Clot and Santa Pola

Santa Pola - Mass Hatching

Yellow Legged Gull

I arrived at Santa Pola this morning to the spectacular site of Avocet, Black-winged Stilt and Yellow-legged Gull chicks everywhere! The Black-winged Stilt and Avocet in particular had formed 3 large nurseries of at least 25 young in each group. Both species were very defensive even though I was at least 200m from the young, so hopefully this will mean a high survivle rate. Other species seen here included, Little Bittern, Purple Heron, Greater Flamingo (1000+) and 5 Marbled Teal.

Marbled Teal
Marbled Teal

Clot de Galvaney

I spent a couple of hours at Clot after visiting Santa Pola in the hope of finding Rufous Bush Robin. Unfortunately I didn't have any success although I'm sure I will find this late arriving migrant within the next few days. Having seen Marbled Teal fairly well at Santa Pola, it was fantastic to see them much closer at Clot, there are at least 4 pairs on the reserve at the moment (see above). It is fairly strange to see such a rare breeding bird so well in an area very close to human habitation, but welcome nevertheless (see below). Other species of note seen in and around Clot included, White-headed Duck (2), Turtle Dove (numerous), Cuckoo (3), Red-rumped Swallow (10+), Spotted Flycatcher (numerous), Green Sandpiper (2), Water Rail, Hoopoe, Spectacled Warbler (1) and Golden Oriole (1).

Clot de Galvaney

Clot de Galvaney