Lleida Steppe

Lleida is a birder's paradise. It's a world away from the coastal marshes of the delta. It's much drier with some really interesting habitat and birds. The most important is the actual steppe habitat which is low-lying dry grassland and scrub. Nowadays it is integrated with rather intensive agriculture, but there are several zones which are managed for wildlife. As well as this, there are a few lakes and reservoirs, some rocky slopes which support the likes of Eagle Owl & Black Wheatear, and copses of woodland, to name but a few habitats. 

Typical Lleida steppe: dry, flat with short grass and some scrub

Ideal Little Bustard habitat! It seems that wherever there are red poppies there are bustards! The farming influence is apparent here but it does the job.

After some research online I decided to try Lleida on the 1st of May, after receiving some fantastic advice from Sergio Hoces (thank you!). My first visit was overwhelming to say the least. I had no idea of the scale and the amount of exciting birds to see! As I have been three weekends this month, I'm feeling much more confident with the site as a whole with each trip bringing new birds and increased familiarity with different zones. Here I will summarise some of the great birds that are available in this amazing area.

The Lleida dump is a true spectacle and holds incredible numbers of Griffon Vulture (150+), Black Kite (150+) and White Storks (difficult to judge but big numbers), with a few Red Kites also. Birds commute between the dump and the various fields and rocky ledges. If you can stick the smell you can get incredible views of all the aforementioned and it really is a sight to behold.

Lleida Dump, with surrounding agricultural zones where one can see resting raptors and storks in between feeds in the dump

Griffon Vultures, with a flyover Black Kite, sitting near Lleida Dump

Griffon Vulture - an impressive beast!

Griffon Vulture & Raven for size comparison

There are big numbers of White Stork to be seen at the dump. They can also be seen nesting on churches, old towers and even a disused crane in the surrounding vicinity.

The steppe lands themselves hold an impressive diversity of species, some of which cannot be seen outside of Lleida, without traveling to Spain. I found the best way to explore these were to drive slowly and carefully by car through the numerous sandy tracks. Larks are abundant, and I have seen Calandra, Crested, Thekla, and Greater Short-toed. For me Calandra is the most impressive of all of these, and in the right areas they are very common. They are really striking, especially in flight. What surprised me the most about this species was their song - they include some really impressive mimicry. Have a listen to the recording below and see how many species you can identify in the mimicry!

Calandra Lark

Crested Lark

Greater Short-toed Lark

Thekla Lark

I had a very pleasant surprise when scanning a dry field for Stone Curlew on my most recent visit. This came in the form of a stunning female Dotterel! There are sites which regularly get these on passage in Autumn, but in they are really rare in Spring, I've been told. What a bird! 

Female Dotterel - one of the nicest waders on the planet, in my opinion.

 

Corn Bunting are very common in general here and can be heard singing all around. 

A Corn Bunting living up to its name!

Melodious Warblers are to be found in areas with some shrubbery or trees and I was lucky to be able to approach very close to one singing bird, and again I was surprised to hear some very convincing mimicry of the likes of Bee-eater & Barn Swallow - have a listen below:

The area in general is teeming with raptors, with some areas better than others. So far I have seen 13 species of raptor in the area. Without a doubt, excellent views of Golden Eagle on every visit has been a real raptor highlight for me. Short-toed Snake Eagle are regular and are also really nice to watch.

2CY Golden Eagle

Roller is another typical bird of dry steppe and can be found in good densities throughout Lleida. The flash of iridescent blue is unmistakable and really adds some colour to your birding!

Rollers are relatively common in Lleida and can often be seen sitting on open perches like this.

Two more iconic Lleida birds seen over the previous 3 visits were both Pin-tailed Sandgrouse and Little Bustard. So far I have only had flight views (but very good ones) of the Sandgrouse but I'm getting closer to finding a reliable location to see them on the ground. Little Bustard is much easier and stands out amongst the short vegetation. It gives its presence away with it's odd wet fart-like song.The nice thing about finding Little Bustard is that Quail are often very close-by. In the Little Bustard image below, there was also a Quail singing simultaneously.

Little Bustard in all its glory. Unfortunately this field was totally ploughed when I returned a week later, but I found singing males in another field nearby where I hadn't seen them on the previous visit so it seems they successfully relocated.

Great-spotted Cuckoos can  found scattered throughout Lleida, usually in areas of scrub with trees nearby, as their main brood host is the Magpie. The bird below was actually photographed on the roadside.The Corn Bunting in the photo was mobbing it for most of the encounter, as is common with cuckoos in general.

It was nice to see this bird so well, at the side of the road.

Being closely watched by a Corn Bunting, which at times pecked at its feathers.

Outside the dry steppe habitat of Lleida there are other nice habitats which hold other scarce species. In the habitat below Ortolan Bunting were quite common. It is also a site for Western Orphean Warbler. However, I have not had much luck with those yet. This site also had Black-eared Wheatear, Western Subalpine Warbler, Western Bonelli's Warbler, Golden Oriole, Turtle Dove, Woodchat Shrike and many other nice birds. 

Ortolan Bunting & Orphean Warbler territory

This site, with its mix of woodland, open fields, and rocky hill scrub; I always find the bird song amazing. I took a general sound recording of the chorus and it is just packed full of different songs. Have a listen and see how many species you can identify:

I was pleasantly surprised to find a Roe Deer at this site and it allowed me to get relatively close views as I walked along the track. When I got too close for its comfort it started to give the typical barking call (see following recording), which was nice to hear. 

This buck Roe Deer allowed a relatively close approach and entertained with its barking call before disappearing into the woods. 

I will be visiting Lleida again very soon, but next weekend I'm planning to go to the Pyrenees, in search of Rock Ptarmigan, Black Woodpecker, Citril Finch, Tengmalm's Owl, and more.