Bob and Sally recently stayed in the apartment and enjoyed a wonderful week of relaxing and birding. This is their diary of their stay:
Birds Spain
Friday 03-10 Oct 2025
A one week holiday, based in Sotogrande, Andalusia, watching migratory birds…mainly raptors… en route to Africa.
Sat. 4/10/25
Viewed just out of the apartment balcony that looks directly over the Esturario de Rio Guadiaro.
4 Frigate birds overhead, drifting inland along the river opposite the balcony, then turned away towards Gibraltar. I know they were frigate birds, as I spent days watching them in Rio de Janeiro in March this year. But Magnificent? Not certain but what else.
Moved to viewing site: Bird hide and estuary at Rio de las Cañas in Palmones arriving around 12:00. Very difficult to find, very poorly maintained, full of graffiti and unloved, but….
200+ white Stork overhead, moving West, low level, amazing view, quite emotional actually…video, plus numerous sightings through day
Common Cranes x 2 resting on marsh.
Little Egret x many on estuary.
Flamingo, (juv?), moulting out. 13:50. Photo
50+ black winged Stilt, crossing in front of us, 50m away. Beautiful
Black tailed godwits x 6 flew in and settled on marsh.
Booted Eagle over marsh
Osprey x 3 , resting on perches and hunting across estuary. Long distance photo.
Short toed eagle, super view hunting and hanging in the wind, just above the hide, a solid 3 minute view.
Sardinian warbler in scrub trees in front of hide.
Back at apartment
White wagtails (ssp. Alba)several sightings, appear to be in winter plumage already.
Crested Larks x 8, on lawn in front of apartment. 1800hrs
Hen Harrier (male) flew slowly past the apartment balcony twice, just above eye level, super view. 18.50/1900hrs
Sunday 05/10/25
Quiet day in Sotogrande.
Morning on balcony.
Spotless starlings on tree outside balcony.
Winchat on bush opposite balcony
Whimbrel. 11am. On rocky breakwater outside the apartment. Perfect view… photo but at a distance. We had walked over to the breakwater to watch the fisherman and sitting on the water side of the rocks was a perfect Whimbrel. Don’t know who was more surprised!!
3pm. Black/ dk brown bird, long straight tail, size of cuckoo / nightjar, flew with around 5 wing flaps, then horizontal glide, then 5 flaps, glide, no discernible rise or fall. Came in low over the sea, turned onto the beach across from the apartment, flew 20metres along the beach then into the nature reserve opposite. Looked very like a nightjar??
Dunlin x 6 onto sandbar opposite apartment. Stayed 10min, till chased away by some children running onto the sandbar.
Hen Harrier (M) ( same as last night?) on same route as last night, across front of apartment and up the estuary. 6.30pm
Common Sandpiper x 10 on sandbar opposite apartment, always in evening, as dusk falls.
Little Egrets, x 200 in continuous flocks of 10’s and 20’s at sunset, travelling N along the shoreline of Playa del Sotogrande. They must have a roost nearby.
Monday 06/10/25
Strong east wind this morning, 25mph and gusting. Heavy swell.
Has forced a large shoal of surface baitfish into the breakwater, where they appears to be trapped. As a result, several hundred gulls, terns, and other water birds gathered around the breakwater for breakfast. Hard to hold the binoculars or myself steady.
Lots of LBB juvenile gulls
Lots of Northern Gannets, mainly juveniles, just off the breakwater and waters beyond.
Shearwaters around the outside: too many to count: Mediterranean…they look like Manx shearwaters but they probably are not…and Cory Shearwaters.
Terns: unknown species.
12:30pm Moved to Cazalla bird observatory, above Tarifa.
Quite terrifying sometimes watching the raptors fly between/ through the concentration of wind turbines. We had to look away as the Montegues Harrier ran the gauntlet of spinning turbines while hunting. According to the resident professional bird guide, some days it is a slaughter. The turbines are placed on the same mountain top windy ridges that the eagles and vultures love to soar along and a collision between birds and turbine seems almost inevitable. Apparently in recent years, following the deaths of hundreds of raptors, the wind turbines are switched off when large flocks gather. But as these huge streams of migrating birds can appear in minutes out of nowhere, it is not a perfect system.
Birds seen:
Short toed eagle: great view
Lesser kestrel: great view in front of us.
Black kite: many
Montages harrier adult F: studied for 10 minutes. 99% certain.
Griffon vulture, countless.
Booted eagles
Buzzards.
In Tarifa the sand was being blown straight off the shore onto the land like a mini sandstorm about 6ft high. Instant death to binoculars and telescopes, as well as eyes. A simple no-go area today.
20 sparrows and a Sardinian warbler in hedge outside apartment!!
Kestrel around apartment.
Tuesday 07/10/25
Another very windy day, strong heavy surf, but very sunny.
Awoke to 6 Audouins gulls sitting on sandbar opposite apartment.
Joined at 9:30 by 10 Gull Billed Terns, that almost landed before being chased by LBB gull.
Then 10 Kentish plovers onto sandbar, chased off by some gulls 5 minutes later, but they return seconds later.
Joined by single Turnstone, looking like 1st winter juv. 10 minute view.
10:45hrs: 8 Turnstone, 10+ Kentish plovers and a whimbrel in the first bay up the river, opposite the apartment.
9 Cormorant fly out of river estuary to travel out to sea; immediately blown back by the wind, they veered off and flew back inland.
11:30 We decided to walk along the river, see the turnstones better and explore the nature reserve just upstream. When we got to the river, the turnstones, plovers and whimbrel had gone. However, the reason was clear. Sitting opposite, on an old tree trunk over the river was an Osprey. Wow!
The nature reserve was poor. Very overgrown and unloved, tho’ we did see a kingfisher by the road bridge.
Afternoon: we tried to return to the Bird hide and estuary at Rio de las Cañas in Palmones. But, basically, we couldn’t find our way through the town of Palmones to get to the site. After a very frustrating 30 minutes of going round in circles and being obstructed by one way streets we gave up. Such a difficult place to get to.
In the evening we watched 15 surfers tackle the heavy waves in the sea just outside the window.
Wednesday 8th Oct.
Los Lances beach, just past Tarifa.
Wood lark
Crested lark
Kentish clovers x100
Sanderlings x 200+, almost at our feet as we sat and watched them.
Wheatear… looking a bit lost
Too many humans and loose dogs, even in the nature reserve area.
Cazalla bird observatory, above Tarifa.
Easterly wind, 25°c
Amazing afternoon, so much to see.
Repeated flocks and spirals of:
Griffin vultures, black vultures, booted eagles, short toed eagles, black kites, hen harriers, marsh harriers, and at one point a single black stork mixed into a huge eagle and vulture spiral. It didn’t seem concerned with the company!, Huge mixed flocks, constant stream of soaring birds, thermal spirals of 100+ birds, some high, some (Griffon vultures) incredibly low, at one point a Griffon Vulture was so low binoculars were pointless. It seemed as interested in us as we were in it.
What an afternoon.
Thursday, ninth October
Above Tarifa, on semi derelict observatory.
Crested lark
Reed bunting
Sardinian warbler x2
Pied Flycatcher (1st winter )
Swallows
Sand Martins.
Kestrel
Cazalla Raptor observatory
1pm. 23°c, stiff westerly breeze. A quiet day after yesterday’s amazing migratory flocks. Large flocks of mainly Griffon vultures mixed with Short Toes eagles, but high in the hills, gathering and soaring rather than crossing the Straits.
Buzzard
Black Storks x 4 but all at a distance
Back to Palmones bird hide. After planning and a determined drive we found our way to the bird hide. Arrived around 3pm. And…wow!!
300-500 white stork resting in river estuary
1 flamingo in river.
8 black winged stilts
8 cormorant in group in river
4 Osprey
2 whimbrel
1 black stork overhead, ignoring the flocks of whites.
15 grey heron.
Around 3.30 some flocks of white stork appear in the sky over Palmones. Then more. Suddenly we had an astonishing spiral of 1000+ white stork (excluding the ones still in the estuary) just in front of us, circling and rising into a thermal, up and up. What a sight. What a great ending.