Last Wednesday night saw me sat on a plane on the way to Southern Spain, I had a few days gap and I had been thinking for a while that I would go if I had the chance.  It turned out to be a fantastic few days of photography ending in what can only be described as a "nightmare". But firstly the good things. After a good flight and a night at the Holiday Inn, I drove the hire car to San Pola and the Saltpans, south of Alicante. As soon as I pulled in to a little parking area next to the first disused pool I could see Flamingos, Curlew Sandpiper, Avocet, Squocco Heron, Little Gull and a few other potential goodies. 

I think it is quite amazing that you can travel two hours from the UK and see Flamingos in the wild. A longer trip at a different time of the year could have been more productive but I realised before I left home that it is not the best time of year to visit. Firstly, breeding season is over and migration has hardly begun, so August is probably the quietest month.  That said, as a photographer I enjoyed some great birds.

Black-winged Stilt, are always lovely to see and very common everywhere I went. The first "special" bird on the salinas was this smashing Curlew Sandpiper, a very common bird on migration, I was excited to see and photograph them and instantly I began to realise that my trip, even though it was quite an effort, had been worthwhile.

My next stop was The Cot De Giveny, reported as a special place "full of birds". it is a massive area of scrub and scattered trees with 2 pools, although I could only find 1 of them and this was nothing more than a muddy wallow, not deep enough for the ducks that are reported to be here. I am sure that at other times of the year it would be brilliant here but it was quite difficult to find much because of the very dry conditions and the early afternoon heat. I caught sight of both Grey Shrike and a lone Bee – eater as well as some other interesting warblers that were too quick to identify properly. I had a tantalising glimpse of what I presumed to be a Bonnelis Warbler here. At the dried pool Little Ringed Plover were present. I sat close to the edge and tried to conceal myself and then photographed them when they came near enough.
After the endurance of the walk in 34 degree heat, I headed back to the hire car and hoped that it was safe, it was, and I began my journey north to the town of Olive. The landscape around Alicante is nothing short of ugly, it's a dustbowl with a martian-like landscape. The few scattered shrubs are scorched and brown, there is no grass or greenery whatsoever and dotted amongst, what to me is a nightmare landscape, are ridiculous looking villas surrounded by just rocks and red dust. It's a mystery why anyone would leave England, our green and pleasant land, to live there as they do in their millions now. I must be missing something! Thankfully as I drove north, the landscape improved and the distant hills and mountains made it more attractive. The town of Olive was pretty and full of character and my B&B was just perfect, in a small dusty street adjoining an orange grove. The landlady Jill is the mother of Julian Sykes, a local expert and tour guide, he was away in the UK unfortunately, but left me directions and tips to good birding places, very good of him. Pego Marsh was 5 k away and just perfect for Herons of 5 species, it was easy to see dozens of Squocco Heron and Cattle Egrets and also watch them feeding. Hoopoe were really common as were Yellow and White Wagtail, Reed Warbler, Great Reed Warbler, Red Rumped Swallow, Marsh Harrier and some other goodies that I will mention later. However, this is also an odd place. Hunting is allowed on the edges of the reed beds and rice fields and I found the dodgy gun toting characters that you encountered now and then, a bit worrying. Also the entrances to the marsh, from the main N332 road, was frequented by prostitutes plying their trade to the passing motorists, (even on Sunday morning) and I found this to be an unseemly and scary contradiction and it felt like I was running the gauntlet every time I drove by. But that apart, this is a tremendous place, rich with thousands of birds and a great place to photograph them…… especially Kingfishers….. my favourite bird.
HOOPOE

PURPLE HERON
An interesting Kingfisher – (Alcedo athis) with white pied markings on the chest.

 With Pego Masho being so rich in birdlife, a ringing station is in action every morning in August and September. A biologist from the University of Valencia was present.  She was a pretty dark haired girl called Monica who had a constant stream of interesting birds to deal with. This was mostly Reed Warblers but while I was there she caught and ringed Moustached Warbler, fascinating to see. This is a tiny little warbler, very similar to Sedge, very, very rarely encountered in the UK, the last time in 2005 I believe, and difficult to see in Spain also.

MOUSTACHED WARBLER . .

I have seen Bluethroat before, not in Spain but Portugal. Monica was as excited as me when she caught one, the first for two years so again, it was a thrill to see one so close. In fact, we caught two, both juveniles on migration, the second had more blue on the throat and was probably older than the first.

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On Friday I went to the town of Alcoy in the hope of seeing Griffin Vultures in this more mountainous area, inland. There is a feeding station for the vultures which was over an hours walk up hill in 30 degree heat…… that's too extreme without proper planning and preparation so I limited myself to watching them circling above at the tops of the mountain. Excitingly I caught sight of my very first Golden Eagle. It was being mobbed by a Raven, in it's self a massive bird. When you compare the size of these two birds in silhouette, you can get a good idea of the size of the eagle knowing that a Raven stands at least two feet tall and is twice the size of a Carrion Crow.
GRIFFIN VULTURE . .
GOLDEN EAGLE and RAVEN

On Sunday I made my way back to Alicante for my flight home. It had been 4 great days, albeit a bit lonely on my own. The local bar had served a nice pint and a good meal so that was taken car of. I had seen and photographed some fantastic birds including Squocco Heron, they are going to have a post all of their own because I took some great shots of them. Arriving back in Alicante, too early for the flight, I went on further south and back to the Santa Pola Salinas to finish the trip off nicely with some more Flamingo photographs…….. and this is where the nightmare began. I had a vehicle full of suitcase and a flight case full of equipment including a Macbook Pro laptop as well as my Sigma 300 prime lens. To cut the story short, as my back was turned and attention drawn to the salt flats, the car was smashed in to and everything stole, leaving me with just the shorts, T-shirt and flip-flops that I was wearing. Now with £4000 worth of kit stolen, all my clothes and my passport, it had turned in to the nightmare that we all dread. I was close to tears to be honest and needed to be able to get home now. The police were shockingly unhelpful leaving me with the obstacle of getting on my flight without a passport. Amazingly I managed that hurdle and arrived back in to Exeter feeling sorry for myself only to be confronted by border control who would not let me back in to the UK. They muttered on about how I had broken the law by travelling without the correct documents and said that the airline will probably be fined £2000 for allowing me to travel without a passport. After a "jobs worth" lecture which was unnecessary and frankly I couldn't have given a dam, they let me in! Home to a loving wife who innocently asked "have you had a nice trip"?