Spain Eclipse

by Julian Sykes

Running any tour that involves the targeting of a particular subject, be it an animal or an event is both memorable and stressful – the Spanish Eclipse was no exception! Speyside Wildlife have run the basics of this holiday previously but not for quite a few years, cross the Bay of Biscay for a day and half, four full days in Northern Spain and return the same way. However, our time on the mainland had to coincide with one of the most amazing natural phenomena – a full solar eclipse. Our fantastic office staff found the best ferry timings, the perfect hotel (which was superb) and attracted 12 willing participants – it was all systems go.

We gathered at Portsmouth and immediately set off into the dark in anticipation of our full day at sea the next morning. From dawn to dusk (and another phenomenon ‘the Green Flash’) we watched the surrounding water, passing close to the Brittany coastline and recording seabirds and cetaceans on offer. The whales were a little disappointing, with just a couple of Fin Whales, but the wonderful views of Common Dolphins and Great and Cory’s Shearwaters more than made up for that, as did the glorious weather.

We arrived in Bilbao early the following day and after sorting the minibuses we set off for the Picos de Europa National Park, although we had a few wetland sites to visit enroute. These provided lots of bird species we were unlikely to see again this holiday, with Black-necked Grebe, Osprey, Hobby, Glossy Ibis, Spoonbill, Whimbrel and Knot (arguably the biggest surprise!) amongst the great birds seen.

We reached our wonderful hotel in the heart of the National Park with the ‘big event’ to be the following evening. This eclipse was unusual as it was so late in the afternoon and we had to contend with the sun being so low in the sky. The previous two months had been spent trying to work out the best place to be! We finally plumped for a little-known place south of Riano. We had the day ahead of us though and a wonderful local walk set the tone, as we saw some brilliant raptors along this short track, with Goshawk, Honey Buzzard and Short-toed and Booted Eagles, plus a family of Red-back Shrikes and a cracking look at a male Cirl Bunting. After lunch we set off for our vantage point, getting there late afternoon and after a short walk to a grassed plateau the scene was set and the nerves settled, as we joined a few other watchers setting up their cameras – this was a good place!

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Initial contact arrived at 19:30 and an hour later was totality, which was met with a mixture of elation, wonderment and relief as the ‘plan’ had worked! The eclipse was simply amazing and words will not do it justice, as there is something deeply personal about seeing one. This was the eighth solar eclipse for one of our guests and she was just as thrilled and overwhelmed as the rest of us newbies. Once totality had passed, we broke out the ‘cava’ and celebrated this incredible event before returning to our hotel.

The two remaining days in the Picos de Europa were a joy, as we visited some wonderful areas and enjoyed some brilliant mountain birds and even a special moth. The pick of these were Lammergeier, Egyptian Vulture, Snowfinch, Alpine Accentor, Alpine Chough and Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush. Our final full day was spent getting back to Bilbao, before our lunchtime sailing and the rest of the day on board. Striped Dolphins next to the boat and a close Minke Whale were the highlights, along with more shearwaters and a European Storm-petrel, before arriving back in Portsmouth the next day.

The ‘eclipse’ was clearly everyone’s magic moment, but there were special mentions for plenty more too on this ‘flightless’ adventure, which we might just run again sometime.