GRAZALEMA, SPAIN

Carol and I got back on Sunday afternoon after a fantastic week walking in the Sierra de Grazalema natural park in Spain. It's a beautiful area where wildlife is abundant, sometimes familiar and sometimes very unfamiliar. For me the Griffon Vultures pictured above and below were the stars of the show, their huge size and mastery of the air, as well as their sheer numbers, we saw up to sixty birds in the air at one time, were a great sight. We were pleased to have their company every day while walking in the surrounding valleys and mountains, maybe they thought we were potential carrion, especially when Carol tripped on a rock on the trail on the first day. Their luck wasn't in though when after a bit of first aid she bravely picked herself up and limped on, nothing to do with the Praying Mantis that we saw lurking alongside her in the undergrowth of course.

Other birds of prey seen included Booted Eagles, Short-toed Eagles, Lesser Kestrel, Kestrel, Peregrine, Common Buzzard and Sparrowhawk. Bonelli's Eagle will have to wait for the return trip.

The three pics below are all of a Lark, the question is, Thekla or Crested, or maybe something else? We hired a wildlife guide for one day who pointed out a Thekla but the one pictured was seen by us later in the week. I'm going to put fifty pence on this one being the same but i'll place it each way rather than on the beak, just in case.

Other birds seen during our stay included Southern Grey Shrike, Crested Tit, Crag Martin, Dartford Warbler,Subalpine Warbler, Spectacled Warbler, Firecrest, Short-toed Treecreeper, Spotless Starling, Serin and many more.

Other birds were more familiar like the Stonechat below and an abundance of Redstarts and Black Redstarts

A bird that I was very pleased to see was the Chough, pictured below, I've never seen one in the UK but I think they are great birds and very entertaining as they foraged around the crags and rocks in large garrulous flocks.

Rock Sparrow, Blue Rock Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Yellow and Grey Wagtail, Corn Bunting, Cirl Bunting, Linnet and Goldfinch all turned up during the week as well as plenty of Spotted and Pied Flycatchers, a female is pictured below.

Below is one of three species of Wheatears seen, it's a Black Wheatear, the picture really doesn't do justice to this bird, we saw four of them as well as the Black-eared and Northern species.

Tomorrow i'll try and post a few pictures of some of the other creatures seen on our walks.