Glimpses of Autumn Colours – Denzil’s Nature Challenge

Autumn in three, maybe four different places if I include Brighton and the Green Party Autumn Conference. So here is to protecting green and blue. I am working on the Marine and Coastal update and we learn about the big trawlers off the coast, out of sight, allowed into British waters but under our improved UK laws dolphin by catch, injuries to mammals must be self reported. But no one does seem to report on the dolphins injured by the vast nets. Sussex Dolphin Project are ready to raise questions in parliament and require all boats to be under CCTV to check. Too little enforcement of environmental law by our UK government. https://sussexdolphinproject.org/

Below the colours of Autumn in Brighton near the pier.

First Autumn walk was in Marple by the Goyt valley with bracket fungus, hawthorn berries and a few last flowers and pollinators. Life has been busy ‘sorting’ after the big move. And final stages on my novel. A last author proof read, a cover design featuring the bee-eater and a lot of agonising over the text on the back of the cover. More in a future post but if you want to go back and take a peek, here is one and also featuring another of Denzil’s Nature Challenge on butterflies if you want a taste of summer.

Navaselva meets Navasola – Butterflies – Denzil’s Nature Challenge

Bracket fungus

Hawthorn

Horsetail fern

knapweed and wild bee

Banks of the Goyt river which joins the Mersey in Stockport

Next a walk in the National Forest near the new home. Settling in and after having had an old apple tree to look after in London. https://navasolanature.wordpress.com/ But here there is an old alder by a brook at the end of the garden. Delightful until a storm surge floods through. We try to secure the bank from erosion with brash, tied up twigs and branches staked into the bank. We also use more rocks. When the rain falls hard as the other day with Storm Babet the level rises above the sides but seems to go down quickly too. Is this because of a storm overflow further up? I know there is one further down where there have also been sewage discharges. How long do we go on polluting our waterways while privatised water companies still pay out substantial profits? Surfers Against Sewage have a very thorough manifesto that should be adopted by all serious at looking after our rivers and coasts and it will be possible to stop this endless pollution.

The End Sewage Pollution Manifesto

Yellow tree fungus – chicken of the woods

Ancient rocks i and ‘wolves’ n the National Forest

The dogs love the forest

The cat loves the silver birch in the garden

Tying brash to the bank to prevent erosion

The water can rise to above my waist.

The dogs enjoying the alder woodland on the other side of the brook

Water is great fun when its a babbling brook

Autumn in the Sierra Aracena often brings birds on migration such as the bee-eater, house martins and even hoopoe but these ones do not go as far but like to seek out more resources before the winter.

Hoopoe visiting Navasola in Autumn

Chestnut trees in Autumn Castano del Robledo

Autumn colours and Andalucian blue skies

The colours of the Autumn here near Navasola bring lots of Spanish tourists to the region as this is unique in the south of Spain. And also the chestnuts fall and the harvest begins. This year there has like so much of Europe been lots of storms and thankfully for us here, lots of rain.

So here’s to Autumn on its final stages as we move towards more wintry weather, to Denzil’s Nature Challenge for the month on Autumn colours and to getting my novel ready for printing. The bee-eater makes for a colourful cover.

https://denzilnature.com/2023/10/18/nature-photo-challenge-31-autumn-colours/

Botany and Black in Nature – Denzil’s Nature Challenge

Walking around Navasola this morning as the heat rises from 21 degrees to 28 by 11.am I am struck more by the incredible greenness of so much around me. Thankfully this year there has been rain in the spring and a last late shower in June.

Navasola from the bent over pine at 28 degrees July 19 th 2023

For Denzil’s nature challenge I look for the black berries of viburnum tinus but these are still grey. The brambles may provide blackberries by early Autumn. I try and check the wild peony seeds but these are mainly still encased in their moist green seed pods.

I overlook the wild carrot because it is everywhere and gleaming white lace like flowers. I marvel at its ability to be the main flowering plant of the drought times and heat of July and August. And then I notice the tiny blackness in the middle. So for Denzil’s black nature challenge I give you Ms Daucus Carota the wild carrot.

Daucus carota with black or purple black centre July 19 th 2023

This black centre has made us ponder but I can not find a labelled botanical drawing. From the Kew website there is a lot of information. Daucus carota comes from the middle lands of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq. And is referred to in the gardens of Babylon. Brought over to Spain in the 12 th century and finally developed into the cultivated orange carrots we know in the Netherlands. And so it seems nowadays the world produces megatons of carrots.

This flower also supports the life cycle of the swallowtail butterfly who indeed has black markings. But have not seen one today.

swallowtail at Navasola

Daucus carota seen July 19 th 2023. Some are in full bloom like the one with the black centre. The early smaller flowers do not as yet have a dark centre. Others have transformed into the amazing nest that will stick to animals and be moved far and near!

But what about this colour concept of blackness? Kew references the centre as a purple flower. We think this one here looks quite black.

What else is black or shows some black at Navasola. There is the black carpenter bee but not seen today. It maybe too hot for them and for the bumble bees with their black stripes. So many birds here have black markings, eye strikes or caps. There should also be black kites around and rare black vultures near Aroche. But maybe the blackest are the male blackbirds and the ravens that fly overhead to a big roosting place near Cortegana castle.

Carpenter bee on viburnum flowers February

Carpenter bee on Rosemary, early April

This all leads me back to my novel The Call of the Wild Valley whose key female non human protagonists are the black kite, Milvana and Buff the buff tailed bumble bee.

Buff tailed bumblebee

Saving a bumblebee January 2016

Black cap by quince tree in Castaño Del Robledo

Blackbird by Ruth Koenigsberger *

I also have the links to Africa as all the messenger birds have homes there too. Nana G used to work in Africa and I think we should honour Africa as our first motherland. In some of my research the Congo basin in the heart of Africa contains incredible diversity of species. And even though homo sapiens is one species there is the richest genetic diversity there among all the different human groups. This and other evidence shows how we and maybe most species we know today emerged and migrated out of Africa.

High wire young ones getting ready to fly from the Algarve to somewhere in Africa.

Young house martins ready to leave Cabanas for Africa September 2015.

We have just about finished the serialisation of Part 0ne and it will stay on the google blogger website for a while. The whole novel is due to be published in November.

This has the last two episodes showing. But you can get back to the beginning or where you left off.

http://www.navaselvathecallofthewildvalley.com/?m=1

For the beginning of all the episodes

http://www.navaselvathecallofthewildvalley.com/2023/05/introduction-and-episode-1.html?m=1#comment-form

Do take a peek preview and Bridge House Publishing welcomes reviews so far and comments. I too would love to hear from you and do comment on my blog too. Or email.

Bridge House Publishing

https://www.bridgehousepublishing.co.uk/

* Ruth Koenigsberger, artist who has drawn some of the characters and places in Call of the Wild Valley, and I have shown her work in various blog posts.

Denzil’s Nature Challenge

https://denzilnature.com/

One Swallow does not make a Summer

Thankfully there is still water in the well and the pond. The birds love the pond and all the trees, wild flowers and other plants love that there is water deep within the ground. We have had the highest temperatures on record for June in Spain and also in our area but there are now cooler nights. Seville has faced temperature in the 40s much earlier than normal. Young swifts have been falling out of nests in the heat.

phlomis

Down by he well

wild scabious

Red rump swallow recovering from being stunned and ready to fly off.

Among the Navasola summer visitors are red-rumped swallows. Can you just detect the red in this strong little bird that survived striking fast onto our window? There are plenty of swifts around the monument of Castano De Robledo and here the temperatures have not reached 40 plus yet. This should have given these young a chance to fly out of an overheated nest. In order to keep these amazing migratory birds off the threatened lists their young must not just survive the early heatwaves here which have forced them out of their nests before they are ready but they must fly thousands of miles within weeks of leaving the nest. Lots of insect food is needed to help grow muscle strength too. And yet again there has been some glyphosate spraying of verges poisoning not just the wild flowers but all the surrounding insects and those that fly into the area.

Bee in Cistus

Young House Martins

For the young wolves in the north of Spain there have been raging wildfires in one of the highly populated but endangered wild Iberian wolf regions in the Sierra Culebra. Just the wrong time as the young wolves might not have the ability to move far from their dens to get away from fire and smoke.

Iberian Wolf courtesy of Blackpool Zoo

Swifts flying over the old monument at Castano de Robledo

And the good news. The European Union has just agreed a robust plan for the restoration of Nature. Biodiversity strategy for 2030 – Environment – environment.ec.europa.eu/strategy/biodiversity-strategy-2030_en

The European Commission’s proposal for a Nature Restoration Law is the first continent-wide, comprehensive law of its kind. It is a key element of the EU Biodiversity Strategy which calls for binding targets to restore degraded ecosystems, in particular those with the most potential to capture and store carbon and to prevent and reduce the impact of natural disasters.

And I have finished War and Peace. An epic and an insight into Tolstoy’s mind and Russian issues in the 19th Century. But has helped me understand a little more about the awful war raging in the Ukraine.

And for the first time in years I have read a book I could not put down. I read Bewilderment by Richard Powers within a day. And was star and earth struck. The book beautifully describes how a scientist searches for life way out in the stars while his son struggles to deal with the knowledge that life on our planet is threatened with extinction. The boy feels the loss of many species that have already gone forever. He draws them and wants to save what we have left. His father creates stories of possible life on faraway planets.

And recovered from Covid. So far no long term effects but was really tired and wiped out.

So the glass is still half full. There is still time to act and save our wonderful world.

An attempt at drawing water with light and shade with wild scabious.

We need lots more swallows to make a summer and a planet full of different life forms to make a better future.

Lets hope these EU actions will lead the way.

With best wishes and blessings from Navasola

Nature Needs Nurture: 7 Years of Writing and a Janus Report for 2021

My first photo on first post. I know now what it  is! (This close up could be useful for the course on botanical illustration but as yet we cannot name the beauty that is that berry!)

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It is 7 years from when I first started this blog, January 2014 and as it is the last day of January I am looking back and wondering how to go forward.

7 years ago I gave the blog the catch line ‘nature needs nurture’. I was both amazed by my new experiences of living in the Sierra Aracena in Southern Spain and dismayed by how much was being lost. My wonderful discoveries of the vast biodiversity of Mediterranean regions kept me busy with key wild flower books and local bird books. My eyes and mind felt opened with a sense of wonder at this incredible range of life.

Before the final building work.A view of the house November 2013

I have tried to record my experiences with photography and words. I found being ‘just botanical’ didn’t seem to attract a readership. I hope I have managed to add in the personal as it has been a personal journey for me but I have not always added in the nitty gritty of daily life and relationships and the strain when you live at a distance from family. These Covid times certainly emphasised that and the dilemma of no easy and quick return to be with family.

January 2014

Pollination

January 2015

Mirbeck oaks

Half a daisy Jan 2015

January 2014

Viburnum Tinus January 2015

The growing understanding of how our natural world is at such a dangerous point has made me think and read more about climate and economic factors. One of my interests because of living in a rural community has been the delicate balance between how we farm and the possibility to be environmentally kind. There is much more discussion and action for those who own land to become stewards for nature. However, at our farm or finca we do not have to worry about finances in the same way as younger people and those without a supplementary income. There is no money in really farming our chestnuts, although we try and collect them each year. It is a back breaking task and not possible for just me. With paid help and about 200 chestnut trees we have never earnt more than 300 or so euros. It is true we could diversify and also be more self sufficient and would be so if younger. How do we go forward with our woodland home while under the shadow of no longer being European citizens, health and virus issues and climate changes.

January 2016

Saving a bumblebee January 2016

Higuera Procession of the Three Kings. First comes the Star

In 2020 Borrassca Barbara arrived as one of the strongest storms in years. The ancient chestnuts had branches torn from them all over the area. This also affected the chestnut harvest and many did not get any income from their chestnuts in a year where it would have been so welcome. There is a lot of ‘healing’ work to be done with the trees but also the longer and hotter droughts affect the size of the chestnuts too. My plan is to have a mosaic of different areas to help with the biodiversity of plants and pollinators and in the hope this will help the birds too. Our pond has also kept enough water in it over the long summer months but we have at times topped it up from our underground water.

Iberian Frog

Our enjoyment of our woodland finca and the area is in the wild flora and fauna and I hope to go forward with more writing about this and being involved in more local conservation issues. The wildfires nearby brought this home to many people in our area. Eucalyptus and other pine plantations spread fires more quickly than native cork and holm oak forests.

January 2017

Red Admiral on footpath to Galaroza, Vanessa Atlanta

The village cross

Los Reyes procession in village in Sierra Aracena.

Looking abroad now there is so much more scope for hope especially if the Biden administration can manage the climate crisis well. Unfortunately I hope that they will also handle all the ‘denial’ and misinformation with careful skill. I think I wrote when Trump came into power that the way we look after our planet should be a cross political party effort. I have closely followed American sites like Eco Watch and seen the many environmental protections for both wildlife and human societies stripped away . Well, with shamans entering the heart of democracy and ‘using’ the antlers of a dead beast I hope that many more may see into the heart of our existential crisis; a disconnect with nature and a disconnect with how we perceive what is right action in the 21st century.

January 2018

Portugese Christmas crib scenes

The stranded sperm whale

Attempts at drawing salamanders

Fireworks for New Year

We love Tavira and Portugal for New Year celebrations

0 to 99

7 years on and there seems to be a growing movement to protect the world we live in. I hope that we will be able to put the restoration of nature, wild and biodiverse places at the centre of all our actions. We have to hold our democratic governments to account as they are the best we have and they must act in the interests of future planet worth living on for all.

January 2019

Fire Salamander

Large peacock, full wings

View of Castano church and orchard which many birds love from the monument and

In David Attenborough’s recent book ‘ A Life on Our Planet’ he presents his witness statement to the importance of biodiversity as the heart of maintaining stable climactic conditions. Restoring nature and conserving biodiversity to create optimum conditions can help mitigate effects of climate change.

He uses some facts at the beginning of each year he remembers

1960 World population 3 billion, Carbon in atmosphere 315 parts per million, Remaining wilderness 62 per cent

2020 World population 7.8 billion, Carbon 415 parts per million, Remaining wilderness 35 per cent 

One point about biodiversity importance Attenborough noted was how whales create the conditions for an abundance of sea life. There is a delicate balance that we started destroying very early on in our economies of free enterprise. His book is full of the warning signs which were apparent from the 1960s and the repeated failures to act. But Attenborough has a two visions for the future, one where there will be a poor outcome for all species, including ourselves and another where we may just turn the tide and will be able to maintain a planet with a more stable climate conducive to all life. Restoring nature is at the heart of this.

January 2020    ( I celebrated biodiversity with my photos so not all taken in January!)

Ladderback snake

Skink

Crag martins at Almonaster

Buff tailed bumblebee

Grey wagtail

Stork flying at Almonaster

And for 2021

Snow arrives as a first in all of our 8 years of living at Navasola

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is about the importance of woodland in Spain for both economic activity and biodiversity.

Summary – In Spain the woodland coverage is the third largest in Europe with 18 million of hectares and sheltering over 6oo different species.

En España, la superficie forestal (es decir, lo que estrictamente no es agrícola ni urbano) ocupa 26,28 millones de hectáreas, lo que supone el 52 % del territorio nacional. Su superficie arbolada aumenta con una tasa anual de 2,19 %. Después de Suecia y Finlandia, España es el tercer país de Europa con mayor superficie forestal arbolada (en torno a 18 millones de hectáreas).

Cork trees

Chestnut trees in Autumn Castano del Robledo

Reforestation needed, old chestnut trees in abandoned woods

View from era to house, through olive grove of 21 trees

Old chestnut trees in the Sierra Aracena

Según el avance del Informe de la situación de los bosques y el sector forestal en España (ISFE 2017), en nuestro país apenas existen bosques primarios (no intervenidos) debido a actividad humana sobre el territorio durante siglos.

En cuanto a las especies que nos encontramos, el 55,5 % de la superficie forestal arbolada está ocupada por especies de frondosas, el 37 % por especies de coníferas y el 7,5 % restante está ocupado por masas mixtas.

Los bosques y otras formaciones vegetales en España constituyen un importante hábitat para la biodiversidad, ocupando el 68 % de la superficie terrestre protegida y albergando 615 especies silvestres bajo el régimen de protección especial (40,2 % de ellas son aves y 27,6 % son especies de flora).

I hope everyone is coping with our current surge of infections and very bleak January weather. And a big thank you to all who have followed me so loyally and with so many comments and interactions over the years. I think I will continue in some form and we still hope to have good enough health to live at Navasola for a few more years. 

In Love, Light and Hope at the turning of the year. Goodbye 2020.

At the turning of 2019 to 2020 there was hope. For so many it has been a life changing year and with challenges for all of us. January 2020 was a milestone as my younger daughter turned 30 and celebrated in style with many friends. She was one of the lucky ones of her 1990 compatriots. Then in March, all changed and she was sent her shielding letter. In many ways she has been isolating since but with the good fortune of her wonderful partner and their dogs.

 

 

 

 

 

I was going to write a post about pre lockdown at Navasola. We had two very full months with our visit to the wetlands of Doñana and walks around our local villages.

The village of Higuera, church with storks

My plan was to post on each of the villages of the Sierra Aracena. It was soon too eerie to do that and no walking outside was allowed under the very strict Spanish lockdown. I was fortunate to have acres to work in and clear new paths like a wild bison and and to have an indoor sanctuary  for  writing.

 

An olive tree found deep in an overgrown wood.

My desk and view, with framed pictures of characters from my novel by Ruth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was also ready to post about the art classes our friend Ruth Koenigsberger started for her friends. We were first learning about how to use light and shade. We went and sat by the marble rocks of a disused quarry. There were some worrying news items but at the time in Andalucia there were few cases and all seemed contained. Then it seemed sudden as we were all put into ‘confinamiento’. The photos are from the post I never posted at the time! We have been fortunate that Ruth has continued to share her skills with us and her latest paintings.

 

 

 

 

Owl for Ruth’s exhibition

Marble mined rocks

Stork in parallel perspective

I worried about family in the UK. My older daughter was pregnant and a nurse. We talked and agreed how many close family and friends had health issues that made them more vulnerable to this virus. She came through a more anxious pregnancy than in normal times. We were blessed with a beautiful baby girl in October.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From March to May we followed from a distance a very personal and difficult encounter with this virus. My close friend’s husband became ill. At first perhaps, it was like a flu and shingles but it changed to terrible difficulty in breathing. He did not want to go into hospital but was encouraged to by all, including my older daughter who knew him well. We were relieved he was in the best place. He was helped with oxygen for his breathing and he never really lost consciousness but his lungs were severely damaged. Two weeks after his 70 th birthday on VE Day he passed from this life. This leaves that unfathomable loss of a close partner and soul mate for my friend but his work as a writer and academic, his astute wry understandings, friendship and warm hospitality are a loss to us all.

( In memory of Carl Tighe http://www.carltighe.co.uk/  )

I found myself with very ‘tight’ finances and some loss of income. I reluctantly cancelled some charity giving. But in April I responded to the London Marathon Charities appeal. So instead of running 26 miles I decided to write 26 poems for Nature and fundraiser for the birds whose songs brought a lot of joy to folk in lockdown. I have been fortunate to have many fellow bloggers, friends and family contribute to this. I will keep the link open a bit longer as ever in hope of more contributions to the much needed restoration of our natural world. This challenge certainly kept me blogging and writing poetry when I was not fully minded to write much.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/georgina-wright7

Chinese style brush painting by Ruth

Blue tit by Ruth Koenigsberger R K

Mouse by Nick Clarke

Blackbird by R K

Milvana by R K

Ruth allowed me to use some of her paintings which also inspired poems. Nick and Trevor also gave much information on many of the plants and creatures around us in the Sierra.

Ocellated lizard

Candytuft

Palmate Anemone

Hawthorn blossom

As the year ends we can look back and we do miss seeing and being in close contact with all our friends. Perhaps we have made more phone calls and zoomed but we do look forward to hugs, bear hugs and lots of real reunions.  Thank you all who follow me in the virtual world and for all your inspiring posts, photographs and creativity.

I have spent a long time trawling through photos and trying to save those on Whats App. I also looked at drafts on my blog and was surprised by many I forgot to post or it was well past the post it date. The memorial writing below comes from a draft post in 2015. It was about our Quaker wedding and the different perspectives on the Quaker ideas of Light, God and Love.  I also listened to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi speak about light and love being increased within us when we expand our conscious mind by transcending in meditation. I was thinking about a more philosophical blog at the time and then started on writing a novel.

One close friend was absent from our wedding. She was a devout catholic who died from leukaemia within a week of her 60 th birthday. This was on her memorial card and I love the way it makes the connections between light and love. In a very divided and wounded world we hope to find ways to restoring health for all life through love and understanding our complex world. Enlightening ourselves. Or as Quakers say ‘holding each other in the light’.

God is light

In God there is no darkness

Let us walk in the light of life

If we live in God

then we must love each other.

( From the memorial card of Christine Brett)

 

Siskin

Foxglove by Ruth Koenisberger

Poem 26 Hope for the Forests of Hope.

Hope for the Future, Forests of Hope.
BirdLife International joins 20 leading conservation groups – the ‘WC20’ ahead of this weekend’s G20 Leaders’ Summit to warn that COVID-19 highlights need for urgent action – and urge that investing in nature costs a fraction of pandemic response, while driving green jobs and tackling climate change.

Bird Life International supports ‘Forests for Hope which you can read about on their website and support through my sponsorship challenge. I hope by the time I post this that the G20 will actively support the work needed to restore our devastated natural world as we are all suffering from this destruction of ecosystems.

I have based my 26th and final poem on one I wrote for an exhibition of my friend Ruth Koenigsberger’s paintings last year. Another friend translated it into Spanish. Many people seemed to identify with that special feeling when we get a good glimpse of a wild animal. Her painting of the young owl was the poster for the exhibition. Next year we hope to have another exhibition as her bird paintings have taken full flight into a glory of imagination and colour.

Poem 26 is 26 words from this poem in English, folllowing with 26 lines for many of the creatures I have missed out. ( The amount of lines is a challenge with the new block editor, how can it be so clumsy?)

Wild Witness

I see you on my terrace;

You see me see you.

Your eyes hold onto mine.

You move through the trees of my life,

Leaves fall.

Our Navasola Forest of Hope

Twice now a female wild boar has looked me in the eye.

Both shortsighted but her sense of smell much better than mine.

She moves on,with her tribe following, to a safer distance.

The wild deer like the badger, the fox and the mongoose, leave their scatological deposits.

A reminder that this is their home here.

The genet too used our old roof as a skyscraper latrine.

While bats and owls went bump in the night to stoke our dreams with fur and feathers.

Birds hide away from us but woodpecker feathers lay lifeless on the ground.

Golden Orioles sing in the tall alders and willows above

Ruth’s orchard where pen, paint and patterns create smiles.

A buzzard or a booted eagle hovers.

Bullfinches and hoopoes pass by for weekend retreats.

Butterflies varied in their passions delight us with a feast of fritillaries, festoons and swooning swallowtails.

Insect life seems happy buzzing, clicking, whirring. There are no nasty chemicals nearby. .

Beetles abound from rotting tree trunks but we look out for one that likes our linseed protected timber roof.

Paper wasp nests hide in the eaves, hornets hang around near the ivy on an old oak. Wasp like waists to die for.

Dragonflies often hover near the porch ready to catch the large flying ants.

Our favourite porch pets are the regular reptile visits of

Psammodromus, the white gecko and the lizard of jewels.

Sometimes we find fire salamanders and the ladderback snake under old tiles and in wood piles.

We see so much life from the porch, the window and on quiet walks.

All imprints on our being.

But who are we on theirs?

As they look and stare, even glare at the imposition of our being on their path,

I hope they will dare to pass by our way,

Forever.

My Challenge
I am not by nature a fundraiser but I felt compelled as the lockdown began and many fund raising events couldn’t take place to make mine a poetry marathon. There was the 2.6 challenge for charities affected by the London Marathon not taking place. So I decided for my sins to write 26 poems, some with 26 words and some with 26 lines. Unfortunately the 2.6 fund raising page was time limited and the page no longer works. It has taken me 8 months to get to my finishing line.
Thank you to all those who have sponsored me for the RSPB 2.6 challenge page and for others who have begun to sponsor BirdLife International.
I strongly believe that if we could begin to restore nature and change our relationship from exploitation of the natural world to a sustainable and equitable future there will be hope that we can continue to live in a nature rich world that is much healthier and happier.
This weekend BirdLife International which begun in 1922 for conservation of birds across boundaries has coordinated with other nature organisations to present the urgent need to stop the destruction and speed up restoration of our natural world at the G20.

BirdLife International helped form Wildlife Conservation 20, or WC20, uniting 20 of the most prominent conservation NGOs at the forefront of protecting wildlife and ecosystems.
Patricia Zurita, BirdLife International’s CEO, said: “COVID-19 is a wake up call to everyone on this planet. Now is the moment when we must value and invest in conservation by developing sustainable nature-based economic stimulus packages. BirdLife believes access to a healthy planet should be a universal human right and this urgent call complements our 1planet1right.org campaign to make this so.
Otherwise, the natural world, on which we all rely, will not be able to protect us and safeguard our current and long-term well-being. Investing the recovery funds in nature will protect not only our economies but also our health.”
On this 21 and 22 November in Riyadh, as the G20 meet, they must step up to the plate to address this crisis.”

If you wish to help me finish my challenge the link for my fundraising page is below.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/georgina-wright7

Poetry Challenge. PoeM 24 : The Black Kite

Milvana by Ruth Konigsberger

As many of you will know I am trying to finish this 26 poetry challenge I started during our Spanish lockdown experience. We are currently entering back into that phase here in the North of the UK and I still have three poems to go. However, we have managed to spend time with Jessica Rose, our new arrival and focus of my last post. All is going well.

This poem is forDverse poets open link night, always a source of inspiration and able to kick start me. http://www.dversepoets.com

This poem is about the very successful and world wide species of black kites. The drawing is by Ruth Konisgsberger and is part of the portrait of the character of the black kite in my novel. I will do a post on this as soon as I finish these poems! Black kites do visit the Sierra on their migration, some breed here. However, nowadays the red kites seem more common.

The Migrating Kites ( Milvus migrans or Milano negro in Spanish)

Our Milvana migrates from here,

Here to somewhere over there,

Over the deserts to Afri Ka.

All kinds of kites have flown

All around the world wide web,

Connected by genes from ancient

Almost Jurassic dinosaur times.

Archaeopteryx, the mother bird

First flew the world.

Black kites, by many other names

Milano, Milhafre

Live long lives of 20 years or so

With brains that may adapt

To many different climes.

Some flew over wide waters                                                                                                     

To islands in the vast Atlantic

To the Azores.

Some flew to Gondawa

And learnt how

To use burning branches

To flush out scared prey.

Before wild fires spread so fast

To destroy whole forests,

In changing times

With wildlife crimes.

Others in the East

Fly around the temples

Of the many headed Gods

Brahmin souls in flight

Pariahs picking the bones

Of the dead.

Here in the Sierra

Not many black kites

Now fly.

Does anyone care

Why?

Wishing everyone a safe and purposeful time in such a difficult era.

For anyone wishing to sponsor the poems I will put up some new links for the charity Birdlife International who coordinate the conservation of birds across our human borders.

26 Poem Challenge. Wings in the Woods. Poems 10 to 14

There are brown birds, blackbirds, multicoloured birds, white birds. Sometimes it is the brown birds that are easily overlooked, not colourful enough. But when you look closely, the browns are so varied and so beautifully marked, full of different tones and hues, perfectly adapted to their life in the woods.

This post is in memory of George Floyd who can no longer be with us to hear the winged creatures of our wounded world. May he be at rest and his family find solace in God, friendships, the beauty of nature and justice.

And there is a link to an article that I found very moving published in Sierra Club,an old established American conservation organisation. We have to understand and act against the kinds of thinking that allows our natural world to be destroyed and for many brown and black lives to not matter throughout the world.
https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/racism-killing-planet

To the beauty of the brown bird whose name we do not know. A japanese style painting by Ruth Koenigsberger.

 

These are poems about some of our local birds seen from our porch. All woodland birds but very wild, cautious, shy perhaps and not easy to photo. The serin stayed just long enough balanced on a thin stem of wild cress that was left on our ‘lawn’ for pollinators to enjoy. And they did gather. We wish we saw more but we hear them and then they hide if we start to look for them. Wild birds do not seem to like eyes staring at them.

 

 

On Not seeing the birds for the trees
Somewhere in the woods
Behind a branch, beyond our gaze.
Birds are heard
If you dare to fix your eyes
Let the leaves dazzle your days.

 

10. Blue Tit or Herrerillo in Spanish, Parus caeruleus in latin

What’s in a name?
A titter or two?
But not in Spain
Where more rare
the tiny herrerillo
Is a sight to see.
To paint perhaps.

Blue tit by Ruth Koenigsberger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11. Redstart, Colirojo real in Spanish, Phoenicurus phoenicurus in latin
Not seen for so long
You fly into our life for water.

Fresh feathers feel cleansed.

Dash of red dips and dives.

Stay a moment more.

 

12. Goldfinch,  Jilguero in Spanish, Carduelis carduelis in latin
Gilded gloss on olive trunk
I see you for the first time.
Once you lived in pines
B graves of the long dead
In a far off place.

 

13. Firecrest, Reyezuelo in Spanish, Regulus ignicapilus in latin
Slow flight up each branch
Of the young cork you dart
Looking for something
That you will find
And I will not.

 

14. Serin, Verdecillo in Spanish Serinus serinus in latin
Hello, who are you?
Upon the fine stem
How do you pose,
unswaying, long enough?
Camera shaken, book taken
To discover the name
You already knew.

Serin on cress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you would like to sponsor me on this 26 poem challenge the link is below and on the previous poems too. These poems are all written in my 26 word format. This time more freestyle than haiku and other Japanese forms with certain syllables to each line.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/georginas-26-challenge-i-am-going-to-write-26-poems-about-the-wild-flora-and-fauna-here-on-our-woodland-finca-in-spain-i-will-post-these-on-my-blog

26 Poems. Poem 3 The Hawthorn Tree

Here is poem no 3 of my charity challenge and with thanks and links to Dverse poets that inspired my poetry path and gave knowledge of many different forms of poetry. The prompt is open link  night but will be interesting as there is the idea to share about our lives and what we may depend on in this crisis. There is also a beautiful Mary Oliver poem on their post. Their link is below.

www.dversepoets.com

This is my attempt at a haibun. A Japanese form of descriptive prose ending with a haiku. My format for my challenge is 26 lines. Please don’t count! There were 26 in pages. Word press changes too much for me when writing lines! It describes my conservation dilemmas and good fortune to be outside in our woodland home where we are both well but the sadness of others loss is real and close. Stay safe, protect your health workers and protect the natural world so much depends on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haibun Prose  Poem In Honour of Hawthorn Trees on whose lives so much depends.

The hawthorn tree stands near our Navasola house. It is rooted within the granite rocks of a ridge along the eastern valley slopes and must be decades old, young in comparison to the century old chestnuts and olives but wild and has freely chosen its niche. I once sat beneath it, in its shade to meditate. I heard a slight fluttering and dared to leave the peace inside to look out and see a tiny mother wren and her even tinier young spaced outa along a branch. My stillness and her quietness crossed a gap. I was in her home. The hawthorn tree is a special tree for it profits many. It may defend itself with sharp thorns but for hundreds of others it protects and nourishes while it propagates itself.

Time is being spent for me between the inside and outside of this virus ridden spring. Outside I follow the wild boar paths and become like the wild bison clearing a greater space. I hope the destruction I create will make way for the more vulnerable species that need more light, or that’s my plan, like my fire plan. I clear away a lot of life in hope of more. But I always leave the young hawthorn trees that break out amid a stranglehold of bramble and undergrowth of viburnum that becomes impenetrable canopy with woven strands of sarsaparilla. Dead bramble poles still reach up surrounding their young with protective thorns. Not much can enter, not much can grow here. My desire to protect the hawthorn seems to combine some vague awareness of its fairy connections to other worlds. In fairy and folklore, I later read it is sacred and if cut down, there will be some price to pay. So much depends on a hawthorn tree. So many species.

I was scrambling up the rocky path in a tired bramble scratched frenzy and a spiky branch was in my way, in my face, on my path. I was about to chop. I stared, not recognising the blossom heavy branch, each flower packed with deep vibrant pink.

This was the first time ever I saw so close the hawthorn flower, with its anther caps on, waiting for the right time to dust the insects, blow the pollen to the wind, and then look worn out, brown and wispy thin.

Storm clouds dark spring skies

My eyes caress your burst buds

Pink lips love propose.

 

 

This link shows some close up photography of hawthorns and was the closest I got to understanding what may be happening with those sexy lipped anthers. Hawthorns are also known for herbal remedies that improve the functioning of the heart!

Hawthorn. http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artapr08/bj-hawthorn.html

The other link is for anyone who would like to sponsor me writing 26 poems for a well known nature charity, the RSPB. All charities are struggling with loss of income now so this is a small way I am encouraging myself and others to help. I also hope my poems can inspire and inform about 26 of our species here at Navasola.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/georginas-26-challenge-i-am-going-to-write-26-poems-about-the-wild-flora-and-fauna-here-on-our-woodland-finca-in-spain-i-will-post-these-on-my-blog

26 Poems for Nature. Poem 2. The Woodmouse Mother.

The poem of William Carlos Williams that begins with ‘ So much depends’ comes sadly to my mind this week. I  discovered it first in a wonderful book called ‘ Love That Dog’ by Sharon Creech. A beautifully simple book for young and old about poetry and loss with the young boy finally being able to express happier feelings and memories of a loved dog. I have also just finished listening to Barbara Kingsolver’s Poisonwood Bible, a long but well worth the listen or read. ‘So much depends.’..is quoted and used by one of the characters who also becomes a poet and doctor studying disease outbreaks after growing up in the Congo. She bears witness to the struggle of ordinary people there to survive in a country being exploited by outside interests and also suffers her own tragic loss.

So much has happened within a few months that is life changing for so many and for a close friend. We will have to learn to live within an uncertain world as many already do in parts of Africa, give support to each other and ensure we look after the natural world on whose healthy state we depend.

This  poem was written about the same time as the blackbird poem and for my charity challenge of 26 poems. Each verse is 26 words! Please don’t count them. I have several times. The illustration is by another good friend and neighbour who is a a botanist, naturalist and was a conservation specialist in a previous life in Africa and many other parts of the world. Thank you to Nick Clarke for allowing me to use your drawing. Here in the Sierra there are many wood mice, with slightly larger ears than the house mouse. But similar enough if they come in the house or as some of my close friends and followers know even take a car ride.

A Wood Mouse Mother; so much depends on where you make your nest.

By Nick Clarke

You come so close to us.
You leave your trail of our
Chestnuts, quickly nibbled,
But really, yours.
As these are from your woods
Not ours.

You make your nest within our car,
Well  under the bonnet.
You leave your naked new born
Deep within the engine fold
For just a minute.

 

While you forage
Your nurtured nest has gone.
Just a space under the tree.
Will you know to wait
Within the bramble bush
For our return?

If you would like to help me sponsor the restoration of nature through the RSPB here is the link and on the previous post on the blackbird.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/georginas-26-challenge-i-am-going-to-write-26-poems-about-the-wild-flora-and-fauna-here-on-our-woodland-finca-in-spain-i-will-post-these-on-my-blog