Limosa - Birdwatching and Wildlife Hoildays Worldwide

Hoopoes bouncing through the dehesas on ‘zebra wings’; tawny autumnal grasslands dotted with groups of stately Great Bustards; squadrons of mighty Eurasian Black Vultures and Eurasian Griffons floating silently overhead; the deep grunting of Purple Swamphens hidden within dense stands of reedmace... November also brings the added thrill of flocks of Common Cranes, trumpeting loud their arrival here from northern Europe to spend the winter in harvested fields of maize and rice. Our annual late autumn visit to the rolling steppes and rugged sierras of Extremadura - the wild heart of Spain - promises all this and more.

From Madrid, we head west towards Trujillo where tucked-away Las Canteras, a small but wonderfully situated country guest house or ‘Casa Rural’, will be our base throughout. Peacefully situated at the heart of the rolling Extremaduran steppe, we won’t have to look hard to find good birds during our six-night stay here - Great Bustards have occasionally been seen from the dining room window! With the prospect of soaring vultures, eagles and kites to tempt us into the garden before breakfast, and Little Owl to tease us after supper, it can be hard to tear ourselves away to explore further afield. But we will, for autumn days in Extremadura are usually sunny, always varied and certainly memorable - filled with more birds than you could wish for!

Our visits to magnificent Monfragüe National Park form the centrepiece of our tour. With its oak and scrub-covered hillsides, immense vulture cliffs and crags, plunging river valleys, dams and deep water reservoirs, this is one of our all-time favourite places. Birds of prey are more numerous here than anywhere else in western Europe and in November, we can expect a dozen or more species, among them the scarce Black-winged Kite. This is also an excellent time to see the beautiful Azure-winged Magpie; noisy, sociable and exotic, we should have little trouble finding them in the dehesa woodlands that ring the Park.

Out on the endless plains, droves of bustards - both Great and Little - will already have come together for the winter. As we scan the fields for them, we may unearth Black-bellied and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, and possibly Eurasian Stone-curlew, too. We’ll pay a late afternoon visit to the historic old town of Trujillo - where a few European White Storks may even be back at their rooftop nests - to enjoy far-reaching views from atop the medieval battlements, followed by a drink at a cafe overlooking the cobbled main piazza.

And as the last of Europe’s summer visitors exchange places with Spain’s incoming wintering birds, Greater Flamingo, Squacco Heron, Glossy Ibis, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Alpine Accentor and Brambling are among surprises that have come our way on previous tours.