I don’t remember ever having to scrape frost off the car windscreen when heading off to survey a BBS square in May or June but I did on Wednesday when I found the time to carry out the first visit to my second square. Things weren’t looking very good as I drove down the Nene…
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BBS visit 1
Having spent most of April in Spain, I was looking forward to doing my first BBS visit to one of my two BBS squares – I really was. So much so that having arrived back home at about 0400 on Saturday morning I even considered going straight out to see if I could see any…
I’m in Torremolinos
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It’s not often one can write that! Today is an odd day. Normal service will be renewed tomorrow. I’m going to see some Monk Parakeets today.
It’s not all beer and skittles, you know!
No skittles at all. Researching a book requires great application and diligence. And birds can pop up anywhere. This Grey Heron caught me by surprise. Note it is the Garza Real (Royal Heron) in Spanish. The Purple Heron is the Garza Imperial. Is that because only emperors can wear purple or simply because it is…
I like these daffodils
I was driving through the Picos de Europa on Monday morning, as one does, and there were loads of wild daffodils (I assume!) in the woods and fields. Lovely. So different from those feral things that litter our roadsides in too many places.
Tilting at windmills
Two images of distant windfarms taken in Spain last week (both rather poor images I’m afraid – partly the heat haze but largely the photographer). These would keep Don Quixote busy for quite a while – both included more than a hundred individual turbines. Now I know nothing about the environmental impact assessments that may…
The streets of Granada
There is is a call made by House Sparrows that, in the books, would normally be rendered as ‘cheep!’. After the Semana Santa processions, the streets of Granada are spattered with candle wax. People skid over the cobbbled streets on the wax and their shoes make the same noise as a House Sparrow going…
Harsh but true
Do you recall what Boabdil’s mother said to him? Boabdil, or Muhammed XII of Granada, was the last Moorish ruler of Granada and as other parts of the Moorish empire in Spain fell to the Castilleans only Granada was left in 1491. Boabdil had to cede the city to Ferdinand and Isobella but was allowed…
Easter in Granada
The plains of Spain
On my way south through Spain I popped into a few areas of semi-steppe which I’ve known in past years. The image above is from La Serena. As I took the photo, Calandra Larks (my favourite lark?) were singing. A few moments earlier three Black-bellied Sandgrouse had flown over. I like the plains of Spain….