Following heavy rain in the night and the first few hours this morning, the sky suddenly brightened and I took Ellie the dog to Martinhal for a walk on the beach. We had only been walking a few minutes when the Osprey appeared, flying out to sea for a spell of fishing no doubt. Martinhal was where the recent Rose-coloured Starling was seen. I spent a while checking the starling flock, but only found 'our' spreckly Starlings with the Spotless Starlings. The noise from the Starlings seemed to attract a good few Azure-winged Magpies, looking on from the trees. The noise came to an abrupt halt when one of the Sagres Peregrines flew over! Back at the villa at lunch-time, it was starting to look like a raptor day as, in the back field, a pale Booted Eagle made a low pass. Soon to be followed by a Short-toed Eagle which performed some nice hovers, not too far away. By the time I reached Cabranosa, nine Egyptian Vultures had passed over together with 15 Short-toed Eagles and some Booted Eagles. The Short-toed Eagles remained in varying numbers, two Black Storks were seen and later, three were seen together. At least one Hobby and two Peregrines came through as well as this dark Common Buzzard. Two of the Black Storks, the lower one trailing some rubbish, presumably entangled on a foot. The highlight of the day came with a phone call from the watchers at the wind farm, saying that a flock of 37 Griffon Vultures was making its way towards Cabranosa. In due course they arrived, although staying a long way off. We heard that the flock actually held one Ruppell's Vulture so, as I counted each bird leaving in a line, I guess I saw the Ruppell's after a fashion!! Another phone call was received and, with the wind turbines shutdown, a flock of around 460 Griffons made their way towards us. First sighting of the huge flock. The Griffon Vultures although immense in size, were frequently lost in the clouds, indicating the height these birds were travelling at. A Black Stork (right) has joined the vulture flock, Booted and Short-toed Eagle were also up there. An incredible spectacle to see these magnificent raptors, effortlessly mastering the sky with rarely a wingbeat, yet covering an immense distance even as we watched them.
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