Spring Wildlife in Valencia

Tour Itinerary

• DAY 1: Arrival at Valencia airport.* Transfer to Villalonga and our comfortable hotel for the coming week.
  
  
• DAY 2: Pego marshes and San Antoni Cape
• Today will be spent exploring some local coastal sites, with seabirds, waders, waterbirds and some choice passerines very much our primary focus. At the coast, we will be looking for Balearic Shearwater and Audouin's Gull; inland, at the extensive reedbeds of the Pego Marshes, we will hope to encounter Little Bittern; Night, Purple and Squacco Herons; Black-winged Stilt; Whiskered Tern; iberiae Iberian Wagtail; resident Moustached Warbler at one of its best sites in mainland Spain; and newly returned migrant Savi's Warbler. In the afternoon, we turn our attention to the orchid prospects of the headland of Cabo de San Antoni, where we will be hunting for Sawfly, Woodcock and Giant Orchids. We may get distracted, however, by Black Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush and Pallid Swifts...

• DAY 3: El Fondo Natural Park and Salinas de Santa Pola
• Heading south of Alicante this morning, we'll explore the extensive wetlands of the area, starting at the Santa Pola Salinas which holds, in addition to thousands of Greater Flamingo, a good variety of waders and wildfowl, and gulls, in particular Slender-billed Gull. Such a magnet for birds means almost anything is possible here, so we'll keep our eyes peeled for something out of the ordinary. In the afternoon we'll visit the Natural Park of El Fondo, home to over 70 breeding pairs of White-headed Duck, some Red-knobbed Coots, and best of all, the rarest duck in Europe, Marbled Duck. This is probably the best site in Europe for seeing the latter species, and while we're watching that we may also notice our first early dragonflies, such as Lesser Emperor, Red-veined Darter, and Blue-tailed Damselfly.
• DAY 4: Clot de Galvany and Monnegre
• A mixed day today will pick up in the morning where we left off the previous day, in wetland habitat at the Clot de Galvany, a seasonal wetland that holds breeding White-headed Duck, Western Swamphen, and some quality passerines including Iberian Green Woodpecker and Iberian Grey Shrike, Dartford Warbler, and Sardinian Warbler. The afternoon, will mark a change of habitat as we head into the gorge of the Monnegre River. This rocky landscape boasts a very different array of birds, including a pair of magnificent Bonelli's Eagles, and a supporting cast of Black Wheatear, Rock Bunting, Crag Martin, Blue Rock Thrush, and Griffon Vulture. Peregrine and Red-billed Chough are, unsurprisingly in such an environment, distinct possibilities, and we'll also aim to find some of the small local population of Trumpeter Finches. Butterflies should be on the wing too, and we'd hope to see the likes of Provence Orange-tip, Lang’s Short-tailed Blue, Long-tailed Blue, Western Dappled White, and Bath White.
• DAY 5: Albufera de Valencia Natural Park
• Today will be spent exploring the extensive surroundings of Albufera de Valencia Natural Park, the third largest wetland in Spain. This area encompasses 14,000 hectares of paddyfields that are flooded throoughout the winter and drained from mid-Feburary onwards in preparation for rice-planting later in May. When we visit, in March, there are only a few flooded fields on the reserve that hold teeming masses of many thouands of Greater Flamingo, Glossy Ibis, and waders including Black-tailed Godwit, Ruff, and Golden Plover. In recent decades a small number of Black Stork have also opted to winter in the Natural Park, so we will keep our fingers crossed for a sighting of one or more of their number too. This many birds can only act like a magnet for birds of prey, so we'll be hoping for some encounters with Booted Eagle and Marsh Harrier at the very least.
• DAY 6: East Albacete
  

  Heading inland and away from the coast, we will spend today exploring the vast horizons of the steppes and temporary lagoons of East Albacete. This Special Protection Area retains a traditional farming approach, where some special birds continue to flourish - most notable of all is the mighty, 20kg+ Great Bustard, but we'll also hope for Stone Curlew, Lesser Kestrel, Rock Sparrow, and a bevy of lark species - Calandra, Short-toed and Thekla should all be found here. The steppes are studded with temporary lagoons of varying size and, on these, we'd hope to see still more White-headed Duck, Red-crested Pochard, Black-necked Grebe, and good numbers of refuelling northbound migrant waders.

• DAY 7: Vall d’Ebo
• Our final full day in this wonderful region of Spain will be largely devoted to orchids and butterflies - though we'll never stop looking for migrant birds, of course! In the beautiful Vall d'Ebo we will wander the abandoned valley terraces that usually support a good variety of orchids, including Naked Man Orchid, Orchis olbiensis, Neotinea conica, Ophrys dyris, and more besides. With any luck we'll bump into some attractive and intriguing orchid hybrids here! Butterfly possibilities here abound, and we might hope for Provence Hairstreak, Green Hairstreak, Adonis Blue, Spanish Festoon, and Iberian Scarce Swallowtail. Should the season be a little advanced, this will all take place to a backdrop of many hundreds of cherry trees in full blossom.
• DAY 8
  Return to Valencia airport, and tour concludes.
  Should time permit in the morning, we will visit some coastal marshes en route to the airport for one last chance at some new birds, or at the very least to renew our aquiantance with some favourites from the week just gone.

• As with all of our tours, we want our guests to enjoy the very best views of the very best wildlife and, as such, we think it’s important to retain a little flexibility in the holiday itinerary. This means that we may choose to swap days around to take into account local weather conditions, or the timing of the flight or flowering season we find upon arrival at our holiday destination. Rest assured, we will ensure you visit all the best sites, and we have your best interests and comfort at heart!

  *We’ll meet at the airport as this is a convenient travel hub for many. However, we appreciate that some guests may have chosen to come overland via rail to Valencia. The main railway station in town is Estació del Nord, and there is a frequent aerobus service linking the city centre with the airport.

  http://www.valencia-cityguide.com/tourist-information/transport/transport-from-the-airport-to-the-city.html