Shortly after a coffee and biscuit stop upon our arrival in the Cadi-Moixero National Park, we stopped again to look at some resting Crag Martin on a ledge just above the road.  Then again as a small group of Rock Bunting flew across the bonnet and landed nearby, seemingly in ‘the place to be’ as Crested Tit and Black Redstart had already taken up residence.  We watched them flit and fly and hide and eventually caught them full scope before moving up to the Greixer Valley.

Usually a good spot for Lammergeier, today we were rewarded 'only' by Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Buzzard, Short-toed Eagle and Golden Eagle so, as always in times like these, we packed up and headed for the other side of the valley.

This trek is almost guaranteed to bring an encounter with at least one family of Crossbill, which feed on the year round supply of pine cones, and within twenty metres of leaving the car we were attracted by their calls coming from the wooded bank below.  However, it was a small flock of Citril Finch gleaning from the shrubs in the undergrowth that persuaded us to follow and we somehow found ourselves right smack in the middle of feeding flocks of both species, with birds within three or four metres.

Encounters with Short-toed Treecreeper, Firecrest, Dunnock, White Wagtail, Stonechat and a pair of Great Spotted Woodpecker interrupted the never-ending flow of Coal Tits and the sporadic calling of a Black Woodpecker kept our hopes of a close encounter with it high. 

However, with this species not materialising, we drove up to the Coll de Pal with fingers crossed and sure enough, just after switching between simultaneous nearby views of a hovering Short-toed Eagle and a small group of Red-billed Chough drinking from the brook (having separated off from a flock of about two-hundred), two large birds glided into view.  Lammergeier.  They settled briefly on the hillside sending us all grabbing for our binoculars and scanning for ‘orange rocks’, catching them just in time to see them rise up, circle and fly off into the far valley.

It provided a timely end to the day’s proceedings and we made our way back down the mountain allowing the car to flush alternate fleeing Raven, Jay, Mistle Thrush, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Serin.

"Once again thank you for two terrific days birding.

The scenery on the walk up to the Pyrenees left quite an impression on Jonathan."

Ian Moig, Scotland

Following their decision to stay over the night before, Ian and his son, Jonathan, and myself, received an early welcome to the Pyrenees from a singing Cirl Bunting, making its way around the tops of four nearby trees as if it was playing baseball.

A couple of Woodlark joined in the chorus and the now familiar (to me at least) Red-backed Shrike drew attention to itself with a vertical attack on a seemingly invisible insect and returned to its usual bush to devour it, granting us time not only to do the same to our much-appreciated coffee and biscuits but also to take some photographs (see below).   Rested and refreshed, we were sent on our way by a skulking Sub-alpine Warbler and began our ascent towards the peaks of the ‘Cadí-Moixeró National Park’.

Our greeting on leaving the car and taking our first steps into the magical world that is the Greixer Valley, was courtesy of Nuthatch and Grey Wagtail, two species that I see less often since my move from the U.K.   Ironically four other such species, the Wren, Robin, Goldcrest and Dunnock, seemed to have been charged with escorting us to the top.

Once there, entertainment duty was passed over to some Red-billed Chough, cawing and wheeling around the many crags, and the conveniently named Crag Martin, doing much the same, before disappearing into their respective nest-holes.  A build up of Griffon Vultures, all heading in the same, presumably carcass-bound, direction helped raise our hopes of seeing Lammergeier but, when one didn’t materialise after about half-an-hour, Ian nipped off to track down another, this time singing, Sub-alpine Warbler.

Upon his return, and as I was pointing at a nearby pine where myself and Jonathan had just witnessed a mixed flock of Crested, Coal and Long-tailed Tit with a juvenile Firecrest tagging along behind, there was a sudden screaming ‘klaaa’ from behind me and a Black Woodpecker landed within the midst of the very same tree.  Unfortunately, on seeing our rather startled faces, it instantaneously dropped down into the valley below and disappeared.

After taking in our fill of several Golden Eagles, and in another moment of good or bad luck depending on your point of view, we had just packed up the tripods and hitched our backpacks over our shoulders when a Lammergeier finally floated into view, tracing the outline of the ridge ahead of us.  By the time we had reassembled ourselves, the view was all too brief.  But a lifer for Ian, none-the-less.

After filling in the gaps with Rock Thrush, Black Redstart and Rock Bunting, we reached the Coll de Pal just in time for the showpiece that is the mixed stone-turning flocks of Red-billed and Alpine Chough.  Linnet, Goldfinch and Common Crossbill all flocked and feasted around us before adding what was for me an absolutely stunning male Bullfinch (another of those longed-for British birds).  However, the finch fiesta, and the day, wasn’t completed until a small flock of fresh clean Pyrenees Citril Finch decided to join us for the walk back to the car.

‘Rubbish’ was how the day started for Carl Cornish, a Conservation Officer from The Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, and his four work mates as, when I arrived to pick them up from their hotel near Bagà, they were already cursing a refuse truck that had reversed into the side of their hire car.

Thankfully, their birding day started off on a much better note as, even on the first roadside stop for coffee and biscuits, we immediately picked-up Rock Bunting, Serin, Firecrest, Bonelli’s Warbler and, perched on a bush not ten metres away, an absolutely stunning Red-backed Shrike.

Two hours later however, after waiting most of that time at my favourite Lammergeier spot without joy, I was beginning to wonder if the day was cursed after all.  Not that we hadn’t seen anything, with Short-toed Eagle, Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Raven all passing through and Crag Martin and Alpine Swifts skirting the mountain edge, but of course the enigmatic ‘bone-breaker’ was what everyone had come to see.  A beautiful singing Sub-alpine Warbler, perched up for all to see, only served to delay the inevitable and so, with lunch fast approaching, a change of tact was called for and we headed back down to the car, grabbed the picnic and made the short ascent up to a viewpoint on the opposite side of the valley.

En route we’d collected great views of Grey Wagtail, Crested Tit and Common Crossbill but, as we laid out the food over-looking the whole valley, me afraid even to take a toilet break in case I missed something, I had more than just my fingers crossed that our luck would change soon. 

As we scoffed and quaffed we began to notice an unusual amount of Griffon Vultures circling and then landing on the steep valley side opposite and a careful scan through the telescope revealed a raptor-watcher’s gift – a Chamois carcass!  After watching the throng swarm in and pile up on top of the unfortunate ungulate, and each other, giving the impression that the one in the middle had scored the winning goal in the world cup final, one of the group noticed a Golden Eagle perched on top of a nearby rock.  It was soon joined by another and, save for the occasional foray to check out the developing state of affairs, they waited patiently as the vulture pack waned from its peak of near-on one hundred birds.

Spotted Flycatcher, Cirl Bunting and Green Woodpecker all came and went but, finally, I was able to shout out the magic word – Lammergeier!  Two, in actual fact, and they calmly glided down like cool-headed late arrivals to the best party in town and settled somewhere out of sight.

Much happier, we made our way, via a sighting of the usually elusive Cuckoo and the calls of the still elusive Black Woodpecker, to the pass known as the Coll de Pal where we added, despite the late hour, Rock Thrush, the usual flock of Red-billed and Alpine Choughs and, surprise, surprise, another Lammergeier.  Definitely not rubbish!