Spain has long been a very popular birdwatching destination, offering a wide range of Mediterranean habitats along with safe, easy and excellent birding. Many sites are in beautifully scenic settings, featuring Romanesque architecture and ancient, fortified hilltop villages; whilst much of interior Spain that we visit is very rural and way off the tourist trail.  Our itinerary is specially designed for a great diversity of birds and concentrates on two major and distinct habitats: the semi-arid steppes and cork-oak dehesas (a type of wooded pastureland) of the central and northern interior and the Guadalquivir River with its associated wetlands and marshes feeding into the Gulf of Cádiz on the Atlantic Ocean. Top birds included White-headed and Marbled Ducks, Spanish Imperial and Bonelli’s Eagles, Little and Great Bustards, Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Azure-winged Magpie and Black-bellied Sandgrouse. 

The other major aspect of this tour is the wine and food, which will be extremely interesting and varied. Spain’s wine-making tradition spans more than 2000 years and the country is producing wines of increasingly good quality. There are several excellent reds that we will get to enjoy and these days a few fabulous whites are also being made with traditional Spanish grapes.