More "Migrants" Arrive

April 2008

As Bee-eaters, Woodchat Shrikes and Montagu's Harriers pour across The Strait of Gibraltar I came across a group of four other migrants from Africa as I walked down through the pine forest above the port of Barbate.

The heavens were alive with calling Bee-eaters as they flew low over my head, some even carrying airborne insects in their beaks as their crops seemed full! The insects that are around (even when the Levante wind is blowing strongly from The Mediterranean) are themselves busy breeding, feeding and subsequently pollinating the gorse, lavender and cistus on the meadow slopes of cork-oak and Umbrella Pine. I was standing watching the Bee-eaters on a small path that literally drops from the ancient sand-dune called Las Breñas, down to where we have our home, when suddenly five young men came out the bushes, one of them barefoot. Realising that they were Moroccans I asked if any spoke French. One of the five, a lad of about eighteen spoke Spanish and produced a "Garmin" GPS Satellite navigation unit showing me where we were. Part of me wanted to know why how they came by such a relatively sophisticated piece of kit for their voyage over The Strait from a Third World land. I give them water at let them call someone in Algeciras on my mobile phone. "The GPS is for sale" explains the other, as they need to buy food, no shoes cries the barefoot one. I decline their offer. I inform them that there are a lot of Police searching the roads and I saw three road checks earlier that morning around Barbate with the Policia Local and the Guardia Civil out in force and it may be wise for them all to lie low before attempting hitch-hiking to wherever. I wish them luck and they disappear as quickly as they emerged.

They are all young want to work, willing to work and made a hazardous sea crossing in a small boat (patera) with a tiny keel, so designed to get the boat straight up onto the beach.

March 2008

Above the Garden

Bee-eaters started coming across from Africa to Europe around the 20th March this year. The earliest for a few years. Turtle Doves and collared Pratincoles have already flown over our garden. I'm sure the family is well used to me suddenly leaving the breakfast table, grabbing my bins and rushing outside to see whatever needs closer inspection in the air. Setting such a bad example at meal times is frowned upon in our house. An expression showing narrowing eyes greets me as I declare the identified species and the girls shout "Hoorah!".  " It was an Osprey", say I and my wife asks rather sarcastically if I have seen one before.  "But it was above our garden, Perhaps it was the same bird I saw last month in The Gambia!"

I finish my toast with the girls smiling at me. Lucia, who's five, wants to know all about African jungles.

There are still Monarch butterflies around at present. They are such beautiful creatures, are strong fliers and can cope with really windy conditions we often get down this way.

February 2008

Early Egyptian Vultures have been crossing this month. All that I have seen have been adults, Black Kites too are arriving in small parties and single Booted Eagles were seen coming in over Bolonia. Short-toed Eagles too were much in evidence over the last week but things have slowed down with cooler air from the north.

It seemed to be Marsh Harriers galore today. All of them were juvenile birds along the agricultural areas in La Janda and beyond.

Audouin's Gulls have been roosting at the SW side of the marismas or Natural Park beside the vast Military Zone. I like these gulls a lot and they are steadily increasing in numbers especially in the Cadiz province area,

January 2008

Spring started well with some early migrants.....

and my friend Cristi Parkes at our conservation group, "Friends of the Laguna de La Janda", heard then spotted a Nightingale in her garden on the 31st of January!  The Lanner Falcon that I reported back on September last year is still around and was attempting to take a Greater Cormorant in flight. If someone had told me this, I would have been a bit dubious, but have a look at a couple of photos I took. The first shot shows the Lanner attacking from underneath the cormorant and In the right hand shot you can see the Cormorant screaming. It was a pity that the cormorant got away, never mind about both birds flying close to the wind turbines!

Short-toed Eagles and both forms of Booted Eagle, incidentally our smallest European Eagle, have been seen returning  with the warmer clear weather. Great-spotted Cuckoos and some Short-eared Owls have been seen along the coast. A great Bittern was also seen along the collector canal track at La Janda and the strong Levante (easter lies) have been blowing for a week now, which means birding is hard work when you want to show what is normally to be seen in Cadiz Province. Nevertheless, we did come across Black Stork, Glossy Ibis, Eurasian Spoonbill, Lanner Falcon (the same juvenile bird that has been present since September last year), Peregrine Falcon, Common Buzzard, Hen Harrier, Marsh Harrier and a little further on at the Medina-Sidonia to Vejer road we came across two displaying Black Shouldered Kites (see side column for recent photos).

The Common Cranes seemed to have departed and have been replaced by (presumably birds from Morocco stopping off in La Janda area. We had around 1,850 birds this winter and there are 400-500 birds still feeding on winter what, much to the annoyance of the farmers who are constantly chasing them on.

Barn Swallows never seemed to go very far south this year and a few have been seen every month, although January saw low numbers every day coming straight into Spain from the Moroccan coast. Wintering chiffchaffs and Robins have been moving north as Northern Wheatears come up from Africa. Crag Martins are still happy to feed in the south and the presence of these little birds feeding in the warmest places has indicated in the past winters that spring is still a few weeks away in the north. Judging by the weather in the UK it seems a really mixed bag over the last few weeks.

New Museum at Baelo Claudia

We often try and include some cultural aspects of this fascinating area, when we show people the area. The partly excavated ruins of the ancient Roman city of Blaeo Claudia, next to the small town of Bolonia, some 20 kms  west of Tarifa, is well worth a visit. A new museum is now opened and although the site of the huge building could have been more sympathetically built and the location of same changed, it is still fairly impressive and hold a small quantity of relics. There are many short film displays showing visitors about the site and in particular about city life 2000 years ago.

Baelo Claudia preserves the most representative elements of the typical Roman city. There is a circular protective wall, the main gate, administrative buildings like the curia (local senate), the public archive, the forum, the judicial building, a temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis, as well as temples to Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva. Each god has its own individual temple, instead of one temple dedicated to them collectively; the only other Roman town believed to have a similar arrangement is Sbeitla in Tunisia. In addition, there are remnants of stores, a market, baths, and a theater.

Three aqueducts supplied the town with water. There are signs of an industrial zone with the remains of streets, installations for the production of garum, aqueducts, and a sewer system. No other site in the Iberian Peninsula affords such a complete vision of the Roman urban experience. This is the site's main interest to modern visitors, and it can be seen via an impressive path that circles the town.

Weather

While blizzards rage in Scotland and lorries are blown over during Cumbrian gales, the sun shines in Andalucia. Of course we get rain and it's greatly needed. When the heavens do open its often like a tropical monsoon deluge. The good thing is that normally when a low system works its way in from the Atlantic, it quickly clears and the sun returns, building the temperatures up once again. We have had quite a lot of winter rain but long periods of fine dry weather with temperatures reaching 23oC on some days at the end of January. It does look like rain again though and I'm sure it will be welcomed by all the farmers who can only grow one crop of wheat per year. Its just too hot and dry on the rolling farmland for another crop in the summer without irrigation. Maze, rice and cotton are grown in abundance where irrigation can take place and the water management is pretty dire down here with crops being irrigated during the day with no thought as to evaporation or the warm levante breezes from the Mediterranean.