Spain's Coto Donana & Extremadura

 Mention the idea of a Spanish holiday and the mind seems automatically to fill with images of vast hotel conurbations, over-crowded beaches, phoney flamenco dancers and fake bullfights, which have all long been served up to visitors as if they were representative of Spain’s authentic national life. Somehow, our impression of the country finds it hard to escape these holiday brochure clichés. Yet, ironically, most of this large country remains unknown to foreigners. Even the Spanish themselves live largely near its long coastline, leaving the mountains and high rolling plateaux of the interior undeveloped and sparsely populated.

Partly for these reasons, Spain has some of the last true wilderness in western Europe and is the continent’s most important country for birds. It has, for example, a third of its Red Kites and Montagu’s Harriers; half of all its Cinereous, Griffon and Egyptian Vultures; three-quarters of the Booted and Bonelli’s Eagles and, not surprisingly, nearly all the world’s Spanish Imperial Eagles. For grassland birds it is outstanding, retaining probably more Great and Little Bustards than any other single country in Eurasia. Then there are a number of Mediterranean endemics — Red-necked Nightjar, Black Wheatear, Melodious Warbler, and Spotless Starling to name but a few — of which Spain holds major populations. And finally, there are birds that have just a toehold in the continent — Marbled Duck, White-headed Duck, Red-knobbed Coot and Purple Swamphen — which can only be seen in Europe in this exceptional country. This tour aims to find as wide a selection of these birds as possible, and to experience some of the diversity of Iberia’s magnificent scenery.

We begin our holiday with a flight to Seville and a drive through the cultivated lowlands of Andalucía, over the great Guadalquivir River and on to the Coto Doñana National Park, one of the finest wetlands in Europe. From our base in the small village of El Rocío, we will explore the mosaic of marshes, Stone Pine woodland, open heathland and sand dunes, in search of the park’s breeding and migrating birds. Flocks of Whiskered and Gull-billed Terns pick insects off the water’s surface, while Spoonbills, Little Egrets and Glossy Ibises feed in the shallows. Reedbeds hold Little Bittern, Purple Heron, Great Reed Warbler and Purple Swamphen, and other areas hold many of southern Spain’s specialities, among them Marbled Duck, Red-knobbed Coot, the rare Spanish Imperial Eagle and Red-necked Nightjar. We may also visit the marshes, saltpans and freshwater lagoons to the west of Doñana. Here, such Andalucian specialities as the rare White-headed Duck and Collared Pratincole can be seen, while the beaches to the south are noted for Audouin's Gull.

Following the best of the spring weather and bird migration, we head north for the second part of our tour, through rolling hills, olive groves and Cork Oak woodland, to the central plateau of Extremadura, where we find extensive sheep-grazed grasslands and Cork Oak forests known locally as ‘dehesa’. For the next four nights, we will be based near the beautiful medieval town of Trujillo, an ideal spot from which to explore the adjacent steppes and the magnificent Monfragüe National Park. Flocks of Lesser Kestrels and Pallid Swifts wheel around Trujillo’s beautifully preserved ancient churches, while White Storks peer down from their rooftop nests or clatter their bills to greet a returning mate. Our main goal, however, will be to witness one of the most exciting bird spectacles in Europe, the breeding display of the Great Bustard. During this, the males — among the world’s heaviest flying birds — convert themselves, by a series of bizarre distortions, into huge white balls of feathers that revolve slowly in an almost military step. While they look stately and dignified, the nearby Little Bustards perform an awkward, head-throwing action accompanied by a comical buzzing sound. The two species are certainly the star attractions of this region, but it offers far more besides, including many other grassland specialities such as Quail, Stone-curlew and both Pin-tailed and Black-bellied Sandgrouse. In the surrounding Cork Oak dehesa, we will look for Hoopoes, Iberian Magpies, Great Spotted Cuckoos, Woodchat Shrikes and Short-toed Treecreepers. Overhead we will keep an eye out for up to sixteen species of raptor, which should include the localised Black-winged Kite, Cinereous Vulture and Spanish Imperial Eagle. A day in Monfragüe National Park will produce further raptors, potentially including Golden Eagle, plus good chances of Black Stork, Blue Rock Thrush, Rock Bunting, and Western Orphean and Western Subalpine Warblers

The big skies and open landscapes of Extremadura, together with the exciting variety of special birds, never cease to impress even the most well-travelled naturalist, helping to make this locality perhaps the highlight of our springtime visit to Spain.