A last chance

We got up for an early breakfast, packed the car up and then headed back to El Planeron for a last look for Dupont's larks. It was a bit windier but we still heard several singing. David managed to see one but by the time we got there it had disappeared and then Pete managed to find two on a bare patch of ground but again, by the time we arrived they had vanished. Everything went quiet by about 10.00 o'clock again so we headed off towards Bujaraloz. We stopped at the bridge at Sastago where the sky was full of raptors, mainly Griffon vultures but also Golden eagle, black kites and red kites. we carried on but there weren't the birds we expected to see and Laguna la Playa was dry however, we did see a field full of Lesser kestrels. As time was getting on we turned back along the N11 towards Zaragoza and the flight home.

Riglos and La Boca del Infierno.

As we had had good views of the Dupont's larks the day before we decided to head for the pyrenees in the hope of Wallcreeper and Lammergeir.On the way we stopped at Belchite as Pete hadn't been here before. It was very different this time as the sun was shining and there were birds singing instaed of the spooky, misty atmosphere of our last visit. Nevertheless, there was still a feeling of sadness and to see the paint and paper on the walls of the ruined houses made it just as thought provoking. Over 6,000 people died here in the civil war and it really emphasised the stupidity and futility of some of man's activities.

We then headed up the Rio Gallego valley towards Huesca where we turned left for Riglos. A much better trip than last time, when it snowed and visibility was not good. We had been told that the wallcreepers were still there last week so we had high hopes but although we saw lots of Griffon vultures and some egyptian vultures we had no luck with wallcreepers although there were at least 3 groups of climbers on the rocks. there were several stonechats, a Ring ouzel and some swallows to keep our attention. We hung around the back of the church until after 1.00 and then decided to try for the Hecho valley and possible Lammergeier.

What next?

After breakfast we decided to head for Gallocanta, where we had seen 1000's of cranes on our last visit. On the way we stopped at various likely looking places. We managed to see Great tit, Blue tit, Long-tailed tit and Crested tit as well as chiffchaffs and robins. We also had some nice butterflys, including Queen of Spain Frittilary, Green Hairstreak, lots of Bath whites and a blue which turned out to be Panoptes blue.
A very confiding Black redstart greeted us in a car park overlooking the lake and which was still quite full and we made our way along the lake and down a track to a hide which overlooked part of the water. There were still about 15 cranes, but also several ducks and waders including Lapwing, Ruff, ...........
We then returned back to the road stopping off at some trees to look for Green Woodpecker, seeing more chiffchaffs and a pair of Kestrel. We headed home for another great meal in La Gosolinera.

Larks at Sunrise.

Despite forgetting to change the clock forward an hour we managed to get up early and arrived at the reserve a little after sunrise.

El Planeron

Walking around we heard lots of short-toed larks singing but nothing that sounded like a Dupont's. After nearly an hour we were about to give up, thinking that the lost hour getting up had spoiled our chances when I heard the unmistakable sound of a Dupont's singing. It seemed to be coming from a clump of grass a few feet away, so I signalled to the others and waited until we were all close. The bird sang on and off and though we followed it across the 'field' we had no luck with seeing it. A very frustrating half hour or so followed when we could hear but not see birds singing. Finally we decided they must be singing above and one was eventually located about 500 feet up. Even then the sound seemed to come from the ground. We watched it slowly descend and then plummet to earth and crossing the vegetation we managed to locate it and watch it well for a short while.

Pam found another one running through the vegetation and we managed to watch that one getting a few pictures as a record. We kept wandering around seeing Pin-tailed sandgrouse, black-bellied sandgrouse but by around 10.00 it had gone very quiet and we returned to the hotel for breakfast.

Larkrise to El Planeron

Having tried twice before to see Dupont's Lark, we decided to have a short break and concentrate on trying to see this elusive bird.

We landed in spain around 1.00 and by 2.30 we were out on the steppes of El Planeron, a reserve just east of Belchite, which is a strange place. It was blasted to bits during the civil war and rather than try and rebuild it, it was decided to move the inhabitants down the road and to keep the ruins as a memorial. We drove down the tracks looking and listening but no luck. We did see lots of Lesser Short-toed, Calandra and Crested Larks. We saw griffin vultures, kestrels and black kites. We also had swallows and house martins moving through.
As the day was getting late we decided to try a track to the left and as we drove along a l.ark came towards us, what we were looking for!! but it dropped down and disappeared, never to be seen again. We spent the rest of evening walking around but nothing called.

Reluctantly we called it a day at drove to Lecere where we foundour hotel. Very comfortable and clean. We ate a lovely meal in the restaurant next door and went to bed, setting the alarm for 5.00 am.

Last day

As we weren't leaving until the evening we had a leisurely start to our last day with a new driver taking us to Okhla Barrage. We arrived at about 9.00 o'clock and were stunned by the sheer numbers of birds. Ducks and Coots in their thousands and the sky full of Black Kites.

We drove along the east bank and were then taken to a viewing platform in the middle of the marsh. We could see lots of birds which included Black drongo perched on the back of a buffalo, Ferruginous Duck, two Spotted Eagles, a White-tailed Lapwing, a few Brown-headed Gulls, several White-tailed Stonechats, three Yellow-bellied Prinias, Striated and Yellow-eyed Babblers and best of all, a Tickell’s Warbler, Purple Herons and Purple Gallinules were everywhere and there were also lots of Citrine Wagtails to study. We saw a couple of Red-throated Pipits. Little Bee-eaters and Pied Bushchats were everywhere and gave superb views.

We left at 3.15 for Indira Ghandi International Airport for our flight home at 7.05pm having seen 246 species plus 6 species of deer, 2 species of crocodiles, 3 species of turtle, monitor lizard and Rock Python plus several species of butterfly.

Homeward Bound

We had a 9.30 flight back to Delhi which meant a 4.00am start. Our driver arrived the night before and we were woken up with a cup of tea and biscuits. Our nature guide and the hotel manager were there to see us off, which was very nice. We made the airprt in plenty of time, in fact they hadn't really opened up, just opened the doors. It has to be one of the smallest airports I have ever been in, with the tightest security!! they even made us take out the batteries from our cameras. The flight back had one last surprise, the captaine came on explaining that those on the right hand side of the plane might like to look down as we were flying over the Taj. All those on the left were up out of their seats and trying to get a view - it was a long way down but still very recognisable.

We were picked up by a new driver and taken back to the Cabana Hotel, where we had a tidy up and then the driver took us to the Red Fort for a final monument hit. A much bigger place than I thought with lots of architecture reminiscent of both the Taj and Fatepur Sikre. Along with a plethora of Black Kites we also saw Red-vented Bulbul, parakeets, Asian Koel and a new bird, Red-whiskered Bulbul.