Granada and Seville

A 4-day Sightseeing trip 13-16 March with Mrs D and D#3. D#3 organised brilliantly; she is a star. I left the binoculars at home to avoid obvious conflicts of objectives.

We liked Granada. Nice tourist sights and an attractive city centre. First morning I left the ladies shopping for a couple of hours and wandered through the gardens by the river. The trees were alive with Serins. The light and angle prohibited decent colour views but it was a treat to get repeat views of the singing birds as they held their wings slightly out and turned mechanically from side to side. Other birds were more familiar; Grey wagtails,  and greenfinches and blackbirds in number. 

Then the Alhambra. I could see a large orange moorish building above the city which I took to be it, although to be honest it looked a bit like a hotel. As we walked up the steep hill towards it it became clear it was actually a hotel and the Alhambra occupied a large site behind. The walk up went through a wooded vale where three Hawfinches flew around the tree tops and Chiffchaffs flicked through the bushes. Then the site itself had a handful of Crag Martins flying around, some white wagtails and magpies. From a tourist point of view I would recommend taking a day for the Alhambra and getting a proper guide. From a birding perspective the area in and around the Alhambra is greener and lusher than the surrounding scrubby hillside and may reward prolonged investigation. Others have trod this path and seen some decent birds. 

If we liked Granada we absolutely loved Seville. Great tourist sites, a fantastically laid out city with beautiful well maintained gardens and parks and a host of tapas bars cafes and restaurants for refreshment. But first we had to get there which meant taking one of those impressively rapid Spanish trains. Despite the speed I managed White Stork and a small flock of Glossy Ibis. But the countryside is basically endless Olive groves until you get near Seville when it is endless Orange groves. Decent birding here hard to find I suspect. I left the ladies shopping again and wandered down to a park. Seville is parakeet central and Ring-necked and Monks parakeets were squawking everywhere. As I set in a small park and watched some parakeets flying between the enormous palm trees I noticed a large raptor soaring above them. As it turned it showed a familiar bicolour scheme of white body and inner wings and black secondaries and primaries making this clearly a pale phased Booted Eagle. As it soared a couple of falcons started dive bombing it screeching continually. I watched the performance for about quarter of an hour as the Eagle slowly scoured the central city area. The falcons were clearly kestrels from the upper wing colour and shape, but which sort? The surprisingly pale under wing and body glimpsed on a fly past lead me towards Lesser Kestrel. That and the fact the nearby cathedral is a known roost.

Wherever there were flowering bushes there were small groups of large bees flying around . These were all black with some blueish and purple sheens so I think I’m on safe ground identifying these as Violet Carpenter Bees. Hoping these sightings may help me find one in the UK! Other than that the main interest was the flocks of swifts. There were a couple of flocks of about twenty birds. Some seems quite pale, but given the tangle people get into every autumn with decent photos of swifts I’m not going to try and venture a species for these. 

It may be the contrast between cold and gloomy March in the UK and sunny and warm Seville but it was a breath of fresh air coming here . It is one of the great cities of Europe if you have an interest in travel and cities it should absolutely be on your list.

An update on the kestrels. I was pretty happy with Lesser at the time due to the very pale underside. But birds have a knack of looking different in the harsh mediterranean sun. Collins says the call is diagnostic, and I thought I heard typical Kestrel ke-ke-ke. I checked with Xeno-Canto and am not convinced I heard those calls. the ebird checklist has both Common and Lesser Kestrel, so I will have to let this one pass along with the swifts; such is the lot of the birder on a casual no-bins holiday!