nature notes

Yes they are real English bluebells. The wood is a SSSI and belongs to the farm and is totally private. OH goes into it with farmers permission to monitor the rookery, and now there are Little Egrets nesting in it also.

52 Rook nests, lot of Jackdaws in the winter about 600 Rooks and 700 Jackdaw roost in there, quite amazing at dawn and dusk, and they chit chat all night long
 
Wow indeed! I do miss bluebells. Our old next door neighbours have an elderly border terrier called Bluebelle, named after the flowers in the local wood, where she was walked every day until recently as she became too old to manage the distance.

My nature spots have all been small, we have a very weird 'thing' stuck to the house wall, it looks exactly like a dead spindly bit of olive branch, about 1.5 inches long, grey, and stuck to the wall with 4 sucker pads, it gently moves from time to time, waving in a slightly obscene way! We are also watching a cabbage white caterpillar and a bright yellow cocoon (not quite sure that they are related), and I spent a few minutes observing some sort of fritillary, motionless on a flower, in cloudy light. When the sun came out it moved its wings, but for a few minutes I could just admire it, on show just for me it felt like.

If you got a clearer shot of the shrub, perhaps we could help HG?
 
A couple of pics of the Tawny Owl in the box at the end of the garden.
Bit blurry, but didn't want to get too close and disturb him/her. We do have a pair so one was probably at the bottom with young
 

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Lovely picture, I am besotted with owls, thank you for posting!

During the week I spotted my first ever deer here, the first in 9 years. I know deer aren't that exciting, but I thought we didn't have any locally. It was a roe deer (I think) and it jumped out about 10 ft in front of us, from an olive grove and into the forest, jumping upwards at least 8ft - I know deer fencing has to be 8ft as a minimum, I can see why now. Having spotted a dead wild boar last week about 1/4 mile away from the deer, I am hugely encouraged that the forest is home to large beasts as well as reptiles and birds, especially as the only trees are eucalypts and pines, although there is a lot of scrub and a patchwork of olive/cherry groves. It is quite possible that they have been forced here after we had massive fires 2 years ago which decimated thousands of hectares locally.
 
That's lovely to find deer locally, I think deer are exciting to see. Finding you have bigger animals in the wood must be really nice.

Flocks of Swifts and Swallows were passing through today, 4 Wheatears, couple of Yellow Wagtails, 2 Hobbies, were on the field, and the Cuckoo was busy calling, and another on a neighbouring farm. Very spring like. The Moorhen who made her nest next to the feed bin, has 9 young
 
here you are MrsBiscuit, a couple of pics of a Long eared Owl that spent a day behind the manure pile
 

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Oh wow wow wow, what a lovely photo, and what a privilege to see your 'own' owl up close. Just look at those markings, he/she is the same background colour as a chamois poland! I know owls are not cuddly, just look at those talons for a start, but they look so soft and approachable. Well they are soft, I have stroked and flown a few very tame ones at wildlife rescue centres, but so fearsome and powerful at the same time. I find them endlessly fascinating and completely beautiful. Thank you BYM!

I have 2 spots today. One is the highest tree climbing cat I have ever seen - one of the local toms was chased up a tree by a dog, and he sat about 15ft up a bare trunk and into the canopy, I am quite impressed as he is a large boy (no cats were harmed in this escapade). The other one is a lot more exciting, although it was not seen by me but by my brother who lives in a small town on the coast in Australia. A koala! The odd thing is he lives about 5 mins walk from the ocean, in a suburban road, with very few trees on it and indeed being so close to the water there are very few trees around full stop. He was talking to a local ranger who said the territory of a koala is 10-15km, so they spend a lot more time on the ground than I would have thought.
 
The markings enable them to disappear completely amongst brambles and shrubs in the winter, or vanish as they sit next to a branch, as we know from looking for one that we know is in a bush. But this one was quite happily dozing in the warmth in spring.
OH went down to the lake and knew someone was watching her, looked around and there he was. She does that with owls, can somehow sense them. very witch like.
How lovely a Koala close up.
Highest tree climbing cat, now that is impressive, Margaid's cats may see this as a challenge :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Not this crew, they aren't very interested in climbing trees now they're a bit older. Our little female cat in Suffolk was twice "treed" by stray cats; once up an ornamental prunus where she was swaying in the breeze on a spindly main shoot, the cat chasing here being too heavy to go any higher!
 
That's a bit of luck then.
Little Owl on the telegraph pole this morning
 
Little Owls are my favourites, then the Siberian - Extra Small and Extra Extra Large!

Today we drove through a huge area devastated by forest fire about 5 years ago. This part of Portugal is very hilly indeed, its all up and down. Now all the hillsides are clothed in yellow - gorse and broom - as far as you can see. The smell wafting into the car was so strong, a real connection with the land.

Last night we had either fox activity (there is a pen of chicken/guineas about 100m away) or wild boar. Whatever it was was huffing and puffing like an asthmatic. The fowl have their own guard dog and he wouldn't stop barking, with the windows open it woke me up!
 
My new experience today was hearing a rubbery squeaking noise that turned out to be a pair of jays getting romantic in a tree. It was a really weird noise!
 
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