Like John & George, whose images we published recently, Tim was another of the guests that joined me & Dan for the Spanish Wildlife & Birdlife of Toledo Photography Holiday during July of Summer 2019 – as you will see further down, Tim has a bit more of a ‘raptor thing’ going on, with the harriers, he’s my sort of chap! He did, however, capture some images of some rather splendid other species, including the hare at the top of this blog posting!
One of the species that was really seeing some action in the mid-part of the week, meaning that I sadly missed it, that was the European Roller, there are a trio of hides at El Taray for this species, however European Roller also frequents the water holes, bathing to remove the sand & dust from their feathers.
It is also not uncommon to find European Rollers causing grief & hassle to other species, the Lesser Kestrels appear to be a favourite target, with the Rollers frequently buzzing the farm buildings that house the Lesser Kestrel colony, this rattles the parents, in turn causing uplift of them from the roof & inevitable conflict. In the second image above, you can see how small the Lesser Kestrel is, compared to a European Roller.
What arrives at the water holes spread across the estate is always a surprise, although sometimes the quantity in which they come makes for an amusing image – assuming the birds have a degree of coordination – which the group of Spanish Sparrows shown above certainly did!
Now, the raptors, Tim spent several sessions in the general raptor hides & also those dedicated to the harriers, resulting in some fabulous images of the various harriers of the estate. Specifically, at the dedicated harrier hide, many types of interaction can be observed & photographed, during a session, one or two of the bolder birds will come into the perches, but shortly after, several more will arrive, & in typical fashion, fighting for the food on offer will begin, with birds mobbing one & other, approaching with wings out-stretched to intimidate one & other or simply launching themselves at one & other. The dedicated harrier hide is a hide that rarely sees little action.
Being relatively large birds, the harriers are slower than some on their approach to land on the outcrops or the perches, meaning that impressive imagery can be captured with their wings at full stretch for landing.
As I have said previously, in my opinion, this Lesser Kestrel colony in Toledo is unbeatable, the sheer number of birds, the quality of the hides, the constant action, the ability to have perches moved & hides altered, makes it pretty much without parallel.
Tim visited the hides that look out onto the Lesser Kestrel colony a number of times, the hides are at roof level; there is a pair, one of the hides looks down a lengthy side-building, the other looks out onto a face-on roof literally a few feet in front of you, for this reason alone, two visits are highly recommended, plus there are bathing pools in a rocky outcrop & perches that the adult birds make use of.
As I mentioned in previous blog posts, the hoopoe was ramping up in activity just as I was leaving mid-way through the week, so I missed a great series of opportunities – I will likely return in Summer 2020 to try my luck again. However, Tim took advantage of these opportunities & captured some lovely images; the image of one of the adult birds feeding a young hoopoe is especially strong.
As we near the end of this fantastic set of images; above, we have a pair of images of the beautiful Iberian Hares, that at the time of year that we visited seemed to be everywhere on the vast estate & made themselves known at the water holes, presenting some beautiful opportunities in soft light with a muted background that makes this mammal look strong. Finally, below we have a trio of images of the Stone Curlew which put on a real show for each guest that used the hides which overlooked this water hole. The visits of the Stone Curlews presented our guests with opportunities to capture images of the birds drinking, bathing & more.
- NaturesLens wildlife photography holidays are structured around photographic opportunity — every schedule decision is made around light, behaviour, & access.
- Small groups of 4–8 photographers ensure unhurried positions & individual guidance.
- Single occupancy accommodation is included as standard across the majority of our trips.
