spain photographic

Spain: Lammergeiers and Bee-eaters

This tour will not run in 2012

Single room supplement: £30

Note that the tour price includes everything except flights and is based on pick up from and return to Barcelona Airport. There are various flight options available, including budget airlines.

Maximum group size: 6 participants and 1 leader.

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Few bird photography experiences in Europe can rival an eye to eye encounter with a Lammergeier. Also known as the Bearded Vulture due to the wispy beard-like feathering around their beak, Lammergeiers remain one of the most challenging birds in Europe to photograph, often requiring strenuous hikes to high mountain ridges. Well now all that has changed as we take you to what is arguably the most accessible and reliable site to photograph Lammergeiers in Europe - a hide that is so easy to reach that we can drive right to its door.

At a site in the Catalonian end of the pre-Pyrenees, a feeding site overlooked by a very comfortable photographic hide attracts at least one Lammergeier daily. The hide gives unrivalled opportunites for both superb close up portraits of birds on the ground and also for spectacular flight shots. The bones placed out for the birds usually attract at least one Lammergeier once a day, and often more. Red Kites also swoop in to feed on scraps as well. In addition, we'll have access to another hide that overlooks a feeding station for Griffon and Egyptian Vultures and yet another that will put us close to a Bee-eater colony.

Day 1: The tour begins at midday at Barcelona airport. There are various flight options for getting to Barcelona and those making their own travel arrangemnets can combine this short tour with a visit to this fascinating city either before or after the tour. Once we are all together, we'll transfer to out hotel for the next five nights. There should be time to explore the local area after arrrival and to prepare for the following days taking photos. Night in Arén.

Days 2-5: Only two people can use the Lammergeier hide at any one time so during our time here we'll rotate, ensuring that everyone has at least one full day in this hide. Use of this hide requires photographers to enter the hide the previous evening and overnight in comfortable bunk beds. There is a separate bathroom and plenty of room to move around within the hide - indeed it is the height of hide luxury! Those in the Lammergeier hide will stay all day and be picked up in the evening to be taken back to the hotel. Food and drink will be provided and the hide, which is an old converted bunker, remains cool during the heat of the day.

Those not using the Lammergeier hide will have access to hides set up overlooking a Bee-eater colony. In order to photograph these colourful birds, we'll need to be in place from dawn. We'll also be able to use a third hide set up on another vulture feeding station. There are no Lammergeiers at this one, but large numbers of Griffon Vultures use this site as do a few Egyptian Vultures. This hide is perfect for flight photography as Griffons, Red Kites and Ravens float past within feet of the hide which is perched on a ridge overlooking a mountain valley. It is fiitted with one-way glass and has large picture windows allowing you to track flying birds with ease.

Those using the Bee-eater and Griffon Vulture hides will do so in the early mornings, returning to hotel later in the day to download, rest and have lunch. We'll then venture out in the afternoon to other sites within the area for both bird and landscape photography and we should also get opportunities to photograph Pyrenean Chamois.

Day 6: After a final morning exploring the area, we'll return to Barcelona airport where the tour ends.

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Last updated October 2010

Photos by David Tipling