Spanish Spring Birds – 2027

Day 1: We are due to arrive at Barcelona Airport at roughly the same time from where we will then travel north to our base in the village of Cubells in the province of Lleida, and approximately 2 hours’ drive away. Once we are settled into our accommodation, we will discuss our specific plans for the coming days and shop for some essential supplies. (Flight recommendations will be sent out nearer the time).

Days 2 – 6: Our accommodation is close to an area of steppe and traditional farmland, and conveniently placed for many of our target subjects, especially when early starts are called for. We have a little further to drive for the vultures and mountain birds, in the foothills of the Pyrenees.

The hides we will be using are fitted with one-way optical glass, which affords an extraordi-nary view of what is happening in front of you, so that not only are you able to achieve some amazing images but experience the habitat and activities in a far more involving way. This is an especially successful approach with sensitive bird subjects that might otherwise be easily dis-turbed from a conventional hide. The hides variously accommodate between one and six per-sons, with the smaller single person hides easy to relocate at short notice, offering us much greater flexibility to quickly respond to changing circumstances. That means from a logistical perspective we will need to split in to two different groups, rotating between locations. Most days that will involve separate morning and afternoon sessions, but our local guides will help us with seeing everybody in to position as quickly and efficiently as possible. Obviously, we will try to ensure everybody gets their fair share of attention and support. Typically, we’ll be starting between 06.00 and 07.00 each day, and breaking for lunch somewhere.

Subject-wise, in the steppe area we will be concentrating mainly on displaying little bustards, but there may be opportunities for little owl, stone-curlew, European bee-eater and hoopoe – much depends on the breeding season and arrival times of migrants. Corn bunting, calandra lark and green woodpecker are also common in this area, and readily come to the drinking pools.

Further north, in the mountain habitat, we’re fortunate to have access to a couple of state-approved vulture feeding stations with specialist photography hides. One site is particularly re-liable for the rare cinereous vulture (also known as European black vulture), along with griffon vulture, Egyptian vulture, black kite, red kite and raven. Here we’ll have the opportunity to pho-tograph flight approaches as well as birds on the ground in a stunning mountain setting. You might be surprised just how close these birds come!

At another location, we should have the chance to photograph the magnificent lammergeier (or bearded vulture), in flight and on the ground, with a glorious mountain backdrop. Here too they will be accompanied by griffon vultures, and possibly other birds of prey. This will be a full day session, and two adjacent hides will accommodate the whole group.
Elsewhere in the mountains we might make use of hides at various drinking pools, with a wide variety of bird subjects possible; for example, serin, citril finch, crossbill, rock bunting, crested tit, Bonelli’s warbler, subalpine warbler, pied flycatcher, blackcap, etc.

Day 7: We will have an early start to make the journey back to Barcelona Airport on time to catch our return flights back home.