A very early start. We were taken to a hide on the far side of the El Taray estate, the main objective being the rare Spanish Imperial Eagle that, apparently, only comes in after first light. As a test, I took my first photo (of a Marsh Harrier) at 06:08 - F7.1, the fastest speed of my RF 100-500 lens at 500mm, 1:250th sec, ISO 12,800.

Not long after, the Spanish Imperial Eagle appeared on a distant dead tree and perched surveying the scene, having noticed the guide installing us in the hide and putting out food. After a time, it flew in - flight shots worth keeping were just not possible - and landed on it's usual perch.

Being very cautious, it checked us out before starting to feed.

Unfortunately, it decided to depart before the light was good enough for flight shots.

That left us with a succession of Marsh Harriers. Amazing that while considered a rarity in the UK, they are very common on El Taray. I took well over 2000 photos but was able to discard the early ones taken in poor light.

As the light improved, close flight shots became rather routine.

The session ended at 11.00am but, by then, it had become very quiet.

What was disappointing was the very early start resulting in poor light for the Eagle. The explanation was that the very hot spell was limiting photo time to 06:00 to 11:00 and 18.00 to dusk.

Some days, the daytime temperature rose to almost 40c. Not a lot would happen in that temperature!!!.