Wallcreepers & Cranes in Northern Spain

Laguna de Gallocanta is a giant saltpan, the largest natural lagoon in the Iberian peninsula. It lies in a vast, shallow depression surrounded by distant hills and, although its water levels are dependent on regular seasonal rainfall, at the time of our visit it is to be hoped that winter rains will have replenished them. Gallocanta attracts the greatest concentration of Common Cranes in western Europe. The largest numbers, 20,000-50,000, come through on passage, but increasing numbers are staying to winter here. Our February visit is timed to coincide with the more concentrated spring migration when the largest concentrations are generally to be found, prior to the Cranes’ northbound migration over the Pyrenees to their breeding grounds in northern Europe. Water levels permitting, Gallocanta can also sometimes host good numbers of wintering duck and other waterbirds. The area also supports a variety of wintering birds of prey, amongst them Hen and Marsh Harriers, Red Kites, Peregrines and Merlins. Great Bustards breed in this area and although the majority leave in winter, a few individuals are sometimes still present at the time of our visit.

The high páramo, or steppe, surrounding the lake is also attractive to birds. Here, Black-bellied Sandgrouse and such lark species as Calandra, Lesser Short-toed, Crested and Thekla Larks as well as many wintering Skylark may all be found. However, for the best steppe habitat we will spend some time during our transfer day around Belchite. Here, 40,000 hectares of steppe habitat — including within it the Sociedad Española de Ornitología’s (SEO) 645-hectare El Planerón nature reserve, part-funded by proceeds from the 1992 British Birdwatching Fair — present the best habitat of its type in northern Spain. This windswept, arid land of dusty, red, scrub-covered plains and eroded plateaux, more reminiscent of Morocco or Afghanistan than western Europe, holds large percentages of the Spanish populations of Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Lesser Shorttoed Lark and the elusive and enigmatic Dupont’s Lark.

Just a few hours away, to the north of Zaragoza, lies a very different ‘avian hotspot’. As any map of Spain will indicate, the Sierra de Guara, protected as a parque natural since 1990, is one of the quietest of regions in the Spanish Pyrenees and its outlying foothills. On its rolling lower slopes, a pretty patchwork of oak woods, almond orchards, olive groves and small, irregular wheat fields, traditionally farmed, is to be found. Attractive, limestone villages and their splendid churches ride the flanks of the sierra; their populations, like virtually all in rural Spain, are dwindling today and allowing nature back in. Above them lies a rugged land, clothed in stunted oak forest and maquis scrub and noted for its numerous gorges and canyons, and spectacular cliffs, columns and pinnacles fashioned from limestone and conglomerate. In high summer the region attracts French ‘canyoners’; during the colder months this magnificent landscape becomes the winter capital of Spain’s Wallcreepers! It is also a land favoured by Lammergeiers, huge numbers of Griffon Vultures, Golden Eagles, and the occasional Bonelli’s Eagle, Hen Harrier or Peregrine.

This 2-centre holiday is designed to offer the best of these two magnificent regions. At the Laguna de Gallocanta, we stay in a hotel that commands magnificent views over the entire lake. The movements of Cranes at dawn and dusk are spectacular, and will be a highlight of the tour, but for the cultural buffs, so too will be a visit to the nearby 8th century walled town of Daroca. Then, in the Sierra de Guara, we will be based in or very close to the magical fortress town of Alquézar, built around a spectacular 8th century Moorish citadel which sits on a pinnacle above the gorge of the Río Vero. This quaint and ancient town, with its narrow streets, sits like an eagle’s eyrie on a shoulder of the Sierra, the impressive cliffs that surround it a haven for wintering Wallcreepers. From this base, we will explore the slopes of the Sierra, where Lammergeiers and Wallcreepers will be foremost amongst our target species, and we will visit the Embalse de la Sotonera, a reservoir that attracts thousands of Cranes each spring as they make a final stop to rest and feed before crossing the Pyrenees.