Exploring Extremadura - Days 1 and 2am: The Vultures Descend

Back in mid-April, I headed off on my annual overseas trip. Having spent the last two trips in cold places, Iceland and Arctic Norway, I decided this year I would head southwards and to warmer and sunnier climes. So starting about 6 months before the trip arrangements were made for a trip for myself and my friend Steve Round to spend 10 days in Extremadura and the surrounding areas in Spain. For those of you who have not heard of this area, it is about 1.5 -2 hours drive South-West of Madrid. An area of mountains and expansive steppe grasslands that is renowned for its diversity and abundance of bird life.

The plan for the holiday was a flight from Madrid, pick up a hire car, drive down to Calera y Chozas which would be our base for the stay. The first 5 days would be spent photographing birds from some hides setup and operated by Hides de Calera and the remaining days would be spent wandering the hills and farmland to see what birds we could find. Regular readers will know I am not a great fan of fixed hides but they are a means to an end.

Equipment for the trip would be a Canon 1dx2, Canon 5dmk4, 600mm II F4 lens, 100-400 II lens with both the 1.4x and 2x extenders. A tripod, monopod, skimmer, and a Uniqball head completed the setup. Of course this was combined with the usual laptop and double portable drive back up.

The day of departure was a fairly relaxed affair as we had a late afternoon Easyjet departure from Liverpool to Madrid. This was fairly stress free with the speedy boarding, extra leg-room seats and easy hand luggage restrictions for the photography equipment. All went smoothly and we were soon collecting our luggage at Madrid. Collecting the hire car was a long-drawn out aware as the hire company insisted on photographically recording every minute dent and paintwork scratch on the Opal Mokka. We were soon on the road but it took a couple of laps of the complicated road system around the airport before we hit the right road towards our destination. It took a little while to find our hotel once we reached Calera y Chozas at around 11:30 pm, mainly because we had driven right past it in the dark. Our accommodation for the 10 nights was the low cost Hostal Restaurante Cuatro Caminos. Our rooms were large and clean but rather spartan.

Once in my room, I quickly sorted out my stuff and got a pile of clothes and the camera equipment ready for the next day as we would be getting picked up around 5:30am for the first hide session. I got into bed, slightly weary from the travel, to find the walls gently vibrating to some extremely loud snoring coming from a room two doors away down the corridor. I could only guess how loud it must have been in Steve's room next door. Outside, a Scoops Owl started its monotone repeated call...which went on for most of the night as I drifted in and out of a restless sleep. I never sleep well anywhere on the first night.

The phone's alarm rattled into life at 5am and could just about be heard above the snoring rumble. I was quickly dressed and downstairs and managed to grab a quick coffee and a pre-packed choc-au-pain for breakfast. Steve and I joined two other photographers in the darkness outside the front of the hotel and after a short wait two cars arrived to collect us. The hide session for the morning would primarily be aimed at vultures and other birds that arrived at a feed site around 50 minutes drive to the north. It looked like we would be in for a morning of good weather and light. We came off the main road and headed up a track that wound its way through rough grazing pasture before arriving at two small hides. The hides were situated at the edge of a large meadow with a back drop of the snow-topped Gredos mountains. Jose had explained that the flowering of the meadow has been inhibited by a recent prolonged dry spell.

Steve and I were allocated the left hand hide which I was pleased with as we had an attractive patch of flowering lavender to the left together with various old bits of tree stumps for the birds to perch on. This was the scene in front of the hide.

 As we settled in to the hide, Jose emptied and spread a dustbin of meat scraps around the area in front of the two hides. All we had to now was wait for the birds to arrive and it didn't take long. The first birds to arrive where White Stork and we soon had a dozen birds strutting around picking of bits of meat scrap in front of the hide. The soft early light making it easier to get a nice exposure on the the extensive white of these birds. I have photographed Stork previously, and it is always challenging to find a nice clean bird but there were a couple amongst the group.

Next to arrive, where half a dozen Ravens and a number of Black Kites. The ravens, although a large bird, seemed strangely dwarfed by the birds around them and arriving.

Typically the Kites were tending to swoop down and grab pieces of meat from the ground but we did manage to a couple of perches that stopped briefly to perch.

By this point we could see the vultures were circling in and descending downward into the site. They were landing away from the feed area and numbers were now quickly building  to around 80 birds with a 50 / 50 mix of Griffon Vulture and the larger Cinereous Vulture. It seemed that the numbers of vulture needed to build before they got sufficient 'courage' to move in on the food by foot.  These are massive and impressive birds.

Starting off with a selection of the Griffon Vultures.....

....and the larger Cinereous Vulture

After a short frenzied feeding spell by the birds, everything quietened down and the majority of vultures seemed to go into sun-bathing mode soaking up the early morning rays. After a while they started to slowly disperse presumably to take advantage of the developing thermals in the rapidly increasing temperature. However, the departure of the birds  did give some nice opportunities for some low level flight photographs as these birds require a long 'runway' to get airborne.

In the late morning, we heard the sound of  an approaching vehicle up the farm track and it was time to depart. It had been enjoyable and productive start of our Spanish trip. Arriving back at the hotel we sorted out the camera gear and photo downloading and backup before heading out into the midday sun to find some well needed lunch. While we were out we popped into the local supermarket and stocked up on some food and drink supplies for the week ahead. There was just time for a quick siesta to make up for the relatively early start before heading out for an evening session with some bee-eaters which will be the subject of my next post.

Inside the Circle Day 3 Part 1 -Following the Coast

I never sleep well in a different bed on the first night. The odds were against a good sleep on that first night in Norway with the perpetual light pouring through the thin curtain and a Willow Warbler outside the window deciding that 2am was time for a dawn chorus of incessantly descending plaintive notes. The mobile phone alarm rattled in to life at 6-30am and I woke from a brief sleep to overcast skies and limited light. Not idea for photography but at least the biting icy wind of the previous night had subsided. After breakfast it was time to head out and the day was to be taken up by travelling the road that follows the north shore of Varangerfjord. This first day proved to be productive so I will split it over two Blog posts.

My first stop was to be a small nature reserve on the small island reached by bridge from Vadso known as Vadsoya Kultureparc. From some pre-trip research I knew there to be a small pond there that usually held good numbers of Red-necked Phalarope. The UK population of this bird is probably around 30 breeding pairs most of which reside on the Shetland Isles. It was a wonderful sight on reaching the pond in my chest waders to see about 80 birds frantically feeding. If you have not seen phalarope feeding they tend to do so by spinning around in tight circles which can mean many wasted photos, particularly in low light and given the fact they are such tiny birds. Fortunately they are completely oblivious to human presence. Firstly a male bird which in this species are less colourful than the females.

and the bolder marking of a female for comparison

I think the birds were mainly feeding on midge larvae that they were picking out from the surface layers of the pond.

I will not inundate you will Phalarope photos as there will be more to come later in this journey but liked this photograph of the pair that decided to mate at close range right in front of me.

Before leaving the small nature reserve I decided to take a quick walk around to see what else was on offer for a return trip later in the week. At the far western end of the island I was greeted by the familiar calls from a large colony of Arctic Terns, which were being harassed out at sea by pursuing Arctic Skua. Below were rafts of Common Eider gently rocking in the small swell. Walking back through the reserve apart from the omnipresent Willow Warblers, I caught fleeting glimpses of Red-throated Pipit and thought I heard a brief burst of Bluethroat song.

Just by the nature reserve car park there is access down to a small area of beach which I though worthy of brief visit before leaving. A calling Oystercatcher soon started circling an obvious sign of its ground nest nearby so I quickly moved along and watched my step.

Further along the beach another small group of Red-necked Phalarope were encountered and a couple of birds were stepping out of the water and picking their way through the seaweed.

It was time to move on and as I travelled up the coast road, admiring the occasional distant sea eagle or skua on my journey, when I came to a sign pointing to Ekkeroy which I decided to follow as I knew there were some cliffs there with a large colony of Kittiwake.
The weather was turning decidedly damp as I made my way along the footpath at the base of the cliff and large numbers of birds circled overhead. It never fails to amaze the assault of the sensors created by a seabird colony in terms of sight, sound and smell.
I took a few photographs of the Kittiwakes but was distracted by an potential photo opportunity I had passed on the way.

A bird coming in to land on its narrow ledge with its progress under the scrutiny of its neighbours.

I made my way back along the base of the cliff to the Ravens nest I had spotted previously that was built on a ledge close to the base of the cliff. I love Ravens due to their size, apparent intelligence and the beautiful blue sheen to their feathers but actually have very few photographs of what is a very wary bird. There were three well grown young in the nest.

Slightly higher on the cliff face the adult birds were looking for a easy chick snack to pluck from a Kittiwake nest. Every time one of the Ravens took flight you could sense the panic flooding through the Kittiwake colony as the volume of calls rose.

Beautiful birds and a very welcome and unexpected encounter.

I think that is probably enough for this post but the rest of day was to get a good deal more colourful in terms of the birds encountered as I will reveal soon in the next installment.

Down on the Farm

I have been meaning to visit the Red Kite Feeding Station at Gigrin Farm for a long time and yesterday managed to get down there but only just in time. It is certainly a spectacle and great to see these beautiful wild birds at such close quarters. I will start with other birds that were also there for a free meal.

Common Buzzard

and Raven

but of course it was the Kites that I had really gone to see.