Category: Natural history


Waiting for the bee eaters

Filed under: Natural history, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
April 5, 2014

In Southern Andalucia we are spared the worst extremes of seasonal change. The cold does not hit us as hard as further north in Europe, and even Spain. But the changes of the seasons are evident from the passage of birds in the skies overhead as they make their way from Africa into Europe in the spring and summer and returning once again in the autumn.

There is one bird which is due to make an appearance soon and which, to me at least, signals the change of season as clearly as a leaf fall in the autumn. This is the bee eater… Continue reading →

Read More & Comment

Fishing Report – 29 March

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Natural history — Leave a comment
March 31, 2014

It rained heavily last night and the rain continued to fall as I headed out in the late morning to take a look at the river. The weather seems to have been dry for some time now and I was curious to see how the fish would respond to the rainfall. Perhaps the disturbance of the droplets on the surface of the shallow river might animate them a little or, at least, make it a little easier to approach them unseen. I figured one thing was certain, the rain was unlikely to make them any wetter than they already were! Continue reading →

Read More & Comment

Vultures in Spain

Filed under: Natural history, Other bits and bobs — 2 Comments
March 26, 2014

Vultures are in trouble. In India their numbers have crashed by some 75% and the cause of this appears to be drugs used to treat cattle but which prove lethal to the vultures which feed on their carcasses.

One of these, a drug called diclofenac, has been licensed to be manufactured and used in Spain. It is estimated that populations of vultures could crash if even one percent of the carcasses on which the vultures feed are contaminated with the drug.

Continue reading →

Read More & Comment

Giant pike

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Folks I know, Natural history — 2 Comments
March 5, 2014

Here´s an odd thing. A colleague at work, David Días, told me on Monday morning that he had caught a huge pike. When he told me how big it was I though he was just pulling my leg. He claimed that his fish weighed, wait for it…. 29 kilograms! Continue reading →

Read More & Comment

The Apes of Gibraltar

Filed under: Folks I know, Natural history — 1 Comment
February 24, 2014

If you have ever been to Gibraltar you won´t need me to remind you of what a quirky place it is. It prides itself as being a little bit of Britain, complete with bobbies on the beat, big red post boxes,  BHS and Marks and Spencer on the main drag and plenty of pubs showing premiership football where you can sink a pint of London Pride. But then you look a little closer and you see people walking around in T shirts during a February afternoon and you hear the fusion of English and Spanish spoken by the locals. Look behind you and you will see, above the buildings, an enormous slab of Jurassic limestone piercing the blue sky. The air is full of the screeches of Mediterranean gulls and the northern coast of Morocco, a continent apart, is only separated from you by a slither of water. Continue reading →

Read More & Comment

Caviar anyone?

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Natural history — 1 Comment
February 15, 2014

Last Thursday I organised a trip inland to visit a fish farm which grows both rainbow trout and, more interestingly, sturgeon from which they obtain caviar.

The caviar, not unexpectedly, does not come cheap. A kilo will set you back 2500 euros and a tiddly little 10g can costs 25 euros.

Caviar eating is a rich man´s game and I will leave the well heeled to get on with knocking back the stuff. I am far more interested in the sturgeon themselves. Continue reading →

Read More & Comment

Annoying little bastards: Part 3 – Sandflies

Filed under: Flies and fly tying, Natural history — Leave a comment
February 5, 2014

If you have ever been fortunate enough to visit New Zealand and fish for the trout for which the country has become famous, you will know all about sandflies. Continue reading →

Read More & Comment

Annoying little bastards: Part 2 – midges

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Flies and fly tying, Natural history, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
February 1, 2014

Midges don´t have many friends, particularly up in Scotland, where the little devils devour everyone in sight and can make a hell of a nuisance of themselves. The real villian is one of the biting midges, a nasty little son of a bitch known as the highland biting midge, Culicoides impunctatus. As with mosquitos,it is the female who sucks blood, and for the same reason, to be able to produce a batch of eggs. Continue reading →

Read More & Comment

Annoying little bastards: Part 1 – mosquitos

Filed under: Flies and fly tying, Natural history — Leave a comment
January 24, 2014

Are you scared of great white sharks? Or maybe grizzly bears, or saltwater crocs, or tigers?

If you are I can understand. I am too. But it turns out that what we should really be worried about are mosquitos which are, by a very large margin, the most dangerous animals on earth.  Continue reading →

Read More & Comment

Fishing Report from January 10

Filed under: Fishing reports, Natural history — Leave a comment
January 13, 2014

It looks like the weatherman was right. Outside the heavens have opened. The French have an expression for weather like this:

“Il pleut comme une vache qui pisse”

It was because this weather was due that I was particularly keen to get to the river on Saturday before the rains bring the water up and colour the river. Continue reading →

Read More & Comment