Typical! I completely forgot to mention that we ended Day 6 with a visit to the reservoir at Embalse de Calcono de Guarra in another attempt to catch up with the wallcreeper and one was actually spotted by the guides flying over the dam wall before disappearing totally from view as before. I think only one other person saw it, which definitely wasn't me. Meanwhile a honey bee on a stone bench was looking decidedly unhealthy.
We were back there again early today but again drew a blank in terms of the wall creeper and the honey bee had died. But I did get as a good a view of the many swooping crag martins, which the video unfortunately doesn't do much justice to:
Crag Martins in flight
It was however as close a view of them as I have ever had.
It wasn't too long before we moved on, spotting another another short-toed treecreeper (how do you tell the difference?) near an ancient bridge before settling for lunch at Embalse de Calcono de Guarra. Afterwards one or two continued to survey the cliffs for the missing wallcreeper while most took a (somewhat hazardous looking path) to see the local cave art, while I mainly foraged in the fields in the expectation of finding a few butterflies.
Actually it was the walkers who found some butterfly action rather than me, even though the crocuses were out. What I did see was some more grasshoppers and several four-spot ladybirds, apparently common in the area.
 | Crocus |
|  | Grasshopper |
|  | Four-spot Ladybird |
|
From there we went to Calle Baye to see the European tree of the year 2021 - a massive holm oak that dates to way back and was too wide to capture in less than three shots.
 |
Part of the Holm Oak |
Walking there we did spot a nice clouded yellow that was passing quickly through a field.
But from there it was back to Alquézar for a last ditch attempt on the largely missing wallcreeper.
Unfortunately want we got was more of what we already had, mainly griffon vulture, blue rock thrushes, and a black redstart. The main excitement was caused by some egyptian vultures flying over the capella, not however for me as I saw them in France.
Still perpetually surveying the capella and surrounds, I was quietly delighted when a chough landed on the roofing and showed really well:
 |
Red-billed Chough |
It was the best view of a chough I've ever had.
As everyone was thinking about packing up, there was a last minute mystery. I thought I saw another blue rock thrush heading towards a large fissure in the rock face - except that it clearly had russet red underparts. It settled briefly then flattered around a bit before disappearing into the fissure.
The only possibility I could think of was common rock thrush, which is listed as being a passage bird in the area. However our guides thought they would all still be in Africa. With the group already making it's way back to the vans there was no opportunity to wait around for more action. It'll have to remain as 'unidentified.'
Overall Reflections
I've counted up and reckon I've seen 16 new species of bird, 2 new species of bee and 1 new moth so overall a great success and that excludes Dupont's Lark (heard) - a great experience and the session at the vulture feeding added a sense of theatre. The holiday held plenty of interest without me feeling overloaded (once I'd got over the jetlag.) Even though I only saw the wallcreeper at distance, it counts. The general view was the lack of further sightings was just down to rotten luck.
Also I can say that I learned a good deal about using my newish camera, especially for long distant shots.
However the trip confirmed my growing opinion that I'm not a great birdwatcher. I just don't see things well and in particular found the larks hard to spot. My equipment isn't really up to scratch either but I'm not keen on lugging a scope and a mirrorless camera with a huge lens around with me all of the time.
I think I should probably stick with what I seem to be best at - namely butterflies and bees and save the birds for the winter when there are few insects and for any oddities turning up in the area.