Punta de la Vaca and Cabo de Penas 8th September 2021

robbirder3
Sep 9, 2021
2 min read

We ate breakfast early and went straight to Punta de la Vaca at 8.30am. It had rained a little and was mainly overcast but humid. This was an excellent site and we walked a circular route along the coast path and fields. The bushes and trees were alive with migrants.

Within minutes we found a perched Honey Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Wryneck, the first of 18 Black Redstarts, Northern Wheatear, White Wagtail, 4 Zitting Cisticola. and 7 Spotted Flycatchers. As we walked the track, we came across 5 Pied Flycatcher, 15 Blackcap, a Melodious Warbler, 3 Common Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, 4 Sardinian Warbler and 3 Cetti‘s Warbler.

Photo: Resting Honey Buzzard

Photo: Pied Flycatcher

Phot: Wryneck

Photo: Punta de la Vaca

During our walk we also found a Lang’s Short-tailed Blue Butterfly, Clouded Yellow and Spanish Speckled Wood butterflies, a Wasp Spider and lots of Firebugs!

Photo: Lang’s Short-tailed Blue

Photo: Wasp Spider

Photo: Fire Bug

We drove to Cabo de Penas which is an impressive headland and great habitat. After a coffee we walked around the lighthouse and explored the adjacent fields. There were another 15+ Black Redstarts 3 more Spotted Flycatcher, a Pied Flycather, 3 Spotless Starling, 3 Common Sandpiper and several Chiffchaff. We also found 3 Red-legged Partridge.

Photo: Black Redstart

We also found a confiding Iberian Wall Lizard.

Photo: Iberian Wall Lizard

In the evening we drove a short distance from our hotel in Luanco to the Zeluan which looks across a sand spit in the Rio Albares. The tide was high and we saw a decent flock of c160 waders including 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 3 Greenshank, 15 Whimbrel, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, Redshank, 50+ Dunlin, 70 Ringed Plover, 12 Common Sandpiper and 2 Oystercatcher. A Kingfisher flashed past while we watched. Total bird species 58.