We left northen Spain and headed south - a 6 hour drive - to our destination for the second week just south of the town of Villacanas to El Taray, a large estate set up for wildlife photography

After settling in to our hotel in Villacanas - very basic but clean - we headed for El Taray for our evening session in hides located about a couple of hundred metres from the farm buildings. A pond with two two people hides and all set up for the evening show.

First to arrive for a drink was a pair of Collared Doves

and a Crested Lark

Several flocks of Sparrows were almost constant - House Sparrow

and Tree- Sparrows, now quite a rarity in the UK.

Jackdaws were regular visitors as they were nesting in custom-built nestboxes close by.

But the whole set up was disturbed for a time by a Marsh Harrier that landed in front of the hide.

But for me, the stars of the show were Spotless Starlings, a new species for me and also virtually constant and very entertaining.

By 20:30, the light was beginning to fade and tiredness was setting in after the long drive so we headed to the hotel for dinner at a local restaurant and a good nights sleep in readiness for an early start in the morning.

I have been so busy with editing the images from Spain, I have neglected the local market, both in terms of getting out - only twice since my retrun - and also processing the images. Having completed the first week's images from Spain, I can catch up on those two visits.

First was the evening of 19th June at the private site run by Kevin Robson at nearby Fen Drayton to photograph a family of Tawny Owls. I have been there several time in previous years but this time, the Owlets were on display.

They mainly stayed up in the trees waiting for the parents to bring them food but they only did that once, presumably to teach the yougsters to find the food themselves but one did venture down for a short time to look at the food but did not know what to do with it.

Eventually, one of the adults took pity on just one of the Owlets and brought some food for it.

Moving on, my next trip out, to get some fresh air was an earlier-than-usual morning trip to Welney WWT on 17th July when they open early. Very hot, and I have binned most of the shots due to heat haze, even from 08.00am onwards.

From the main observatory, a Ruff was feeding relatively close to the observatory

and a Common Tern perched on a patch of mud

But the only other photo worth keeping was of a Spoonbill on the far bank.

It was nice to get out with the camera even though the results were nothing to write home about, as they say!!!

Now back to Spain, commencing on the second week at El Taray, south of Madrid. I still have 22,000 photos to process from that week so do not hold your breath in anticipation!!!!

Our guide, Bernado, was very much aware that my main aim of this trip was to photograph Golden Eagle for the first time. Unforunately, the first occasion was all too brief and only half of the bird was showing above the tall grass. On the the next opportunity, one did not show at all.

So Bernardo very kindly arranged for us to visit a private site owned by a friend, and located in the mountains to the north of Leon. We arrived and settled down. A Serin was singing and just about photographable due to the distance

and I got rather excited at an approaching raptor, hoping for the Eagle but it was a Buzzard.

And then, after patiently waiting, the Eagle appeared on the ground from behind a small ridge.

As expected, it was very cautious, only just moving a little towards the hides and then was spooked by Bernado driving back to see if anything was happening. It did not return. My luck with photographing Golden Eagles has not changed.

This was the end of our visit to the Cremenes area of northern Spain. The weather was much hotter than usual for the time of year and this affected our tally of species with some serious ommissions from my anticipated list - Rock Bunting, Snowfinch, Cirl Bunting, Short-toed Treecreeper - although I was not overly concerned with other ommissions as I already had acceptable photos of those species. I am disappointed with the photos of Golden Eagle but very happy with better photos of other species. But that is wildlife.

Our guides, Bernado and Francesco from Aveshides were superb - very knowledgeable and could not do enough for us to achieve good images. I cannot recommend them highly enough

The next day we left for the 5 hour drive to El Taray, located about an hour or so south of Madrid.

Up early again for the long trip to Montana de Riano to the same site as earlier in the week for a second chance to photograph the Rock Thrush. Same site, deep into the mountains and half-way up the mountain side, still in shade but waiting for the sun to move round. This time more hopeful as it was much less windy.

First to show, again, was the male Wheatear

shortly accompanied by the Bluethroat

and then, to my surprise, a Dunnock, just the same as the ones in my back garden at home but at 8000ft?

Then a short interlude and the star of the show suddenly appeared, the Rufus-tailed Rock Thrush, so resplendent in the morning sunshine that it took me a couple of minutes to take it in and excercise the trigger finger.

And it stayed for quite a while giving ample opportunities for photos.

Once it had flown, we moved further down the valley to a spot where Rock Buntings could appear - well they didn't but a visit from a Water Pipit almost made up for that.

So, success for our last morning in northern Spain.

Late afternoon and evening of the 25th and a repeat visit to Montano de Riano near Cremenes.

Quite frankly, nothing new but more opportunities to try to take different images of the same visitors. Griffon  and Egyptian Vultures and Ravens.

No other species appeared, rather a disappointment really but one has to make the best of what is on show.