The BOC party of 12 joined six others at Plymouth for this tour arranged by Wessex Continental Travel Co. Many were up on deck by 5pm to see what seabirds and cetaceans British waters had to offer, and then at dawn the following morning in the Bay of Biscay. There were many excellent sightings of Common and Striped Dolphins, also brief views of Cuvier’s Beaked Whale. Orcaweb researchers gave a very good lecture (https://www.orcaweb.org.uk). An on-board Turtle Dove together with a Collared Dove shared the southbound voyage with us! From Santander crossing the Cantabrian mountains to our base hotel on the Tierra de Campos Plateau we started to get our eye in for raptors including many Black Kite but also Griffon Vulture and Booted Eagle. Once on the plateau, White Stork and Montagu’s Harriers were plentiful, with Great Bustard also seen. Our two local bird guides were excellent and spoke good English. The weather was unseasonably hot, up to 30C and the local villages where we ate our packed lunches were full of screaming Common Swifts as well as the omnipresent nesting White Storks.
The first full day in Spain visited four main sites: 1) the Laguna de la Nava de Fuentes, (https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/1260) where scrub and open water held, amongst many others, Purple Heron, marsh terns, Savi’s Warbler, Corn Bunting and Yellow Wagtail; 2) a site on the Canal de Castilla was full of Pied and Spotted Flycatchers in and under Poplars, as well as largely invisible Nightingales and Golden Oriole; 3) third was a remote village, having a church tower with colony nesting Lesser Kestrel; 4) finally the Laguna de Boada (Boada de campos: un lugar imperdible para el turismo de interior en Palencia – YouTube) involved a long hot trek to the hide but was arguably the best birding session of the trip with many duck, waders in particular Black-winged Stilt, terns including Gull-Billed and Whiskered and the highlight of following the aerobatics of two Collared Pratincole. Another local rarity was a Grey Heron! We also enjoyed an informative talk from the local wildlife expert about the reserve and their research into Aquatic Warbler.
The second morning featured a walk in open Holm Oak woodland in El Cerrato. This turned out to be relatively unproductive bird-wise but had plenty of interest for those of a flower and butterfly disposition with many Spanish Festoon butterflies. In the afternoon we returned to La Boada.
The priority on Day three was to return to catch the return boat but there was a productive coffee stop in the mountains where, amongst others, Wryneck and TreePipit were detected.
A total of 116 birds were identified on the holiday. Sadly for some, this didn’t include Aquatic Warbler as these pass through the area primarily in autumn. The full list of species and locations are on the BOC website. Many thanks to Jane for coordinating the excellent trip. Gary Magill