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Portugal Trip - Day 6 - Spain

Last night's camp just kept on giving and, this morning, I enjoyed some splendid bird-dawdling before reluctantly leaving. Sightings there included a hoopoe in full song.

As intimated yesterday, I realised had to pay more attention to wife-collection duties today, and so, covering ground wifewards has pretty much been today's calling. I have, though, mixed the necessary driving up to include lots of really quiet back roads. I also had another extended lunch in what turned out to be a cracking (if initially desperately unprepossessing) spot comprising a bit of abandoned / derelict road and more than the odd example of gaily abandoned human faeces (not terribly uncommon in Spain).

Additions to the species (NB not faeces) list include: booted eagle, glossy ibis, Montagu's harrier, fan-tailed warbler, short-toed treecreeper, serin, alpine swift, crag martin, and bee-eater. I also had my first visual of the year on a cuckoo.

Tonight's intended overnighting spot was picked totally at random and was chanced upon literally 30 seconds after I'd decided it was probably about time to start looking out for a promising track. In the same way that some days it can be awkward, on other days it just works out!

It's an interesting spot overlooking maquis scrubland (pic) and I spent a couple of hours on the cab just gazing out in the warm evening sunshine. 

I haven't seen any 'new' birds here, but have spotted roe deer skulking about in the shrubs and - to my genuine amazement - I also caught a ten-or-so second glimpse of an Egyptian mongoose! I thought - at first - I'd spotted a beech marten but the shape and movement looked all wrong and I also noted the animal I was looking at had a far too long and slender tail for a beech marten; plus the tail ended in in a distinctive black tip. A little help from Mr Google and the ID was sorted.

When you do stuff...

This post was composed at 22:15 on Friday 28th March from my intended overnighting spot N 37.80416°, W 06.76634° / http://maps.google.com/maps?q=loc:37.80416%2C-06.766