Humedal El Patano
This small wetland just south-east of Los Palacios y Villafranca achieved ornithological fame in 2018 when long staying Laughing Doves were found here. Most reports involve 1-2 birds but up to six have been reported (see https://ebird.org/species/laudov1/L6722670 ) here with a few reports elsewhere within c5km (inc. Laguna de la Merjorada). I briefly visited this site to see these birds in 2019 but finding them fairly quickly I only looked at a restricted area (I & j on my map) since I was en route to Osuna. I was very keen to return to have a closer look at the swampy area I could see through the trees along the road but, like many plans, the Covid outbreak scuppered my hopes of doing so until this year.
This small wetland just south-east of Los Palacios y Villafranca achieved ornithological fame in 2018 when long staying Laughing Doves were found here. Most reports involve 1-2 birds but up to six have been reported (see https://ebird.org/species/laudov1/L6722670 ) here with a few reports elsewhere within c5km (inc. Laguna de la Merjorada). I briefly visited this site to see these birds in 2019 but finding them fairly quickly I only looked at a restricted area (I & j on my map) since I was en route to Osuna. I was very keen to return to have a closer look at the swampy area I could see through the trees along the road but, like many plans, the Covid outbreak scuppered my hopes of doing so until this year.
This time I could have a much better look around with a view to adding this site to my notes (although I was again under a time constraint as I was driving down from Seville airport to meet friends in Alcala). The first thing I noticed was that there’s now a cap park and small tower hide opposite the T-junction as you arrive (h on my map). That’s the good news, the bad news is that the view from the hide is almost entirely obstructed by reeds which probably explains the existence of a narrow but well-beaten path heading off into the marsh at its base. Either side of the structure the trees were crowded with (unoccupied) egret nests.
On my next visit, I’ll try walking along the road (g – i) to see if there are any points where you can conveniently see over the wetland. This time, however, I contented myself with looking at the area just west of the car park (g) as it seemed by far the wettest part of the reserve in this very dry year. My reward came in the form of a dozen each of Teal and Shoveler, half-a-dozen Purple Swamphen, a couple of dozen Snipe and at least 4 Spoonbill.
The low intensity farming here is exemplified by the continued use of draught animals - often mules but in this case oxen. Much of the area close to Los Palacios y Villafranca is occupied by low intensity farming as indicated by the presence of working horses, mules and even ‘oxen’ which suggests that Rufous Bushchat may still hang on here although there are relatively few reports on eBird (where it’s called Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robin). For more details about the species found here, which includes several exotics, check eBird.
All this new information demanded that I rewrite my account and redraw my map for the Los Palacios area to include El Patano. In doing so, I also discovered that the upgrading of the N IV and changes in the junction with the N IVa meant my directions for that site too needed revision.
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