Category: Natural history


Fishing Report of 22 August

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Natural history — 2 Comments
August 23, 2015

On the way to the river yesterday I noticed bee-eaters on the telegraph wires as soon as I turned off the A357 and onto the rough track that leads to the Guadalhorce, and when I saw them it occurred to me that I had not seen these beautiful birds for at least a couple of months. They have been further north and now they are heading to Africa. Today they are on the telegraph wires in southern Andalucía, soon they will have the Mediterranean under their wings and, shortly after, the Sahara.

It remains very hot but the sting of July´s oppressive heat and humidity seems to be easing. They say that July was the hottest month here that has ever been recorded here.

It is not obvious that the summer is drawing to a close but it is waning, almost imperceptibly slowly. Changes are on their way and the bee-eaters know this. Continue reading →

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Jim Corbett´s Rifle

Filed under: Books and stuff, Natural history, Other bits and bobs — 2 Comments
August 16, 2015

When I was at the CLA gamefair in Leeds recently I had an opportunity to attend a presentation on Jim Corbett, the legendary hunter and conservationist who is remembered for killing a number of man-eating leopards and tigers in India in the early part of the last century.

This talk was given by a representative of the famous gun makers, John Rigby & Co. and, during the presentation, members of the audience were invited to hold one of the most famous sporting rifles in the world, a .275 bolt-action rifle which was presented to Corbett in 1907 for shooting the single most prolific individual man-eater in history, the Tigress of Champarat. Continue reading →

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Have you got any books on lampreys?

Filed under: Books and stuff, Folks I know, Natural history, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
August 3, 2015

I have just come from the CLA game fair at Harewood House, just outside Leeds, where I was signing copies of a book that has just been published. The publisher is Coch-y-bonddu books and they sell and print books on an enormous variety of subjects. If you are interested in fishing, hunting, working dogs, falconry, natural history and all kinds of “outtdoorsy” things they are the people to go to.

The company was set up by Paul Morgan with whom I have collaborated on the book over the last three years or so and Paul was at the fair accompanied by Luke Edwards, Jane Kelsall and Marion Griffiths who are part of the Coch-y-bonddu team. They were joined by Ken Callahan who is another bookseller from New England and a longtime friend of Paul Morgan. Ken has a fine beard but not a whole lot of hair north of his eyebrows and he reminded me a little of Charles Darwin. It has to be said that, coming from a biology teacher, saying that a person reminds them of Darwin is the highest form of praise. Ken seemed to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the literature relevant to his work and no end of other things besides and was and was a pleasure to listen to. I´m sure the real Darwin would have had little to say about the shortcomings of American airline security or the worryingly reduced life expectations of professional American Football players. Continue reading →

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A Monster from British Columbia

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Folks I know, Natural history — 5 Comments
July 20, 2015

Yesterday I received a short message by email and a single attached photograph. It came all the way from British Columbia and showed the irrepressible John Langridge holding onto the tail of a fish he had just landed.  This fish, a white sturgeon, was about the weight of me, my wife Catriona and our two teenage kids put together!

I have only a few details about the capture of the fish. It was taken in the Fraser River which is the longest river in British Columbia and took 45 minutes to subdue. It towed the boat along as if it were a dog being taken for a walk and was eventually landed a full mile from where it was hooked. Continue reading →

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Barracuda

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July 7, 2015

John Langridge has been catching some barracuda in the Indian Ocean these last few days. They are creatures of such menace that they have carved a certain reputation for themselves.

I have never caught barracuda myself but I did have the chance to see one firsthand, in its own element, back in the days when I did a lot of scuba diving. We were in the Red Sea and I was partnered with the divemaster guy on a “livaboard” dive boat. We had spent some time suspended just off a vertical rock face that plummeted into the abyss when the divemaster fella beckoned for me to join him in the open water. Continue reading →

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What the hell is a mero?

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June 12, 2015

I was driving home from the the river today and bumped into my neighbour Andrés. He is another fisherman, just like me, except that he fishes only in the sea. I told him I was had been to the river and had caught three barbel. He asked me what kind of size they were and I used the universal gesture that indicates the length of the fish as the distance between the palms of the hands. I told him the best fish might have been a kilo and a half, mas o menos.

Then he put me to shame by pointing out that he had recently caught a “mero” of 14kg in Algeciras. “Jesus, that´s a big fish” I thought “but what the hell is a mero?” Continue reading →

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Glossy Ibis

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June 9, 2015

Last week I took a look at the Río Guadiaro in Cadiz province. It was a hot afternoon and so I decided to have a swim in the river. When I had swum a little way downstream I noticed a glossy ibis standing on the stony margin just where the pool became shallow and before it was funnelled and broken in a shallow section of fast water. It was a beautiful place this and I guess it would be relatively undisturbed since the bankside growth was difficult to pass through. The only way to get here was to swim. Since there was little of me sticking out of the water I tried to get as close as I could before frightening the ibis away and managed to come within about 8 metres of it before it decided it didn´t like the look of me and took to the air. Continue reading →

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The Night Heron and the Fish

Filed under: Natural history — 4 Comments
May 17, 2015

I came across an interesting piece of drama at the river on Saturday. It involved a night heron and some fish.

The heron was standing in water which was only a couple of inches deep, a shallow sill between one sprawling turbulent pool and another. Any fish moving upstream from one pool to the other needed to swim across this shallow ridge in water that barely covered its back and the chosen route was just where the heron was standing. When the bird became aware of my presence it took a few steps further away but resisted the urge to take flight. Presumably the heron, in the moments before I disturbed it, had been waiting for a fish of the right size to run the gauntlet before seizing it. Continue reading →

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“Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?”

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May 15, 2015

Remember Indiana Jones? This guy was as tough as nails and he never backed out of a fight even when seriously outgunned. His chin was chiselled out of granite. If you knocked him down he just got back up again, madder than he was before. He was scared of absolutely nothing.

Except snakes. Continue reading →

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Close encounter with a snake

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May 11, 2015

I have just come back from walking the dogs and we came across snake on the path. The dogs had just trotted on and the snake was making its way from one side of the path to the other. It was a pretty little thing, maybe 40 cm long and when it rested against a wall I had a pretty good look at it. I am pretty sure it was a false smooth snake (Macroprotodon brevis). If this is what it was it is really nothing to worry about. We only have a couple of venomous species around here, the lataste´s viper and the montpelier snake.

My encounter with that little snake brought to mind a closer encounter that Steve Lawler had on Saturday evening. Continue reading →

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