Army Ornithological SocietyGibraltar Ringer 5
It had to happen - the weather has turned and so last night we decided to go into Spain for some inland ringing this morning. Two and a half hours in the queue to cross the border did nothing for our collective sense of humour but fish and chips collected and eaten at the home of John Hale in Malaga Province managed to restore spirits...and a few beers. Mark Cutts and I stayed with John overnight and severely dented his beer stocks while Julia and Robin overnighted around the corner at their house in Casares. By the time we had opened 13 nets in John's 14 acre garden we had still no idea of the landscape but as dawn broke, a fantastic panorama of rocky hills and scrubland opened before us. Lesser Kestrel and Blue Rock Thrush were overtaken in interest by low flying Griffon Vultures (pictured) and then by large flocks of feeding Crag Martins with the occasional Red-rumped Swallow and House Martin.
Despite rain overnight, bird numbers were down this morning again, mostly due to the westerly wind but the pleasure of walking through such interesting countryside, compensated. A new bird was Cetti's Warbler, common enough in the UK but we were never going to ring it on Gibraltar. A retrapped Cetti's was ringed by Julia 10 days previously. We left John in his idyllic surroundings to return to the Rock and check that our furled nets remained so.
Tony Giles | 2nd Oct 2013 01:16 PM
So much for not drinking Roger 😉