A birdy morning

Every six months, a bird census is held in the area. A set route is followed and the number of different species that are seen or heard is recorded.

Unfortunately, I could not make the one held in October and, despite having had a late night before due to the local fiesta, I was looking forward to doing the walk and meeting some new contacts in the birding field.

The walk starts at a popular local hotel and restaurant called Alqueria de Morayma. The usual leader, Miriam, was unavailable as she has just had a baby and so a chap was brought down from Padul which is a well-known centre for birdwatching & bird-ringing near Granada. Oddly, the leader and I were the only people in the group of about 10 who had binoculars and, with a high English component to the group, I metamorphosed in to a deputy leader and spotter!

Despite a beautiful day before, the day had dawned very misty (I left the house in cloud!) and conditions were far from perfect both from a visibility and a noise perspective due to all the chat. While far from a serious birdwatching activity, it nevertheless was a very sociable event and much time was spent looking at plants as well as birds as we walked the footpath towards the bridge at Lobras. From there we walked in improving weather up the Rambla de Albayar where, after some tricky navigation through illegally fenced land, we stopped for a break and various food items were shared out. 

As we walked out of the valley a group of 5 Booted Eagles were spotted. They were probably a family party and were given the 'bird of the day' accolade. Other good birds seen were Blue Rock Thrush, Black-eared Wheatear & Alpine Swift though there some serious common omissions but that's what happens when you just slice through a locality.

Navigating a tree trunk laid across the river, we returned to Alqueria to count up the days tally. It came to 41 which is good going apparently. I'm sure another 5 or 6 species could easier have been added with more suitably-equipped & knowledgable watchers. 

It transpired that one of the members of the group was a chap called Antonio who has recently taken on the lease for Alqueria de Morayma. A good contact to know, I , of course, offered my services should any English visitors he may have require some birdwatching assistance.

Hopefully, at the October census, some bird ringing may also take place and my services were offered and gratefully accepted for this. I really hope it happens as I'm dying to get my hands round a bird again (no euphemism intended).

Unexpected visitor

With my fly screen out of action (again!), the front door is often left open to let some breeze in. (Since the appearance of a very large snake basking in the sun just outside it, I've since been warned NOT to do this...)

Taking advantage of this opportunity, a large boxer-type dog sauntered through and in to the kitchen where I and my visitors were finishing breakfast. He promptly plopped himself down in the middle of the room and made himself at home. His heavy panting and lolling tongue suggested that he was very thirsty which proved to be the case when he subsequently drank a whole dog bowl. He subsequently brought half of it back up but luckily I was up in the field cutting grass by then! :-)

This particular dog hadn't been seen here before and I can only presume that he belonged to the local 'tractorista' who is ploughing the fields around here.

Horseplay

Every year, horse races are held at one of the neighbouring cortijos called Lobrasan. (When I say 'neighbouring', I can see it from my house but it takes about half an hour to drive there!)

Set in the range of hills between the Contraviesa and the Sierra Nevada, Lobrasan is reached via a reasonable track from the village of Lobras. I found myself at times though being glad that I glad the jeep to deal with the road surface although felt somewhat ashamed when I later saw a visiting Fiat 500 parked up at the cortijo. Not sure I would have braved it...

An area had been set aside for a large tent housing the drink and food bar and the racecourse was a quarter mile track which headed off from the tent area down a field which then returned so the finish post was up where everyone was standing.

First of all a fancy dress cum 'best turned out horse' competition took place. It was quite wonderful to see the care that had been taken to prepare both rider and mount for this.

When it came to the main event, the competitiveness of the riders and the eagerness of the horses was unbridled with some fierce competition going on. A betting stall was set up and, not knowing any of the riders except one of the main organisers Nicky, I bet on her to win all her 3 races. She won 2 and lost the third to a short head so I didn't do too badly.

One of the races was rather eventful. Part way through the race, one rider was unseated leaving a clear run for the winner. However, shortly afterwards a loose horse came screaming through the car park. Thinking this was the loose horse from the unseating, a few of us set off to calm the horse and take it in hand. It was only then that the winner of the race appeared, somewhat shaken, looking for her horse. Having got the bit between its teeth (so to speak) she had had trouble stopping her horse and had to take evasive action when it was about to rub her up against a tree, i.e. fall off! Unfortunately it was on to concrete so she was no doubt slightly purple in parts the following morning.

The weather was untypical for the time of year with some sunshine, strong winds and the odd spit of rain. The large tent that had been put up to house the bar (and give some shelter) was straining at its guy ropes (one later snapped) and those that had dressed up and were wearing hats were having some control difficulties.

Further events were planned for the following day (including dog racing) but, due to grass-cutting commitments, I was to give that a miss.

Colours of sunset

Yesterday's snow

A few pictures of yesterday's snow. Gone now and back in shirtsleeves today.

Sad news

Some of you may have read my recent post 'Wine, women and ... doughnuts' which referred to my elderly neighbour Antonio.

This evening, a conversation I was having with Jose was interrupted by a call on his mobile. The call was 'malas noticias' (bad news); apparently Antonio died yesterday in hospital from what I can gather was a brain haemorrhage.

José had known him for 50 years and was visibly shocked. Ascertaining that the funeral is tomorrow in El Ejido and wanting to pay my respects as a neighbour, I insisted that I take him to the funeral as, being car-less, he wouldn't be able to get there.

Apart from our recent wine-tasting, my abiding memory of Antonio is my driving up to the ruin one Sunday afternoon and finding him asleep in the verge while his sheep wandered around eating the grass in my almond orchard. We then proceeded to chat for about an hour with Antonio giving me lots of advice about what I should do with my land. Given that our very first conversation back in September had, for him, been a frustrating one as he couldn't understand me, I took the length of our chat to be some kind of signal that I am 'getting there' with my Spanish. He mentioned that he was going to sell the sheep in June as they were getting too much for him at 73. I'll miss his cheerful demeanour and sense of humour and wish I had known him longer.

Spring visitors

I have had my first spring visitors and I'm NOT referring to the golden orioles or the cuckoos. My sister Karen, her partner Gary and my niece Hannah popped out for a few days hoping to catch some sun as they escaped the vagaries of the English weather. Unfortunately, the very same vagaries have extended to Spain this year (blame the jetstream) so, while the weather was a tad warmer than at 'home, they had a mixed time. One afternoon we had chosen for a picnic was glorious however (though somewhat windy) so some sunburn was achieved.

Below are a few snaps from their stay.

Colostrum and cuckoos

Since the last update,  the house/land juggle has continued.

While all the vines have been pruned,  I do need to revisit each one and clear away the lush growth which has sprung up them.  This involves strimming, often on very steep inclines, an area of about a square metre around each 'parra' without damaging any of the emerging leaves. 

With temperatures this week reaching a ridiculous 27 degrees, the trick is to get out in the fields by 8am and then call it a day around midday.  This then allows the afternoon to be dedicated to working on the house. 

With the arrival of the first visitors of the year looming and the house resembling a building site,  ground clearance then had to take a back seat as I embarked on a massive clean-up operation. The spring cleaning did result in my finding some rugs the previous owners had left behind in the workshop (the cleaning of which involved a bath, a wall, my motorised barrow and 3 days of sun) plus some pictures and ceramics which had been in store since August. I was pleasantly surprised at the huge difference that covering a few floors and walls made to the house.

I managed to escape the house occasionally and witness another transformation as Spring covered the hillsides in new growth and a myriad of flowers. With the calls of cuckoos and bee-eaters ringing round the hillsides, winter has certainly been banished.

There have been some adventures on the food front, notably the delivery of some colostrum pudding. I had had a previous conversation with my neighbour, Pura, as my friend Kylie in Cadiar had been given some colostrum (first milk) by a local shepherd and didn't know what to do with it. Pura had told me that a pudding is made from it. She'd obviously remembered the conversation and, as we had a new baby goat arrive this week, a bowl duly arrived one morning. Resembling a curd cheese, it tasted very nice although, as the way here, a lot of sugar had been added. I read up on colostrum and apparently it may become a super-food as we start to run out of antibiotics. I can't imagine what could top it in terms of food 'surprises' but I'm sure something will.

Wine, women and ... doughnuts

 After a busy time over the last few weeks plastering and painting,  I planned today to catch up on some domestic tasks. The olive wood delivered yesterday needed cutting up and the backlog of washing needed doing.

A knock on the door first thing dictated a change in plan as José had arranged a visit to our 'higher up' neighbour, Antonio, to check out this year's wine.  As Antonio was the man who had sold me the grapes to make my red wine,  I was interested to see how our wines would compare and took along a sample.

Arriving at the cortijo at the set time, Antonio was nowhere to be found. José eventually tracked him down pruning vines about half a mile away and we headed off to his bodega.  Now the term 'bodega' can mean lots of different things from a full-blown winery to,  as in this case,  a shed containing a couple of tanks.

First up was his Tempranillo and,  while a little stronger than mine,  I was pleased to note that there wasn't a huge difference.  Antonio then tasted mine and pronounced it very good, commenting especially on the clarity of the wine.  At 73, Antonio has sampled quite a few of the local brews in the past so I was quite relieved that my wine had passed the test.

 There was a very old looking ham hanging in the shed from which a number of dry chunks were cut to accompany the drink.  Having tried the red, we went on to taste his 'Costa' wine which is made from a mixture of old local varieties. This kind of wine is to be found everywhere in the region and is typically very sherry-like so I was pleasantly surprised to find Antonio's to be more like a rustic rosado and very nice too.

We had brought some 5 litre plastic containers and these were duly filled with Tempranillo for José and Costa for me.

 Heading home,  the alcohol had put José in a very chatty frame of mind and he spent the whole trip back giving me a full run-down on Antonio's three daughters covering names (can't remember),  ages (25, 28 and 35),  eligibility (all single) and 'condition' (all very good-looking) culminating in him promising to introduce them to me at a fiesta to be held in the lay-by at the bottom of the track on the last Saturday in May. Having previously been told by Antonio that I 'need a woman in the house to do the washing and cooking' (!), I feel a plot is under way.

Arriving home, I was invited in for lunch (extremely late at 3.45 as it is normally always bang on 2). Pura had prepared a splendid dish consisting of rice & broad beans flavoured with fennel and accompanied with pieces of wild boar rib. We chatted afterwards for what seemed ages covering,  it seemed,  every topic under the sun.  (One useful piece of information was that José confirmed that I have 5 olive trees hidden deep down in the barranco below the ruin and that I  should be able to get 25 litres of oil from them each year.)

Returning to base (with half a goat's cheese) for a short spell of wall scraping,  there was another knock with José asking if I had a lemon (which I had). Knock number 3 of the day a while later brought a plate of hot doughnuts.

While today has been one of relative inactivity (though some wood did get chopped), my needs in terms of food and drink have been more than adequately met through my very lovely neighbours and, as I often do,  I  thanked my lucky stars that I live where I live and not in complete isolation. They colour my time here in so many ways and overwhelm me with their generosity.

PS Forgot to mention the half dozen eggs they gave me this morning!

Haircuts

Having had a haircut myself yesterday (jury still out on the local hairdresser), today marked the end of the vine pruning.

With 23 acres covered, hundreds and hundreds of vines snipped, several miles walked and all types of weather encountered, it has been, in many ways, quite a therapeutic experience. Over the course of the last 7 weeks, most days have involved a trip up the hill to keep chipping away at what seemed to be an endless task. While very repetitive, each vine required concentration to ensure that it was pruned correctly. No pruning was done last year by the previous owner and some vines have been lost. Failure to complete the task this year would have severely weakened the remaining vines further and resulted in further losses. This has been quite a motivating factor! The work has taken me to bits of the estate that I hadn't previously explored and given me plenty of thinking time about how I take things forward (as well as plenty of exercise).

Pruning has been juggled with normal domestic tasks, decorating, organising builders (slight problem with a missing lintel above the front door...), wood collection, dental treatment (and the weather) hence why it has taken 7 weeks. I am assured that 10th April is the deadline for pruning so I'm well inside.

With visitors due in April plus my possibly taking some time off for some R&R, the focus now shifts to decorating. Once you get through stripping the dodgy external shell of paint applied just before I bought, things get interesting and dealing with what's revealed results in lots of debris and dust. However, all the wooden beams downstairs have now been stripped and, in the hallway, treated for woodworm and stained. My plastering skills are improving which is lucky as there is alot of it to be done over the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, we seem to be moving in to Spring. Hoopoes and lizards are about and the almond orchards (now in leaf) are alive with singing cirl and rock buntings. Still awaiting other summer visitors to put in more than a fleeting appearance, but the tend is to warmer weather although the usual sunshine has had the odd interruption for reason. Still, it seems more clement here than in England. Listening to the weather and the travel reports on the BBC doesn't make me yearn for going back.