An early start with a 7.00am breakfast, prior to journey to Castro Verde and beyond.
A midway comfort stop saw me wandering off and watching the trip's first Iberian Shrike, which actually turned out to be the best views of one during the week. It flew up high onto a mast and joined a second bird. Back at the vans a couple of Woodlark were distant and a number of Red Kites and Ravens were seen later.
An urban street lined with Peruvian Peppertrees (??) was a known roost site for Long-eared Owls and it didn't take much looking to find three birds, the one pictured above being the most obliging.
Out in the open fields to the north saw the first quality birds in the shape of male Hen Harriers plus plenty of common birds in this habitat.
We stopped at the LPN headquarters, a conservation organisation, and scanned the surrounding area. A Little Owl was perched on some farm machinery, but played hide-and-seek for a while.
I managed to find the first group Little Bustards for the trip but they were very distant and presumably flushed by a raptor before dropping down out of sight. Not sure if anyone other than NM got on them.
Some more road/track side birding to the east of the town saw us catching up with the first Black-winged Kite of the trip - a species on my want list after last year's dip in Extramadura.
Next up was a Spanish Imperial Eagle although not everyone manage to connect with it but soon after another was seen by all. Finally, a few Black-bellied Sandgrouse flew over followed by a nice flock of Golden Plovers overhead.
Lunchtime had arrived and so we headed back to Helena's in Castro Verde for lunch.
The best lunch, possibly meal, of the whole trip with ridiculous amounts of food and wine - enough for three groups of hungry birders!!
We then headed off eastwards from Castro Verde to see what we could find elsewhere. Highlights were four flocks of Little Bustards, two or three Spanish Imperial Eagles including a juvenile I picked up flying in low behind us and which perched in a tree, two Merlins, two or three adult male Hen Harriers, two more Black-winged Kites, small flocks of Black-bellied Sandgrouse and more flocks of Calandra Larks.
Finally, we drove to a little chapel (Ermida de Nossa Senhora de Aracelis) on a hill with a huge vista spreading out in all directions. NM found three incredibly distant Common Cranes but luckily a group of 41 flew past below us calling as they went. And lastly, NM located a mixed group of Great and Little Bustards, the former the only ones of the trip. On the downside they were the most distant bustards I've ever seen, tiny images even through a scope!!
