This has been a long time coming, it was organized prior to Covid 19 and was subsequently cancelled 3 times, before we finally got to Tarifa on September 8th, 2022.
Tarifa is Spain’s hotspot for Raptor migration to and from Africa, with several watchpoints which were localised to our hotel. We stayed at Hotel Meson De Sancho, I can recommend it, anywhere that has Iberian Chiffchaff, Short Toed Treecreeper and Firecrests in the Gardens has got to be good. It was a really nice hotel, superb accommodation with great food, we roomed in exterior log cabins.
We flew Gatwick to Gibraltar with EasyJet, with a journey time of around 2hours 20 minutes, the trip was planned from September 8th and then flying home on the 12th. The idea was 2 days of guided birding on the 9th and 10th with the remaining days bashing the watchpoints.
The party consisted of myself, Lee Brown, Russ Sherriff and Steve Bacon and we used Birding the Straits (highly recommended) for our 2 days of guided birding.
Just about to eat, great views
El Algarroba Watchpoint Sept 8th
I first visited this watchpoint in 2017, the approach road was awful then (rock through the bottom of the engine sump), little has changed and the track is still hazardous!
Having a few hours to spare in the afternoon after arrival, we covered it from 3.00 – 5.00pm, not expecting too much due to the lateness of the day.
There were already around 8 birders on station, and we subsequently learnt that this was one of the 2 recording watchpoints. It was very hot and the heat was pretty intense, little wind and what birds we did see were fairly high.
For a 2-hour afternoon period we didn’t do too bad, connecting with several of Spain’s specialities. These included Griffon Vulture – 6, Black Kite – 13, Booted Eagle – 6, Short Toed Eagle – 2, Sparrowhawk – 2 and a single Honey Buzzard on the Raptor front.
A single Red Rumped Swallow and 2 Alpine Swift were the pick of the hirundine powering through, however the stars of the show had to be 20+ Bee Eaters who dropped into feed.
These gave outstanding close views, exceptionally colourful and vocal, they were great to watch wheeling around hunting, just don’t see enough of these in the UK.
Having a few hours to spare in the afternoon after arrival, we covered it from 3.00 – 5.00pm, not expecting too much due to the lateness of the day.
There were already around 8 birders on station, and we subsequently learnt that this was one of the 2 recording watchpoints. It was very hot and the heat was pretty intense, little wind and what birds we did see were fairly high.
For a 2-hour afternoon period we didn’t do too bad, connecting with several of Spain’s specialities. These included Griffon Vulture – 6, Black Kite – 13, Booted Eagle – 6, Short Toed Eagle – 2, Sparrowhawk – 2 and a single Honey Buzzard on the Raptor front.
A single Red Rumped Swallow and 2 Alpine Swift were the pick of the hirundine powering through, however the stars of the show had to be 20+ Bee Eaters who dropped into feed.
These gave outstanding close views, exceptionally colourful and vocal, they were great to watch wheeling around hunting, just don’t see enough of these in the UK.
The boys hard at it
Black Kite
Honey Buzzard
Short Toed Eagle
We got a few photos and called it a day, a bit disappointed that the Raptors were so high, however over the next few days that definitely changed!
If you visit the site watch the road.
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