In a departure from my usual content about birds and birding in Cadiz Province, I thought I'd share my thoughts on this new guide from Helm.  I have particularly tried to do so from the point of view of a birder based in Spain. 

The Helm Guide to Bird Identification   
 Vinicombe, Harris & Tucker           ISBN:  978-1-4081-3035-3 
 Pub: Christopher Helm                   RRP: £25.00

Given the age profile of most birders, many of the  more experienced will be aware of the excellent ”Macmillan Field Guide to Bird Identification” (1989) and, I suspect, most will have a copy on their bookshelves.  Appearing ten years before the all-conquering ‘Collins Guide’ this and its companion guide (”The Macmillan Birders’  Guide to European and Middle Eastern Birds” – 1996), were the ‘go to’ books for resolving tricky identification problems. This new guide from Helm is an extensive and detailed reworking of this highly regarded original volume incorporating some illustrations from the later volume and adding many more species.  The three questions that I have tried to address here are  - Do you need this book (especially if you have the original)? Has the ‘Collins Guide’ made it superfluous? How useful is it to Spanish based birders?

Compared to the original, which omitted some surprising species from a British perspective, this new guide is far more comprehensive as about fifty additional species have been included.  Although some of these - Pacific Diver, Northern Harrier, Thayer’s Gull,  American Black Tern, Oriental Turtle Dove and  Moltoni’s Warbler (often regarded as an eastern race of Subalpine) have been described but not illustrated. Most surprisingly, and disappointingly for those in Spain, Iberian Chiffchaff is another species described, but not illustrated.  Oddly, River Warbler which was originally illustrated is now only covered textually. Those species now covered are pretty much all of the ones whose absence so annoyed in the original – egrets, rare peeps, Red-backed/Brown/Isabelline Shrikes and small phyloscophus warblers come to mind.  It also includes taxa of which most birders weren’t aware a generation ago – Cackling (Canada) Goose, Brent Goose subspecies, Caspian Gull and Buff-bellied Pipit for example. Lariphile friends tell me that the coverage of large gulls (esp. Caspian) is better than anywhere outside of specialist gull guides (although Kumlien’s Gull has only one illustration, of an adult, Thayer’s none at all and American Herring Gull is omitted entirely). However, Auduoin's and Slender-billed are not covered. Many of the plates are carried over from the older book although the images are a little larger (in keeping with the guide’s larger format), darker and generally better printed. Unfortunately, there are exceptions one being, another unfortunate problem for those based in Spain, Pallid Swift which looks far too dark.  Another example, although one less likely to trouble Mediterranean based birders, are the Arctic Redpolls which look more like ‘slushballs’ than snowballs.  Some of Alan Harris's illustrations have been lifted straight from the second MacMillan guide, but others are brand new. This means some raptors - harriers, Honey Buzzards, Gos/Sparrowhawk, both Milvus kites and some falcons are very well covered, but for Spanish birders there's nothing on vultures, the most relevant eagles or Lesser Kestrels.  Similarly there's nothing about tricky Iberian larks (other than 'Greater' Short-toed), Sylvia warblers (esp. those tricky juveniles) and a few other groups.  A good few of the birds dealt with are species that, although fairly regular in the UK are extremely rare in Spain (e.g. rare phyloscopus warblers). This sounds rather negative, but there are plenty of positives since for many groups the book remains extremely useful.  For example confusing female/imm. ducks, egrets, seabirds, larger gulls and skuas, treecreepers, etc it remains first rate.  It is particularly good for all those puzzling waders which are covered in great detail.

The text clearly rests on the foundation of the original book and many phrases, even whole paragraphs, have been left virtually untouched.  The same useful organisation of the text into numbered points (where needed) makes the guide simple and easy to use.  However, this is diminished by abandoning the original layout in two columns which I find easier to navigate. Where necessary the text has been updated to include the very latest ID information.   Naturally each account is supported by a reference to a relevant ID paper although this is of limited use to those without access to various birding magazines (esp. ‘British Birds’).  Most usefully for those based in the UK, the introduction to each species or species groups gives an excellent overview of the species’ status in Britian.  Although obviously aimed at the British market this guide would be useful across much of northern Europe.  One inevitable criticism is that the book could have included more confusion species (and one surprising omission to me is the Pied/Collared/Semi-collared Flycatcher complex). There is a degree of merit in this complaint and it’s hard not to think that relatively few additional species would have made this guide useful across a wider arc of Europe.  Some might even argue that both the original ‘Macguides’ should have been welded into one bumper guide.  However this is probably wishful thinking and the resulting tome would have been too large and unwieldy, but a revitalised edition of “The Macmillan Birders’  Guide to European and Middle Eastern Birds”  would be extremely useful in Spain covering as it does many of those 'missing' species. 

So do you need this book,  has it been supplanted by the ‘Collins Guide’ and how useful is it to a birder living in Spain?    Hopefully, after reading this review, you should have the answer with the first question.  This new guide fills many, if not all, of the gaps left unfilled by the original book and is well worth buying even if you have the original book particularly if you live in the UK.  The answer to the second question is equally clear.  Where this new guide scores over ‘Collins’ is that it has much more space for more detailed treatment and is better at comparing confusion species.  The point-by-point treatment of many species is particularly good at highlighting key issues.  The ‘where and when’ section also provides a handy review of UK status which isn’t easy to find elsewhere.  Admittedly those based in Spain will find this guide frustrating at times since many of the tricky birds found in Iberia are not covered – for this you will still need “The Macmillan Birders’  Guide to European and Middle Eastern Birds” (unfortunately, secondhand copies of this guide sell for £50-£75). Yet for a number of groups – wildfowl, seabirds, gulls, waders and such like it - would still be an invaluable, if not wholly comprehensive, guide to the trickier species.  Overall, his guide can be emphatically recommended to all keen birders whether or not they have the original guide on which it is based.

I'm sure many birders have had the experience where non-birding friends express the opinion that 'you must visit some lovely places when you go birding'.  This is certainly often the case and, one I couldn't possibly deny given that this article is about a particularly attractive part of Spain.  However, such comments clearly show a lack of awareness of just how much time birdwatchers actually spend haunting less than salubrious  sites like sewage farms and rubbish tips! Having read of the delights of Perry Oaks and Wisbech sewage farms, one of my regrets when growing up was that there wasn't a really decent, smelly sewage farm nearby to act as a Mecca for passing waders.   Improvements in the treatment of sewage has relegated such wader magnets to ornithological history.  Rubbish tips, of course, are more persistent feeding off our wasteful society,  but in the UK they mainly attract gulls so unless you're a confirmed “lariphile” they don't hold much to attraction.  Fortunately, they do things differently in Spain where large tips regularly attract Cattle Egrets,  White Storks and raptors – lots of them!  All good things, though, come with a price.  In the UK it's a disagreeable whiff, but in Spain the price is proportionate – legions of innumerable buzzing flies and an olfactory assault course! An exaggeration? Perhaps, but on a hot still day it can require determination to stay for long.  However the rewards, particularly for photographers, can be enormous.

One elusive and much sought after species is rumoured to be particularly attracted to rat infested rubbish tips – Eagle Owl. This fearsome hunter is roughly the size of a male Golden Eagle and is at the top of the nocturnal food chain.  It will take a wide range of species and although overall rats only form 10% of its prey, for some individuals they may form over 80% of prey items. For such birds that specialise in 'ratting', rubbish tips must be close to Nirvana.  Despite making a number trips to tips specifically in search of the species, my sole success was a complete fluke. Having got stuck in a massive traffic jam one evening whilst trying to leave Sanlucar, I unwisely attempted to cut across country and got hopelessly lost on the backroads not far from Puerto Real.  As we drove along in the gathering gloom a huge bird suddenly got up from beside the road.  That my instant thought was 'Griffon!' shows big it was, but as it flew through the headlight beams I realised it was an Eagle Owl.  At the time it seemed an odd place to see one, but when drove the road again in daylight I realised it bordered a massive rubbish tip (see 'a' on Map 21 in my notes on NW 14.1 Salinas Santa Maria etc).

However, of all the tips I've ever visited in the pursuit of birds, by far the most impressive, birdwise, is that to be found above Los Barrios in Cadiz province (see map). Admittedly, several evening visits have failed to turn up an Eagle Owl, but the tip and surrounding areas never fail to impress.  Driving south on the A381 you pass some impressive scenery before dropping down into the lowlands of the Campo de Gibraltar near Los Barrios.  Many of the pylons next to the road  here, and further south, have nesting White Storks  - probably not unconnected with the availability of plentiful year round food courtesy of our wasteful habits.  Peeling off the A381 at Exit 80, I often head back north along the service road Restaurante Venta El Frenazo (c1km); it's one of the best ventas in the area and serves distinctly above average tapas.  Another bonus of doing so is that you can explore a minor road on the right just before the restaurant – I'm told that early in the morning (and presumably in the evenings) the area round the junction can be good for Hawfinch. In the UK this charismatic species has undergone a huge decline and it's population is now very fragmented.  Apparently the population on the continent is 'stable'. In Spain they're largely restricted to cooler mountain regions (e.g.like the Sierra Morena), but, although described as 'common' the woodlands of Cadiz province I've found them fairly elusive.  Particularly around roosting sites they can be picked up by their Robin like 'tick' call (see http://www.xeno-canto.org/153798); a 'Robin' calling from more than a few metres high will probably turn out to be a Hawfinch!  If you continue to the end of the road (a on map) you can explore along a sendero.

Turning towards Los Barrios in just under a kilometer take the road uphill to your right which takes you up to the rubbish tip (see map). If you're unsure just follow the trail of rubbish that litters the verges, but take care as heavy lorries, some travelling at speed, thunder along this road! As you climb this road (b) it not only gives you terrific views across to Africa, but also, during migration periods, a good chance of seeing dozens of Lesser Kestrels hovering along the ridge or perhaps a massive Short-toed Eagle.  In autumn many of the latter are the pale whitish immatures (the origin I assume of the eagle's French name Jean-le-Blanc). Interestingly recent research has shown that young birds on migration through the straits have a very different diet from adults.  Extraordinarily, the young of these massive birds have a diet  largely consisting of centipedes and, to a lesser extent, praying mantises. Presumably this is due to their inability, as inexperienceed hunters, to compete with adults for the more usual prey of snakes and reptiles.  

After bearing left at a junction (3km), you reach the rubbish tip (c) where you can pull off on the track to your left to view the tip.  (The track to the right doesn't offer such a "good" view and is heavily used by lorries so is best avoided).  The stench here is almost unbearable at times although I'm told it's better than it used to be! It's not so bad at weekends when the tip isn't in use, but then there are fewer birds. In the open sheds, crammed with insalubrious looking detritus, Cattle Egret and White Stork enthusiastically pick amongst the rubbish for choice morsels.  Both, but particularly the storks, are often stained  and dirty – fittingly, given the legendary origin of the word, looking quite 'isabelline'!  This year round cornocopia of food is probably a major factor in the local storks' increasing reluctance to move away from the area in the winter. The egrets and storks are often joined as they perch on the roof by dozens of Black Kites …. and this is the place to see this species.  At times during migration periods literally thousands are attracted to the free sushi bar for kites. If, unlike me, you're a decent photographer birds drifting low over the road can give you a great opportunity for getting some good shots – and if you miss your first chance, don't worry as another will be along shortly!   Griffons and, less frequently, Egyptian Vultures also frequently pass overhead at close range.  Unfortunately, these big birds tend to drop down at some distance from the track (previously, apparently, they were closer to the fence) which means you'll need a 'scope to scan any resting birds for Rüppell’s Vulture; during autumn migration you've as good a chance of this rare visitor here as anywhere, and probably better than most sites. Unlike elsewhere there's a fair chance that a visiting vulture will circle round for a little longer or even land.  Pick a good day at that season and you'll also catch the stream of other raptors heading south.  I've once had 18 species of raptor here in a couple of hours  - 3 vultures (inc. Rüppell’s) and five falcons (inc. Lanner) plus hundreds of Honey Buzzards, Black Kites, Booted and Short-toed Eagles, etc., but I suspect that along the straits this isn't so unusual and some folks may even have reached a day total of  twenty! If the stench becomes unendurable, then another kilometre along the track there's a low 'saddle' where you can pull over and watch raptors taking a short-cut to the back of the  tip. The views across the Alcornocales from here are superb!

Driving down from the tip you can return the way you came, perhaps diverting to the Restaurante Venta El Frenazo ; a good strong cup of coffee is a good way to drive out memories of the smell of the tip although you might find your appetite wanting.  Alternatively cut east along the CA 9207 towards Estacion de San Roque and on to Jimena.  It's not a route I've often taken, but the habitat looks interesting and worth a closer look.

There's something about shrikes that gets a birdwatcher's pulse racing. This fascination seems to be a long standing one judging by the care and accuracy with which Masked and Red-backed Shrikes were painted in Egyptian tombs. For starters they're generally rather handsome birds with most sporting dramatic plumage patterns often involving a dark mask and flashes of white on the wings or tail. Even those examples that are less flamboyant, often females or juveniles, may show a pleasingly cryptic plumage with subtle blend of mottling and barring in muted colours. Then there's their bold in-yer-face habit of sitting up on fence posts, roadside wires and bushes surveying their territory. Yet when they want to they can also be frustratingly elusive, hunkering down low in a bush to avoid being seen. They're also somewhat enigmatic; a songbird yet one with a hooked bill and a daunting reputation for ferocity. Smaller shrikes mainly eat insects and small lizards, but the larger Great Grey  Shrike (Sp. Alcaudón Real Norte) tends to eat small mammals and birds. They've even been known to take weasels and stoats, albeit young ones, and take on far larger birds such a grouse!    

Shrikes also have the macabre habit of spiking dead prey items on thorn bushes in a 'larder', something most would find repellent rather than endearing. This is the origin of it's scientific name 'Lanius' (butcher) and the old colloquial name 'butcher bird'. A shrike 'larder' serves several purposes – a store for when prey are elusive, a means to dismember prey and to attract a mate. An elegant, if somewhat mean, experiment demonstrated the latter point when researchers deliberately took items from one larder and added them the a rival bird's store. 'Control' birds (whose larders were untouched) were average at attracting mates, but those with reduced larders did badly whilst those with augmented ones did much better. Most names for shrike, both local and international, reflect the supposedly violent and rapacious nature of the birds. Old English names include wierangle (= destroying angel), throttler, murdering pie and nine killer. The latter name reflects the widespread belief that they have to kill nine times, hence the German name Neuntöter, before their blood lust is satiated. In parts of India they're called khatik which also means 'butcher'. The German name for Great Grey - Raubwürger - means 'plunder strangler' and many other names have a similarly violent connection. An exception is the word 'shrike' which, depending on the authority preferred, comes from either their harsh calls (cf 'shriek') or a misapplication of an old name for Mistle Thrush ('shrite'). The Spanish alcaudón is another exception probably coming from the Arabic al qabṭún meaning 'big head'.  Oddly this is also the meaning of 'loggerhead'', a name given to an American species of shrike!  Not all ancient lore is so harsh about shrikes.  Even the 'neuntöter' slander may stem from a corruption of 'nagel', or nail, rendering its name as a somewhat less bloodthirsty and more accurate one of 'nail killer' (a clear reference to spiking prey on thorns).  Most at odds with this violent tradition is another Indian name - gandhari - which was the name of an Indian queen who, in an act of supreme empathy, wore a blindfold (cf the black mask of many shrikes) to better understand her blind husband.   

For British birders some of the appeal must be the relative rarity of shrikes in the UK. Once fairly common, numbers of Red-backed Shrike (Sp. Alcaudón Dorsirrojo) in the UK dwindled throughout the previous century such that it's been effectively extinct for several decades. Fewer than a couple of hundred now turn up on passage each year whilst about half that number of Great Grey Shrike appear on passage (although as c50 winter they give us more of a chance to spot one). Other shrikes turn up, but all are rare so seeing one in the UK requires a lot of luck or a well used bird news pager! In contrast Spain has three common breeding species of shrike. There were four breeding species, but, unfortunately, Lesser Grey Shrike (Sp. Alcaudón Chico), which always had a limited distribution, is now probably extinct or, at best, only has the weakest of clawholds in Catalonia. Although the three other species have declined in Spain (as they have across Europe), all have populations in excess of 200,000 pairs. As Red-backed Shrike only breeds in northern Spain, here I'll be concentrating on the two that breed in Andalucia.

The striking chestnut crowned piedbald Woodchat Shrike (Sp. Alcaudón Común) is undoubtedly a handsome bird. The females are duller versions of the males, but young are mottled and vermiculated greyish brown. Being so distinctive you'd imagine that the adults present no identification challenge, but diehard enthusiasts might like to try picking out passing birds of the race (badius) found on the Balearics. These lacks the white flash on the wings. It has a rather loud song exhibiting plenty of mimicry (a surprising trait of many shrikes). As its Spanish name suggests, they're the most common and widespread species of shrike in Iberia. They're roughly twice as abundant than Red-backed although estimates of the Woodchat's population vary enormously (500,000 - 800,000 pairs). The two species manage to co-exist over much of the Woodchat's range, but in Spain Red-backed Shrikes are largely found where Woodchats are absent. Given that both species winter in sub-Saharan Africa, you'd think both would be common in Andalucia on migration. Woodchat certainly is, but, counter-intuitively, Red-backed Shrikes are very rare indeed (only three records are listed in the 'Field Guide to the birds of the Straits of Gibraltar'). Despite adding 2,000km to their journey, Spanish Red-backed Shrike don't head south in the autumn, but first fly east before heading through the Balkans, down the Rift valley to southern Africa. This reflects the Red-backed's evolutionary history as a predominantly eastern species. So any claims of Red-backed Shrike in Andalucia, particularly juvenile birds, need to be checked carefully. Woodchat is an essentially Mediterranean breeding species (although they used to breed further north), but they winter in a broad band from Senegal across the Ethiopia. A few Woodchats arrive in March (and some even earlier), but most don't come through until April peaking in the second half of that month. In autumn most leave in August, but a few, usually juveniles, linger as late as October or November. Although small vertebrates are sometimes taken, they mainly feed on beetles and grasshoppers which explains why they head south in the autumn. They're so common in Cadiz province that they should be possible almost anywhere there's suitable habitat (open areas with scattered trees or bushes).

The second regularly breeding species is the …. well, there's the rub, nobody seems quite sure what to call the medium sized grey shrike found across Spain. Twenty years ago this wasn't a problem, it was the Great Grey Shrike in Spain just as it was across the rest of Europe and beyond. Field guides only illustrated the race (excubitor) which is found across northern and central Europe hardly mentioning that birds in Provence and Iberia (meridonalis) were subtly distinct. It wasn't until the 1990s that they were well illustrated; first in Vol. VII of the 'Birds of the Western Palearctic' (1993) and then in a new edition of 'Collins Pocket Guide' (1995). Spanish birds are darker grey above, have a more distinct white line above the black mask, less white on the 'shoulders' and are pinkish-grey (not white) below. Not a huge difference but easily visible in the field. By the late 1990s these birds, along with others ranging across Africa, Arabia and India, were split as 'Southern Grey Shrike'. However this soon proved to be something of a 'ragbag' of different forms so it's now generally called 'Iberian' Grey Shrike (Sp. Alcaudón Real Meridonal). However, it's still not clear whether birds in north Africa or the Canaries should be lumped as 'Iberian' or 'Southern' Grey Shrike. All these changes reflect the taxonomic revolution caused by the developing science of DNA. Bizarrely, this has shown that Iberian Grey Shrike is more closely related to the American Loggerhead Shrike than Great Greys from northern Europe. About 200,000 meridonalis breed in Iberia with a further 2,000 in Provence making it a near Iberian endemic. One by-product of all this confusion over the birds' name and appearance is that the status of Great Grey Shrike (as it's now recognised) in Spain is quite obscure and nobody seems quite certain just how regularly they might occur. Unlike Woodchat, Iberian Grey Shrikes are residents although in winter birds wander more widely. The map probably overstates their status a little as there are several areas where they seem strangely absent or at best very thinly spread. Like Woodchat they also eat beetles and grasshoppers, but depend far more on larger prey such as small vertebrates (often lizards) plus a few small mammals and the odd bird. Being less dependent on invertebrates explains why this shrike is able to survive winter in Spain. In Cadiz they appear to be pretty much restricted to Grazalema (see *E3.2 Ubrique-Grazalema road & *E4.2 Llanos de Libar) as breeding birds.  In Seville province the appear tolerably common breeding bird in the young olive groves and vineyards near Osuna (see *SV 6 – Osuna Farmlands).   Happily they're more widespread on during the autumn and winter when I've seen them around Alcala (*SW 1 Embalse del Rio Barbate and *E2.1 Molinos valley) although they're certainly more widespread.

* see my bird guide for more details of these sites