After a cool start to the New Year we were more than ready for a January break to southern Spain and left an icy Luton on the 13th. We had no great expectations of really good weather (after two months of exceptional rainfall there) or of particularly good mid winter birding, but our luck was in. Seven out of our eight days saw long periods of clear blue skies and temperatures in excess of 16°C. Back home the weather was miserable and very cold. Yes, we felt very smug about it!
We flew in to Malaga with Easyjet (£65 return) and hired one of their baby Mercs (£10 a day/petrol 50p litre), all booked on the internet and we rented an apartment at Riviera - Calahonda, about one hour west of Malaga. But what about the birds?
From our balcony we overlooked a small but fairly broad valley, which like so much of the Costa del Sol was rapidly disappearing under - admittedly fairly tasteful - new apartments and a golf course. Fortunately the valley bottom was too steep to build on and provided the area's only storm drain, so it looks 'safe' for the future. And what a hot spot it proved to be.
Balcony birdwatching from a comfortable chair, in the sun with a glass or three of wine to hand has a lot going for it. Fan-tailed Warblers seemed to "zit zit zit" over the valley all day, Blackcaps, Sardinian and Cetti’s Warblers, White and Grey Wagtails were also very vocal and Robins and glossy Spotless Starlings seemed to be everywhere. A splendid but shy Southern Grey Shrike passed through and didn't go hungry. Having struggled to see Black Wheatears on territory in Extramadura last year it was amazing to see them here perched on lamp posts and even a van roof! Several Blue Rock Thrush and at least 150 Crag Martins had also come down to the coast from the snow locked sierras inland, the martins roosting on adjacent building sites.
Spring comes very early here; Hoopoes were already on territory and there was a marked influx of Black Redstarts and Chiffchaffs during the week. Nevertheless it was still a surprise to find House Martins already up to 65 km. inland.
We took up an invitation to visit the newly refurbished bird observatory at Gibraltar, perched high over the Straits with the coast of Morocco tantalisingly close. Despite dominating one of the three 'classic' migration corridors to and from Africa, Gibraltar is surprisingly under watched and the observatory is highly dependant on the support of ex-pat birdwatchers based in southern Spain and visiting ringers. Accommodation is available from £6.00 per night on site! More raptors cross these Straits than the fabled Bosphorus, albeit that Honey Buzzard and Black Kite dominate the Gibraltar movements and the most dramatic movements are usually in spring. Struggling raptors sometimes stream literally just overhead the short, thermal free, sea crossing from Africa having greatly taxed their strength.
Too early for such a spectacle we walked amongst tree perching Yellow-legged Gulls - do they do this anywhere else?- watching early Swallows hawking over slopes that are home to Europe's only Barbary Partridges. After three visits here we still haven't found one but no doubt the resident Peregrines overhead knew just how to flush them out!
A few miles inland and Spain reverts to, well, Spain! Free of coastal tourist trappings that are in danger of swamping its identity, wild Spain is still out there but in January it is cold! Neverthell we soon found prowling Griffon Vultures, Buzzards and Ravens, towering flocks of Chough, skeins of Cattle Egrets and, already back on their breeding grounds at Fuente de Piedra, several hundred Greater Flamingos. Black-winged Stilts, Little Stints, Kentish Plovers and Crested Larks were in support, but we missed 20 Little Bustards and didn't have time to seek out White-headed Ducks, all nearby.
Ex-pat birdwatchers have also been instrumental in saving one of the few remaining wetlands on the Costa del Sol at Guadalhorce, adjacent to Malaga airport. Despite visiting on the only wet day of the week and being assured it was "unusually quiet", this is an easilly worked 'must do' site. Although missing over wintering Penduline Tit, Bluethroat and Spoonbill they were replaced by a Marsh Harrier mobbing a Booted Eagle and the year's first Osprey - en-route to Rutland Water!? Out to sea we could also have been back home; six Mediterranean Gulls were not so out of place but Gannets were diving amongst hundreds of Lesser Black-backed Gulls, several Razorbills and Black-necked Grebes drifted past but, best of all, an adult Great Skua came close in and harried a group of loafing Sandwich Terns.
We flew back to freezing fog at Luton and a tedious diversion to Stansted, 74 species to the good but content in the knowledge that the first returning warblers and hirundines were not really that far behind. This was not a birding holiday as such and we did many seriously 'touristy' things - do go to Cordoba if nothing else!- but it was a break full of pleasant surprises, very good value and above all, warm.