And so to El Rocio

We drove for four hours south and west of the Quadalquivir to the quaint town of El Rocio.  With its sand roads and hitching rails in front of houses it reminds one of a Mexican town in a Hollywood western.  Each spring thousands of pilgrims assemble here for a religious festival which includes a drive on mule drawn wagons and horseback.

The Church and lagoon at El Rocio

The lagoon alongside the town is normally good for birds and we found Greater Flamingos, White Storks, Spoonbills and Whiskered Terns.  We stayed in a small hostal on the edge of town and first explored the marshes at El Rocina and Acebouche.  Birds were hard to find at both places but we did locate singing Savi's Warblers as well as Red-crested Pochards and Purple Swamphen.

Purple Swamphen

We decided to spend our first two full days out by the Valverde Visitor Centre where there are always plenty of birds.  It requires a drive of the best part of 30 kilometres over gravel roads but this is easily achievable and the outcome spectacular.  After passing through acres of agricultural land you soon reach lagoons with reedbeds and large tracts of saltings.  Large numbers of Great Crested Grebes with large young were everywhere and hundreds of heron species were flying backwards and forwards with food to the large heronry behind the Visitor Centre.

Cattle Egret

Night Heron

Little Egret

Squacco Heron

In addition to the species pictured above there are Purple Herons nesting in the reeds rather than the tamarisks and Little Bitterns which are seldom seen for long.  The most impressive of all though are the large numbers of Glossy Ibises.  There were none less than ten years ago but now 5,000 pairs in the whole Park.  They increase year on year and the invasion of the UK by this species in 2010 contained birds from this site.  We also learnt of an unconfirmed report of two birds from here being found in Cuba.  That is extraordinary.

Glossy Ibis

After a snack and coffee we took to the vehicle again and started a drive around the tracks within the reserve.  We stopped by a bridge for great views of Great Reed Warbler and heard another Savi's Warbler.  Moving on a Black Stork flew up from a smal marsh and suddenly on the road we were confronted by wonderful Collared Pratincoles.  They were very active and together with Black-winged Stilts were endlessley mobbing the many Black Kites trying to get their young.

Collared Pratincole

Most of what we were seeing were herons and ibises but large groups of Spoonbills were also feeding here together with good numbers of Black-tailed Godwits.  The terrain is very flat here and as well as the birds is grazed by horses and cattle.

Donana Marshes

Good numbers of Whiskered Terns were hunting the area and one or two Gull-billed Terns put in an occasional appearance.  Raptors were also evident with Black Kites everywhere.  Once a Red Kite turned up and engaged in a bitter dogfight with the Blacks.  Short-toed Eagle, Montagu's Harrier and Kestrel were also found. Returning home in the dusk a Red-necked Nightjar flew across the road.

Red & Black Kite

Our third day was to be a bit special.  David Hosking's father Eric had been part of the expedition in 1956 which came to the Coto Donana as an expedition.  This group included Max Nicholson, Guy Mountford, Julian Huxley, Field Marshall Allanbrooke, James Ferguson-Lees etc.  This party working with Valverde and other local ornithologists were instrumental in persuading the Spanish Government to set up the National Park.  This morning we had been invited to the Palacio now a Research Station for a visit.  We were met by Fernando, Hector and Raphael three key staff members and the subject immediately turned to photographs.  Entering the Palacio itself we were astonished to find many of Eric's original photographs framed on the walls.  They mostly appeared in the book of the expedition "Portrait of a Wilderness" written by Guy Mountford.

Fernando, David & Hector

We also enjoyed a tour of the habitats here and saw large colonies of Bee-eaters, another Spanish Imperial Eagle but the undoubted highlight was being taken to an area of 400 year old oaks where there is a colony of 1,000 pairs of Spoonbills.  An amazing sight but Fernando is so worried about the future of the ancient trees which will surely perish quite soon.



Spoonbill Colony



Eurasian Spoonbill nesting


What a great finale to our trip and an emotional experience for David.  Eric Hosking was one of the true pioneers of wildlife photography and in 1956 David reflected that he would have been in his peak.  The Spaniards still look upon that expedition as being iconic because that effort produced a most wonderful National Park.