The Holiday

We booked our seven day holiday to Roses in North East Spain at the last minute. Everything was booked independently and we flew with Ryanair from Liverpool airport to Girona, where we picked up a car and drove to Roses. We stayed at the Hotel Goya in Roses, which was a nice hotel, though with limited facilities, about 100m from the beach. Everything went very smoothly, the flights in both directions landed 20 minutes early and Liverpool airport was a dream compared to Manchester. For example, on the return journey we were scheduled to land in Liverpool at 8:50pm. In actual fact, by 8:50pm we had not only landed, but had also picked up the luggage, retrieved the car from the car park and had started our journey home!

As usual, this was a family holiday, and with the family not being interested in birds, I had to fit birding into other activities. In practice this meant getting up early (6:30am) on three mornings, and a couple of evening trips while they were finishing off on the beach and getting ready to go out at night. The early mornings in particular were not as horrendous as they might sound, because in mid August in Spain, if you miss the first few hours after dawn, you really are missing the best part of the day, and birding becomes very difficult later due to the heat. By mid day you’re better off in the pool or the sea anyway. I also managed to persuade the family to visit Nuria, near Ribes in the Pyrenees for a day.

The weather etc.

Before we had left Britain, I had read a number of articles which suggested that Spain was in the grip of the worst drought for 60 years and that the region we were traveling to, the Costa Brava, was one of the worst effected. I can only say that we didn’t notice it. Everywhere looked dry, but no worse than you would expect in August in Spain, swimming pools were full, rivers were running, the marsh land reserve I visited had lakes, reed beds, and even flooded water meadows with Camargue horses splashing around. We had heavy rain one night and for two hours one afternoon. To be honest, there was much more water around than I would have dared expected in any year in the middle of August in Spain, let alone the year of the worst drought in 60 years. I guess the answer is that Roses and the surrounding land is heavily influenced by its close proximity to the Pyrenees, and that other parts of the Costa Brava would be much worse effected by the drought.

The birding sites

From a birding point of view, the great thing about Roses is that it is literally surrounded by two quite different Spanish Natural Parks, Cap de Creus and Aiguamolls D’Emporda. Cap de Creus is a mountainous region at the back of Roses, the eastern most extremity of the Pyrenees, which rises to about 650m before plunging into the sea. I visited three sites on Cap de Creus, Coll del Peni, the Monastery at Sant Pere de Rodes and Cap de Creus lighthouse, all easily accessible and well signposted from Roses. I would strongly recommend visiting all these sites early morning, because later in the day, the traffic was considerable and the number of tourists about made birding difficult.

Aiguamolls D’Emporda is a large marshland reserve 10 minutes drive from Roses. This reserve is split into three sections, two of which I visited, which for the purpose of this report I shall call Vilaut (Parc Natural 1, the freshwater part of the reserve) with one hide, and el Cortalet (Parc Natural 2, the salt water part of the reserve) with several hides. There is a visitor centre at el Cortalet which opens at 9:30am, but that was way too late for me, and I was leaving just as it was about to open.

For Vilaut, take the road out of Roses sign posted Palau-saverdera and at the roundabout just as you reach Palau-saverdera, turn left towards Castello d’Empuries. After a couple of miles, this road cross three bridges. Find somewhere to stop and explore this area thoroughly. There is a track on the right just before the first bridge which takes you down to the Vilaut hide, and just after the third bridge there is a track on the left which is well worth exploring.

To reach el Cortalet, take the Roses to Figueres road and at Castello d’Empuries turn left towards Sant Pere Pescador. The information centre is signposted a mile or two down this road, and there are several tracks leading off from the centre.

Our day out was to Nuria. This is a winter skiing lodge in the Pyrenees, about a two hour drive from Roses, in a valley, about 2000m up a mountain, which has a number of family activities such as mini golf, archery, pony riding and rowing boat hire. To get to Nuria you have to take a 40 minute journey on the only rack railway in Spain from the town of Ribes, so there’s plenty of interest for the kids. It also has cable cars to get you even higher up the mountains,  and if you’re lucky, a good selection of mountain birds.

At Nuria, I left the family to entertain themselves and headed off up the mountain with the cable car. This may not necessarily have been the best mountain for birds, but at least it allowed me to get up to around the 2500m mark quickly and with very little effort, which was important given the time restrictions I had.

Highlights

There were many highlights during the holiday, but perhaps the best bird for me was one, possibly two, Alpine Accentors seen at around 2500m at Nuria. This was my only new bird of the holiday. At that height, I also had good close views of Griffon Vultures overhead, but disappointingly no Lammergeiers, despite the fact that I know at least three were seen at this site at the end of May. A flock of 100 Alpine Choughs did their best to make me feel better. Loads of butterflies here.

At Cap de Creus there were impressive numbers of Dartford Warblers, Rock Buntings  and Black Redstarts, and good views of Short-toed Eagle, Black-eared Wheatear and Thekla Larks. I had great views of a Wryneck here, and also at Vilaut and el Cortalet, where I also heard them call.

At Vilaut there was the impressive sight of 30 Bee-eaters, three Golden Orioles and a single adult Woodchat Shrike all in the same tree. Why is it that Golden Orioles never seem to be shy birds in Europe, yet in England are very difficult to see, even when you know they are there? Hoopoes seemed particularly common at Vilaut, with about 10 together at one place, and Cattle Egrets, well, there were swarms of them in places, with flocks of 50 or 60 not uncommon. There were three obliging Rollers here as well.

The following is the complete list of birds seen during the holiday:

Great Crested Grebe	1		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Grey Heron	5		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Night Heron	5	2ads, 3 juvs	11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
	1		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
Cattle Egret	1		08-Aug-05		Roses
	100		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
	200		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Little Egret	10		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
White Stork	30		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
	10		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
Mallard	a few		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Marsh Harrier	1		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
	1	f	10-Aug-05		Vilaut
Sparrowhawk	1		12-Aug-05		Nuria
Griffon Vulture	5		12-Aug-05		Nuria
Kestrel	10		12-Aug-05		Nuria
Peregrine	1		12-Aug-05		Nuria
Red-legged Partridge	15		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
	10		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Water Rail	1		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Black-winged Stilt	20		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Little Ringed Plover	5		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Ringed Plover	10		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Little Stint	5		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Greenshank	1		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Green Sandpiper	1		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Wood Sandpiper	2		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Common Sandpiper	10		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Yellow-legged Gull	a few		08-Aug-05		Roses
	a few		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
	a few		08-Aug-05		Roses
Monk Parakeet	8		14-Aug-05		Roses. Possibly breeding in the palm trees next to the beach.
Short-toed Eagle	1		09-Aug-05		Coll del Peni
Swift	a few		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
	a few		09-Aug-05		Coll del Peni
	many		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
	Common		Throughout		Roses
Pallid Swift	30		13-Aug-05		Cap de Creus lighthouse
	a few		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
Bee-eater	a few		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
	5		09-Aug-05		Coll del Peni
	40+		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
Roller	3		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
Hoopoe	10		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
	3		09-Aug-05		Coll del Peni
	20		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
Wryneck	1		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
	1		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
	1		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Thekla Lark	5		13-Aug-05		Cap de Creus lighthouse
House Martin	a few		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
	3		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
	a few		12-Aug-05		Nuria
Swallow	a few		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
	a few		09-Aug-05		Coll del Peni
	many		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
Red-rumped Swallow	1		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
Crag Martin	a few		12-Aug-05		Nuria
	1		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
Tawny Pipit	10		09-Aug-05		Coll del Peni
Alpine Accentor	1 – 2		12-Aug-05		Nuria
Blue Rock Thrush	1	ad	14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
Rock Thrush	1		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
Nightingale	a few		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
	1		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
	a few		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Stonechat	1		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
	a few		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
Wheatear	10		12-Aug-05		Nuria
Black-eared Wheatear	5	ad & juvs	09-Aug-05		Coll del Peni
	1	juv	13-Aug-05		Cap de Creus lighthouse
Blackbird	2		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
Cetti's Warbler	a few		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
	a few		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Fan-tailed Warbler	a few		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
	a few		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Reed Warbler	a few		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Dartford Warbler	50		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
	1		09-Aug-05		Coll del Peni
Sardinian Warbler	a few		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
	a few		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
Blackcap	1	m	11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Great Tit	1		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
	1		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
Short-toed Treecreeper	1		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
Golden Oriole	3		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
Woodchat Shrike	3		09-Aug-05		Coll del Peni
	a few		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
	5		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
Alpine Chough	100		12-Aug-05		Nuria
Raven	8		12-Aug-05		Nuria
Starling	100		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
Tree Sparrow	10		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
	30		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Citril Finch	40		12-Aug-05		Nuria
Goldfinch	10		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes
	100		10-Aug-05		Vilaut
	a lot		11-Aug-05		el Cortalet
Linnet	10		12-Aug-05		Nuria
Rock Bunting	20		14-Aug-05		Sant Pere de Rodes