Laguna de Medina
The complexes of lagunas that dot (or used to dot) Cadiz Province (also edging into Seville Province) represent an important ecosystem of wetlands long famed for harbouring some of Andalucia's most threatened birds. However, a combination of a long run of dry winters and a lower water table (thanks to the extraction water for agriculture) have rendered them a shadow of their former selves.
Laguna de Medina long had the reputation of being one of the few lagunas that never (or at least only very rarely) dried up entirely. However, even Laguna de Medina wasn't immune from the impact of a series of dry winters (when most rain falls) in the past decade and in recent autumns it has shrunk to a fraction of its former self sometimes being entirely dry. Red-knobbed Coot was a casualty of this change and numbers of White-headed Ducks also suffered (sometimes being reduced to only 2-3 birds if any at all).
Fortunately, the winter of 2024/2025 restored the laguna to its former glory but even so I was pleasantly surprised to find it brim full of water this August/September. Selected maximum counts for August tell the story - 370 Red-crested Pochard, 186 Common Pochard, 220 Gadwall, 47 White-headed Ducks, 3 Marbled Ducks, 41 Ferruginous Ducks, 25 Shovelers, 95 Little Grebe and 55 Black-necked Grebe. Most gratifying of all, up to 8 Red-knobbed Coot have been present although winkling them out amongst the 3-4,000 Eurasian Coot is something of a challenge! Despite best intentions it's easy to fall prey to 'coot blindness' after several minutes tediously checking through the throng of Eurasian Coots. I visited the laguna several times and saw Red-knobbed Coots twice; once from the Observatorio De La Malvasía (thanks to the sharp eyes of a young Spanish birder, Bruno Asencio Sevillano) and second from where the view of the laguna opens out along the boardwalk. On the latter occasion, I picked up two birds myself, largely thanks to the blue tone of their bills with the famous 'red knobs' being more hard to pick out red pimples! Others have seen several Red-knobbed Coots from the hide. Even though I missed the high total of 41 Ferruginous Ducks, the 11 I saw (including an adult with well-grown young) is by far the largest group of this scarce species I've seen here.
The complexes of lagunas that dot (or used to dot) Cadiz Province (also edging into Seville Province) represent an important ecosystem of wetlands long famed for harbouring some of Andalucia's most threatened birds. However, a combination of a long run of dry winters and a lower water table (thanks to the extraction water for agriculture) have rendered them a shadow of their former selves.
Laguna de Medina long had the reputation of being one of the few lagunas that never (or at least only very rarely) dried up entirely. However, even Laguna de Medina wasn't immune from the impact of a series of dry winters (when most rain falls) in the past decade and in recent autumns it has shrunk to a fraction of its former self sometimes being entirely dry. Red-knobbed Coot was a casualty of this change and numbers of White-headed Ducks also suffered (sometimes being reduced to only 2-3 birds if any at all).
Fortunately, the winter of 2024/2025 restored the laguna to its former glory but even so I was pleasantly surprised to find it brim full of water this August/September. Selected maximum counts for August tell the story - 370 Red-crested Pochard, 186 Common Pochard, 220 Gadwall, 47 White-headed Ducks, 3 Marbled Ducks, 41 Ferruginous Ducks, 25 Shovelers, 95 Little Grebe and 55 Black-necked Grebe. Most gratifying of all, up to 8 Red-knobbed Coot have been present although winkling them out amongst the 3-4,000 Eurasian Coot is something of a challenge! Despite best intentions it's easy to fall prey to 'coot blindness' after several minutes tediously checking through the throng of Eurasian Coots. I visited the laguna several times and saw Red-knobbed Coots twice; once from the Observatorio De La Malvasía (thanks to the sharp eyes of a young Spanish birder, Bruno Asencio Sevillano) and second from where the view of the laguna opens out along the boardwalk. On the latter occasion, I picked up two birds myself, largely thanks to the blue tone of their bills with the famous 'red knobs' being more hard to pick out red pimples! Others have seen several Red-knobbed Coots from the hide. Even though I missed the high total of 41 Ferruginous Ducks, the 11 I saw (including an adult with well-grown young) is by far the largest group of this scarce species I've seen here.
Laguna del Jeli (Lagunas de Chiclana)
With my optimism running high after visiting Laguna de Medina and seeing the Embalse de Barbate fuller than it's been in autumn for years, I decided to check out Laguna del Jeli just east of Chiclana. Looking at maps of the area, this appears to be a vaguely kidney-bean shaped laguna c1km in length and up to 400m wide. I've previously accessed the laguna by driving along the Cañada de Marchantes to the Puerta Verde de Chiclana and walking south towards the laguna. This time, however, I opted to park off the A 390 and take a longer walk (2.8 km vs 1.5 km) up to the small hide ('observatorio').built some years ago to afford views over the laguna.
Along the route there were several marshy areas, a stream and dense bushes which held large numbers of sparrows (probably mainly Spanish), a few hundred Corn Buntings and finches (mainly Goldfinches), Zitting Cisticolas and a few number of Red-rumped Swallows. A pleasant enough walk but the pay-off was going to be, I hoped, views across a rejuvenated laguna from the hide. Sadly, I was to be greatly disappointed as all I could see from the hide was a dense screen of tamarisks. Given the circling Yellow-legged Gulls, there seemed to be water beyond the curtain of vegetation but even if there had been a break to see what remains of the laguna then at c300m views would have been limited. In short, I walked there to take a look so you don't have to! I found it odd that Laguna de Medina was so full yet Laguna del Jeli remained but a sad remnant of what it had once been (assuming maps can be believed). The lack of management probably doesn't help but water supply would seem to be the main problem. Despite the absence of any improvement of the wetland, exploring along the Cañada de Marchantes is still worthwhile as the area continues to hold Rufous Bushchats and the ridge along which it runs frequently attracts migrant raptors looking for that helping updraft.
I should have checked other lagunas, particularly Laguna de los Tollos which had been so productive this spring, but my disappointment here discouraged me from looking elsewhere.
With my optimism running high after visiting Laguna de Medina and seeing the Embalse de Barbate fuller than it's been in autumn for years, I decided to check out Laguna del Jeli just east of Chiclana. Looking at maps of the area, this appears to be a vaguely kidney-bean shaped laguna c1km in length and up to 400m wide. I've previously accessed the laguna by driving along the Cañada de Marchantes to the Puerta Verde de Chiclana and walking south towards the laguna. This time, however, I opted to park off the A 390 and take a longer walk (2.8 km vs 1.5 km) up to the small hide ('observatorio').built some years ago to afford views over the laguna.
Along the route there were several marshy areas, a stream and dense bushes which held large numbers of sparrows (probably mainly Spanish), a few hundred Corn Buntings and finches (mainly Goldfinches), Zitting Cisticolas and a few number of Red-rumped Swallows. A pleasant enough walk but the pay-off was going to be, I hoped, views across a rejuvenated laguna from the hide. Sadly, I was to be greatly disappointed as all I could see from the hide was a dense screen of tamarisks. Given the circling Yellow-legged Gulls, there seemed to be water beyond the curtain of vegetation but even if there had been a break to see what remains of the laguna then at c300m views would have been limited. In short, I walked there to take a look so you don't have to! I found it odd that Laguna de Medina was so full yet Laguna del Jeli remained but a sad remnant of what it had once been (assuming maps can be believed). The lack of management probably doesn't help but water supply would seem to be the main problem. Despite the absence of any improvement of the wetland, exploring along the Cañada de Marchantes is still worthwhile as the area continues to hold Rufous Bushchats and the ridge along which it runs frequently attracts migrant raptors looking for that helping updraft.
I should have checked other lagunas, particularly Laguna de los Tollos which had been so productive this spring, but my disappointment here discouraged me from looking elsewhere.
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