I was a little surprised when fishing the upper river Ebro at how abundant the barbel were. This area I had imagined would be home primarily to trout. The river source is not far away and the water is cold, just the way trout like it. But the barbel are here in good numbers and it is lovely just to watch these fish in the clear river water. Armed with a fly rod, however much fun they were to observe, I could not resist having a crack at catching one. As a result I have been fortunate enough to look at these fish from up close and they are absolutely stunning.
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At the river inlet into the Embalse del Ebro reservoir the Ebro splits into two channels, each heavily weeded up in places but the clear water pushes through the weed growth, often in clear seams revealing the stony substrate beneath. Both flows converge before the water flows into a narrow tongue which extends to the west from the main body of the reservoir. From above it looks as though the embalse had extended an arm to greet the inflowing river that sustains it.
View full article »Only an idiot would go fishing on a Monday or, for that matter, on a Thursday. Where I am in Cantabria, if the guardia civil caught you in the act of trying to catch a trout in the local section of the Ebro on either of those days they would land you with a fine that would make your head spin.
View full article »It´s a few weeks now since I started noticing the new generation of toads put in an appearance as the dogs and I walked the quite roads and tracks of the campo in the early morning. They were tiny – about the size of the nail of my little finger and, if they were inclined to stay still, they could be tricky to spot.
View full article »There is a lough halfway up a mountain that we simply call the “Mountain Lough”. The word “lough” is overstating things a little because it is nothing like the expansive bodies of water you might first imagine when you think of the loughs of the west of Ireland. I guess we are even overstating things when we say it is on the flank of a “mountain” because it would not stand out in the general topography of this landscape as anything particularly worthy of note. It is high enough, though, to sap the strength from your legs as you climb the boggy slope and your boots sink into the sphagnum moss as though you were making your way over a giant sloping sponge. The climb will certainly take enough of your strength to make you stop once or twice to take in some air and this gives you a chance to turn your back to the mountain and, if the skies permit, to look out over vast tracts of green fields and the reflected silver of other small loughs and, distantly, the river Shannon.
View full article »It turns out that there was a perfectly good explanation for why the cat we came across this morning looked decidedly odd. It was not a cat at all. It was a mongoose! The dogs and I came across this thing at dawn this morning as we ambled along a camino. We often to head out early, the three of us, and manage to avoid any cyclists or people or cars and we can enjoy the campo, sometimes in the moonlight, before the world begins to stir.
View full article »When we were away at Doñana last month I was asked by my students what my favourite bird was and I found it hard to answer because there are two that are vying for that particular position. One of these is the European Bee-eater and the other is the Red-necked Nightjar and at this time of year they both turn up on our doorstep.
View full article »I have no time for Harry Potter. None. This makes me an anomaly in a house full of Potter fanatics. Everyone here has read every book a zillion times and seen all of the films. My daughter has been listening to one of the audio books at X 0.6 speed so that the experience can go on for longer, ideally forever. She even sat me down the other day to find out which of Hogworth´s four houses my personality profile would match me to. I needed to answer a series of questions until a virtual sorting hat algorithm decided that I was Gryffindor, just like HP himself.
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