This was my second visit to the estate of El Taray, but the first time I have visited during winter. The contrast was fantastic with temperatures exceeding 35C in summer, but now, in winter we were looking at sub-zero misty mornings. The summer migrants have gone, but the raptors have swelled in numbers & the bearded tits are making use of the food on offer – if anything, winter makes the setting even more impressive!
During early-November 2019, after our Polar Bear trip & before I headed out to Costa Rica to run multiple trips back to back,I headed to Toledo in Spain, to the estate of El Taray, this is the estate that is our base for our summer trips that encompass a massive variety of species & also the Winter Birds of El Taray photography holiday – the estate at this time of year is a real mine of gold for those raptor loving photographers. During winter the number of harriers present on the estate increases & several other species become bolder or make use of El Taray to spend winter upon – it is not only raptors that make use of the estate, there are impressive starling murmurations – that have to be witnessed to be believed – & a large population of cranes also make use of the pools of El Taray, which of course have hides strategically positioned in adjacent positions.
This was my first visit to the hide network that David had spent a year raving about; this hide network facilitates photography of the wildlife of the estate of El Taray & I was blown away by the accommodation, the setting & the wildlife.
Graham was one of the group of guests that joined me & Dan in Spain during July 2019, to photograph the fabulous Wildlife & Birdlife of the estate of El Taray – we had a superb group of guests join us, who were a lot of fun, totally engaged & there to make the most of the week of photographic opportunities; along with the superb organisation skills of our hosts, this made for a most enjoyable time.
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 Trip 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!
John’s images of the Spanish birdlife & wildlife shows the enormous variety of species to be seen & images to be captured. For sure, favourite species do get photographed by the group as a whole, such as the hoopoe. But as a group, our guests found enough variety on this trip to add to their portfolio without overlapping with one & other, thanks to the widespread network of hides across the estate of El Taray.
When I first visited the estate of El Taray that we would use for our Spanish Birdlife of Toledo Photography Trip during the summer of 2018, I knew that this was going to be something extraordinary indeed. The estate owner, an ex-hunter, had dedicated himself, along with his collaborative partner, entirely to the project & were already a long way to establishing what looked to be one of, if not the best-equipped hide network that I had seen in Spain, if not worldwide! The attention to detail was meticulous. Camilo, having swapped his gun for a camera, wanted every shot to be perfect. In this task, the pair have primarily achieved their aim, with only nature set to thwart them once or twice!
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