Blog Anniversary – 10 years of Navasola nature on WordPress

I am planning to choose a key post from each year for each month of 2024. For today I have chosen some photos from each January since 2014 and with the link to my very first blog post. I had no idea what connections and inspirations would come from this. My nature writing started with this first blog and has finally come to fruition with my publication of my attempt at nature fiction and having such wonderful connections with people and wildlife in so many places.

Latest news for my novel Navaselva below.

Coming soon for February 23rd evening a zoom launch with readings and Q and As. Will post with further details soon,

My very first blog post and I was so surprised by the viburnum berries taken with my phone getting my first like by a really good photographer’s blog. January 2014

Autumn and Spring in January: Mushrooms, berries, blossom and birdsong.

Viburnum Tinus with the first flower seen January 28th:some berries can still be seen behind flower. January 2014

January 2015

Winter scene on our normal walk with Lotti , and Ruth in 2015. Taken on the Fuenteheridos to Galaroza track where this deserted inn or Bodega can be seen from the times when the tracks were the highways about 300 years ago.

January 2016

Saving a bumblebee January 2016

Holy boat not at sea onT’s 70th birthday trip to the Azores 2016

January 2017

Halimium on the yellow hillside 2017

Lotti, Ruth’s Tibetan friend with her special lashes under the fringe.

January 2018

The nativity display at the Bomberos/fire service station in Tavira – Early January 2018

And below the desperate attempts on the beach at Monte Gordo , on the Algarve, to save this whale. Most heartening was how so many people were concerned about the fate of this most magnificent and suffering soul.

The stranded sperm whale

Sperm whale moving its tail and those trying to keep whale in enough water.

Birds at Dehesa de Abajo, near the Donana wetlands, in January 2019 on our first trip and where we felt so ‘filled up’ with the joy of seeing so many birds in one day.

Storks making love?

Linnet

Spoonbills flying overhead

And below the innocence of January 2020. Buff and all the wild animal characters in Navaselva were waiting for the arrival of Jay Ro’s human part of the story. Tortoiseshells and bumble bees can be seen in January. Buff is in Ruth’s garden where there are always some early flowers and rosemary flowering also keeps the bumblebees busy.

Buff tailed bumblebee

But January 2021 we were stuck in the UK with the Pandemic and another long UK lockdown and full travel restrictions while waiting for vaccines.

These were phone pictures sent to us from Fuenteheridos and Ruth’s garden. Yes, It can snow here, especially in January but we have never seen the snow ourselves and missed this downfall.

For January 2022 there was the aftermath of Ruth’s wonderful bird paintings and exhibition. She completed so many in the pandemic lockdowns We were thinking about going to visit the cranes overwintering in Extremadura for January but reports were of very little water in some key crane places. But we could enjoy Ruth’s paintings of the European cranes.

Back in January 2023 and there is a roaring wood fire as we have so much wood from Storm Barbara with so many of the old chestnut trees fallen branches. I also have my first short story published in the annual anthology of Bridge House Publishing with the theme of Evergreen. It is about a fir tree and as I love to do , from the perspective of the tree as it survives for much longer than just a tree for Christmas.

So we return to January 2024 and with much gratitude to the blogging community over these years and a little reflection on ways forward. There will be more on my book and some pages on the characters and places. Maybe some walks and introductions to the villages of the Sierra Aracena too.

And of course Bird Place of the Month. Thanks for the contributions so far. Just descriptions or observations from your own backyard will be great too. Here we have just seen a crested tit close to the house very clearly but it was too difficult to get a photo and I just looked out and enjoyed seeing this new and delightful character explore the olive and hawthorn tree.

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/

What’s That Bird? Photography and Wild Birds. Donana Wetlands in Southern Spain.

I have few words this month and although I hope for everyone to be safe and well I know that there is much worry and suffering for so many. Our life here goes on much the same but without the social contact and nature trips like this one from February. We set out on our annual pilgrimage to Donana wetlands where we hope to see great flocks of flamingos. One of our favourite places en route is by the bird sanctuary of Canada de los Pajaros. Many storks gather and nest here. So we stopped to see storks flying high together in a very bright blue sky, nesting in the pines, and making their wonderful bill clapping sounds.

Stork about to land

Stork nests in pines by Canada de los Pajaros

After being quite stork struck I wandered up the path. There was bird poo all over the prickly pear, so I looked up. There were lot of large stork nests. I saw a bird move so got the camera on it. I thought it might have been a young stork or egret. The first photo told me very little but the next few meant that I had got on camera the birds that had eluded me last year.

Yes, indeed, the beak gives it all away and I finally got some good photos of a spoonbill.

Hope this may have made you wonder a little bit about nature and the amazing diversity of birds and beaks. For everyone lisening and looking more at the wonderful birdlife around us. Lets cherish the birds and keep them safe too with good conservation of the habitats they need.

Rushing to update now as this all ran ahead of me and published with a mind of its own. More on Donana and explorations around Finca Navasola next time. Love to all.

Summer 2019. A Wedding and Weather Warnings

Feliz Navidad, Felices Fiestas a todos. Seasons Greetings from Southern Spain

Greetings to all and as many of you know it has been a busy year but we are now in the Sierra Aracena and able to have a restful Christmastide. At present we can enjoy the Andalusian blue skies in the middle of the day and log fires for the evening chill. We managed a midday walk around the pueblo of Valdelarco. Here the Sierra villages have a tradition of crochet decoration for winter. In Valdelarco the trees in the square and the benches have been given a warm covering of colourful crochet.  A great idea for the cold iron benches.

Church and plaza bajo in the village of Valdelarco in the Sierra Aracena

Warm and colourful bench

Carmen’s pharmacy with beautiful tiles and crotchety bin outside!

Crocheted tree for Christmas.

It was our intention for our walk to be circular and we headed off from the upper part of the village. It was hard to park as all the parents and local school buses were attending a festive programme for the linked primary schools of our three local villages. Rural life seems well supported in Spain and there are the local school, village pharmacies and regular GP surgeries. As we climbed up there were some good views back over the village and through to the other hills of the Sierra Morena of which our Sierra is a part of.

Looking back on the village of Valdelarco

View north to the rest of the Sierra Morena

Spot the red kite flying below us in the valley

We followed the map and turned right before the barranco/ stream with the pilgrimage church for the romeria on the other side. The romeria is the local village festival and usually takes place on the feast day of the village saint but usually in warmer weather! I showed the major romeria for most of the local villages in September when horses, carts and the bullocks set off for the church of the ‘Queen of the Angels.(La Reina de Los Angeles.)We walked quite a way and were hoping to complete a circular route. The path was pretty but finally came to an end with an impressive locked gate and lots of notices to confirm we would not be welcome to continue. Sin pasar! A lot of the well know public paths are kept open forming a network of ‘senderos’ but most of these are long distance and there are few circular routes. There is also a local group that tries to keep paths open and this had certainly looked a very clear path on the map.

The beginning of the path and all striding along!

The pilgrimage church for the Valdelarco Romeria.

A tile showing horse and cart going to the romeria.

Oak leaves just changing colour. Quercus faginea

An abandoned and ancient chestnut

Walking back was uphill! We planned to eat by the pilgrimage church in the full sun but ended up by a signed post and opposite the red sandy banks where the bee eaters nest in the spring. They have gone for a warm respite to somewhere in Africa. These birds also feature in my novel so I am very fond of them!

Returning uphill.

Lunch and Lotte looking for hers.

Red sandy cliffs, ideal for bee eaters burrows for nesting.

Greetings to all. We are all well and Trevor managed to overcome some of his difficulties with walking. We are plodding on with finishing the house hence view of my new shelves with Christmas cards and tools. I also managed to create a festive space with some solar lights.

We will have a pot luck veggie Christmas with friends. Chestnut and Apricot nut loaf and a trifle with sherry and madroño are my offerings. I am finally finished with the chestnuts and the blisters they give me. Why such a tasty and nutritious nut should prove so difficult to peel is beyond me! I managed to complete a vegan challenge in November and certainly felt good with the diet and overcame my desire for tea with milk. I now have light black tea with ginger and/ or lemon.

I am beginning to look into how the way we eat and farm does affect the natural world and is probably one of our biggest threats and challenges for the loss of biodiversity and climate change. In the news there was a report about the scale of recent deforestation amounting to the size of Spain. Spain is huge. The views I show of the Sierra should really be covered in trees. Reforestation could halt drastic rises in world temperatures.https://www.theguardian.com/environment/radical-conservation/2017/dec/22/failing-our-forests-in-two-years-weve-lost-enough-trees-to-cover-spain?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Thanks to everyone for all the love,support, cards, messages and comments this year. This is the time of year for the Baby Jesus story so I will sign off with the first smiles of my first grandchild. Babies seem to encourage us to look after them and think about doing what we can to provide a good life, inner and outer. Here’s to our desire and hope for peace, and for a future that’s good for all living things on this beautiful planet earth. Abrazos a todos. Hugs to everyone.

Quote Challenge 2: What would the world be, once bereft Of wet and of wildness ? Let them be left,

What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness ? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet ;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

Gerard Manley Hopkins from his poem about  Inversnaid

Today on the second day of the quote challenge it is certainly wet here in the Sierra Aracena.  This is not surprising as we live within a triangle of some of the most rainfall for Andalucia. The hill or mountainside we are on is 730 metres  above sea level. The peak of Castano is about 861m. It can often be in the clouds. However in the summer it can be very dry and hot. The area has been cultivated for many centuries, there are many megalithic sites and later the Romans grew vines here. Settlements after the Spanish Inquisition developed more chestnut orchards and pig farming. There are some areas which are more wild and these tend to be on the higher parts and deep valleys. However, the trees have given a green and moist canopy to the hills. It is now a natural park and conservation of the environment is high on the agenda while balancing some of the needs of farmers. It is also home and inspiration to many artists, photgraphers and film makers. Soledad Fenandez Coll is a naturalist and artist from this region and her name will link to her art currently on display at the virtual gallery of Artagora.

There are some more  photographs of the old and abandoned chestnuts on the footpath to the village of Galaroza.  Photographs are by  Ruth Koenigsberger. Some were featured in Quote 1 and an earlier post on Autumn Walks. Ruth and Sol  are currently exhibiting their art at the ARCO  event in Madrid where both are involved in the alternative way to show art: Room Art.  Some of Ruth’s art is also on the November 2015 archive on the virtual gallery Artagora.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve always loved this verse of Gerard Manley Hopkins. He was an artist with words but who saw the challenges of keeping wild places. I hope we can all speak out, write, draw, paint and inspire others to protect the wild world.

 

 

 

The Quote Challenge

Thank you Jenny for nominating me and we seem to be on similar journeys finding out more about the natural world but on the opposite sides of this globe!

jennylitchfield.wordpress.com

For this second day challenge I nominate the three blogs  below with a focus on photography and inspiring a love of nature. This is all just part of a fun challenge which may bring to our attention more interesting blogs. Nominees should feel no pressure to create their own quote challenge. I have nominated these blogs as they all capture some wonderful photographs of the diverse world we live in.

• Post for three consecutive days
• Posts can be one or three quotes per day
• Nominate three different blogs per day

1. https://foxduplanty.wordpress.com/  Beautiful focus on the plant world and its importance.
2. http://picturethisbyfrank.com/  Amazing range of nature photos
3. http://photographyofnia.com/  Brings the cat and bird world of the city of Istanbul to our attention

 

Quote Challenge 1: No man is an Island

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.

It has taken me over a week to get round to this quote challenge and it has challenged me. Any advice on quick ways to make links to other blogs would be helpful. I was thinking about how to have links to some of the key nature blogs I follow around the world and to those who have inspired me so much when I first started blogging. Jenny in New Zealand has nominated me and it is interesting to find out so much about nature and the lives of others around the world. I first fell in love with this quote and John Donne’s poem when I was at secondary school and we had an assembly on the United Nations. It resonates with me still and the whole poem is at the bottom of this post. It also seems to speak to me about the UK referendum on  being a part of the European Union. I would rather see joined up thinking on a planet that needs some drastic action to improve the environment for all species.

The weather here in Navasola is still wintry but can be quite warm when the sun comes out. There are a few flowers about but it is the tree shapes which are so fascinating. So I am featuring some photographs taken by my friend and artist Ruth Koenigsberger. I have put my own haiku underneath as a response. I have been quite inspired to write poetry again because of DVerse poets very original ideas of a poetry bar where we can all have a poem together.

 

 

Peep through my inner
trunk, all hollowed out with age
Adorned with velvet

Young pines tall and straight.
Old arms embrace with Kali,
Hug the earth with wood.

 

 

For this quote challenge I am going to focus on nature blogs that I like to follow . There is no compulsion to accept the challenge if I have nominated  a blog. I hope though that others might be able to explore those they haven’t come across.  There are also so many good blogs out there that I love that it is difficult to choose.  I have not chosen the ones that first inspired me but will mention these now: Donna at gardenwalkgardentalk,  Cindy Knoke and  Steve  Schwartzman.  He has very good photographic tips and botanical skills but also has another blog on Spanish/ English etymology. Having studied linguistics and now living in Spain that find was a double treasure.

The Quote Challenge

Thank you Jenny for nominating me and we seem to be on similar journeys finding out more about the natural world but on the opposite sides of this globe!

jennylitchfield.wordpress.com

I will try and run the challenge for three days. So for this first day challenge I nominate the three blogs below from three different parts of this planet. This is all just part of a fun challenge which may bring to our attention more interesting blogs. Nominees should feel no pressure to create their own quote challenge. I have nominated them because they all have wonderful ways of exploring this wonderful world.

• Post for three consecutive days
• Posts can be one or three quotes per day
• Nominate three different blogs per day

 

Sarah                                    AWildflowermelody

Julie                                       Frogpondfarm

Morgan                                Thereremouse

 

John Donne

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

Ruth Koenigsberger is currently exhibiting some of her art at the ARCO  event in Madrid. She is involved in the alternative way to show art: Room Art.  Some of her art is also on the November 2015 archive on the virtual gallery Artagora. Our friend and nature artist is also currently being shown on there. Soledad Fenandez Coll.

An Autumn Walk in the Sierra Aracena. The falling leaves of the ancient trees. The photography and Art of Ruth Koenigsberger

Old chestnut trees in the Sierra Aracena

I am so pleased I have the opportunity to share the photography and links to art work of my friend and neighbour Ruth. Her photographs come from walking around the countryside with her dog, the lovely Lotti. ( featured in previous posts and a surrogate dog for me at present!) When I can I walk with her and breathe in the beauty of the changing seasons we have here. I have also shown her garden with all the poppies in my previous post and haiku to Liberty, Love and Light. The link is to her art work at the Artagora Galeria Virtual Ruth Koenigsberger. I love the way she can capture both colour and light. For me there is a deep link to nature in her work and a spiritual light within her creative art. Try the link on her name and walk round a virtual art gallery too! There are  castano trees, ancient chestnuts from the Sierra and the Caldera in La Palma but also some imaginative interpretations of our world from the inner eye of an artist.

I miss all my friends in the Sierra Aracena as I have to be in the UK for a short while. Many there live a peaceful lifestyle that can bring them close to the natural world through organic gardening, permaculture, spiritual practices, yoga and of course the creative arts. It is almost a year since I wrote Bats on my Birthday and have found blogging useful to warm up my writing muscles. I hope to write more stories and poems to help us come closer to this wonderful and diverse world of nature.

For this week I want to highlight the need to care for the living systems on the planet. There are so many people who want to rise above the atrocities in Paris and send a message that we must change the way we live in this world or the living planet will suffer and not be able to give us and all other creatures the habitats and food sources we need to thrive.

As I cannot walk on the Climate Change March  on the eve of the talks in Paris I will try some virtual walks like this one in the Sierra Aracena. Let’s hold the Climate Change talks in the light  and where possible petition and campaign for the change our planet needs.

The lovely Lotti

Hollyhock and black carpenter bee in Ruth’s garden. October 2015

Misstery Bird, Missing binoculars, Missing Birds. How many birds will we miss?

My first ventures at bird photography with the LUMIX was more successful than the dear old iPhone. It was also quite good to zoom in on birds to identify them as our binoculars have gone walkabout. In this photo I was trying to identify a large looking  egret but missed seeing the other two. It was only later, on the computer, I spotted the two other birds.

Photo of Little Egret  but includes a mystery bird camoflaged on the shore; largish with possibly long beak; curlew? and small wader paddling!

Ringed plover little, Charadrius dubius

I never thought how important binoculars would be some years ago when I tried using them and couldn’t focus at first. But the distinct colours and antics of birds became so vivid that now I feel lost without them. I remember the little brown bird in my garden, a dunnock,with its tawny golden streaked feathers.

Grey plover in adult winter plumage. Pluvialis squatarola.arden.

Another curlew on a sand bank, numenius arquata

In 2010 we walked along this stretch of the Ria Formosa by Cabanas Fort. This is a sandy dune habitat and a protected place for conservation of a range of habitats and seabirds. My eyes were opened to the variety of birds and trying to look for the leg or beak colours. This was another eye opener to the amazing range of birds I had never really thought about before.

But the curlew had always been a part of my imagination. A book read long ago in childhood described the haunting cry of the curlew. Now we need to listen to their plaintive cries and protect their habitats. Maybe the mystery bird is a curlew?  But could it be a whimbrel, a godwit or one of those green or red shanks… .? It was far too far  away to see and when I saw the photo it was also well camouflaged on the shoreline.  A bird to haunt me!

Now for the missing binoculars, not just one but two pairs. Is this what happens travelling between UK, Spain and Portugal? Unfortunately am still looking and having to use the camera to zoom in and capture a little bird.

More of a concern than the binoculars are the decline in bird numbers. How many different birds will we miss if we have never known the amazing variety that there are?    Just for starters…. Kentish plover, Ringed plover, Little ringed plover, Golden plover, Grey plover, Dotterel and let’s not confuse Dunlin, Sanderling and Knot or take a Stint or two.

Maybe they all deserve a poem or a shipping forecast with their amazing names.