Guadalupe was interesting with a walking trail around town that amongst the old buildings seemed to take in every city wall gate (3 of them), fountain (I lost count) and some very old streets. We then drove up a rough road to the highest point in the range of mountains and a radar station. We saw Wren, Robin and Rock Buntings near the top and I heard and glimpsed a Chough on getting out of the car at the summit but it disappeared. A male Rock Thrush did a better flyby and a range of hirundines appeared to be finding some food. driving back down to the main road we walked along a track through scrub and forest seeing Crested Tit and Short-toed Treecreeper.
Back at Trujillo Megan wanted to do some final shopping and I dropped her at the supermarket before heading out onto the Belen plains. I wasn't seeing much and the road deteriorated so I was decided to turn back but a final scan of a very large field revealed 17 Great Bustards. While watching these a Little Bustard flew over and I also saw 5 Bee-eaters and 2 Calandra Larks, the latter really are a very distinctive long-winged shape.
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| Stone Curlew north of Trujillo |
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| Azure-winged Magpie, this one only stayed still enough for a couple of images |
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| Southern Grey Shrike |
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| this one was even worse |
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| Booted Eagle |
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| Megan in one of Guadalupe's oldest streets |
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| Guadalupe monastery |
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| a modern narrow street |
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| view from the radar station |
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| Guadalupe in the far distance |
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| view north from near the sumit |
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| scrub and forest on the lower slopes |
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| Guadalupe from afar |
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| Great Bustards on the Belen Plains |
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| Bee-eater at Belen |
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| stunning even with the light fading |
Wednesday 23 April. Our last day and we planned on leaving our apartment at about 10:00. This gave me a last chance to visit the grasslands north of Trujillo. I timed it better, to arrive at dawn and saw a distant Great Bustard, closer male Little Bustard, Montagu's Harrier, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Calandra Lark and 11 Azure-winged Magpies. A worthwhile couple of hours. we left Apartmentos Aquillo and Trujillo with some sadness, it had been an excellent base for a thoroughly enjoyable week. We drove north to Arroyocampo Reservoir where we walked to some hides. By now it was approaching mid-day and not a lot was showing although we did see Little Bittern, Purple Heron, Purple Swamphen, Black-winged Stilt, Gull-billed Tern and another Great Spotted Cuckoo. We drove back to Madrid encountering no holdups at all. I saw a monk Parakeet while filling the car with petrol prior to returning it. We checked in an hour early and our easyJet flight left on time. Two hours later we were back at Gatwick. I was surprised how nice Extremadura was, despite Paul James having told me a few years ago. until then I'd not even heard of it. It is hard to imagine a better place to go birding that is two hours flying and three hours driving from a UK airport, and Megan liked it a lot too.
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| Great Spotted Cuckoo north of Trujillo, a better view but still rather distant |
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| Southern Grey Shrikes were no more obliging |
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| Little Bustard north of Trujillo |
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| Gull-billed Tern at Arroyocampo |
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| Purple Heron, always turning its head at the wrong moment |
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| finally a Southern Grey Shrike that behaved |
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| a rather smart bird when it did |
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| one of the hides at Arroyocampo. This one had more birds on it than from it |
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| although sometimes you can get too close! |
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| Great Spotted Cuckoo at Arroyocampo |
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| a nice bird to finish the trip with |
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