A weekend in Valencia

Every December we flee these sceptred shores and head off for a warmer weekend. This time it was Valencia that had the dubious pleasure of our attentions. Not having much time we didn't head for the wetlands of S'Albufera but stayed in the city itself. So, a mix of great architecture (ancient and modern), delicious food, including Paella of course, a bit of culture and shopping and of course a little birding...

Our birding was confined to the amazing park that runs the whole length (11 kilometres) of the city, following the course of a dried-up river bed, the Jardins de Turia as well as the Jardins de Real.

Apart from the ubiquitous Collared Doves, the first birds that caught our eyes were the Monk Parakeets. You don't even have to go into the gardens to see these, they build their nests in Palm trees on the road.

The commonest birds in the park had to be Chiffchaffs, there were hundreds of them, often hunting in small flocks, sometimes mixed with Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits.

The only other warblers we saw were Sardinian Warblers - very elusive, and Blackcaps.

Another of the star birds were Black Redstarts - very common and quite confiding.

From an architectural point of view, the City of Arts and Sciences is fantastic, it looks like a crashed alien spaceship ;-)

Off to one side is this peculiar structure full of Palms...

Which happens to be full of birds, Spotless Starlings, ordinary Starlings, Collared Doves, House Sparrows, Blackcaps and Sardinian Warblers.

Spotless Starling

The chlorinated pools had a small group of Yellow-legged Gulls having a vigorous wash

We walked right to the end of the park where the river restarts. There's a small visible part of it (you have to stand in a urine reeking clearing, it seems to be a favourite "comfort stop" for cyclists) which held a couple of surprises.

Unfortunately I missed the Kingfisher which flew past as I was taking pics of the Sandpiper.

One of the big surprises were the Parrots. I expected to see Monk and Rose-ringed Parakeets and did, but what are these doing here, there were flocks of them!

On our last day we went to the Jardins de Real. Erica was entranced by the small aviary and the chance to take pictures of birds that couldn't hide ;-)

I was much more interested by the Short-toed Treecreeper on a tree next to the cage.

Not to mention some very familiar Parakeets - some of which kept landing on top of the aviary and seemed to be trying to break in!!

The only birds of prey we saw were Kestrels, this one seems to be doing its bit for city pest control...

The best bird saved itself until we were leaving. We were photographing a mixed flock of Chaffinches and House Sparrows when I hissed to Erica, "Don't move, Hoopoe".

A great trip and a very lovely city. Unlike Barcelona, it's not overrun with tourists and the parks are wonderful.

For completeness we also saw: Grey Heron, Crag Martins, Greenfinch and a lot of Blackbirds. Next time we go there we'll head for the beach and the wetlands :-)