Guest Blog - Salinas de la Tapa by Nick Brown

Photo 1 - View towards Salinas de Tapa and the Yellow-legged Gull colony from the bridge over the A-4 (Photo John Cantelo May 2011)

It's something of a shock to realise that my birding guide to Cadiz Province which started off a decade or so as a couple of sheets of A4 now covers 88 sites & sub-sites, is approaching 90,000 words in length and sprawls over more than 280 pages. I decided quite early on to make them as comprehensive as possible even if that meant my knowledge of some sites was shallow, skimpy or, in some cases, almost non-existent.  I felt, and still do, that it's better to flag up potential hotspots than omit them.   One area I've shamefully neglected has been the Bahia de Cadiz.  I've no excuse as the area includes some excellent sites.  My hope was that users would fill in any details, correct any lacunae and contribute new information since it's simply not possible for me to check all of the sites on a regular basis (or even at all!).  Unfortunately, this hasn't happened and my coverage of far too many sites rests on a handful of visits, many from years ago. Accordingly, I was delighted when keen young Kent birder Nick Brown sent me some first-rate (and detailed) feedback on Salinas de la Tapa, a rarity hotspot with an enviable record of turning up unusual birds.  It's an area, I confess, that I've only visited twice so his feedback was particularly welcome. In this guest blog, Nick has provided a map of his route (which I've slightly amended for clarity) and a very useful digest of what he saw there earlier this summer. Naturally, I'm very grateful to Nick for his input. Thank you! 

​I decided to visit Salina la Tapa by bike as it was quite a distance from our apartment and the reserve itself is massive. Sadly, this meant that I couldn’t carry the scope which didn’t hinder me too much but probably meant that I missed a few birds. One huge advantage of having a bike was that it allowed me to evade the breeding Yellow-legged Gull population, which I’ll address later.

​I entered the reserve behind ‘Club Guadalete’, the entrance being very inconspicuous and easy to miss. As previously mentioned, the Yellow-legged Gull colony was immediately apparent. I visited during the breeding season and I was therefore constantly mobbed from the entrance all the way to point ‘d’.  This made viewing the salinas for prolonged periods of time a nightmare, and I was often forced to cycle past promising areas. I would imagine that viewing the Salinas at a different time of year would not have this problem.

At point ‘a’, Slender-billed Gulls were easy to find and I had one swimming very close to the path in the salina. Common birds included Flamingo, Black-winged Stilt, Kentish Plover, Little Tern and Yellow Wagtail. Point ‘b’ was visible from the path across a creek and seemed to be prefect habitat for larks, however, the fact that I lacked a scope as well as the position of the sun meant that I couldn’t positively ID any larks other than the distinctive Crested Larks (but other species were certainly present). It was around here that I somehow took a wrong turn and went towards point ‘c’ rather than the river. Luckily (and annoyingly) this stretch was the best for gulls, I found Mediterranean, Black headed, Slender-billed, Lesser black-backed and, of course, Yellow-legged Gull. This also meant that this stretch was the worst for mobbing, and the gulls would often aim their excrement at me while I was cycling. This meant that I got far less time to scan for other gulls and terns than I had hoped for and there could certainly have been rarer Larids present.

At point ‘d’ I came across a pumping station and this marked the start of the industrial half of the reserve. Interestingly, the pink water in the Salinas dyed all gulls completely pink and the Flamingos here were even pinker than usual. Soon, I came to an abandoned warehouse (e) which surprisingly had a colony (c.3 pairs) of Lesser Kestrel. The fact that the kestrels were dyed pink made initial ID a nightmare as they refused to show their backs to me and it made the rufous on the males’ chest far less obvious.

It was at this point that I realised I had made a wrong turn a while ago and I found a way out of the salt works at point ‘f’ which re-joined the cycle path which was guarded by a locked gate.  From points ‘f’ to ‘g’, the habitat was perfect for waders but I found very few species, probably due to the time of year. However, a visit in spring or autumn would probably turn up many species. All I managed to find were Common Sandpipers, Avocet, Redshank and a large roost of Black-tailed godwits (as well as the ubiquitous Kentish Plover and Black-winged Stilt). More Slender-billed Gulls and Shelduck were also present.

​Overall, the reserve seemed like it would be great for larids and waders in the right season, and with the help of a scope, point ‘b’ looks good for both species of short-toed lark.
The road coming up to the reserve also had many (Eurasian) Magpie, Red-legged Partridge and Cattle Egret.

Thanks once again to Nick for his excellent and informative commentary. If anyone would like to follow Nick in providing a Guest Blog here then please contact me via this website or (if you have it) by email. 

Note that as Rafael Garcia has confirmed (see below) Nick unfortunately wandered off the official route.  Access to the  Sendero Salina de la Tapa is restricted to 10.00 – 19.00 and the route details can be checked in the ‘300 Senderos de la Provincia de Cadiz’ booklet (see Walk 150 in  http://issuu.com/cadizturismo/docs/300senderoscadiz). As always I recommend checking locally for details regarding access.