DAN FORDER WILDLIFE

On a day spent exploring new areas & scoping out unpublicised but potential birding spots closer to the coast, I had some amazing luck... Just 10 minutes or so from our hotel I found a small fairly secluded river valley, rich with vegetation, alive with birdsong, buzzing with insects, & full of reptiles & amphibians. Higher up the adjacent slopes the thick vegetation gave way to steeper rugged mountainside, where crooked trees gripped the crevices precariously, the terrain gradually becoming more craggy nearing the main peak, which held inaccessible cliff faces & edges. Over the peak & away the landscape was more rolling, but still unpassable to those without poise on their feet. This beautiful oasis & dramatic scenery a stark contrast to the neat & ordered little town we'd just driven through, & the holiday apartments & hotels just down the road. Adult Bonelli's Eagle, Costa del Sol - one of a pair (or third bird - see foot note). 15

Male Honey Buzzard flying in off the Mediterranean sea on spring migration, at Atalaya Isdabe, Estepona, Spain. 15/05/22 On the 15th of May, the wind was blowing through the western Mediterranean quite strongly from the west - this can cause migrant raptors heading north, attempting to cross the sea at the Strait of Gibratar, to drift eastwards, missing their targets of Gibraltar or Tarifa, & instead making 'landfall' further east along the Costa del Sol. Positioned about 70km north-east, at Atalaya Isdabe, Estepona, I was able to watch good numbers of European Honey Buzzards come in off the sea, pass over the coastal urban areas, & continue on their way north into Andalucia, with this one passing low & close enough to me for a decent photo. They continued to come in to the bay here on a few days throughout the week depending on the wind, usually in small groups, but numbers stated to fizzle-out by the end of the week - in past years it has usually the week prior th

On an excellent guided day tour in Andalucia, with Bob Bucker of Wingspan Bird Tours, I noticed a darker, more stocky than usual Griffon Vulture drifting over the cafetería near Casares, where we'd stopped for a coffee. I was dazzled by the sun as we left the shade of the veranda so I took some record shots for scrutiny - on inspecting the photos out of the bright sunshine, my suspicions were confirmed - it was a RÜPPELL'S (GRIFFON) VULTURE . Rüppell's Vulture near Casares, Andalucia, Spain. I later found out that just one  Rüppell's Vulture had recorded in Spain that spring, & this was likely the same individual. Here are the notable identifying features... dark & not at all rusty below no rustiness in underwing coverts no contrast between flight feathers & coverts well defined & distinctively shaped double light bars on underwing coverts thin double pale lines on coverts bulge to secondary edge starts right up to primaries orange/red translucency