EXTREMADURA & THE GREDOS
14th – 21st May 2009

Raptors, Bustards, Sandgrouse and much more.

This is a weeklong tour to one of Europe's premiere birdwatching destinations, combining The Gredos Mountains with Extremadura. We'll spend the first five nights in the historical town of Trujillo from where we can explore all the best sites of Extremadura, home to some of Spain's finest and most contrasting habitats, including the wooded mountain sides of Monfrague National Park, which holds one of Europe's highest concentrations of raptors. It is also home to vast areas of sun-drenched steppes, rolling plains and dehesa. Because the wildlife is so plentiful here many of the birds will be seen exceptionally well with little or no effort involved, with all walks being moderately easy and short. We'll then move to the Gredos Mountains for two days birding in search of alpine species difficult to find in Extremadura. Here we will stay at the Parador Nacional de Gredos, which along with our first hotel serve a good selection of local cuisines and have very friendly staff.

DAY 1
Meet at the Birmingham airport to catch our flight to Madrid, pick up our transport and start our drive south to Trujillo where we'll be based during our stay in Extremadura. The drive down will give us our first taste of the birds to come with commoner species such as Black Kite and White Stork regularly encountered. Time permitting we‘ll stop at a wetland site en-route, where Cattle and Little Egret, Purple Heron and Little Bittern should all be seen, with Savi's, Cetti's and Great Reed Warbler all present in the reedbeds. The highlight here will be Purple Gallinule, a species difficult to find elsewhere, though it often shows well here. We'll then continue our journey to Trujillo, arriving at our hotel and checking into our rooms before meeting in the restaurant for our evening meal and log call.

DAYS 2 - 5
We'll spend the next four days visiting all the key sites of the area in search of our target birds. Monfrague National Park, described by many as the most important area in Europe for raptors will feature heavily as this offers many of the most sought after species. Here Egyptian, Griffon and Black Vulture will all be seen, the latter with c200 pairs is more numerous here than any where else in the world, while the even more numerous Griffon is very widespread and breath-taking views are almost guaranteed, as are Black and Red Kites. No less than five species of eagle occur, Booted, Short-toed, Golden, Bonelli's and the rare Spanish Imperial. As well as the raptors the park is also home to a good selection of other species including Black Stork, Eagle Owl, Red-necked Nightjar, Bee-eater, Thekla Lark, Crag Martin, Short-toed Treecreeper, Black Redstart, Black Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush, Chough and Rock Bunting. The timing of this trip is a little later than previous visits, with aim of connecting with White-rumped Swift one of Europes rarest breeding birds.

Away from Monfrague we'll visit some of the best areas of Steppe and Dehesa, although the mountains are never far away and raptors will still be frequently observed. Probably the most sought-after species will be Great & Little Bustard, and Pin-tailed & Black-bellied Sandgrouse, all of which occur within easy reach of Trujillo. Other birds of the steppe should include Montagu's Harrier, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Roller, Hoopoe, Southern Grey & Woodchat Shrike, Calandra & Crested Lark, Black-eared Wheatear and Spanish Sparrow. In the Dehesa (open grassy or scrubby land with scattered trees, mostly Holm & Cork Oak) species include Black-shouldered Kite, Azure-winged Magpie, Fan-tailed, Spectacled, Dartford, Sardinian, Sub-alpine & Orphean Warblers along with Cirl Bunting. We'll also visit some of the many river valleys, where Rock Sparrow, Golden Oriole and Red-rumped Swallow breed, and waders occasionally turn up on passage,

We'll also travel to the greener south where we'll try to locate a few species not yet encounter such as Gull-billed & Whiskered Tern, Red Avadavat, Common Waxbill and Melodious Warbler.

Trujillo itself will also offer some good birding with Pallid Swift, Spotless Starling, White Stork and Lesser Kestrel all breeding. We'll also spend some time (optional) to explore this historical, well-preserved town.

DAY 6
After checking out of the hotel we'll leave Trujillo behind and head into the Sierra de Gredos, a rugged and imposing range of granite mountains that rises to 2,600 metres. Here we'll search for birds difficult or impossible to see elsewhere in Extremadura. The woodlands hold Goshawk, Honey Buzzard, Western Bonelli's Warbler, Firecrest, Pied Flycatcher, Crossbill and even a small population of Citril Finch. Climbing higher we should start to encounter more alpine species with Water Pipit, Dipper, Alpine Accentor, Bluethroat, Rock Thrush and Ortolan Bunting all possible. In addition to the bird life this area is also the stronghold of the impressive Spanish Ibex, and all efforts will be made to see this during our stay. We'll spend the night at the Parador Nacional de Gredos, which is not only a beautiful hotel but is also one of he best places in the area to see the elusive Citril Finch which can often be found feeding in the grounds.

DAY 7
We'll start the day with an optional pre breakfast walk through the woodlands close to our hotel in search of Citril Finch and other woodland species. The rest of the day will be spent looking for any of the above species still missing, before heading to Madrid where we'll spend our last night ready for our flight home next day.

DAY 8
Depart for home

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guidelines all flights are ATOL protected,
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