a wide variety of wetland birds.
The natural park includes estuaries, marshes, dry lakes and beaches which make up the special landscape of the Delta de l’Ebre and is a massive 7,802 hectares (19,300 acres).
Purple Heron: The Mirador de la bassa de les Olles del Goleró is famous for being a major ornithological site with 300 bird species which pass through the Delta de l’Ebre each year as part of their migratory route.
It was teaming with birds, particularly herons, with dozens of purple, grey, and glossy ibis a plenty. I even saw fleeting glimpses of little bittern and squacco heron here too.
Whiskered Tern: Another bird that was numbers here was whiskered tern. these are largely a migratory species, typically wintering in Africa, for which the extensive coastal wetlands of the Catalonia.
Great-reed Warbler: Whiskered tern are small 'marsh' tern that superficially resembles common tern, but the short, forked-looking tail and dark grey breeding plumage above and below are typically marsh tern characteristics. The summer adult has white cheeks and red legs and bill. The crown is flecked with white in the juvenile, and the hindcrown is more uniformly blackish, though in the winter adult this too is flecked with white.
Zitting Cisticola: The reed beds were full of the sounds of zitting cisticola, reed warbler, Cetti’s warbler and great reed warbler. lovely walks through the seedbeds and around the waterways here with plenty to see.
Black-winged Stilt: The low-lying wet features of the Delta de l’Ebre have lead to it being used to grow crops for centuries, in particular citrus fruits, vegetables and, most famous of all, rice.
Delta de l’Ebre rice is considered a quality ingredient throughout this part of Spain and many famous local chefs serve Delta de l’Ebre rice in their restaurants. the rice paddies are vast, and filled with birds from black-winged stilts, terns and ibis feeding on them.
Gull-billed Tern: Another common tern that was spotted across the marshy areas and rice paddies here was the gull-billed tern, much larger and whiter then the smaller whiskered tern they stood out. I ad some of my best birding moments here from the entire trip, from watching a Swamphen at close quarters to stalking tern in the seedbed walkways.
Platja del Fangar
El Fangar Beach is one of the most amazing landscapes on the Ebro Delta. El Fangar Beach is lined by dunes that are the largest and best preserved dunes on the whole Catalan coast. The area is located on a 410-hectare peninsula and is more than 7 kilometres long and 3 kilometres wide. The area is also known as the “desert of the Ebro Delta”, as the only way to reach it is on foot and before you get there you have cross a small body of water.
Collard Pratincole: I took Autumn and dawn here for a walk and a play in the sea and sand, they loved it, as did I, especially when I noticed a pair of collared part flying high over the dunes.
These are super waders, an agile flier that looks like a cross between a plover and a swallow. Collared differ from Black-winged Pratincole by rufous underwing and narrow, white trailing edge to upperwing (both characters requires good light). Tail streamers longer than wing-tips and base of bill with more red (in breeding plumage).
Little Tern: These tiny, delicate-looking terns are mainly coastal and were observed feeding close in along the beach here. Dipping and slashing in the sea for fish while calling.
These are super little birds with their distinct back v-shaped back mask and short yellow bill.
Collard Paratincole: Pratincoles are unusual among waders in that they typically hunt their insect prey on the wing like swallows, although they can also feed on the ground.
The Collared Pratincole is a summer visitor to northeast Spain, normally present from April to September. Small numbers appear irregularly on spring passage at non-breeding sites. There is only one regular breeding site for Collared Pratincoles in the region.
Audouin's Gull: Here is a bird of Delta de l’Ebre a real nice bird too. It gets its English name after the French naturalist Jean Victoire Audouin.
Audouin's breed exlusivley on the Mediterranean coasts with their stronghold colonies on the Ebro Delta , Chafarinas Islands (off NE Morocco) and La Mata-Torrevieja saltpans (east Spain). There are some scattered colonies from Morocco and Algeria east to the Aegean Sea, south Turkey and Cyprus.
These are elegent slim gulls with long legs, and narrow wings, the adults have a light grey body with a paler white head. Their wings are light grey with black tips, lacking conspicuous white spots. Legs are dark gray and the bill is dark red. Eyes are dark.
Yellow-legged Gull: Another regular gull that was numerous around the El Fangar Beach and all over the Delta de l'Ebre.
Red-footed Falcon: There’s been quite an unprecedented fall of Red-footed Falcons in the across Catalonia over the last week or so it wasn't a surprise to see a one flying over the dunes at El Fangar Beach, heading north.
There have been wider reports of these charasmatic bird in small groups from the drylands of Balaguer, Bellmunt and Alguaire-Almenar, and if nothing has been said about the drylands of Alfés.
Crested Lark: Probably the most common lark around these areas they, I was continually on the look out for Thekla's lark all over the Delta de l'Ebre but was unable to find any.
Thekla's and crested are pretty similar, morphologically speaking the features usually mentioned are: bill, crest length and shape, plumage coloration and streaking, face pattern, underwing colour and colour of the outer tail feathers.
Spotless Starling: Thekla Larks usually have a more contrasting face pattern, with “spectacles” and a more “open” expression. And crested lark have brown spots on the best and not darker black spots.
Mirador de l’Aiguamoll Illa de Mar
The Mirador de l’Aiguamoll Illa de Mar lays south of Mirador de la bassa de les Olles del Goleró, a short 15 minute drive across the rice paddies. this lovely reserve plays host to significant bird life, both in terms of quantity as well as the diversity of birds found there.
Greater Flamingo: The Mirador de l’Aiguamoll Illa de Mar completely flat landscape, with the stunning Els Ports mountains in the backdrop, is a stunning sight. The interior harbours extensive large water body surrounded by reedbeds and is a very good place to watch the colony of flamingos and glossy ibis.
Red-crested Pochard: The area close to the sea is comprised of large lagoons and marshes, dunes and sand, with small remains of riverside forests by the banks of the river. Due to its naturalistic and ornithological character, the ares is internationally known.
Walking around the edge of the large waterbody the gargling and bubbling sounds of breeding little egret and glossy ibis colonies was notable. You could even see the nests and adults on the vegetation where they build their nests.
Whiskered Tern: There were large flocks of terns feeding over the edgeless of the waterbody and sin between the seedbeds where water was visible.
Walking the edges of the waterbody was really exciting, there were dozens of heron species flying in and out of the reeds and I left like I could find all sorts lurking in the reeds around every corner.
Around the lagoons there are reeds, sedge and cattails, all of which have underwater roots. By the sea there are plants that adapt to saltier conditions, such as glass wort.
Audouin's Gull: On the dunes you’ll see sea daffodils and marram grass. When you reach the more humid environments, you’ll encounter salt cedar, white poplar, river honeysuckle and willow.
Western Swamphen: This area is surrounded by rice paddies, an important wetland habitat across the Delta that has been grown here since 1860. Today 14 different varieties of rice are produced in the Delta, amounting to a grand total of 45 million kilos every year.
Squacco Heron: April is when the waters flood into the fields until harvest time in mid September of which 20% of Spain’s rice is grown in the Delta and 98.5% of Catalonian rice production happens there.
Glossy Ibis: These prehistoric looking birds usually operate in flocks, and will attract other members of the white heron family to the feast – great, little and cattle egrets.
When you first see them, the impression is of a large all-black bird with a long decurved beak, but seen close-up in good light it reveals stunning colours; deep maroon, emerald, bronze and violet depending on the angle of view.
They use their long decurved beak to probe into the water and mud, and feed on a wide range of prey from frogs and snails, to insects and occasionally fish and small snakes and lizards.
Greater Flamingo: Since 1992 a colony of greater flamingos have been settled in the Delta de l’Ebre where they are visible throughout the year, although they’re most visible in the winter.
This is now the only place in Catalonia where the birds reproduce and some 2711 pairs were counted in 2017, the highest number on record yet.
There were some striking male birds amongst the flock with pepper, more vivid pine legs and plumages they had also swapped the back wing primaries for pink.
The flaming were both in the waterbody and lurking within the small pools between the reeds as well as on the shawl sea right opposite the wetland area.
Night Heron: There were plenty of night heron here but tricky to see, often the were seen in sort flights over the reeds or roosting within the glossy ibis and little egret colonies.
Cattle Egret: Also here were large numbers of cattle egret, again they were associating within the glossy ibis and little egret colonies.
Greater Flamingo: Before setting out on your itinerary, you need to bear a few things in mind. For example, you should bring extra clothes in case the wind picks up, your footwear should be suitable for walking on sand, and you need to bring mosquito repellent.
Slender-billed Gull: I was eaten alive., there was one day were there was some light rain and the day after the mosquito's came out with an appetite, they became such a nuisance that I stopped venting out in the evening.
Black-headed gull were numbers across the Delta de l'Ebre but I only saw two slender-billed on the rice paddies right beside Mirador de l’Aiguamoll Illa de Mar.
Drylands of Lleida, Ebro Valley
The drylands of Lleida is a vast dryland area in the Ebro valley dominated by cereal crops with olive and almond groves, currently threatened by plans for intensive irrigated agriculture. This is the easternmost extent of pseudo-steppe in Spain and the last remaining unirrigated land habitat in the Ebro Valley.
Griffon Vulture: On one of the cooler days (although it was still pretty warm) we decided to take a day trip up into the mountains. In the morning we head up-river along the banks of the River Ebro towards Lleida. It’s not a long journey, but we weren't rushing, as there are numerous sites where we can stop off and look for some great birds.
The journey from the Delta de l'Ebre took about two hours although there might have been better routes to take as once we arrived in the area we ventured out on foot with mixed success. We headed towards the Tárrega-Balaguer road at Bellcaire d'Urgell and drove past the Estany d'Ivars or Sant Llorenç de Montgai.
Thekla's Lark: One of the birds I was hoping for was Thekla's lark, I thought I would have been them sooner, perhaps I was missing them as they can be locally common thought parts of Spain.
This bird was showing well and singing, the song along with its preference t perch up on subs and vegetation gave it away. As the crested lark doesn't do this and stays grounded when not in flight.
European Roller: It was super good up here, every other bush had a bee-eater in it or a roller flying over the trees and dozens of griffons flying over.
Corn Bunting: The sounds of corn buntings rang out across the cereal fields with male corn buntings often seen perched on top of bushes singing loudly, like a song that sounds just like a jangling set of keys.
European Bee-Eater: Popular with just about everyone, with the possible exception, perhaps, of apiarists. As their name implies, bees are indeed the birds’ main source of food, especially honeybees – the sort you get in hives – and bumblebees.
But they do take other flying insects as well, and these include just about everything you could find in the summer skies: wasps, flies, ants, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, mantises and dragonflies, for example. These are caught on the wing, on a long- or short-haul sally from a perch.
White Stork: This was the only white stork we saw on the whole trip, it was circle high above a small village close to the Parque de Las Ruedas. We took a detour here and gave the baby a chance to run around.
Melodious Warbler: This was a lovely little public park, with no entry fee it contains an array of tyres recycled in to artwork. It was here I picked up a singing melodious.
It was barely elusive and difficult to pin down, as they typically are.
Lesser Kestral: Small numbers of lesser kes breed in the area and are often observed here as they whizz between their nesting and feeding areas. Black Kites are frequent in the summer and I saw them across the whole area.
European Bee-Eater: A trip up here was a real highlight and added something extra to to our trip to the Delta de l'Ebre.
Zona Picnic Mont-roig
Integrated in the Peiró pine forest and at the foot of the Mare de Déu de la Roca you will find the recreation area of the Peiró hermitage in Montroig del Camp. Next to the simple and cozy hermitage, consecrated to the image of the Virgen del Roser, there is a children's playground with swings, a slide and stone picnic tables with benches. You can fill the canteen with water from the fountain.
Western Bonelli's Warbler: On our final day Dawn took Autumn to another public park and I seized the opportunity for a few hours of birding before retuning to the airport.
I heard to this area of pine woodland which was beautiful, really nice scenery and some good birds. There were crested tits in almost every tree, serene singing and hoopoe calling.
The star bird was undoubtably this showy
Bonelli's warbler, there were several birds constantly calling to one another, setting up territories. The western Bonelli's warbler has a browner tinge to the upperparts than the eastern Bonelli's warbler; the latter sometimes has a greenish tinge instead. The song is a fast monotone trill, only slightly different from eastern Bonelli's, and also with some similarity to the wood warbler.
Sardinian Warbler: The recreation area is located at the foot of a secondary road with little traffic. However there is a wooden railing to ensure the safety of children.
Short-toed Snake Eagle: How to get: It is reached by the T323 between Mont-roig del Camp and Colldejou. Between km 5 and 6 there is a detour to the right towards the historic center of Montroig.
Take the detour to the Ronda de la Generalitat until you reach a roundabout. At the roundabout follow the signs to the Mare de Déu de la Roca hermitage along the paved road. You will find the picnic area to the left of the road 470m from the roundabout.
Serin: I had serin, hoopoe, Sardinian warbler, booted eagle, short-toed snake eagle, crested tit, great tit, long-tailed tit, blackbird, song thrush, western Bonelli's warbler, red kite and common buzzard here.
Its a quiet area with dirt tracks snaking through the pine woodland and a sunning view out over a mountain range.
Red Kite: I would like to thank Dawn for surprising me with such an amazing birthday gift, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and saw some really decent birds, ate good food and made good memories with the Autumn.
Western Bonelli's Warbler: I couldn't recommend this trip enough to anyone who might be looking for an easy birding trip with good amenities, away from the tourist routes and opportunities to go further afield in search of some more investing birds, I've put a few links below which were helpful when I was over there.
