A full week of birdwatching in NE-Spain.
Send an email for information and bookings
The North-Eastern part of Spain can easily be reached, by car, train, coach, but most easily by plane. It allows for intensive one week birding trips. We will collect you from the Barcelona Airport, and you will be lodged in a B&B in a small, quiet village on the border of Aragon and Catalunya. After one week, we will bring you back to the airport, full of impressions. During that time, everything has been arranged for you. Food, drinks, lodging, guiding and transport. We do have water and soda’s on board at all times, and we make frequent stops for coffee, tea and toilets.
Traveling and birdwatching during 8 days, 7 nights, while only taking one working week off. If you have more time to spend, you can even decide to add time in Barcelona.
Your guide, Robert de Groot, is a biologist with 40+ year experience in the field. He led several hundred excursions in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Kenya. He will put the birds in a perspective of ecology, landscape, evolution, history and behaviour
http://www.birdsnetherlands.nl/testimonials.htm
Saturday: Arrival at Airport BCN-El Prat. At 14.00 hrs. we meet one another. Depending on your flight at Barcelona El Prat, Terminal 1 (Vueling/Iberia) or T-2 (Transavia) for participants coming by plane. Groups of 4 can also be collected from Reus (Ryan)
For those that come by car or train; we have to make other appointments. After meeting one another we will drive past Tarragona and Hospitalet to the southwest.
Along the road we will make a few stops. and then cross the Ebro river …. without an engine?! We will certainly see the first species during this drive, but sometimes at speed on the motorway.
Just one hour after the crossing, we arrive at the lodging for the coming week. All nights will be spent in Casa Abellerol, the House of the Beeeater. Dinner will be served here. Quite likely, you got up early this morning, so we will make it a relaxed evening.
Sunday: Today we will visit the southern half of the Ebro delta. Via Horta de San Juan, we drive past Xerta and Tortosa to Amposta. This used to be a Roman port, and is now the entrance to the delta. The delta nowe stretches before us. Our travel takes us to Poble Nou and Eucaliptus. We will see a wide spectrum of waders, gulls and terns. Sandwich-, Little- and Gull-billed Tern, Slender-billed and Yellow-legged Gull, Collared Pratincole and Black-winged Stilt. We make a visit to the hut of Riet Vell, almost certainly bringing us species that are nearly unheard of in the UK: Purple Gallinule, Whiskered Tern and Night Heron.
After a picknick-lunch we will travel past the Tancada and Encanyissada lagoons. A fair chance that by then we have 7 different Heron species on the list for that day. Dinner in Casa Abellerol. A walk at dusk in the vicinity is always possible.
Monday: During the weekend this might be busy, but on Monday it is normally quiet near La Franqueta. Via Lledo we will use a narrow road to drive into the mountains of Els Ports. Birdwatching here is a mix of checking deep into the vegetation and keeping an eye out towards the skies. The deep gorges, huge cliff faces, without vegetation. They form a landscape that is like a 3-D textbook on geology.
In the forest one always sees some flowers, sometimes nice groupings of Orchids. When we have seen all the birds here, we can transfer to El Parissal. On the other hand, keeping your feet cool in the river for some time and watching through the telescope is not a real punishment. We will have a picknick, returning for drinks in Horta de San Juan or on our balcony. Dinner in Cretas, quite late; we’re in Spain. Returning in the dark we have a chance of Nightjar, Common- as well as Red-necked. We can also listen for them and Scops Owl. There is often a Fox, Genet, Hog, Roedeer that might cross our path.
Tuesday: Another day to the Ebro Delta, into the northern part. We will search and observe near rice paddies, swamps and salt water ponds. Again for herons: Grey-, Squacco-, Purple-, Night-Heron and three Egrets, Little-, Great and Cattle-. Audouins’-, Slender-billed-, Yellow-legged-, Black-headed-, both Black-backed- and Mediterranean Gulls, White-cheeked, Sandwich-, Little-, Whiskered- and even a small chance of Lesser Crested Tern. We will have lunch in Riumar on the boulevard, with Wagtails close by.
Hoopoe, waders in huge numbers of species and individuals. A well deserved meal of soup, tapas and other tidbits in Casa Abellerol.
Wednesday:
We have to be in Valderrobles at about 09.00hrs. There we will visit the vulture restaurant of Mas de Bunyol. An impressive sight to see tens, sometimes even up to 300 Griffon Vultures going for the offal. Egyptian Vulture, Raven, Cinereous Vulture (very rare) and Fox make it a real spectacle. After that we drive towards Beceite, looking for Dipper, Grey Wagtail, whitethroats and other warblers, three swift species, Crag Martin, Chough and Booted Eagle. A climbing road via Herbers and Monroyo we will be returning to Horta for drinks and dinner. Another chance for mammals staring into the headlights of the car. Return to sleep in Casa Abellerol.
Thursday:
Departure is scheduled at 06.00 hrs. We will visit Belchite, a day on the steppes and semi-desert. ‘Dry’ species like Short-toed- and Lesser Short-toed Lark, Stone Curlew, Sandgrouse, Iberian Grey Shrike and maybe, with some luck, Little Bustard and Dupont’s Lark. The first few hours we will be going towards El Planeron, and after a picknick lunch we will be going back via narrow roads, with frequent stops. We will also visit a dam near Alcañiz, which normally holds several species extra on the list of that day.
Friday:
A quiet day, close to the village. We will survey the shores of the Algars river, looking for something special. Color in the form of Hoopoe, Kingfisher, Beeeaters, Woodchat Shrike and Golden Oriole. The others have less color, the LBJ’s, but might be noisy: Waterrail, Great Reed Warbler or Cetti’s Warbler with its loud call. All those species as well as Short-toed and Bonelli’s Eagle nest in the valley. Picknick on our finca, dinner in the Casa.
Saturday:
Today, we leave early, at 07.00 hrs. Via Gandesa, Mora and Reus we drive through a nice landscape, past Montsant and the Priorat wine region to the motorway. It takes two and a half hours to reach the last spot to visit: A small wetland below the approach to the airport. Our last opportunity to add new species to the list: Penduline Tit, Tringa-, Charadrius- or Calidris waders. From here, it is just a few minutes to Terminal-1 or T-2 for your flight back. So we will be on the Barcelona El Prat (BCN) airport at 12.00 hrs.
You will then travel home, or into the centre of Barcelona. You can expect the trip report within a few days.
Intensity and focus:
This trip is not physically demanding to the participants. Walks of up to half an hour and an altitude difference of 100 meter as a guideline. Sometimes we rise early, or stay awake for a bit longer. The program is not cast in concrete; after everybody’s agreement, we can change it. Think weather, special requests or sudden appearance of vagrants. The trip is not especially aimed at bird-photography. There is ample opportunity, time in hides, and of course one can shoot ‘on the fly’. If, however, you book this as a private excursion, we can certainly change the program and its focus. Please do contact us about it, there are many other sights and sites around.
Children: The program is not fit for children younger than 12, or those that are not interested in birds or nature. Children that are younger can stay with you in Casa Abellerol provided: -An adult has to take care of them during the time we are birding, -they use not more than one room and -other participants agree.
Reporting: Each one week excursion gets its own report with, per day, list of speciest, relevante maps, and a site by site detailed description of what has been seen there. As examples see:
https://www.cloudbirders.com/tripreport/repository/FINCARAFIKI_07_2012.pdf
http://rafiki-birdwatching.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Rafiki-Birdwatching-Spring-Trip-to-NE-Spain.pdf
http://www.birdsnetherlands.nl/ovp13042016.pdf
Lodging: All nights at the same lodging, no packing and unpacking needed.
Costs (in euro) are based on two people sharing.
Additional rooms only if available.
Excursion will happen when at least two people have booked.
CASA ABELLEROL
Calle Nardia 5
Arens de Lledo, Spain
|
Number of participants in your party. |
Private |
1 Room,
but excursions possibly with others |
2 Room,
but excursions possibly with others |
3 Room,
but excursions possibly with others |
|
1 |
1600 |
800* |
n/a |
n/a |
|
2 |
2000 |
1500* |
1700* |
n/a |
|
3 |
2600 |
n/a |
2300* |
2600
no
others |
|
4 |
2800 |
n/a |
2800 |
3000
no others |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Child (up to age 12) extra** |
200 |
n/a |
200 |
200 |
* When agreeing to join other participants ** Only when enough rooms are available, child does not join on excursions
Email us for information and bookings
The trip includes: Transport and guiding during excursions, food, drinks, 7 nights of lodging, collect from and return to the Airport. This is also valid for children under the age of 12 (excluding the excursions).
Excluded are: alcoholic drinks, personal expenditure, flights to and from Barcelona. If you request we can arrange other activities for you as well. The activities are organised by third party and incur costs: Horseback riding, cultural excursions, canoe-, bicycle-, fishing- and canyoning trips.
Green Pledge1: Being a member of a society or club that promotes environmental- or nature protection, you are entitled to a 10 euro discount, families or groups 20 euro discount. Birdlife, National Heritage, membership of a local society are valid organisations. Hunting groups are not eligible, in case of doubt, please contact us first. Please bring proof, and we will return the discount to you in cash in Spain.
Green Pledge2: Part of the proceeds of each excursion week will be used to support bird friendly measures. 25 euros will be split equally: Half goes into the coffers of SEO, the Spanish partner of Birdlife International. The other half will be used to protect birds and nature in and near Arens de Lledo and to give information on environmental protection.
Organiser is
CASA ABELLEROL, FlevoBirdwatching is an intermediate
