Latest Entries »

Ha ha ha ha …….. or maybe not

Filed under: Other bits and bobs — 5 Comments
December 14, 2018

For a few years I have been dabbling in stand up comedy and have performed a few bits and pieces in various staff and PTA shows. People have been kind enough to suggest I might have a bit of a knack for this kind of thing and so I thought I might step up to the plate and try to do a bit of stand up in the “real world”. So I managed to enlist myself as one of three warm up acts before three headline professional UK comedians who are touring the coast. This all took place last Saturday night in a nightclub in Benavista during their inaugural comedy night.

What a dumb idea that was! View full article »

Read More & Comment

Peregrin Falcon

Filed under: Natural history, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
December 8, 2018

I´m a pretty crap bird watcher if I am to be completely honest. I did try some years back to record in that back of diary I was given at work to faithfully list the species I came across here in Spain. The list ran to more than 40 species when the diary disappeared and I became distracted by other things. No doubt it will resurface one day. View full article »

Read More & Comment

Good news

Filed under: Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
December 3, 2018

Today I had some good news. My ancient car managed, against all odds, to convince some ITV inspector that it is roadworthy. After a terrifying periodic inspection it was given a clean bill of health and the man gave me a sticker to say that the car was fit tor use until the 27th of December 2019.

View full article »

Read More & Comment

What fish look like

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Natural history, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
November 16, 2018

I have a fish tank in my lab which is a constant source of interest to the students I teach. Frankly, they spend more time watching the fish swimming around than they ever do listening to me. There used to be a much-admired crayfish in there which would astound everybody by periodically shedding its exoskeleton and looking like it was dead before appearing from behind a wooden log.

What a party trick that was! View full article »

Read More & Comment

Can I ask a favour?

Filed under: Books and stuff, Other bits and bobs, Published fishing writing — Leave a comment
October 20, 2018

I was wondering if I could ask favour? As you may know my book Dry River was published in 2015 as a hardback (it can be bought in this form by following a link on the hoe page of this blog) but Paul Morgan, the publisher and bookseller, was kind enough to allow us to make an eBook version. This version is like the original but the paintings which illustrate it have had to be reduced in size. The only other change is a small alteration to the “running order” of the chapters. I must thank my wife Catriona for making the file conversion (she wouldn´t let me re-write the acknowledgments to say this). She also put together this blog initially and then said to me “I have put together a blog and called it Fishydreams. Now all you have to do is go ahead and write!”  View full article »

Read More & Comment

An otter on the Río Grande

Filed under: Natural history, Other bits and bobs — 2 Comments
October 16, 2018

We´ve had some hard rain here recently and I thought I might take a look on the river on Sunday to see how it was clearing up. As usual I had the rod in the back of the car but thought it unlikely that I would be be taking it out. I live close to the confluence of two rivers, the Río Grande and the Río Guadalhorce and after heavy rainfall it tends to be the Río Grande that clears up sooner. So on Sunday I went to take a look at it in the hope it might have recovered sufficiently to offer me a chance to fool a barbel or two. View full article »

Read More & Comment

The Mystic and the Mug

Filed under: Other bits and bobs, Published fishing writing — 8 Comments
October 7, 2018

Most people I know sooner or later get wind of the fact that I´m a fly fisherman. Very often there follows a little exchange of words that seems to follow a pattern that is becoming increasingly familiar. The chances are you will recognise it too.

It´s almost as if the two of us are each delivering lines from a script with which only one of us is familiar. I know more or less where things are leading but the non-fisherman just ad-libs. First up there is the assertion that, whoever it is that I am talking to, just wouldn´t have it in them to “sit around” all day fishing; “I just wouldn´t have the patience for it!” View full article »

Read More & Comment

Isidro and the donkey

Filed under: Folks I know, Other bits and bobs — 4 Comments
September 30, 2018

Yesterday a few of us headed up into hills to a little town called El Colmenar. It turns out that at this time of year that sex-crazed deer, loaded with hormones, descend from the surrounding woods and start rutting. Pretty recently they were even seen walking about the town and there were X rated scenes involving these beasts witnessed by the outdoor swimming pool of the Hotel Rural Buitrera. View full article »

Read More & Comment

Another day another vulture

Filed under: Natural history, Other bits and bobs — 7 Comments
September 21, 2018

It´s not every day that a vulture descends from the sky and alights at your place of work but that´s exactly what happened today. I thought people were kidding me when they asked if I wanted to go and take a look at the vulture but then I saw the crowd standing at a safe distance and, lo and behold, right in the middle stood a full grown griffon vulture. View full article »

Read More & Comment

News from Ireland

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Folks I know, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
September 19, 2018

Every now and then my brother Sean and Mark McCann manage to get a few days of fishing and head off into the hinterlands with fly rods thrown into the back of their cars and their heads swimming with dreams of trout and Guinness, both of which essential to the success of such ventures. Very occasionally I get to join them but it is increasingly hard to do because I live a long way away and the best times for fishing in Ireland tend to coincide with my busiest times at work. View full article »

Read More & Comment