Spanish Update

Greetings from sunny Spain!

We have now been here just over a week and enjoying every minute. The weather has mostly been good - even the very high winds yesterday were accompanied by sunshine.

The day we arrived we called in to a supermarket after dark on the way to visit a friend for supper. The first thing we heard as we opened the car door was the sound of roosting starlings in the reeds opposite the car park. So the next evening we were there with binoculars and camera just before sunset hoping to see murmerating starlings and were well rewarded. We soon moved from the supermarket carpark to a better vantage point and were able to watch thousands of starlings coming in to roost.

Here you can see some of the early arrivals dropping into the reeds.

 

The dark swathe across the middle of this picture is roosting starlings.

Here they are jostling for position

The sunset was beautiful that night - here are some of the later arrivals.

The sight has been spectacular although we have not had the huge dark clouds of swirling birds that we have seen pictures of. We keep going back in hopes though!

On Friday we visited the Cabo de Gata lighthouse at the far south eastern tip of Almeria province.

We have been there many times in the past as it is a stunning spot but mainly in search of the Trumpeter Finch. It is a North African bird with a small colony in the Cabo de Gata National park. We have seen Trumpeters on three or four ocassions  but this time we saw several and very close to the car. This one was just a couple of metres from the car.

 A perfect view. And they really do trumpet!

Have a great week.

Sunny Spain!

We are coming to the end of our first week in Spain having arrived here last Sunday. The journey from home to Zaragoza on Saturday was 'enlivened' by a myriad of different weather conditions! Sleet, heavy rain, snow, fog, sunshine and finally in Zaragoza very strong winds. Our journey on Sunday was also very windy and we arrived at our holiday home at Puerto Rey in Almeria province to hear of terrific winds on Saturday, with some people having had car windows smashed by the strength of it.
Since arriving we have had varying strengths of wind (fortunately not as strong as Saturdays) but beautiful clear blue skies.
Here is the house we are sharing with friends for the month.

We have a lovely terrasse on the ground floor at the front which gets the sun all day. And we each have a bedroom with a balcony, again getting the sun all day. From our balcony you can just see the sea although it is only five minutes away. The Playa de Puerto Rey is an enormous sandy beach with this lovely view looking north.

Going south there is a small pool formed where a river meets the sea which was full of birds when we visited.

The main reason for visiting this area is that Philip and our friends are part of a bowls team with matches over the next two weeks at the four bowling greens in the area. Yesterday morning they set off early for a practise at the nearest green but it was too windy and the green was closed. It is in a beautiful setting with a lovely view but it is also very exposed. So instead we set off down the coast to explore.
Our first stop was north of Carboneras in a bay called Playa del Algarrobico. There was a small sheltered sandy cove which would be lovely for swimming on a warmer day.

Philip was wandering round with his binoculars and managed to spot three of these beautiful Trumpeter Finches.

They are a north African bird and there are just a few of them in the Cabo de Gata national park so we were very fortunate to see them and to be able to get a few photographs.

This fishing boat came past as we were about to move on.

Today we have been for a drive into the Cabrera hills. Very steep and narrow roads but amazing views. I am afraid my photographs do not do it justice.

But this I think this picnic area has the ultimate view.

Not much time for sewing. I put this crazy block together before we left. It is my February CQJP block.

As you can see my colour theme for February is pink and orange - nice hot colours for a sunny holiday.

Not much progress! But once the bowls matches start I shall have more time.

Have a good weekend everyone.