This week involves so much more than watching the spectacular raptor migration across the Straits of Gibraltar. We will also be visiting many premier sites along the beautiful Costa de la Luz. This is a one centre holiday staying at a fantastic hotel situated between the main towns of Algeciras & Tarifa. During the week we will be visiting sites such as Barbate river mouth, Playa de Los Lances, La Janda, & Bolonia, plus spending lots of time searching the skies at one of the Raptor Migration Watchpoints. We will also spend one morning on a boat out in the Straits of Gibraltar looking for whales and dolphins, which could produce something really special.

Days 2 - 7:- Our excellent hotel is positioned only minutes away from one of the best raptor watchpoint's and migration can even be seen from your balcony!. During daylight hours the watchpoints are constantly manned by volunteers (Migres) who count the raptor species passing over their alotted station. You will spend time marvelling at the 'kettles' of raptors gaining height on the thermals before heading south over the Straits of Gibraltar to Morocco. It is a truly breath-taking experience, especially when there are mixed flocks of Honey Buzzards, Black Kites, Sparrowhawks, Short-toed & Booted Eagles, of course Ken will be on hand to give his expert advice on how to indentify them as they fly over. There are always scarcer species seen during the day with Montagu's & Marsh Harriers, Egyptian Vultures, Red Kite, Osprey, Common Buzzard, Peregrine, & Lesser Kestrels all being recorded on a regular basis. However there is always a chance of something really special with 2007 producing Ruppell's Vulture and Steppe Buzzard during the course of the week, both Spanish rarities. Birds of prey are not the only species migrating south and with luck we should also see Black Storks, Bee-eaters, Pallid & Alpine Swifts. Of course you will not be spending all day at the watchpoints and usually after lunch we visit one of the other birdwatching sites found in this area, some of which are listed below. One morning we will embark on a boat trip into the Strait of Gibraltar looking for cetaceans, which could be really interesting. We have excellent opportunities for Striped, Bottlenose and Common Doplins plus an outside chance of Humpback or Killer Whales both of which occur on an annual basis. Places we will visit during our stay in Tarifa Los Lances Beach to look for Balearic & Cory's Shearwaters, Audouin's Gull, Sandwich & Common Tern, plus plenty of waders on the beach. The salt marsh is very good for Tawny Pipits, Greater Short toed Lark, Stone Curlew, and occasionally Little Bustard. La Janda is a vast expanse of waterways and flooded paddy fields that hold 100's of White Storks, with lesser numbers of Glossy Ibis, Spoonbill, and an outside chance of one of the now resident Great White Egrets. Raptors include the beautiful Black shouldered Kite, which can be seen in small parties hunting over the fields, There are plenty of Marsh & Montagu's Harriers, (including the rare melanistic form), as well as the occasional eagle with both Bonelli's & Spanish Imperial Eagles seen here in 2005. Flocks of Calandra Larks, Little Bustards & Stone Curlew can be found in one of the drier fields adjacent to the marsh. Barbate Estuary is a fishing port where the river (Rio Barbate) runs into the sea creating a small estuary with some saline small pools amongst the salt marsh. This is a very good place for gulls & terns to congregate with a chance of a Caspian Tern standing amongst the many Yellow-legged, Lesser Black backed & Black-headed Gulls, Common & Sandwich Terns. The pools hold good numbers of returning waders such as Curlew, Wood & Green Sandpipers, Little Stints, Ruff, Spotted Redshanks and a Spanish scarcity Red Knot. The grassy coast here is a very good place to look for Spain's only colony of Bald Ibis, which were re-introduced a few years ago to military land near this coastline. Palmeros is a coastal resort adjacent to a fantastic salt marsh and river-mouth where many waders gulls and terns congregate at low tide. During a short visit in 2007 we found an adult & juvenile Lesser Crested Tern with the Sandwich, Common & Little Terns. Mediterranean, Yellow-legged & Black-headed Gulls. The pools and sand-banks can have good numbers of waders such as Oystercatcher, Whimbrel, Common & Curlew Sandpipers, Little Stints, Ruff, Bar tailed Godwit, Greenshank and Common Redshanks. On the marsh we should see a patrolling Osprey or Marsh Harrier, plus good numbers of White Storks, Grey Herons, and Green Sandpipers.

What's been said...

Hi Julian, Just to let you know that we are safely back in the UK and deeply immersed in our old worlds. We had a great time, easily one of our best birding trips, not least because the way you take care of the itinerary means that we have maximum time birdwatching and we felt we had the flexibility to change the itinerary with you, depending on what we felt like doing and seeing. We will definitely be back! Many many thanks for the way you looked after us, we will be sending you a copy of the trip DVD.

C. Lewis & T. Taylor

Many thanks for driving us about and for finding so many of the birds during the week, and for your good humour. I had a good time and lots of laughs, and I think everyone else did, too. I just wish I could have spent another week or two watching those raptors, in all their variations. As it is, I have a particular image burnt into my mind of moon-high adult Honey Buzzards, stacking up on the thermals; and of Griffon Vultures, sailing along with ne'ery a flap, just casually peering about them as they go along. I wish you good luck with your developing venture into birding tours. I shall keep the occasional eye on your website, just to see what you have been up to and what you may have in store.

E. Chaplin

Just a few lines to say thanks for all your help last week, the tips you passed on with regards to identifying some of the birds was invaluable, it certainly helped to make the week a great success for me, thanks again. I hope you have great success, as I said during some of our chats you have tremendous enthusiasm and of course great knowledge so I'm sure it will work out anyway "good luck".

D. Grant