Ordesa National Park

Ordesa National Park offers some stunning mountain scenery and is particularly spectacular at this time of year with the vivid autumn colours.  Another benefit of going at this time of year is that it is between seasons, that is summer and winter skiing seasons so there are very few tourists about and there is no need to pre book hotels as they are mostly empty.

Wallcreepers at Alquezar 2

There was a fantastic walk that took you down into a deep sided gorge below the castle that followed the River Vero.  In places you had to walk along a dramatic suspended walk way above the river, not for the fainthearted.

Wallcreepers at Alquezar

Alquezar is a fantastic medieval village set in the foothills of the Pyrenees with the added bonus that a small number of Wallcreepers winter in and around the village.

Lammergeier

After the Griffon Vultures had finished then the Lammergeiers moved in to clean up the bones.  This rare and beautiful vulture has the unique habit of eating bones whole and bones that are too big to swallow are dropped from a height on to rocks to smash them up.  Unlike the Griffons they are rather timid and wouldn't come down to feed until we had retreated some distance back to the hide.  At this feeding station a pair came in circling the area for a long time but the harsh light and heat haze made digiscoping them a challenge.

Griffon Vultures up close 3

At least 200 Griffon Vultures scramble for the meat clambering on top of each other demolishing almost everything within minutes.