A tall winter's tale

Common crane visiting us during our winter will largely have travelled from Sweden and Germany and as far away as Norway. Iberia is the principal wintering ground for the western population and certainly we have some great places for us to go and witness large numbers of these impressive giants. They start to arrive in big numbers during early November and start their return journey northwards in late February and early March, so there is a window of opportunity to get out there and not miss this spectacular winter event.

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There are two main wintering areas within easy reach for those living on the Costa del Sol. La Janda, which is situated north of Tarifa and near to Barbate, a site that holds the largest of our wintering population and can number up to 7,000 individuals; and then we have Fuente de Piedra with the nature reserve and surrounding area attracting as many as around 1,500 individuals. La Janda can give close views of these birds as they feed among the now fallow rice paddies, while around the Fuente de Piedra area they are more often encountered in open fields near to and surrounding the nature reserve.

I hope some of you will try to see these large and graceful winter visitors, I promise you they will reward your time and will provide a memory to keep and treasure for always.