Note - Please be aware that, due to a change in my personal circumstances which limits both my freedom to visit Spain and go birding when there, I will be unable to update and amend my notes in the future. As I was aware that future visits might be problematical, it was my intention to check several sites in Cadiz province this spring. Unfortunately, I was obliged to cut my visit short (partly due to breaking a bone in my foot on my third day there) and hence did far less than I had hoped. Accordingly, I ask those who can and do visit this wonderful area to send me updates and information to keep these notes current. I will try to continue writing blog entries of interest about the area, but would also welcome 'guest' blogs.
Please note that only authorised motorised traffic is permitted along the Corredor Verde
Two distant male Little Bustards fighting near Los Badelejos However, I was able to check potential Little Bustard habitat around Benalup and Medina Sidonia more thoroughly than before. I started, as usual, with visiting Los Badelejos several times to see the little raspberry blower. On the first visit time was short and it was blowing a gale, but I quickly heard a bird calling from the usual hillside site although it was keeping its head down in the blustery wind. The second visit was aborted as someone was working in the favoured field, but the third visit came up trumps. One wasn't calling and neither was one strutting around on 'his hillside', but I soon spotted two males in fierce combat in a bean field below the slope. They weren't close, but a crucial duel was clearly in progress with much pushing, shoving and clashing of bills! Eventually a victor emerged and the interloper was seen off.
The second Little Bustard at Los Badelejos Another 1.5 km along the track and on the far side of the Corredor Verde (see note under the map above) I checked out another site where I've previously had the species – and just after I arrived I heard one calling. A moment later I located it in a nearby flower rich field. This area is one I ought to visit more often and spend longer exploring – there's a good chance of Spanish Sparrow or Woodchat Shrike en route, the reedy channel here can hold herons and, best of all, there's a chance of Spanish Imperial Eagle (and other raptors) in the hills above.
The start of the "9 km track"
Flower rich meadows beside the track Having done well at an established site I decided to check out another area I'd only previously explored very briefly and have been meaning to check out for a year or two. Only 2.3 km north-west from Los Badelejos on the A 2225 a broad well maintained gravel track heads off to the east (i.e. on your right as you come from Benalup). Initially the scrub here looks no more interesting than elsewhere (although might it hold Red-necked Nightjar?), but shortly after you cross the Corredor Verde and the track swings to the left, a vista across herb and flower rich fields opens up.
I've seen Calandra Lark, Montagu's Harrier and Stone Curlew here in the past, but with none of these nor any bustards in view I opted to continue along the track. At each turn I fully expected this track to peter out or be blocked with a gate, but as the fields gave way to scrub then open dhesa, scrub with cacti hedges and a mosaic of other habitats the track kept on rolling on before me. It was only after 9 km that the excellent track gave way to a narrow rutted track. I only managed to scratch the surface of this route which promises much. Certainly there's a good chance of Spanish Imperial Eagle (which breed close by), possibly Bonelli's Eagle (I've seen them in the general area in the autumn) and migrating raptors, but what passerines may lurk here is anyone's guess (habits which looked suitable for a variety of birds, including Rufous Bushchat and Orphean Warbler, were certainly present). There's even a small pond along the route although the many Mallards present were obviously semi-domesticated as they quickly came to the call of a worker who arrived with feed for them!
Little Bustard calling next to the '9 km track'
Turning back towards the road I couldn't resist scanning the fields for a final time and there he was a fine calling male Little Bustard! Strutting around a small clump of thistles this showy bird gave a fine display. Result!
Roman bridge Back on the main road I turned towards Medina for a long delayed appointment with a brace of (over)restored Roman bridges over which the Corredor Verde runs. These stand next to the A 396 some 4 or 5 km south of Medina. Fortunately, there's a small car park near the more northerly bridge as, with my crock foot, even using a stick I'd already walked too far! Although I was pandering to my historical interests here, I couldn't help noticing that the culvert had a nesting pair of Red-rumped Swallows, that the fields nearby and the tamarisks along the water course were alive with Spanish Sparrow. The muddy stream-bed had both Little Ringed Plover and Common Sandpiper and it's tempting to speculate that Olivaceous Warbler might be found here too.
Calandra Lark The last stop on this short tour of spots between Los Badelejos and Medina was somewhere I'd visited several times in the past. The road that peels off south from the A 396 once took you to just below the Castillo de Torre Estrella (the prominent ruin on the skyline), but is now fenced and gated after c2 km. Now a ruin, this castle marked the border between Moorish and Christian Spain for about 250 years and as late as the 19th C was notorious as the home of bandits! Just after leaving the A 396 a track comes off to the right allowing you to explore the scrubby area of bushes and cacti hedges, but the target area here is a kilometre or so further on. Although there's a boring agricultural monoculture to your left, to the right is an extensive area of rough pasture not too different from nearby areas that hold Little Bustard. As yet the species eludes me here although I have had Stone Curlew and Tawny Pipit here which is probably a good sign. This area is often good for Black Kite and Montagu's Harrier are not infrequent. It is also my 'fall back' site for Calandra Lark which always appears to be present.
Calandra Lark site near Medina
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