Thanks for your thoughts, - I don't know the sites which you mention but if they are within the Madrid Comunidad I'll look them up as they would be covered by our travel passes and we could try them on our next visit at the end of June, (as Anne is back in school now and we are back in England on Wed. evening).
As Anne is only 9 and has a wide range of other interests (including skating, ballet, music, and art), I 'm a bit wary of over-facing her with birds. (She's just as likely to break off from birding after 40 mins or so and want to go and play with some of her friends if they happen along).
Whilst I'm sure she would enjoy good views of things like a different range of Raptors, Bustards, Sandgrouse and Rollers, I suspect that she'd find Dupont's and Crested and Thekla Larks distinctly underwhelming at her stage.
When she's a little older I had it in mind to hire a car and have a long weekend in Extremadura and base ourselves in the Parador in Trujillo, or the little hotel in Torrejon el Rubio, both of which I've found to be ideal in the past, but these are further out from the city than your sites, so I will seriously look into these latter and appreciate your kindness.
Best Wishes,
Mike P.
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Mike Presumably you know about the steppe sites 20km NNE of Madrid, eg Valdetorres de Jarama - Talamanca de Jarama, and other areas like this. Bustards, Larks, Sandgrouse, Raptors, etc
April 3rd, Casa de Campo, with Barbara and Anne 10.30 to 12.30.
My favourite Madrid birding site, and an excellent mix of habitats for Anne (now aged 9) to enjoy a recording session, - also great for the door to door access via the Metro, (just 8 stops along line 5).
32 species recorded, but Cetti's Warblers heard only, despite being common here with song bursts seemingly every 60/70 metres or so, as a result Anne has yet to enjoy a decent look at one. A new species for her though was Crested Tit; a pair showed really well at eye level persistently in and out of a small crevice in the stump of a broken tree.
Serins are abundant in much of the city with their buzzy songs seemingly forming a permanent element in the background noise. Almost as noticeable today was the song of Short -toed Treecreepers, louder and lower pitched than the song of their familiar UK congeners. Spotless Starlings and the plague Monk Parakeets are basically list paddlers here, along with passing White Storks, some of which nest dubiously within the grounds of the Zoo barely a mile away.
A kingfisher was a "Madrid" tick for us, as our normal riverside walks by the canalised Manzanares close to home affords no habitat for them.
I was shocked yesterday to see a Lesser Whitethroat by the pool complex of Casa de Campo. I saw it well enough to be confident as to the i/d but rather incredulous nonetheless, as it must be many hundreds of miles westward of its normal migration route and would surely be judged as a rarity here; on checking I was not surprised to see that it constituted a new Spanish tick for me.
-Always nice to put in a session here, in the past I've had Nightingale and Night Heron here and squeaked in Firecrests to within touching distance.
In the meantime I'm keeping an anxious and watchful eye on Greater Manchester..........
Mike P.
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-Probably my last post from Madrid this visit, (which has been characterised by superb cloudless skies, albeit understandably cold, as we are Europeīs highest capital, standing as high above sea level as say Kinder Scout).
Yesterday we took the 40 minute train journey east out to Alcala de Henares, famous for itīs Renaissance architecture and as the birthplace of the much revered Cervantes, (creator of Spanish literatureīs best known characters - Don Quijote, the deluded knight and righter of imagined wrongs, and Sancho Panza, his down to earth but loyal sidekick).
Cervantes died in April 1616, (22nd or 23rd) within 24 hours of our own William Shakespeare. (How weird is that?)
As we got off the train a large bird was overflying the station, which Anne correctly saw and identified as a Stork sp. (in Spanish "Cigueņa"). We feigned initial astonishment, but after the fifteen minute walk to the historic centre (a world Heritage site), she realised that White Storks were to be seen on virtually all the high buildings, as well as heard, for they were all on territories alongside huge nests and their bill clattering resonated high across the city, above the hubbub of bands and beating drums below on the eve of the Tres Reyes celebrations. The birds have been encouraged by the authorities here as they are seen as a tourist asset. In 1986/ 87 they had hit a low of only 11 or so pairs, but now are assessed at 90 pairs minimum; - an enlightened view in context of the architectural gems upon which they nest. Anne was puzzled that the birds are denoted in our relatively old Spanish field guide as summer visitors only. I explained in Spanish (her first language) that their populations in many parts of Europe have been augmented by releases and positive feeding policies by the authorities and even migratory birds have in many instances found conditions to be so amenable that they also stay through the winters. I may not be completely correct in this, but this seems to be the Spanish account as regards the birds of Alcala.
We are due to travel home on Friday, and I guess the Horwich Shrike has either been seen by everyone now who "needed" it, or more likely, has gone elsewhere?
Best Wishes, MIke
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Havenīt done much birding thus far on this visit. Anne (my granddaughter, who will be 8 tomorrow) suddenly decided on the morning of 31st Dec. to start her 2015 bird list a day early, so we bused it down to the R. Manzanares, bins and note books at the ready. She was more fired up and enthusiastic than ever before, and though we logged only 15 species, she did find Black Redstart (the first of 5) and best of all, her very first Short-toed Treecreeper. Of course she didnīt know what it was until I told her. (I have avoided seeking out "little brown jobs" so as not to bore her, and it has proved to be a sound approach). Later by the river we studied the gulls, both Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed were loafing and I explained that they change plumages according to the season and that the "browny" ones are young birds. Looking at the adults, she accurately described the bill patterns of the Lesser Black backs, then commented that the young birds have black bills with a yellowish spot at the tip. Writing up our note books is a protracted affair, we write in the English names on alternate lines when in the field, but put in the Spanish names back home, that way we both slowly learn more of the latter. Her field guide is a Spanish language one of mine which I gave to her several years ago; my Spanish ticks are denoted in the book with a dot next to each speciesīname, hers with a promonent "A". On the 30th Dec. we had earlier caught the train and funicular up to 6500 feet into the Sierra de Guadarrama, (from the city some 60 kilometres but which takes some two and a half hours each way as the climb up is almost a vertical mile, the city itself being at 2000 feet). Although the prime objective was to show her snow for only the second time in her life, and to enjoy some sledging and to afford her the opportunity to pelt us with snowballs, she did see the anticipated Griffon Vultures soaring high above, (doubtless hoping to smell out or spot the carcass of some unfortunate lost climber or skier).
Regards and Best Wishes for 2015, Passant family
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Challenges are inevitable, but failure is optional.
Arrived here just a day ahead of a general strike (how lucky is that?) and found that my granddaughter ( six in January) has developed an interest in birds. Is there some genetic malfunction involved here?
We started a casual list in the local park where an immediate problem materialised in that the hoards of Monk Parakeets there are not depicted in her Spanish field guide, so she was unable to tick them in her book; - not the best of starts. I decided it might be best to persuade her to count the ones she saw really well and not to overface her with a huge list in order to try to leave some more for her to catch up with when we return here in 4 weeks time. We also photographed the ones we saw to enable her to compare this with the images in her book once she was back home; this turned out to be a good approach.
She is now reading quite well in both Spanish and English and knows the birds by their English names, though the field guide has them only in Spanish together with the scientific names. I think that I shall have to write in the English names as well if she wants me to. It will do me no harm also to learn more Spanish bird names; - another good reason for taking things slowly!
-Great to be out birding with a motivated child; good fun for both of us, though I think taking it slowly is the right approach.
I felt confident that something good would turn up in Greater Manchester during my absence, but so far none of my targets have materialised so perhaps it will happen over Christmas?
Regards, Mike P.
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