A PLACE much loved by birders is Extremadura in
Spain.
The pictures below are by courtesy of Wikimedia
Commons and feature some of the sights that might greet a visitor in spring and
summer.
Typical dehesas habitat
in spring - note also the white stork (photo:Ardo Beltz)
Cirl bunting –
plentiful in this region of Spain (photo: Paco Gomez)
The bee-eater – beautiful to see, beautiful to
hear (photo: Shah Jahan)
Rollers are encouraged by the provision of
nest-boxes (photo: Sumeet Moghe)
The next best thing to going there is attending a
presentation by Lincolnshire birder Steve Lovell who knows the area and its wildlife well.
Here is an account of the
highly entertaining talk he gave to members of Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust at Louth Library on Friday evening.
A LINCOLNSHIRE
birder has described how he witnessed the tragic demise of one of Europe’s
rarest birds of prêy.
While on a week’s holiday in late spring in the
Extremadura region of central Spain, Steve Lovell and wife Elaine were tipped
off by a couple of Finnish birders to the whereabouts of the nest of a Spanish
imperial eagle.
As they waited in the expectation of soon seeing one
of the adults returning to feed the two chicks, something bizarre and tragic
happened.
The larger of the chick lost patience with waiting for
its next meal and turned on its younger sibling - killing, then eating it.
Steve described the fascinating but tragic episode
when he was guest speaker at Friday’s meeting of the Louth branch of the
Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.
“Before our eyes, two eagles became one,” he said with
grim humour.
The Lovells have been to the Extremadura on three separate
occasions - late spring, September and winter - and each one has been
fascinating.
Known as “green Spain” it is one of the
most heavily protected wildlife areas in Europe
and its economy relies largely on birding tourists - which is why it is represented, every August, with
extensive stand space at the annual British Birdwatching Fair which it also
co-sponsors.
It is easy to see the attraction. It is home to some
300 species, many of them only very seldom seen in the UK.
The range of habitats includes Mediterranean forest,
dehesas, rocky areas, heaths, rivers and streams, reservoirs, towns and
villages, pastures/dry farming land and irrigated agricultural crops (including,
unusually, paddy fields where rice is grown for risotto).
Steve and Elaine are also skilled photographers, and
their presentation featured stunning close-up shots (see end of report for list
of species).
“Cirl buntings and crested larks are
everywhere,”enthused Steve. “In winter, you see and hear cranes, with their extraordinary
bugling calls, until you are blue in the face. Their population is said to
reach as many as 120,000.”
The Lincoln
man, who runs his own successful garden landscaping business, revealed a
special admiration for the various vulture species that are widespread.
“As well as their role in cleaning up nature, their
flight is breathtaking,” he said. “They are truly masters of the sky.”
Steve evidently also has a spot for rollers whose
breeding success is encouraged by dedicated nestboxes, and for bee-eaters - not
just for their beautiful plumage but also for the sound they utter.
“It’s a wonderful bubbling call,”he said. “It blows
you away.”
The couple’s portfolio of photographs also included
expanses of French lavender and other herbs and flowers, various reptiles and
amphibians plus such insects as the oil beetle and the epaulette strimmer.
One particularly impressive shot was that of four
swallowtail butterflies settled on the ground where they were evidently seeking
some kind of sustenance from minerals in the mud.
“Normally you only see swallowtails flying powerfully
away into the distance, so this was something memorable,”said Steve “It was too
good to miss!”
Spanning 250km from north to south and 200km from east
to west, Extremadura is larger than some countries, for instance Belgium, Denmark and Holland.
The Lovells had flown to Madrid from the UK, then hired a car,
but the region can also be reached in about the same time (about three hours)
from the airports at Seville
and Lisbon.
Steve also sounded plaudits for the unspoiled
“Spanishness” of the towns and villages,
and he clearly enjoyed both the local wine (vino tinto lagares) and the
Iberian pork (acorns from the numerous oaks are voraciously gobbled up by the black pigs and help to give their meat
its unique flavour.)
Anything else? “Yes, the cherries are the best I’ve
ever tasted,” he chuckled.
Before concluding, he also offered a couple of tips to
prospective visitors:
* Be forearmed by doing some research before you go.
* Restaurants where there are cloths on the table are
likely to be more expensive than those without!
The meeting above Louth Library was attended by 31 Trust
members including branch chairman Ray Woodcock who provided an appropriate
thank-you to the Lovells. “Muchas gracias!”he exclaimed.
Though they missed out on seeing eagle owl and
Bonelli’s eagle, the list of species photographed by Steve and Elaine was awesome.
It included:
Red-spotted bluethroat
Spanish sparrow
Cirl bunting
Black-winged stilt
Little ringed plover
Ortolan bunting
Purple heron
Squacco heron
Cattle egret
Crane
White stork
Black stork
Hoopoe
Rufous bush robin
Sub-alpine warbler
Pallid swift
Rock bunting
Great spotted cuckoo
Lesser kestrel
Kestrel
Short-toed lark
Cassandra lark
Crested lark
Buzzard
Montagu’s harrier
Black kite
Spotless starling
Black-shouldered kite
Temminck’s stint
Red-rumped swallow
Whiskered tern
·
For
more info about Extremadura,
visit:www.turismoextremadura.com
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