Spain Field Trip – March 2019
In my second year of University, I was lucky enough to take part in a field trip to the South of Spain for 1 week to visit many reserves and areas of conservation interest. Originally, I chose this trip because it was the cheapest of the field trips and it seemed like it would be a nice experience. However, looking back I am extremely glad that this was the trip I chose as, not only did I make some amazing friends, I was also inspired by what we saw there.
We began our journey by travelling from Málaga to El Rocío on the south west coast, where we stayed next to Doñana National Park. On the 2nd day we travelled to two nature reserves that specialised in water-bird conservation and thus began my newfound fascination. During the trip we carried with us field notebooks to draw and note any animals we came across. I thoroughly enjoyed trying to determine what species of bird we were seeing and after a few days being able to recognise the common birds from a distance gave an enlightened feeling.
On the 3rd day we had a safari through some areas of Doñana National Park where we were hoping to spot a Lynx. Unfortunately, we did not spot any. However, we saw many raptors including many red kites and some Griffon Vultures, identified by our guides with scopes as they were too far away for us to identify with binoculars alone.
On the 4th day, we travelled further south, to Cádiz and Tarifa and explored the towns before travelling to Huerta Grande, our second stay. In the evenings we explored the area looking for amphibians or lizards, and during the days we travelled to more parks and reserves. On day 5, we travelled to Baelo Claudia, the ruins of an ancient Roman town, and amongst the forest to the side we looked for the Mediterranean Chameleon, Chamaeleo chamaeleon, and we found one!
On the 6th day we visited Gibraltar. We saw many Barbary Macaques but were bewildered as to how the locals chose to treat them in relation to tourism. Local guides would tempt an individual onto the head or shoulders of a tourist and would threaten to beat the macaque once the photo had been taken. Though this was reported to the staff, it seemed to be a common occurrence.
This trip was an eye-opening experience for me and one I’m so grateful to have been able to take part in. It has inspired me to try and pursue a career in Ornithology and I hope one day that dream will become reality!
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