From Castilla y Leon to Extremadura ... birds of the Spanish steppes ...

 The Dehesas of Monfrague at Saucedilla lie en route with some wetland and dry country species ... but first back to the Bay of Biscay where one of the few birds seen from the boat was this Whimbrel ... strangely heading south ...

... and in the Gredos foothills a Wryneck showed rather distantly in some deep shade ...

and a Thekla Lark perched up on the rocky hillside ...

... then dropping down to the plain at Saucedilla a little group of Spotless Starlings showed off their glossy plumage ...

... Zitting Cisticolas, Cetti's Warblers, Stonechats and a Southern Grey Shrike all along the sandy track leading north from the village ...

... and the occasional fly over Purple Heron ...

... and then off to the fabled Monfrague... 

... where a young Eagle Owl made occasional half-appearances in the shadow of its rocky cave ... before a Black Stork came flying by in front of the face of the crag ...

... with resident Griffon Vultures flying by ...

... while others attended their nest sites ...

... and a little distance away an Egyptian Vulture was on its nest ...

It was nice to see truly wild Red-legged Partridges scuttling by ...

... many of the Sardinian Warblers sculked in the scrub but this bird was unuaually showy ...

The flat plateau area around Villareal de San Carlos hosted Crested Larks and highlighted their differences from the earlier Thekla Larks ...

... and as the midday sun gained power a Corn Bunting took shelter in the shade ...

Back at the campsite Iberian Magpies provided entertainment as we too shelterd from the punishing sun ... 

... the site also had Scop's Owls every dusk and dawn and the occasional European Nightjar churring ...

The old town of Trujillo had Lesser Kestrels at the bullring ...

Back on the Villareal plateau a Short-toed Eagle passed over in the cool of the morning ...

 ... and a pair of Woodchat Shrikes displayed prominetly ... 

... and with a sudden burst of raptor activity a Bonelli's Eagle drifted along the ridge and conveniently circled to give nice views ...

... and passed by a pair of previously sleepy Black Vultures ...

... and moments later a pair of Spanish Imperial Eagles circled very distantly against the wooded hillside ...

Another Egyptian Vulture drifted over  ...

After by-passing Cacares a minor road led to an area of steppe ... a scan of the vast grassy plain rvealed a Great Bustard which strutted steadily across ...

... and the lark-fest included Short-toed, Crested and the wonderful Callandra Larks ...

By the Alcollarin Reservoir a pair of Cattle Egrets flew by in the evening sun and a White Stork circled overhead ...

 

Three days at Finca La Sayuela, El Raso, Spain

 Our first port of call after docking at Santander was this delightful Finca on the southern foothills of the Gredos Mountains.  We stayed in one of the two cottages at the top of the grounds.

There were great views out over the plain and along the mountain range.

The property is owned by a very welcoming British couple Keith and Jane Hamilton who have tastefully fitted out the property to give three self catering units.

From here you can walk up into the low hills that ajoin the property and follow a whole range of tracks running through the wild but easily accessible terrain.

with lovely banks of lavendar and bright flowers ...

Keith is very knowledgable about the local wildlife which nevertheless is spectacular with lovely birds such as Woodchat Shrike -

... Bee-eater ...

...  Hoopoe ...

... and Blue Rock Thrush ...

... to say nothing of the range of raptors like this Black Kite ...

The Iberian Magpies were all around the grounds and nesting close to the cottage we stayed in 

The nearby plain has some nice landscapes including some water bodies ...

The nearby villages had a very well-healed feeling with some nice bars and restaurants.

The spectacularly craggy backdrop of the Gredos Mountains certainly added a sense of drama to the landscape.

Winter Birding in North Cumbria ... and embracing the Mirrorless technology ...

Since visiting Norfolk and then Slimbridge in the autumn my birding has been entirely around the tarns and forests of North Cumbria and its Solway coast ... I now use a mirrorless system - Canon R7 with rf 100-400 lens.  This setup weighs 1.2 Kg whereas my previous Canon 7D mk 11 with a 300mm f4.5 and 1.4x converter was twice that weight.

The weight advantage alone is very compelling but the results have been very pleasing.  Setting up the camera required a new mindset and interestingly the Youtube videos which were mainly American proved to be less than helpful - North Cumbria is not the USA !

The Goldeneyes that we see at Talkin Tarn and mainly females and many of these are first winter birds with relatively dull yellow eyes and all black bills ...

... a group of female Goosanders loafed in the middle of the tarn ...

On a lovely bright late November day a Mistle Thrush posed on a treetop ... the shorter and paler retained juvenile outer greater coverts showed it to be a first winter bird ...

... and a male Reed Bunting perched among twigs - the 'bird' setting on the AF made the bird rather than the twigs the cameras priority for focus ...

Near Tindale village a small flock of around six Bullfinches foraged on heather seeds a few days later when the sun was nowhere in sight ... but a welcome bit of brightness nevertheless ...

On a small tarn near Upper Denton six Whooper Swans appeared ... the three juveniles being a welcome indication of breeding success ...

On another lovely  December day back at Talkin Tarn a Little Grebe swam obligingly by ...

... and with frost on the ground at Thorn near Tarnhouse Rigg a Fieldfare posed nicely ...

A mid-December visit to the Solway proved very worthwhile when a Todd's Canada Goose turned up among several hundred Barnacle Geese just outside Anthorn ... this appears on the basis of photographic comparisons  to be a different bird from the earlier Rockcliffe Marsh individual ... always an exciting find !

Back in the Border Forests Crossbills were present in better numbers than of late and this displaying male was a fine sight ...

... while on the coast again Pink-footed Geese were on the move in late January 

At Tindale Tarn today all the birds, few that they were, proved to be frustratingly distant ... this provided a good chance to test the camera's 'reach' ...

... a female Tufted Duck just looked all dark through the bins but the camera revealed some detail including bill pattern at a range of around 400m ...

... and a pair of Wigeon along with another first winter female Goldeneye were at a similar distance ...

... a female Smew had been on the tarn for a good while over the winter and with bins it was just about discernible on the most distant part of the far shore at around 500m range ... the camera added some detail.