Our wildlife photography holiday in Extremadura, Spain, is built around a private estate in the dehesa country west of Madrid. Over seven nights & six full days in the field, a recent group worked the hides, tracks, & water features across the property, coming away with strong portfolios of raptors, woodland species, & waterbirds.
The accommodation is a restored farmhouse on the estate itself, which means you can be in a hide within minutes of finishing breakfast. Single-occupancy rooms are included as standard. The surrounding dehesa landscape gives you clean, open backgrounds for flight photography, & the valley orientation means good light from both ends of the day as raptors move between roost sites.
The species list from this trip speaks for itself. Golden Eagles & Booted Eagles were photographed on multiple days, often at close range from the hides. Black & Griffon Vultures came through in large groups – sometimes fifty or more overhead at once. Red Kites & Buzzards were constant presences. At the woodland & waterside hides, Azure Magpies, Kingfishers, & Dartford Warblers provided opportunities for detailed perched portraits. A Fox & a Hare also made appearances in the scrubland beyond the hides.
Two sessions in the hydrohide are included on every trip. These put you at water level with species like Kingfisher & various waders, giving you that clean, eye-level angle with a blurred water foreground. It works well with a long lens for tight portraits, but some of the group also pulled back to wider focal lengths for environmental shots that show the bird in context.
The schedule is structured around the light. We are out early for the morning golden hour, back for a midday break when the light is flat, & out again for the afternoon session through to dusk. The images from this trip cover a good range – raptor flight shots, perched portraits of smaller species, & wider landscape frames that show the character of the Extremadura dehesa.
Join this Wildlife Photography Holiday in Extremadura in 2026
We are running this trip again in 2026. The estate gives us private access to hides & locations that are not available to the public, & the group size is kept small so everyone gets time in the best positions. Full details & dates are on the trip page.
Places are limited. Book your place here to join us in one of the richest raptor regions in Western Europe.
- 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.
