Twitching !



Griffons ?

 I never knew I loved bird watching so much till last year really !

We have always taken our binoculars on journeys and Philip has amazing long-sightedness so can spot any bird at about half a mile !!! no I jest. But certainly a good couple of hundred yards it seems. I struggle even with binoculars. I can make out a bird-like shape but keeping up with a bird in flight or hopping-about-mode takes some skill and for me a great deal of patience and a great deal of frustration.

Trying to differentiate between birds of a similar genus is even more trying even with the birdbook in my hands - are the wingtips really black is it because the bird is in shadow etc.

hoopoo - our noisy companion!

While in Portugal we did some serious bird watching days from hides high up on the cliff tops in the Tejo valley. Absolutely fantastic walking to get there in the first place - once with a herd of wild pigs on our right hand side - we never saw them but certainly could hear their snorting and snuffling in the undergrowth and the signs of their rooting around were everywhere - I was practically jogging along by now to get out of their sights, just in case!


The only other time we've been so close to the wild boar was on a ramble in a particularly wild n jungly part of Tuscany can you believe ?? It was somewhere near Volterra we got hopelessly lost as the paths petered out fairly quickly and Philip was determined to just carry on so we had to fight our way though fairly dense undergrowth for miles and somewhere we came accross a sow with a swarm of little piglets in tow !!

All very cute but we kept our distance and headed away from her fairly promptly as we remembered the warnings of how protective the sow can be of her young uns!! lesson taken.


Tejo National  Park

On several bird watching occasions we were well rewarded and spent many an hour squinting both down to the valley bottom and up to the sky and watching a variety of magnificent raptors wind their way up into the heavens and off into the distance. Goodness only knows what they find to eat as we saw more rabbits in our garden in Hampshire than we did in the wilderness !! but they obviously thrive so there must be something out there that they can survive on.

We saw mainly Griffon vultures as they are commonplace in this part of the world but to our eyes were still outstandingly enormous birds and we loved watching them take from the cliffs and come crash landing back down with twigs in their beaks sometimes. Nesting season ?


 

We also saw the Spanish Imperial Eagle (although I noticed that on the information boards on the Portugese side of the Tejo valley it was simply called the Imperial Eagle - nothing spanish about our eagles thank you very much!!! ). We actually saw these twice, both in different locations.


The first time, we pulled over on the roadside, whipped out the binoculars, got out the book which we carry in the passenger side door and studied hard. Yep confirmed sighting. Exciting. The second time, there were so many raptors about that we took a lot longer to study and watch them before we decided that two were the eagles. Part of the decision process was that they behaved slightly differently in flight and also were happy to land on the island in the middle of the river and seemingly bask in the sunshine. The 'pack' were mainly griffon vultures again !

I don't say this with distain as they were still magnificent creatures indeed.

As this part of Portugal is particularly rural we were alone in the wilderness most of the time - well apart from the wildlife of course the odd smallholding.


Tejo river

 The deer were beautiful and larger than the ones we commonly see on our orienteering forays into woodlands back in Britain and they were not overly startled by our appearance in their territory - mainly because humans were probably a rare sighting for them and we were as curious to them as they were to us !! Sadly my little pocket camera wasn't up to getting a good clear photograph.


Hubby playing silly billy !

 There was significant evidence though of hunting - discarded cartridge shells abounded sadly. We even found a skull, complete with an impressive set of antlers - stuck in the middle of debris in a stream which we were crossing - I just had to pick it up though of course ! It was clean and well water washed thank goodness. It is now at my brother in law's house near Ross on Wye and I'm sure he'll find a good spot for it on his land or garden.

He has an impressive binoculars (he calls them a 'scope') perched atop a tripod and most of the time they seem to be set up in his dining room where he can study the birds of prey that land on the raptor table 20 foot high in the garden. His house is high up on a hillside amidst woods and a perfect place for the passing buzzard or two to spot a little lunch when offered them !!

The first person I ever knew who did this was my friend Kerry from the Towy valley in Wales. Her husband had erected a platform at the bottom of the garden and all her chicken carcasses were offered to passing birdlife. In fact it was the only way she could stop or at least discourage local foxes from rummaging in her bins for the carcasses or anything vaguely edible it seems !! and the birds profited from her ingenuity. A win situation all round.

We still have not purchased a 'scope' but it is definitely on my 'wish list' for the future. It is so much more exciting when what you are watching is clear as a bell and every ruffle of feathers and stretch of wings is almost at your fingertips it seems.   Can't wait.

p.s. one of the best things about a good long ramble in the wilderness is a delicious picnic afterwards - well deserved and anticipated on the up hill climb back to car !!

Aaahhhh yum....