On a rainy afternoon we found ourselves reminiscing about our superb trip to beautiful Doñana earlier this year, in all its wintery wonder! It was perhaps the perfect antidote for our guests that week for their Northern European January.
Thousands of wintering waders, wildfowl and wetland birds filled the lagoons, ponds and saltpans, including Red-knobbed Coot, Marbled Duck, White-headed Duck, Black-winged Stilt, Little Stint, Caspian Terns, Slender-billed Gulls, Common Ringed, Little Ringed, Grey and Kentish Plover, Black-crowned Night Herons, White and Black Storks, Common Cranes, Glossy Ibis, Greater Flamingoes and Purple Swamphens.
As well as treats like showy Bluethroats, Little Swifts, Eurasian Hoopoes, Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, Black-winged Kites, Booted Eagles, Iberian Grey Shrikes and a sneaky Lesser Flamingo, the group were lucky enough to encounter both of Doñana’s most famed Iberian endemics. In two wholly different experiences we shared the briefest of moments with an evaporating Iberian Lynx – soon followed by outstanding views of no less than SIX Spanish Imperial Eagles!
It is hard to know how we packed so much into just five days!
But we did, and we still had plenty of time to enjoy every species at a relaxed pace, sample sustainably-produced local food during picnics in the sun, and get to know the sandy streets and bar-side hitching posts of El Rocío.
You can read more on the tour page and in our trip report about the fantastic wildlife of Doñana.
As the world starts to think about arriving to a brave “new normal”, we all need something to look forward to. As well as thinking back, we’re looking forward to seeing you in the future, and we’re currently taking no-obligation, flexible bookings on this and other trips for 2020 and 2021.
