Día Mundial de las Aves celebrated in the Alpujarra

Yesterday on the International Bird Day, the first bird census in the Alpujarra took place. An English couple, Miranda Ravetto Wood and Trevor, had taken up this initiative. They have been bird watching in the area for over twenty years and had prepared a list of birds to hand out to the participants. The starting point was Alquería de Morayma in Cádiar. Just after leaving the centre to walk the GR-7 towards Lobras, one wildlife specialist spotted a merlin - esmerejón in Spanish and smelleken in Dutch - and was able to point it out to the others. This was quite a special observation as this falco columbarius is a migratory bird that you are not able to see here often. This was the first species that could be added to the list. In total the group has come up with a list of 33 different birds within a radius of six kilometres from the Alquería. All the participants enjoyed the morning very much. It was special to start off at the first light and experience the daybreak. Most birds were spotted during these magic early hours when it was still quite fresh. The originators of this event, are planning to organize a spring and autumn bird count every year. Anyone who wants to receive information on the next bird census or censo de aves in the Alpujarra, can contact the Alquería de Morayma. We will announce the next spring bird count on this blog as soon as we know the date.
More photographs and an enthusiastic account of this unforgettable morning can be found on ´La Otra Mirada´ a weblog of Colin Bertholet, one of the participants.


Related links:
- Our bird watching check list for the Alpujarras - Sierra Nevada.
- Organized tours with BirdwatchAlpujarras.

related keywords: eventos, evenementen, evénements, veranstaltungen, birds, aves, vogels, oiseaux, Vögel

Mantis religiosa in the kitchen garden

While weeding the kitchen garden this afternoon, we were pleasantly surprised to see a praying mantis (Santa Teresa in Spanish and bidsprinkhaan in Dutch) sitting quietly on a red leaf of a strawberry plant. It is commonly known that the colour of this European mantis is a natural camouflage. They can be green, grey or brownish, depending on their habitat. To see a bright green sample on a red autumn leaf we thought to be so special, that we immediately went in search of our camera. After having taken a few pictures, it slowly started to move. While looking at this insect from a different position, we saw that it had to be a female on the verge of laying eggs. We wouldn´t mind seeing more mantises on our finca next year, as they are such striking, beautiful insects.

Feria de Octubre de Cádiar 2009

Each year, in Cádiar a festival takes place to celebrate the end of the grape harvest. In the past, this wine and cattle fair often took place from the 5th to the 9th of October. This year however, the Feria de Octubre starts on the 8th of October and ends the 11th of October, a day before the national bank holiday. At 13.00 hours on Thursday the 8th of October, the fair starts with the inauguration of the Fuente del Vino. This is a wine fountain from which at specific hours the local vino costa is drawn and given out during these four festive days. There is a special website on this fair, on which the programme can be found. On this programme, we can read on which hours wine will pulled from this fountain and which activities will take place during the Feria de Octubre of 2009.

Fiestas patronales in honour of San Miguel in Mecina Bombarón 2009

From the 26th to the 30th of September, our neighbouring village of Mecina Bombarón honours its patron saints San Miguel and Nuestra Señora de los Remedios. The programme of the festivities can be found on the website of the town hall of Alpujarra de la Sierra.

Fresh figs

We love the time of the year that we can have fresh figs on the breakfast table and use them for our evening meals. On Sunday we were able to pick the first white ones, which we use in different desserts. As there are so many at once, we also placed a whole bunch in the sun, as this is the type that can be dried. But as long as they are in season, we try to pick them regularly so our guests can eat them fresh. They are at its best when picked ripe to eat. Our white figs are so sweet that we think they are a kind of natural candies. We therefor do not really understand the English expression “not care a fig about something”. One of our guests used to say after having eaten her favourite starter: “I have had my figs today”, which we find a much more appropiate saying. This coming weekend we can also start picking the larger dark blue figs about which we wrote an article for our blog last autumn.