Griffon vultures and the birds of the Saja-Besaya reserve

Look up on almost any ridge walk here and something enormous is circling. Griffon vultures patrol the Saja-Besaya thermals daily, and watching a bird with a near three-metre wingspan slide past below you resets what a walk can be.

The headline birds

• Griffon vulture: the reliable giant, often in wheeling groups.
• Egyptian vulture: the smart white summer visitor, scarcer and always a notebook moment.
• Forest specialists: woodpeckers in the old oakwoods, jays everywhere, and dippers bobbing on the Saja stones below the house.

Where and when

High collados at midday for raptors riding thermals; riverside and forest edges early for songbirds. Autumn adds the deer rut as a soundtrack, spring adds song and migration colour.

For birding groups

Quiet miradores, room for scopes, and a base where the day list is discussed over one long table. We arrange local naturalist guides for groups that want names put to every wing. Tell us your season.