Wednesday 14 June 2023

Birding the Pyrennes

 Saturday 27 May to Sunday 4 June

Eight birders for eight days as we set off from Malaga just before 7am on Saturday to spend a week in the high Pyrennees based on the beautiful mountain village of Anso. With Derek and Barbara Etherton in one car and Jerry and Barbara Laycock in the other plus me, we made our first stop near Loja in Granada province to pick up another great friend of mine, Mick Richardson.  Then began the journey north, with an overnight stop at Daimiel and, on the return journey, an overnight stop close to Guadalajara, just east of Madrid, so that we could visit Belchite on the way and then call in at the Laguna de la Veguilla at Alcazar de San Juan in Castille La Mancha on our final day before arriving back in Malaga just after 7pm. A fabulous stay with great friends and lots of wonderful birds.  Indeed, my final total of species was 179 including 81 new species for the year.

So, as a brief introduction, meet the birding group (left to right):

Sonia and Ricky Owen; Barbara and Jerry Laycock; Derek and Barbara Etherton; myself

Barbara Laycock, Sonia, Derek, Jerry, Mick Richardson, Ricky, Barbara Etherton

Myself with signs of lack-of-shaving!

Given that there was much travelling, much birding, many photographs, etc and that time is rapidly passing as I try and complete this extended report, daily updates will be more of a general nature but I will endeavour to list species seen per day and, of course the final special tally will be greater than mine, probably an extra half-dozen or so that I missed.


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