Although Max had requested a marathon session, taking in three of the region’s top sites in one day, we didn’t rush.  In fact we ravenously scoffed down our three o’clock lunch at The Llobregat Delta having spent the morning and more getting carried away with the delights of the Steppes of Lleida.  By the time our respective bellies had stopped rumbling we’d already enjoyed a gathering of Bee-eaters scooping up insects over the St. Climent and admired a post-picnic Marsh Harrier quartering the reed beds on our way into the hub of the reserve.  Apparently we weren’t the only ones that didn’t mind being behind schedule.

The sun was now beating down but a juvenile Purple Heron didn’t seem to mind, standing up and out amongst the throng of waders as if deliberately encouraging the light to carve out every glorious detail of its golden brown plumage.  Such was the quantity and variety on offer however that it didn’t compete for our attention for long as, caught up in the excitement of that ‘we might miss something’ feeling, we both eagerly began to scan.

Of course Black-winged Stilt.  And Wood Sandpiper too.  Black-tailed Godwit waded out in waters of their own but the muddy shallows were bustling with Ruff and Curlew Sandpiper, all three still showing varying degrees of colours designed for breeding.  Ironic though, as these birds were more than likely on their way back to their wintering grounds early, having failed to do so.  The apparent tiny clockwork toys, wound up and released to scavenge the water’s edge, turned out to be Little Stint and Kentish and Little Ringed Plover.  The highlight for me though was a pair of Lapwing, very scarce in Catalonia at this time of year.

A bird with a similar status, the Lesser Black-backed Gull, prompted a walk around for a better viewpoint of the Yellow-legged Gull roost and revealed a cluster of Mediterranean Gulls in its centre.   Skipping amongst them were a few juvenile Spanish Yellow Wagtails (sub-species iberiae) and a handful of Common Sandpipers, but a fly-by Night Heron gave us the cue to move on and we did so – via a single Red-masked Parakeet in a tree by the car park.

In truth, we’d left it rather late to do full justice to the Garraf Massif but we went none-the-less, in the hope a few bonus birds, and why not?  Well, for a start, a flock of around 40 Rock Sparrows provided the answer and we watched them picking for morsels on the floor of a fallow field before something spooked them and they swooped up and unanimously headed for a seemingly pre-arranged meeting place on the pylon cables above.

Flocks of finches were also in evidence with Serin, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Linnet throughout the park and, on the approach to La Morella, Dartford Warblers chattered between bushes like gossiping neighbours.  Whilst there also, we witnessed a fascinating and curious moment when, perched up on a boundary fence post, a juvenile Black-eared Wheatear, clearly from an earlier summer brood, proceeded to feed insects to a begging, wing-vibrating second generation bird, presumably a sibling.

The pièce de resistènce however, of course, was saved for the end and, on the homeward-bound drive down and out of the park, an adult Bonelli’s Eagle traversed the road in front of us and flapped across the contours of the coastal cliffs – holding the evening’s rabbit snack heavy in its talons.