Ah, the last time I clapped eyes on this rather strange plaque high on a wall in the eerie vampire-infested Spanish steppe town of Sepulveda I was admittedly rather the worse for wear -as were the rest of Marshside's finest.
In our defence we had just connected with Dupont's Lark, the most lowdown, devilishly sneaky lark on the planet - remember that trip gents?
Anyway, Tropical Thomason has just retraced some of our steps on the steppes and has sent me these pix and a brief report - as usual, Trops views the world from a commendably skewball angle, but central Spain is a helluva place for birding.
Over to Trops....
"A short 4 day break to visit wayward hija in Madrid turned into a good birding break.
Revisited some old birding sites that you'll remember.
After picking up daughter at airport spent our first night in Manzanares del Real, the hotel's early morning call is provided by the clacking and bonking White Storks, see pic ( I'll leave you to do the jokes here).
"Coffee on the balcony produced House and Sand Martins as well as Swallows and great views of Spotless Starlings, an underrated bird in my book.
Next day drove to the Vale del rio Duration and Sepulvada via Segovia, birds at the Fuitos monastery inc. Black, Griffon and a pair of Egyptian Vultures plus Crag Martin, Chough and Black Reds.
"I closed all the car windows and turned up the radio as we passed the Dupont Lark fields, so as not to be drawn by the siren quality of their squeaky gate call, as anyone who has tried to find these birds will know they live underground and so are impossible to see, it took me 2 years and 3 visits before I had a decent view of one.
On our drive back to Sepulvada to find accommodation we came across 70 odd Azure Winged Magpies, most of the birds where sitting on the road Nightjar-like at the end of a sunny day.
The only place that was open in Sepulvada was the Hotel V.D., a very quiet place, we had it to ourselves, didn't have the heart to tell the receptionista why they don't get many foreign tourists.
I can highly recommend this place, with FREE mini bar, all you can eat food, 3 ***s and lots of laughs at their expense. I did leave a note in the room telling them to give the hotel its full title Vado del Duration (Ford of the Duration).
"Got p....... again in town but managed to find you your favorite wall sculpture, I think it's called the devil and his toothbrush, what we all want to know is where has he had that toothbrush.
C. u. soon",
Tropical.
Thanks Tropical, sounds like a good trip - but if it has a FREE mini-bar, who cares what the hotel is called?
Memories of the magnificently-named Restaurant Arse (I still have one of the napkins), also in rural Spain, come flooding back...
Thanks to John Bannon for sending me this picture of the aforementioned cafe!
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...
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derek forshaw wrote...
Green Woodpecker seen at Dunham Massey in Cheshire today, and Lesser Spotted heard - but the little bugga wouldn't show.
Nuthatches and Treecreepers showing well here also. Later at Tatton Park there were two redhead Smews and c25 Sand Martins, as well as Goldeneye and Great Crested Grebe.
Quite nice really!
Posted by: derek forshaw | March 18, 2008 9:14 PM