Two days earlier, I was told about the presence of a Bluethroat at the Torrox Lagoon! We are having a very rainy period in the south of Spain, so I had to wait until today to go out birdwatching in order to try to catch a glimpse of that spectacular bird. I had planned to go for a quick walk around the whole lagoon before I would arrive at the point where the bird had been seen, the exact same place where I had seen it last year! However, in the end the whole walk took me more than three hours. It was amazing how many birds I spotted, over forty different species!
After an absence of several months, the gulls seem to have taken back control over one of the halves of the lagoon. I saw hundreds of them, in the air as well as on the water.
There were also dozens of Cormorants and a flock of Storks, around ninety individuals strong.
Around the lagoon there is also a colony of feral cats. Beautiful creatures, no doubt, but of course they shouldn't be here as they capture and kill many birds. Unfortunately a lot of ignorant people come to feed them.
As I was approaching the place where I expected to see the Bluethroat, my attention was called by a brownish ball in the grass. The last time I had seen a hedgehog must have been fifteen years ago, what a beauty!
The little animal was dangerously close to an artificial pit, so I picked it up and put it on the ground fifty metres further. Hedgehogs don't have a very good sight so the risk of falling into the pit was quite high.
After more than two hours watching a lot of interesting birds, I arrived at the spot where Celia had seen the Bluethroat. I lay down flat on the grass with my camera ready looking towards the place where I had seen it last year. After barely one minute I saw a little bird cheerfully moving its tail while hopping through the grass!
It wasn't until it turned around and displayed its amazing blue colours that I was 100% sure. What a spectacular bird! I soon realised that there were even two of them!
The two birds weren't bothered by my presence at all. As I was lying down on the grass, I was hoping for them to come closer to me to take better photos. I spotted a Robin, two Blackbirds and a White Wagtail, all in the same place and only twenty metres away.
I got so busy taking photos of the other birds that I lost the Bluethroats out of sight! But all of a sudden one of them reappeared, at less than ten metres to my right. I had to turn ninety degrees and change the settings on my lens because it was so close. I then fired away and took some really amazing shots.
After five minutes I continued walking and ran into the second Bluethroat. Again another opportunity to take some amazing photos. I later found out that this little bird had been ringed in Arnhem, Holland, as I could read parts of the code on its ring. A trip of more than 2,000 kilometres for such a tiny bird, simply stunning!
I felt sorry when I walked away from the bird, but I knew I wouldn't be able to take better photos than the ones I had. And still I hadn't run out of luck, because two hundred metres further, as I was again lying down flat on the track to photograph a White Wagtail, I spotted a Wryneck that had landed to snatch some insects.
The Wryneck finally flew off because a jogger had come too close. It was the first person I had seen in more than half an hour, which is very unusual for this place in the afternoon. Most people were at home awaiting the kick-off of the Spanish national football team's match at the World Cup in Qatar. A perfect chance for me to go and lie down undisturbedly in the middle of the track. Unfortunately Spain were eliminated.
After more than three hours and with over 800 photos taken, it was time to head back home, extremely satisfied after one of the best visits to this place.
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