Back in the late 1960s on my first trip to Spain with no sites guides and precious little information, I missed out on a few species that’d be a ‘shoe-in’ today and struggled to find still more.  One elusive bird we did see was Olivaceous Warbler. (Now, following being split from the eastern form  the species is called “Western Olivaceous”or even “Isabelline Warbler, but for simplicity I’ll stick with the name by which I first knew it).  Seeing the Olivaceous  is something I still remember well and not just because it was a tick!  We’d stopped just south of Seville at some wayside venta for a coffee when, weaving amongst the leaves of the eucalyptus above our table, we spotted a dagger billed, pale brown  “hippo”. Coffees untouched, we sprinted back to our van for our bins and then executed a swift U-turn back to the table to confirm our suspicions – it was an Olivaceous Warbler.  However, what remains so vivid in my mind wasn’t so much the bird as the puzzled and bemused looks we got from the other diners.  I swear some backed away from us convinced that we were dangerously demented and afflicted, at best, with some form of St Vitus’ dance. Some may have even crossed themselves!

It was over 30 years before I managed to go back for a second look and, naturally, seeing Olivaceous again was a priority.  Looking at trip reports, I was surprised to find the species only infrequently recorded and then, all too often, seen at just one site - Laguna de la Mejorada (aka “Lago de Diego Puerta”).  Interestingly, this couldn’t have been too far from that original sighting so long before.  But I was determined to find my ‘own’ birds rather than following the crowd.  As a result I spent my first couple of visits carefully searching in the habitat as per the “Collins Bird Guide.”  That is to say in “bushy country …. scrub forest in uncultivated areas …. moister strips along water-courses … and …. gardens and cultivations.” Unfortunately, there seem to be an awful lot of places like this in southern Spain and none them appeared to have Olivaceous Warbler!  To be honest after a number of fruitless visits I cracked and visited the ‘honey-pot site’ where, of course, I quickly obtained excellent views of this subtle and understated warbler.  It was here, though, that the penny began to drop although it took another visit for it to clang loud enough for me to take proper notice! 

My next encounter with this ‘uncommon’ species was, somewhat ironically, at the bottom of the hill from Alcala de los Gazules about 5 minutes drive from my house.  I’d passed a small bridge over a small stream several times without stopping to look, but late one May I decided  that it was time to investigate further.  It was the tamarisks that had attracted my attention for it was in these feathery bushes at Mejorada that I’d seen the warblers previously.  Within minutes of stopping I’d found my first ‘own’ Olivaceous Warbler  – and, yes, it was in a tamarisk.   Armed with the knowledge that, in this part of southern Spain at least, I should ignore “bushy country …. scrub forest in uncultivated areas … and …. gardens and cultivations” to concentrate on“…. moister strips along water-courses” with tamarisks I began to look elsewhere.  With the penny now firmly dropped, I explored all the tamarisk clogged areas I could find.  Suddenly from being elusive and scarce, Olivaceous Warbler became quite the opposite.  Although the habitat is relatively limited in extent, within such habitats I’ve found the species quite common.  The Rios Corbones and Guadaira (i.e. near Arahal & Marchena) seem particularly good as do the margins of most lagunas and embalses in the region.  Laguna de la Cigarrera (north of Espera) is particularlyfavourite of mine.   They also occur in the tamarisk scrub along the boardwalk at Laguna de Medina (despite not being mentioned as being possible there by site guides).   My hunch that looking in tamarisks is the key to find this species is now enshrined in the latest edition of the “Collins Guide” albeit on the plate rather than in the text (“often found in tamarisk stands”).  As it happens now I’ve started finding them more regularly, I have also discovered them in ‘bushy country etc’, but only when tamarisks are fairly close at hand.  

Looking at my distribution map (taken from the latest Spanish Atlas) the many linear worm-like areas of occurrence clearly mark river valleys.  Many of the larger blocks of land where it’s found are in broad lowland regions (e.g. Seville province) criss-crossed with channels and some isolated occurrences appear to coincide with lagunas/embalses.  The map also demonstrates the key importance of Andalucia for this species with only scattered pockets elsewhere in Spain (other than in the Ebro valley). Originally the population was thought to be in the region of 1,000 pairs, but the latest estimate puts it over 5,000 which seems much nearer the mark to me.  

In the context of the UK the identification of Olivaceous Warbler is distinctly tricky since it has the be distinguished from several other rare hippolais warblers (not to mention a couple of Acrocephalus warblers).  However, in breeding habitat in southern Spain, the only realistic confusion species is Melodious Warbler (although Reed Warbler may sometimes cause momentary confusion).  Structurally, Melodious and Olivaceous are similar although to my eyes Melodious has a thicker neck and more rounded head and so lacks the sinuous snake-like look of Olivaceous. Fortunately, plumage is a safer guide.  Olivaceous is a drab sandy-brown above (with pale lores) and a similarly drab off-white below. In contrast, Melodious is more olive than brown above and the underparts (and lores) suffused with pale lemony-yellow.  Although they  never have the solid buttercup-yellow underparts that some older books show (which can colour expectations).  My watercolor sketch shows (or is supposed to show!) a fairly typical Melodious, but caution is advisable since some birds can be paler.  Note too, that stong light can drain the colour to make birds look paler and that, on a brief view, perceptions of colour may be inaccurate.   However, with a good view the colour differences are constant and any bird that shows a lemony wash will prove to be a Melodious.  Both have a similar song although, to me at least, Olivaceous always carries a whiff of  Reed Warbler whereas Melodious tends to sound more like an aberrant Sylvia  warbler (e.g. Sardinian Warbler). 

So next time you’re in southern Spain in late May – and I recommend it – investigate any large stands of  tamarisk you come across. Listen carefully for a not-quite-Reed-Warbler song and, with luck, you’ll see this elusive bird….. they’re not as rare as people think!

In a previous post. on Little Bustard, I wrote about various areas where the species might be looked for in the province.  I ended by piece by adding that “One final area that deserves mention … the track that runs from the A2228 to Malcocinado.  ….. With so many places to explore, I never got round to exploring this track until last year.  However, a local birdwatcher told me that this was a good area for Little Bustard.  I’ve not yet seen them here, but the habitat does look suitable and worth a look”.  I even showed where it was on the map that was posted with that entry.

My initial sortie along this track had been one very hot day in the late summer not long after being encouraged to look there for bustards by local birder Luis-Mi. Not surprisingly, I didn’t see any bustards.  This spring, however, I hoped to have a closer look, but given the hours I’d spent in the field looking in previous years I wasn’t too optimistic about my chances. Not that I was despondent as the whole area was so densely carpeted with bright purple, yellow and pink flowers that it was impossible to contemplate the view without feeling cheerful.

As usual my first stop when driving along the road (CA 2228) from Alcala was ‘Benalup Bridge’ (a). Here the dense eucalypts conceal a large colony of House Sparrows amongst which a few  Spanish Sparrow are adept at concealing themselves.  Exactly how adept I fully appreciated after 10 minutes fruitlessly looking!  So thinking this not a good omen, I turned onto the track (b) and headed for another large clump of gum trees.  Still no Spanish Sparrows, but Melodious Warblers showed well and a couple of Iberian Green Woodpeckers  couldn’t resist laughing at my antics. This was a good sign as they were the first I’d seen in this area and evident signs of their slow expansion south.  A calling Quail helped too! 

Passing the track on the right (c) I made a mental note to check this out at some point.  Given how long it’d taken me to explore the track I was driving down and how good the area now looked, I didn’t want to leave it too long!  Inevitably most of the birds along the track proved to be either Corn Buntings or Stonechat - both ubiquitous in the area. Equally inevitably, the excellent track soon went down with that chronic Spanish condition … ruts!   So with progress straight on somewhat compromised, I turned left back up towards the A225 as the track here still looked good.  But I didn’t get too far before a superb Montagu’s Harrier persuaded me to stop.  Scanning round it wasn’t long before I picked up a Little Bustard flying with an oddly crabbed wingbeat over a distant field!  Result!  Well not entirely since Robin, my companion that day, somehow  missed it … and it was a lifer! 

Driving back along the track I spotted a peculiar insect rapidly crawling across the track. Having seen a dead one a few days previously I impressed myself by instantly identifying it as a Mole Cricket which, despite not being a bird was something I'd always wanted to see!  A bizarre cross between a normal cricket and a bulldozer the wee beastie quickly lived up to its reputation by boring into the loose and and out of sight. One of the best moments of the holiday as far as i was concerned!

Robin never did see the species there, but there was a handsome consolation prize the following day in the shape of six Little Bustards  on our jaunt to the Osuna (Seville) area.  These birds (viewed from the second bridge over the new high speed trainline west of Osuna) put on a fantastic display, but some disappointment persisted as, once again, I dipped on Great Bustard here.

Roll on a week and I had two more birding buddies, Jim and Allan out for a visit. This time I knew exactly were to go and not much more than 30 minutes after leaving the house we arrived at the same spot.  This time a couple of Little Bustards showed well – both in flight and on the ground with a possible third gently blowing raspberries of appreciation!  Several Montagu’s Harrier desperately tried, and failed, to upstage the bustards which, given Allan is nuts about these raptors was pretty impressive!  A tick for both and a great start to the day.

Later in the week we returned to look at the other end of the valley (which you can approach from Los Badalejos or Malcocinado) to look for the phantom raspberry blowers. One of the advantages of looking for the species in spring is that they regularly, if vulgarly, indicate their presence by a soft, yet far carrying, 'brrrrp'!  Hence it didn’t take long to locate another 2 or 3 birds.  These included one male that was thrusting it head out above a glorious sea of pink flowers; an image I’ll not forget in a hurry!  Nor did I forget to explore that other track (c).  This solid well maintained track twisted and turned its way up into the hills passing much habitat that deserved a closer look. Then,  just as it reached a wide open bowl set between a couple of low ridges, the track lost patience with us and metamorphosed into the drover’s road from hell with deep water filled ruts attractively set off by large clumps of grass.  Roads do things like this in Spain!  Given that we’d seen a distant procession of BoPs (Griffon Vultures, Honey Buzzards, Black Kites, Booted and Short-toed Eagles) drifting over these hills all morning I made a mental note to return for a raptor watching session at a later date .,.. but that will have to wait until next year.