Tinença de Benifassà Natural Park provided red-backed shrikes, ortolan buntings, stock dove, rufous-tailed rock-thrush, tawny pipits — all localized breeders in the region — and a handful of picturesque villages.

A highlight of a recent trip to Somiedo was Saliencia lakes. The incredible montane landscape offered great views of breeding water pipits, rufous-tailed rock-thrushes, Egyptian vultures and Alpine choughs.

Southern Cádiz ensures top-class birding. Local specialties such as house swift and northern bald ibis were combined with migratory birds such as ortolan bunting in La Janda or puffins and poms in Tarifa.

Ceuta hosts different North African birds: African chaffinch and blue-tit, common bulbul, Levaillant’s woodpecker, long-legged buzzard, house bunting, black-crowned tchagra, Maghreb owl and Barbary partridge.

The enigmatic Dupont’s lark is extremely range-restricted in our region. Some friends and I try to track down them at their habitat, and end up having a fantastic migration day with 13 raptor species seen.

September brought the opportunity to look for long-awaited species: dotterel and northern bald ibis. Bee-eaters, wheatears, flycatchers, honey-buzzards, and whinchats showed up everywhere.