Today we visited the Parque Natural de Monfrague which, only 20 miles or so from Plasencia, is centred around a series of long narrow reservoirs created by damming two rivers, in several different places, in the 1960s. It’s reputed to be one of the best places to see four varieties of vulture in Spain and it is also home to a host of Eagles and other birds of prey. My birding lens was twitching in anticipation, to say the least.

Park Reservoir

Our short drive from our campsite to the park was through very dry and barren countryside, which seemed incapable of sustaining any agriculture barring mile upon mile of widely spaced cork oaks. Every now and again we would see a tree with a rust orange trunk, which indicates that the cork has recently been harvested. The cork bark can apparently be harvested every 7 to 10 years and it then grows back causing no harm to the tree. Basil can verify however, that when the branches of the cork oak jump out into a narrow road they can hurt!!

Cork Trees which have just been harvested

We stopped briefly at the park information office where a lacklustre assistant pointed out to me the two best places to see vultures and other raptors. After a drive of only 5 miles or so we arrived at an impressive crag which we could see from a distance was thronged with circling vultures. Basil was safely parked up and we walked back to the viewing platform which was already occupied by two or three other birders, long lenses and binoculars slung round their necks.

The Park crags where we saw all the Vultures

Initially I was excited to see so many large birds at relatively close quarters, but over time I became slightly disappointed that they were all one species – Griffon Vultures. I was picked on by a member of the Extramadura Tourist Board to fill in a long questionnaire on tourism and nature tourism in particular. When he asked me whether I had any negative comments on Extramadura, I don’t think he appreciated my whinge about the price of entering religious buildings in Plasencia! He wrote it all down though.

Griffon Vulture

Griffon Vutures

In addition to the endless Griffon Vultures, and Swallows, there were also numerous Crag Martins, which took some time to identify due to the difficulty of getting my binoculars trained on such a nimble little bird.

Griffon Vultures

After lunch we drove down the impressive gorge next to the dammed rivers, to the second viewing point and as we approached there were again numerous vultures circling above a rocky outcrop. However once I had found a parking place and got my long lens they had all disappeared! These Griffon Vultures were obviously much shier.

Eagle eyed Sarah also managed to spot some deer. The park is famous for its Iberian Red Deer, which are much smaller than their North European relatives, so we assume that is what we saw, but they did seem diminutive compared to the Red Deer we had seen in Scotland this summer.

Having “done” the natural park we headed for a campsite on the park’s edge, with momentary excitement being provided by a snake zig zagging across the road to escape Basil’s approaching size 12s. Camping Monfrague (39.944568, -6.082750) seems fully open. Swimming pool – tick, supermarket – tick, full restaurant – tickety tick tick tick. What’s more despite an advertised price of €20.50 we were told we could pay €17 providing it was cash – a tax fiddle anyone?

Our intention is to stay here a couple of nights before commencing our cultural journey around Extramadura’s pretty towns.