
I am going to concentrate on Olvera and the immediate surroundings from the Peñón de Zaframagón to our friends’ pottery just to the south of Olvera. As the summer comes to a close I am wondering where our Lesser Kestrels are by now as they left Olvera at the start of August and will not return until the spring. They nest in the walls of the church and castle and you can see them whilst you are having some tapas in the bar behind the church, or the ones at the side of the Peñón by the market. Café con leche and a mollete with aceite and tomate as the Lesser Kestrels fly over your heads or at eye level, what more could you ask for? We have had a White Stork around the church a few times this summer which could be checking out whether here would be a good nest site for next year. We will have to wait and see.

The most important site close to Olvera is The Peñón de Zaframagón, one of the largest Griffon Vulture colonies in Europe and home to a pair of Bonelli’s Eagle. The Griffons are present all year round along with Jackdaw and Spotless Starling (very clean birds) but during the summer their numbers are swollen by Egyptian Vulture and Alpine Swift. The Peñón de Zaframagón is about 10km from Olvera by road or 15km if you walk along the Via Verde (walking and cycling route) from Olvera. From the viaduct which is at the front of the Peñón you look up through the gorge to the east side where most of the nests are to be found. As you stand on the viaduct the Vultures fly over your head and then go off to find some food for their chicks. In the visitors centre you can watch live views of the nests in the spring and recorded highlights the rest of the year, at a small cost of 1€, expensive for me though as I visit so much to see what they have recorded since the last time I was there!
I have also seen Crested Tit, Cirl Bunting, Chough and Bee-eater. One day last winter I was walking towards the visitors centre from the viaduct and a weasel ran out in front of me heading towards a small bush at the side of the track. It stopped and looked at me for a moment then ran under the bush. A second or so later it ran back out from the other side of the bush behind me and back to the other side of the track.

Last winter the river changed its course and they now have a ravine running through the middle of their field which was good for me as this year we had a pair of Little Ringed Plover nesting on the river bank and I spent some time watching the parent bird doing it’s “chase me as I have an injured wing” bit. The banks are now steep and sandy; a great place for the Bee-eater to nest which they did (I spent a long time in a sweaty hide but no photos and as you have guessed as soon as I left the hide they flew straight into the nest hole! Better luck next year).


Frank Hair – ABS member
www.birdinginspain.co.uk
www.birdinginspain.co.uk