Quinta da Rocha II Jan 28
Early morning and late afternoon are relatively windless times of day here, in between there are strong offshore breezes. I wanted to photograph some plants and 9.30 ‑10.30 am proves to be just right with the sun high enough to persuade the asphodel blooms to open but not so harsh as to burn the dew off. Mediterranean catchfly in particular dries out and wrinkles up once the dew is gone.
Corn buntings are birds we have seen and heard little of since leaving Oxfordshire (1984) but here we are becoming reacquainted. Their key-jangling calls are distinguishable from those of the serin by being lower pitched and less musical, and their song is preceded by several tk‑tk‑tk notes which we have not heard from the serin. Crested larks, which are also quite common here, make calls that seem less musical and flatter toned than either skylark or woodlark.
When staying at a place like Cruzinha, one can find oneself doing rather unexpected things. Today is an open day for members of the International Church and about fifty people are expected. The itinerary includes a nature walk around Quinta da Rocha and Peter asked if we would help as fifty was rather a large number for two people to cope with.
We readily agreed to help although taking other people around an area you hardly know is a somewhat daunting prospect. Nevertheless it all seems to go quite well. Jim almost gets carried away with trying to convince people that those grey and white birds are not just seagulls ‑ caspian terns are the stars there ‑ while my group seems happy to look at less mobile things such as plants, herons, egrets and a small copper butterfly.
The visitors are mostly British expatriots, but they do not seem to appreciate that they are part of the demand for the golf courses etc. that is swallowing up the wetlands here.
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