Birdsong Workshops | Birdsong and music walking tours | Andalucia | Spain
Find out more about the birdsong and walking tours run at our Bed & Breakfast near Aracena, Seville, Andalucia, Spain in the Sierra de Aracena National Park. Set amongst a chestnut and cork-oak forest we operate as a family B&B and self-catering holiday cottages. We run cookery courses, photography courses, creative writing retreats and fitness retreats. Hiking trails and stunning views.
Birdsong, music and walking holidays in Spain. Birdsong and music walking tours.
The Conference of Birds
During the birdsong season (April-June, September) We host inspiring 6 night stays with Peter and Liz Cowdrey of The Conference of Birds.
Dates are further down the page, but if you wish to bring your own private group, bookings for four or more people can be accommodated at other times, subject to availability. Please let Peter and Liz know well in advance so that they can plan ahead for your group. You can reach Peter from the Conference of Birds page or at: peter@planetbirdsong.org
This holiday is not designed for 'twitchers' - it's for anyone interested in the beauty of Andalucia - the wild flowers, ancient villages, culture and traditions. We experience all this with a birdsong and music bias, great food and plenty of wine. Walks are comfortable half day excursions on good paths through the hills, with variations available for the more or less energetic.
Walking in the hills near the finca
Hoopoe, Golden Orioles, Griffon Vultures, Nightingales...Peter and Liz Cowdrey invite you to walk with them through the small farms and white washed villages of Aracena where white storks nest on church steeples and blue rock thrushes sing from the rooftops. Azure-winged magpies, woodchat shrikes and hoopoes flash through olive groves.
Listen to melodious warblers, golden orioles, bee-eaters, Sardinian warblers, and Iberian chiffchaffs while short-toed eagles, black kites, black and griffon vultures soar overhead. Peter and Liz will guide you through the bird songs and how to remember them.
Before dinner, you will be shown slowed-down spectrographs of bird songs heard on the walks. You will hear rhythms and melodic structures that are inaccessible at a bird’s usual pitch and speed. You will be serenaded by birdsong-inspired music from the baroque, gypsy and contemporary repertoire by Peter on the Finca Buenvino's grand piano with his sister Liz on violin. If the night is fine, we will open the window to hear Granados’ hauntingly beautiful piano piece 'The Maiden and the Nightingale' accompanied by distant nightingales.
Birds recently recorded within the boundaries of Finca Buenvino:
Red-legged partridge
White Stork
Little Egret
Black Kite
Griffon Vulture
Short-toed Eagle
Booted Eagle
Sparrowhawk
Buzzard
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Turtle Dove
Feral Pigeon
Cuckoo
Tawny Owl
Eagle Owl
Swift
Bee Eater
Hoopoe
Wryneck
Iberian Green Woodpecker
Great-spotted Woodpecker
Lesser-spotted Woodpecker
2017 Dates and Prices
This year's dates and prices for our birdsong and music workshops in Spain
“Finca Buenvino was like a dream wasn’t it? The whole event was a glorious spoiling bubble in the midst of real life.”
- Prices per person include all local transport, accomodation, guided walks, evening concerts, food and wine.
- Places are limited to ten people. Double and single rooms available.
- First come first served basis – early bookers will be in the main house, others in a cottage on the estate.
“Really, we just couldn’t have had a better time. We loved it all from the breakfasts, to the lunches, to the music, to the little white villages and the glorious hacienda. And especially meeting Sam and Jeannie.”
We will be running our two birdsong weeks, on the following dates:
6th - 12th May 2017
13th - 19th May 2017 (Some limited Availability still).
Cost for the 6 night stay, full board with guided walks and evening concerts is £1000 in a shared room, or £1150 for a single room.
For more information visit the website here.
For booking information contact us.
Nightingale
Bird photography on this page © Geoff Sample www.wildsong.co.uk. Other photographs by Rosie Johnston.