Needing to attend a meeting in Trapiche at midday gave me the chance to pop down to the Rio Velez in Torre del Mar for almost an hour. Calm and cloudy, but still quite bight, and the river running quite freely as if we had had more rain, which we had not. Plenty of Blackbirds about this morning as well as scores of feeding Chiffchaffs and also waiting to greet me a White Wagtail and a few of the resident Rock Doves along with a couple of Moorhen and Mallards plus a rapidly departing Green Sandpiper heading off down river.
Almost as soon as I started to walk down towards the hide a Little Egret rose up from the riverside as yet more Mallards and Moorhens made themselves known. Cetti's Warblers were singing away in the shrubs and coming out into the open to be seen. A few House Sparrows near the hide and from here I could see that the gull numbers had built up since last week with the birds roosting on the far side near the shallow water. A handful of Crag Martins were feeding over the water and Chiffchaffs were seen all the way down the track along with more Blackbirds - all males.
A walk down to the beach enable me to get a good look at the gulls along with a good number of Common Coots and a single Sanderling. Gulls seen were mainly Black-headed, Mediterranean and Yellow-legged but also a few Lesser Black-backs. A rather lovely addition was the fishing Kingfisher. I watched almost mesmerized as he remained virtually stationery in the air, hovering like a Kestrel about four metres above the water before diving straight in and out and then to the bank to enjoy his snack before starting the exercise all over again.
The return walk produces courting Serins and a few Spotless Starlings to add to the many White Wagtails, Stonechat and Back Redstart and Collared Doves that I had seen as I drove down from the mountain. However, the last bird seen on the river as i got back to the car was a lone Ringed Plover.
Birds seen:
Mallard, Little Egret, Moorhen, Coot, Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Green Sandpiper, Black-headed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Rock Dove, Collared Dove, Kingfisher, Crag Martin, White Wagtail, Black Redstart, Stonechat, Blackbird, Cetti's Warbler, Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Spotless Starling, House Sparrow, Serin.
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