The Picos de Europa (literally: "Peaks of Europe", often abbreviated in English to the Picos) is a range of mountains 20 km inland from the northern coast of Spain, located in the Autonomous Communities of Asturias, Cantabria and Castile and León, forming part of the Cantabrian Mountains. The most widely accepted origin for the name is that they were the first sight of Europe for ships arriving from the Americas. from Wikipedia.
From our base at the wonderful hotel del Oso [which i cannot recommend highly enough - fantastic food in particular although too much!!] we birded locally and then went arriba in a cable car to the snow line. At this altitude we had good opportunitites to see som egenuine alpine spp. The first to appear were Alpine Choughs; some clumsily dropped food had them joining us. [Red-billed Choughs had already been seen at the base of the chairlift as had the bimbo - Firecrest]. Other bird species followed; Water Pipit, Wheatear, Alpine Accentor and Snow Finch. The Pyrannean chamois - another great mammal tick was seen; overall some 8 animals. We searched in vain for another special Wallcreeper but the bird remained invisible. Lammergeier, another major target species soared past along with other species such as Griffon vulture and Buzzard.
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| Spanish Yeti |
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| Firecrest - Bimbo! |
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| arriba |
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| Snowfinch |
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| A smart male Grey Wagtail |
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| Alping Accentor |
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
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| Pyrannean Chamois |
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| Alpine Chough |
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| a very crappy but identifiable Dipper |
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| action man and birder - Steve West - our guide |
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| Northern Wheatear |
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| our hotel - we scored it 12 out of 10 |
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| Relaxing in the Hotel's lobby |
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