Negociating the fog and the wind, Swallows in the freezing cold, Marsh Harriers by the dozen then Griffons in the sunny high tops

Marsh Harrier in the fog, Valverd

One of the problems with travelling in Spain in the Winter months, as I found to my cost during my last visit in Nov/ Dec 2013, is FOG! Usually of the freezing variety it hangs around in great swathes and typically affects the interior plains and what remain of the steppes. My destination after the Pyrenees was to the south of Lleida and one of the last remaining areas of steppe land in Catalyuna that hasn't been given over to intensive farming. Looking forward to photographing some Sandgrouse I was, or maybe catching a glimpse of some Great Bustards. I got neither because of FOG! Went to all the right places and sure I could have stayed longer but after 4 days of hanging about I gave up and drove South and out of it!

 

Male Merlin, Utxesa

 

During a brief respite from the stuff whilst I was at Utxesa I got my first Merlin of the trip...distant shot but good enough to tell it was a male.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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..and lots more White Storks, apparently a whole bunch of them winter around a big rubbish tip on the outskirts of Lleida city.

 ... and at Valverd my first Purple Swamphens of the trip. I have a soft spot for these comical giants of the reedbeds and these were the first of many over the coming days as I headed ever closer to the Ebro Delta.

Squabbling Purple Swamphens, Valverd

Seen many more Lapwings this time around, with many flocks of 200 plus roaming about the fields. This smallish flock crossing the reclaimed lake at Valverd made a pleasing sight as I sat in the sun and chomped away at a chorizo & cheese sandwich!

 

Earlier in the day, in the freezing fog and whilst my hands could barely operate the camera I took a chance on photographing some Crag Martins over the lake that didn't look quite right. They turned out to be a couple of Swallows! Rubbish pics but good enough for me to tell these are the most northerly wintering Swallows I've ever seen … lord knows how they were existing or what they were feeding on in such harsh conditions but this was major surprise bird species in this part of Spain.

Bearded Tit (male), Utxesa

....moments later I got another unexpected bird to add to the list...  a pair of Bearded Tits fraternising with 20 or so Chiff Chaffs on the margins of the lake …

At this point grabbing the camera was like holding a block of ice and my fingers were none too happy about being removed from my gloves, so these are a few degrees from decent shots! Another first for Spain for me though.

Bearded Tit (female), Utxesa

 

You can't beat driving South and as I expected, in just 50 kilometres and through a couple of mountain ranges, I was into bright sunshine and spirit uplifted I pulled the van over at the first most likely spot for a stroll. I was immediately into a secluded valley full of singing Song Thrushes, Chaffinches and close on 50 Blackcaps darting in amongst the mixed olive and almond groves.

Time to stop for the night and I stumbled upon a nature reserve nr the town of Flix, on the banks of the mighty Ebro and a place where much toxic shit waste was uncovered in 2005. Its been cleaned up and the work continues … I witnessed it going on as I biked back down the track from the reserve into town and across the river. Never has biking been such fun!!

The reserve itself – Sebes d'Ebro,was certainly worth a stop over, not least because I met and befriended one of the reserve guardians - a guy called Mathew from Huddersfield, UK no less!

Got some half decent Marsh Harrier and Kingfisher shots here but the light was less than perfect so theses are a tad grainy....



Male Marsh Harrier, Sebes




 

Male Marsh Harrier, Sebes

 

 



Kingfisher, Sebes

Alfara de Carles

Huge winds crossing the mountains around Tortosa caused a stop over there and they were no less fierce the next morning as I attempted some kind of mountain terrain experience around Alfara de Carles










Got my first Griffon Vultures up there plus a very distant Bonellis Eagle and a Citril Finch plus lots of Blackcaps in just about the only place I could find out of the wind. I know it looks idyllic and yes the sun was shining but man I could hardly stand upright up there!

Just about the only place out of the wind at Alfara!

Griffon Vulture, Alfara

So those last shots in the mountains were on the 17th Jan and since then I've been on the Ebro Delta. Internet access has been tricky, otherwise I'd have posted more frequently, no camp sites are open either so its just been me and the van and some very inventive use of wet wipes!!

Next up will be highlights from the Ebro and whilst the experience was spoilt somewhat by the excessive amount of shooting that takes place over here, there's plenty of goodies to stay tuned for!

Sparkling snow and light around Saulge

Lovely sunny day again yesterday ... not exactly shirt sleeve sunny, we're still in minus figures by day, but radiant blue skies and sparkling light made for some really nice shots in and around Saulge this morning and later on in the day.

Tired of looking at snow and ice photographs from across Europe and on your friend's facebook pages? Hope not because although there is a limit to how many times you can make the snow bound terrain and frozen waterways look good on film, I've discovered some new angles! Like this simple image of a snowy field (right). I love the contrast of those compacted mounds and dimples in the foreground with that stunning blue sky. Interesting huh!?

The River Gartempe is almost completely frozen over at Saulge now with just a tiny rivulet still running on the Northern side of the bridge (I'd take that tiny flow in my water pipes right now!), and I must say that the bridge itself is looking more splendid than usual in the Winter sun

Now then, on that last photograph you might be able to spot some big black birds in the tree tops behind the bridge ...... there you go, you've got em! 'Just a bunch of crows in a tree Baggins' you may say! Well yes you may say that and you would be partly correct, they are members of the crow family but these are Rooks as a pose to Carrion Crows. Many folk just see a big black bird and think 'crow' and think no more about it but apart from the 'bigness' and the 'blackness' they are quite different species and one of the most intelligent of birds to boot!

There's an old saying that goes 'a Crow in a crowd is a Rook, a Rook on its own is a Crow' .... Rooks are very social birds and are almost always seen in flocks, whilst Carrion Crows are more likely to be seen singly or in small family groups. Carrion Crows have black beaks whilst Rooks have a very distinct grey / bony beak and look vaguely sinister (they're the original Hitchcock scary bird!). Both species nest early in the year (February) and you can see some territorial squabbling going on in the picture below - this in fact a close up of the aforementioned birds behind the bridge (what would I do without my super 500ml lense!)

And on this pic of a Rook in flight (right) you can clearly see that monstrous bony beak! The more I look at this pic the more I like it and reckon it's the best Rook photograph I've taken to date .... you can even pick out it's rib cage if you look closely!

It was all a bit dicey down by the river's edge and to get some of these shots I had to tread very carefully, it was difficult to judge whether I was standing on the bank or the river and was probably being a tad foolish (nothing new there then!) ... this was borne out just before I took this shot -

My knee went straight through the ice! Good job it was shallow but my was that a shock .... cold too!

Whilst I was berating myself for being so stupid and nursing my cold and bruised knee, this beautiful pale phase Common Buzzard floated across the river. I'd like to think that being an avian friendly kind of chap, that he (or she .... its difficult to tell these days) was maybe looking out for me, making sure I was ok, that sort of mystical man / creature phenomenon, maybe in my slightly distressed state I was easy prey (now I'm being silly) ... in actual fact I think he (or she) just fancied being a star on my blog!!

Born at the Right Time & a break in the weather!

I tried all afternoon and most of the evening yesterday to get this song and sound right and think I just about managed a reasonable result, in any case I'm not spending any more time on it! The song is called Born at the Right Time by Lindesfarne ..... a band I have to admit to having a bit of a blind spot to for years, thinking them a bit too middle of the road. That may still be true of course but as soon as I heard the lyrics on this tune I had to cover it, so apt I thought! See what you think .... if you're my age and fearing for the current generation you might agree!??

Depending on your allegiances the past couple of days have been very disappointing for sports fans with England somehow conspiring to loose the 2nd test match against Pakistan ... been following the match via free streaming sites on the net and for the bother that takes I wish I hadn't bothered! Andy Murray got us all hoping he would finally break his grand slam duck only to fail valiantly against that Djorkavic chap and then my team Manchester Utd lost against arch rivals Liverpool this afternoon in the FA Cup.

Better day all round away from the box and the settee that is gradually moulding itself to by resting position ..... its good to have my neighbours Pat & Clive back from Australia, they're both looking well and it'll be good to have someone to have a natter with and share a cuppa every now and again! Weatherwise, the gloomy skies seem to have departed giving rise to some brighter, albeit colder conditions outside and the ever increasing daylight hours are at least providing some hints of the Spring that's waiting to be sprung! This morning I saw a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers flying around together and what looked very much like courtship behaviour to me and this Nuthatch was singing at the top of a tree in the cold sunshine!

During a walk around some tracks near to the village of Pleasance yesterday(I was hoping to catch up with the Peregrine Falcon that got away a few days before!) and I stumbled on a church I hadn't seen before - such a typical French Church I had to snap it!

Finally, I've taken many pictures of the local Buzzards around here, and this is by no way the best, but there was something about  this one's purposeful and jaunty flight over the top of me that again had the hint of Spring about it ....  and I'll swear he was giving me the eye!

Montmorillon - The City of Books

The nearest town to me here at La Macherie is Montmorillon, its where I go to buy food, occassionally socialise and one of the paces we perform when Jane and Mark are in town. With only some 7000 souls  inhabiting the place its hardly a buzzing metroplolis but it has to be said (and it's been said many times) that Montmorillon is something of a jewel in the Vienne crown.

Montmorillon is steeped in medieval history with many historic sites includig the Octagon, an 11th Century funeral chapel built by Crusaders,the Chapelle St Laurent and St Chatherine's Crypt with its fine frescoes, and its 12th Century bridge, le Vieux-Pont. It's main claim to fame however is it's association with books with a whole quarter of the town given over to the glorification of the written word. This area of the town, penned Le Cite De'Ecrit, is a major tourist attraction with visitors flocking to browse the many antique book shops (there's even a typewriter museum!) and hosts a yearly international book fair every June. Remarkably this area of the town was a crumbling area of dereliction before 2000 and a major investment and restoration project created this atmospheric gem of a place.

I went into Montmorillon the other evening, not to buy food nor to socialise, but to take advantage of some glorious Autumn sunshine and take a few pics - hard not to go for the obvious 'touristy' type shots and some of these most definitely are just that but one or two of these I think captures 'Magic of Montmorillon'

I should of course know what all of these buildings are called but shame upon shame I dont ... maybe you do? In either case I'll label them when tine allows!

Nice Chateau!

Stumbled upon this exquisite chateau as I was exploring some woods and lakes nr Azat le Riz. Its called Le Chateau de Rischauveron.  Can't find out a heap load about it but apparently parts of the building date back to the 14th Century ... like most chateaux and old buildings in France it's in wonderful restorative condition and I think it's a splendid example of its kind.