Reflections on 2016

I condensed five lines into seventeen syllables that condense my thoughts for this year. So here it is.

icy air on cheek
movement accelerates pain
a loss lingers on

The BIllie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction 2016

East West Street was the winner of The Bailie Gifford Prize for non-fiction in 2016. It was written by the human rights lawyer Phillipe Sands and it is proving to me to be an enthralling read. I am going to Warsaw in March and then traveling east to the Bialowieźa Forest for the wildlife and so I want to read as much as possible about what has happened in that country. I have already read about the history of Poland and the harrowing events they experienced during The Second World War, but within only a few chapters of his book I am learning much more.

The complex situation created in 1919 by The Versailles Treaty and another treaty accentuated the division of the rights of the Poles with minority groups. I can not do these pages any justice in just a couple of lines, but reading on I found this decades old prediction in relation to the conflict that exists between Jew and Arab. The philosopher Martin Buber opposed Zionism as form of abhorrent nationalism and held the view that a Jewish Stare would oppress Arabs. And so it is and at this time of year I can reflect with sadness the horror of events that exist in Palestine and in many other nations.

There is much more to this book that I have written here, but I look forward to more enlightenment and, for me, this is a book that is a must read.

Shooting of wading birds - Moratorium

There is action being under taken to:
Introduce a moratorium in to the hunting of critically declining wading birds.

Woodcock, Snipe and Golden Plover are shot in the U.K. Despite serious population declines. A moratorium should be imposed to allow the impact of shooting to be established by independent scientific investigation and any necessary regulations introduced to ensure that shooting is sustainable.

I know that from previous experience that shooting occurs in Davidstow Moor in Cornwall where overwintering plovers flocked.

On the eve of the new year the petition signatures stand at 17,067 with some way to go before we meet the required six figure mark.

Thank you Dr. Mark Avery

Dr. Mark Avery awarded

28th December.

The entries from Raptor Persecution have been numerous in the past few days and I thought that those communications should not go unnoticed. It really should not be any of my business of what goes on in Scotland except to say how could those practices be tolerated anywhere. Add in to that there is another announcement of public money being spent and there is a convicted wildlife killer allowed to be eminent in that.

There has been some good news in that Dr Mark Avery's activities in being the driving force in gaining enough signatures to enable parliament to discuss a potential ban on driven grouse shooting. He is 'The Conservation Hero' of 2016 which has been awarded by Birdwatch Magazine.
All this is good, but the fight goes on and it seems that there will be more to fight on about.

I refer in particular to the horrible thought that a general licence should be granted for the random and killing at will of Sea Eagles, Kites, Buzzards, Sparrow Hawks and even Ravens. The lies suggest that the skies are full of reeling birds that pose a constant danger to the rearing of grouse and pheasants. It is nonsense to suggest any of this could be true and that there are so many birds of prey that any real problem could be caused. Killing of wild life is an inherited problem from centuries ago and should no longer be tolerated. It seems that the people with money, power and influence can do what they like. It has to change.

For full and informed comments view The Raptor Persecution site.

Raptor Persecution and Mountain Hare Slaughter

I have been watching closely, since last July, the Raptor Persecution site and reading the blogs.
It is easy to become despondent when one reads the list of disappearances of birds of prey, if that was not enough then there is the list of adjournments of court appearances for those accused of criminal acts in respect of wildlife. Add to that the loss of natural moorland habitat solely, it appears, for the better environment of Red Grouse. Then there is the mass slaughter of Mountain Hares that feed on heather too, in competition with the grouse.
I was brought up in a rural county where gamekeepers displayed their 'shooting' on strands of barbwire. I never really got the need for that because would it deter a crow feeding nearby? Or was it to impress the estate owner? It seemed pointless then and now, it seems, the culture of killing exists regardless of any constraints.
I have blogged before about the 'so called glorious twelfth' and made my views clear then. It could be referred to as a rant and, indeed, that is the way I feel. I will add one more and as a writer friend has said it is better to get it out of me and then I can write better poetry. However is not being subtle justified in defence of the defenceless?

I know that Edward Thomas in his poem 'Gallows' does what I need to do when he says:

'But what did that avail?
He, too, (the magpie) flaps in the wind and rain
Alongside weasel and crow
Without pleasure, without pain,
On the dead oak tree bough'



I wrote this only a few days ago after the images
of dead mountain hares had stuck in my mind
after they had been posted on a site. This
is the way that I feel about what seems to me
unacceptable and the unnecessary slaughter
of wildlife. Here it is.


Hare Mountain

Imagine the mountain side, tougher than life;
slabs of cold white accentuate dark rock
in a natural habitat of extreme strife.
But is it natural?

Moorland groomed like a paedophile would
nurture a child. Burning heather, degrading,
scarring the peat sponge that should
prevent run-off. Do they care?

New growth, fresh edible tips for grouse,
bred to satiate the gun lust of estate owners
wedded to a culture that can arouse
my ire. Is this criminality by class?

Enough. Add Flubendazole grit, poisoned bait,
traps and game keepers to erode the beauty
of animals that exist, but for them fate
determined by shotgun blast. Ignorant or what?

Photographic evidence condemns dark minds,
slaughterers of elegant hares by truck loads stand
for the photo shoot. Bloodied bodies show the signs
with an empathy with death! Do enough care?

John Edwards (C) 12/13th December 2016

San Pedro del Pinatar

The afternoon of Wednesday 21st December was my last chance to see what birds were to be seen at San Pedro. It was the first dry day for sometime and now the sun was out, temperature was around 17 degrees and with a moderate breeze. Water levels were high and there was still some standing water in places.
I always start off in the large car park near the boardwalk leading down to the beach. There was little to be seen with only Yellow- leg gulls with two Lesser-black Backed resting on the dunes. A female Kestrel flew over the car park. A male and female Stonechat perched and a Blackbird flew. Over all it was very quiet and I may have seen a Dartford Warbler dive quickly into a bush. The shape and tail were correct, but the sun only allowed me an outline. It did not reappear.
On the beach there were three Sanderling, one Turnstone and one Ringed Plover and offshore some turbulent water still.
Returning back inland the first water on the right revealed in the far reedbed 15 Black-tailed Godwits, six Black-winged Stilts, two Redshank, four Avocets with Flamingos in the water.
In the water opposite were several Black-necked Grebe.
Although the water levels were high I saw two Little Stint feeding.
I parked in the small car park near the roundabout and here there were Chiffchaffs and Sardinian Warblers in the vegetation. A Robin sang and perched in full view and then, the bird of the day, a Kingfisher perched and fished. It was on the canal where the vegetation had been cleared thus allowing good views, but still had an abundance of perches. A couple of hours well spent and very enjoyable.

Eagles at El Hondo

Saturday morning of 10th December was a little misty at first before the sun was able to burn it off and not helped by only the faintest of breezes. It was a great morning in the sun. I spent the first hour on the boardwalk and there I was able to watch a perched and flying Spotted Eagle and again when it perched in the far line of trees. While searching for it after it had flown I found on a pylon, I believe, a Golden Eagle and in a tree very close by a juvenile Bonelli's Eagle. These two could have been the two birds seen last week when it was said that it was a juvenile Golden. However that was the thinking with distance to be taken into consideration. Also an Osprey was perched on the mast and eight Grey Herons standing in the marsh. Add to that flying Booted Eagles and Marsh Harriers. The water levels are increasing and the boardwalk could have water even closer by. I hope that the rest of the winter is as good.

Scoter at La Marina

Wednesday 8th December came with little wind and clear blue skies after a period of intermittent rain and sun and so we were hoping for a good few hours birding anywhere between Gran Alicante and San Felipe Neri. I met Bryan Thomas as the sun rose around 8am. The temperature being no more than 9 degrees. He had heard reports of a brightly coloured bird flying with the egrets at Clot de Galvany. We had already decided that it could be a painted pigeon. And so it was. However we discovered that the scrapes had been cleared of vegetation and that the main area of water had been also been cleared thus allowing good views of it and any birds there. Snipe, Little Grebe, Teal, Mallard and Shoveler were obvious with White Wagtails, Chiffs and Robins all around. Hoopoes perched and so did a Southern Grey Shrike.

After a few minutes we were in our way along the coast road towards Santa Pola spending some time looking for Whimbrel with out seeing any. Audouin's. Slender- bills and Yellow-legged Gulls were easily seen. Also we saw a Black Wheatear and Black Redstarts were flying about.

We moved on and traveled south on N332 to one of our usual stops at the lagoons just before the speed camera. The usual waterfowl and Flamingos were there, but nothing of great interest. We stopped at the Salt Tower where two Sandwich Terns were flying close by. In the distance were about 50 Spoonbill and then two flew in front of us. Among them were 3 Great White Egrets and a number Grey Herons. Two Ospreys and Marsh Harriers flew to make it a very worthwhile few minutes. We quickly moved on as our target area was in the beach area at La Marina on the seaward side of El Pinet. The water at the scrapes was high and here we had very close views of Dunlin, Redshank, one Ringed Plover, Avocet, but overall it was very quiet there.

Redshank

Dunlin


At the beach we initially had no luck in finding our target bird, a Scoter, that had been reported there. We left knowing that we still had time to go towards El Hondo and there we saw Malcom Palmer of the Costa Blanca Bird Club who said that our target bird was further along the beach from where we had looked and easily seen. We headed back towards the beach seeing on way Green Sandpipers, several Buzzards and then four Booted Eagles, two dark morph and two pale morph, were circling high above us. On a sunny leaf there was Red Admiral butterfly. Kestrels were about and one we had a good look at as we were hoping that it was a Merlin. Malcom had seen one early but for us It was not so.

Red Admiral

Booted Eagle


Back at he beach we searched the water along the length of the beach and then we found a friendly birder with camera and binoculars pointing out to sea. This was a Scoter clearly seen, nearby and preening itself. We spent over an hour watching this bird and Bryan photographing it. His knowledge and the ID through the camera showed that it was a male STEJNEGERS (Siberian) SCOTER. It was a long way from its Baltic range and breeding areas. Apparently it is only the second recorded in Spain, and the only previous observation was in Galicia. It was a first for us both. There is an FB page that provides information on the same sighting. This is by Crónicas Naturales de Torrevieja and their FB address is www.facebook.com/cronicas.naturales.torreiveija. They use the Spanish name of Siberian Aliblanco Scoter, but they do make reference to Stejneger.



A very good image of this species is on Page 35 of The Sibley Guide to Birds (second edition) which makes reference to the males have black flanks and not brown and with a slightly differing bill shape and pattern. There are records of it being seen a few times in far western Alaska.

All of this maybe very important, but the point for me that this was a very clear sighting of a lovely bird and it capped our day out together splendidly.

All photographs copyright Bryan Thomas 2016

The Art of Murder

The Art of Murder by Michael White was given to us by a friend who had said of the book that 'it was not one that he would normally read'. The cover looked encouraging and with the comment in mind I started to read it.
Okay, it has some extraordinary detail of murders that are linked to a common source of inspiration. This part of the book is set in modern day, but there are chapters in the book that tell a story of the late 1800's. I thought that this was acceptable to start with, but it soon became tiresome, but with reading on I felt that it was justified and came to an interesting conclusion. However I became impatient and I wanted to get right back to the book's present.
Authors seem to revel in the rudeness of commands and those of 'officer level' treat their underlings with a lack of respect, deliver orders 'off the cuff' for them to be undertake at super human speed and in an extremely unlikely time frame. That style irks me and then there is the person at the top of the hierarchical pile 'breathing down the neck' of the one below who also does the same heavy breathing onto the investigating DCI's neck who then passes his ire onto his unfortunate staff. Why? What does it add to the story?
It could help build a character and help create an image in the reader's mind, but it doesn't do that for me. It irritates me. In fact I did not bond with any character.
Then on a page under half way I found an event that made me scream out ' you don't do that'.
That does not happen. In the latter half of the book I found discrepancies and even absurd comments. The reality of some facts are not correct.
Micheal White has created and collected some great ideas and in the general sense the plots work well. It is an interesting read and I will not say anything else as I am not a 'plot spoiler'.

Yecla

On Friday 7th October Bryan Thomas and myself were in Esteppes de Yecla before the sun had broken through and it was a cool 12 degrees. We had decided again, to check the area out, and not plan another visit until early spring.

We saved a considerable amount of time by avoiding Yecla and took turnoff 171B (A31) signposted Caudette. This took us into the area via the spot where we normally exit from. We were treated to flocks of Goldfinches and then we a watched a mixed flock of about 50 Choughs with a good number of both Spotless Starlings and Jackdaws all feeding together in a field of stubble.

Here we also saw only one Common Kestrel, some Crested Larks and very little else. A few Northern Wheatears did show well, at least three perched Southern Grey Shrikes.



We moved on into the steppes really searching for Sandgrouse and hopefully Bustards. We did have some good views of larks and it was some time before we saw a flock of about two hundred Calandra Larks feeding and then flying. Theklas did not show and neither did we see any Short-toed. We had a terrific view of a Little Owl and eventually we saw four Black-bellied Sandgrouse fly to be followed by another six feeding and flying.

We checked out the Lesser Kestrel site and saw not one of that species.

I have not recorded all that we saw, but overall birds were thin on the ground.

All photographs copyright Bryan Thomas 2016

More Waders at El Hondo

WET GLISTENING MUD - AT LAST
Another morning with Bryan Thomas on Tuesday 4th saw us taking the backroads into San Felipe Neri. We saw very little on the way except Zitting Cisticolas showed very well near the ploughed up football pitch. We wanted to see what the water levels were like around the information centre. The lagoon by there had seen a drop in the level which exposed wet, glistening mud. The birds were making the most of it. I counted at least 30 Glossy Ibis with more than 40 flying over. There were also Little Ringed Plovers, Little Stints and Bryan picked out at least two Teminick's Stints, Curlew Sandpipers, Greenshank and a Snipe flew. There were numerous Little Egrets, a Little Bittern and a Squacco flew in.

As we drove down the track the electric cables were loaded with Swallows and many more were seen flying in. Among the Barn, were Redrumped and House Martins were seen among them. By the time we had left they had gone.

By the gate both Bluethroats and Zitting Cisticolas were easy to seen flitting amongst the bushes and perching.

The Marbled Duck were showing well in the enclosed pond with Coot.

During the course of the morning we saw two Booted Eagles, two Marsh Harriers and several Kestrels.

A check on El Tiempo does indicate there could be some rain in the next ten days and maybe much more afterwards. I hope so.

Common Buzzards in The Shooting Gallery!

Apparently Common Buzzards are widespread and are in sufficient numbers to cause significant losses to Pheasant Poults when they, the young pheasants, are in a controlled environment. That is, they are in their pens and unable to be predated. Okay, there will come a time when the birds will fledge and have the sufficient ability to fly and roost. These birds are bred and are in sufficient concentrations to have a detrimental affect on that environment in which they are raised. That is to the exclusion of everything else in the natural world.

I remember that the trophies of gamekeepers were hung on wire fences. Crows, Magpies, Weasels and Stoats were all there for what purpose? Probably to impress the landowner that his hard working keeper was doing his job destroying everything that he could. Add into the results of the shooting gallery with the control of rabbits - for they are pests too - but a natural food source for foxes and raptors and of course hares are a danger too! Aren't they? It was a killing spree then and it appears to be the same today.

Over the north edge of Bodmin Moor I remember seeing five Buzzards circling over our cottage on grey and misty day. To hear them calling was a wonderful sound. There was a roost for Starlings nearby and flying around them were Buzzards intent on predating a natural food source. No harm to any game bird there, was there?

Now I refer directly to the intended legal killing of Buzzards authorized by Natural England. It would be foolish to believe that gamekeepers would restrict themselves to killing only one species, but my guess would be that anything seen down the barrel of a twelve bore would be a target. I have never seen a sufficient number of raptors that would be capable of inflicting wanton damage to Pheasants. Why? That is because many birds of prey have been eradicated and, or, their habitats managed for the game bird industry.

There is so much that I could say, but Natural England, you appear to only have a small faction of our nation to keep content. Your bias is against many people who love and support wildlife.

There is already one petition in Parliament to be heard and that is in 18th October so now let's get this petition in sufficient numbers so that Parliament can discuss the intended destruction of Common Buzzards. The cynic in me would suggest that some of our Honorable Members either could not care less or go out for a days killing themselves. I hope that there will be sufficient number in 'The House' to hear a full and proper discussion.

Legal Killing of Buzzards

This article, dated 25th September, from birdwatch.co.uk

The UK Government has responded to a petition against killing Common Buzzards which garnered nearly 12,000 signatures, saying it intends to allow Pheasant breeders to kill them.

The Government responded to the petition – entitled 'Suspend Natural England licence to kill buzzards' – this week, saying that Common "Buzzards are widespread in England and the issuing of control licences has no impact on their conservation status. This approach balances conservation of wildlife and supporting the rural economy.

"Buzzards are now widespread in England with, according to the British Trust for Ornithology, over 60,000 pairs in the UK. Issuing control licences has no impact on the conservation status of buzzards and this approach strikes a balance between conserving wildlife and supporting our rural economy."

Natural England issues can issue Wildlife Licences to prevent damage to agriculture, livestock and fisheries, and says it decides whether to grant a licence within the legal framework of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

NE also says that it is legally unable to refuse to grant a licence if all the appropriate criteria are met, but would not issue a licence for any activity that would adversely affect wildlife conservation.

The petition became a cause célèbre when NE issued a licence recently at the behest of an unnamed gamebird breeder ot breeders to permit the 'control' of up to 10 buzzards, in order to prevent them from predating Pheasant poults in rearing pens.

The petition is still way off the 100,000 signatures needed for the Petitions Committee to put it forward to Parliament for a debate.

Stanza Mar Menor

The poets of Stanza Mar Menor met again this morning for the second time in less than week before two of our stalwarts head north. We were fortunate to have another voice around the table. Iarla is in Spain for a week or so and was able to joined us once again.

Douglas as promised brought some new work with him. 'Just a Blip' was written on 7th September after a short sojourn in hospital. It reflects his feelings, written in sonnet form and includes lines as pertinent as 'have I lost all my marbles on the way?' - to hospital - and followed by 'I was alone within my head...'.

The Doppelgänger was next where he paid tribute to the woman 'Returned to now complete old Maggie's task'. I suppose that any Tory risks the sharp edge of his words whether they be female or not! His last line reads 'Alas, I fear the future is much worse.'


On a totally different tack in 'Heroes' he lambasted the producers and script writers for meddling with characters as written with those depicted on screen. He did not like at all what he saw. We agreed with him.

His writings are examples to all of us to write 'what grabs us' and to produce some excellent pieces.

John, is still working on older ones and he asked for feedback on 'The Waking Hours' that was written in 2008. He knew that it was too wordy and needed tightening up. All comments noted and he will produce, hopefully, a better revised edition shortly, which he will circulate. Iarla made a reference to changing older ones as they maybe better to be left alone. Something to consider.

Margaret showed us four pieces instigated by her attending a workshop with Ann Sansom where key words had to be used. A general discussion on the benefits of attending a workshop took place. Margaret felt that she did less well under pressure although her results indicated otherwise with those present. Such ideas foisted upon attendees can produce something different and whether she was satisfied or not she had penned some good lines that easily created images. Well, no surprise there, that's what she does. How about 'in my solitary darkroom/the men who fish stab bright colour/on flimsy film canvas.' We discussed all four at some length although we did not offer that many suggestions. We thought well of her contribution.

We have no idea when we can next meet up and maybe not again this year. As usual the meeting was recorded and David will be sent it. Emails passed to and fro will have to suffice.

Garden of Beasts by Jeffery Deaver

Book review: Garden Of Beasts by Jeffery Deaver.

It is 'A Novel Of Berlin' as one of the title pages tells us and it was first published in 2004.

For those persons who are not 'au fait' with the happenings in Europe during the 1930's then this book, albeit a novel, will be informative. Jeffrey Deaver uses real names of the hierarchy of Hitler's Nazi Germany to give depth to the story, indicates very clearly what the ambitions of this evil collection of men wished to attain and by what means.

It highlights the suffering of ordinary people and the cruelty and depravity they and the Jewish population were subjected to, but that is only part of the story, for there is much more. Thrown into this plot is a layer of intrigue only to be topped by yet another layer. Then there is international subterfuge mixed in with internal politics; all of which is blended into the story

Paul Schumann is the character that carries this story through and on his return from the First World War he uses his skills 'to correct God's mistakes' in New York. He is ensnared by the law enforcement agencies and it is they who give him the option to have 'his slate wiped clean'. In 1936 he was sent with the American Olympics team to Berlin. His mission was to kill. This journey that he is was forced to embark on is loaded with details, information, incidents and surprises. Enjoy the twists and turns of a novel set in a period of time where I hope that history will not be allowed to be repeated.

Stanza Mar Menor

Following our end of summer meeting on 31st August three of us, Margaret, Douglas and John were able to attend for a quickly arranged couple of hours on Wednesday 21st September.

Douglas is only in Spain for a shorter period than planned, but brought with him five poems that covered topics from his observations, three on political matters and a fifth one entitled 'Not So Glorious' relating to an ongoing pursuit of John's in highlighting the true cost of the driven grouse shooting industry. This one will appear on John's blog.

Douglas's opening one, 'The Falsehood', opens with 'The world is better when we have a drink,/imbibing as we go from place to place'... We echoed his sentiments and even more so as we delved into the profound. In this political world he observed that 'The world so long ago lost Corbyn's goal' in one poem called 'Political Reality 2016' and then there was 'Training' and you can guess what this line refers to when he says 'Until I wound up crumpled on the floor.' Corbyn, of course, and he finishes with the line 'Whose lies come back to haunt him evermore.' In commiseration we know that it is a tough life when the media think that there is a 'good' story to be had. He also savaged the Tories and more of that next week.

There will be more from him and he has given us a quick introduction to more of his work with the *line 'Thatcher's back. Theresa is her shade'. Is this a doppelgänger? Oh dear, politics again, and that is the challenge for all of us. To write what is topical, what is important and the right that we have to write, to say and to protest always will be important. He is also paying attention to mis-pronounced words. I love artitecture, don't you? And skellington too. What a wonderful language we have and how to inadvertently change it.

Margaret had emailed us with a new piece of work inspired by a cemetery that she can see from her window in England and so we did have pre-read beforehand. She describes it as 'the park of the dead' and goes on to say 'There is no sadness, only grief and loss/when visited by love'. I do know what she means. She has been busy and we shall see more from her next week. Having had some spells in England she will bring with her next time some writings to be considered from a workshop with Ann Sansom.

John, likewise, had only found enough time to write one new one. He always finds that the end of summer is a 'saddish' time and a period of remembrance and so he had quickly written 'The Sound of It'. In searching for a 'sound analogy' he penned the line 'A cloud, a shroud, an insidious non-sound' when describing his feelings. With suggestions it was improved.

He had used the word re-occurrence to indicate a yearly event. This was not correct as this word only applies to an occasional re-happening where as recurrence is the correct word for something that happens every year. You can see that we play with words all the time!

Having slipped 'doppelgänger' into a paragraph I decided to see what a reliable source said. I quote. In fiction and folklore, it literally means a 'double-goer', a double of a living person and sometimes portrayed as a paranormal phenomenon and is usually seen as an harbinger of bad luck. Well, that should stir a few basic subliminal instincts, thoughts and probably words and maybe profane ones!

I will only add - bad luck to who or even whom!

Now - we meet again next Monday morning at 10.30am here in San Miguel.

* On BBC Breakfast this morning was a feature of a play called 'Dead Sheep' by Jonathan Maitland. It was about his take on Geoffrey Howe's 'farewell' speech in the House of Commons and the near end of Thatcher's reign. She, the lady, is portrayed by a man and he does a marvelous impersonations of her. It is fantastic what a man can do in a dress! I will leave you with that thought.

North Gate at El Hondo

Saturday morning (17th) Bryan and I had booked into the North Gate of El Hondo to see what was moving, what was still there, what was still to arrive and to check on the water levels. The major pool on the right had a little less water than two weeks ago which meant that the birds were far away. Not good for viewing, at all.

I expected this to be the case and so we head straight down to the large hide. A Blackcap called and Bryan thought that he had heard a Penduline Tit call although it or they remained out of sight.
Also, and maybe, a Melodious was spotted in an Eucalyptus. Reed warblers were heard and seen. The same applied to Kingfishers that were both heard and seen. It was good to see them back in the marsh.

There was very little to be seen on the water from the big hide, but in a reed bed in the foreground was a gathering of Red-rumped Swallows feeding in and around and perching in the reeds. They all took to flight when a Marsh Harrier flew over only to return to the reeds. Eventually they all flew away. Also a Peregrine went past and an Osprey perched. Later a Booted Eagle was spotted.

Ducks were not numerous. There were both Common and Red-Crested Pochards, five White-headed Ducks and a few Mallards.

On the margin in the distance straight out from the hide we watched a Water Rail feeding and in that same shoreline the eagle eyes of Bryan identified a Wood, Green and Common Sandpipers with two Ruff and a Ringed Plover.

High in the sky were Swifts and Bryan located four Alpine ones. I could not get on them.

Squaccos and Little Bitterns called and flew. Water Rail calls were all around us and we heard and saw Purple Gallinules. We need both rain and water and then we should see more.

Gran Alicant to El Hondo

We had not been able to get out for a while and with the temperatures getting lower by Friday 16th Bryan and escaped for a day. We followed, more or less, our usual route from Gran Alicant to El Hondo/Fondo Natural Park. It is an interesting route with many stops on the way. The first being a salinas just down the hill from the Santa Pola turn-off. This did not live up to it's potential and we quickly moved on. Next up was pull-in by the Salt Tower with not one bird in the water close to us. We saw a frenzy of activity nearer to the next pull-off and then it became very good.



Bryan's photo of the feeding frenzy of Slender-bills with some Black-headed Gulls is far more descriptive than I need to write about. The cloud of birds moved with the food source and gradually came nearer. Little Egrets and Grey Herons were paying attention too with two Great Whites close by.

In the far distance there was the usual good number of Flamingos and there was a group of 47 Spoonbills. Little Terns were flying and diving for food and a Sandwich Tern was identified by Bryan. A Marsh Harrier flew in the distance.

El Pinet was next and again we were very lucky for a Water Rail slowly walked along in front of us and then turned right along the margin. It was the best viewing I have had of this difficult to see bird.



Here there were also Little, one Sandwich, and Common Terns (about 4) with an adult feeding young. On a small island was one lone Collared Pratincole. Then we counted seventeen Stone Curlews sitting and standing among the stones of an island. Although the surrounding area can provide the habitat for them I had not seen that many, that close by and so easily seen before here. A Greenshank called and flew, a Kentish Plover came into view and one lone Godwit.

We took one of the caminos toward El Hondo looking for Rollers and probably our last sightings of Bee-eaters. We did not see the former, but the latter were very evident in some areas. We parked in the shade of an Eucalyptus tree and could hear them clearly calling above our heads. In many places it was 'as dry as a bone' and so we were on the lookout for fields being flooded by the farmers. These did not yield anything out of the usual, but we did see one field where the grass (Lucerne) had been recently cut that was full of Yellow Wagtails - maybe two to three hundred birds feeding. Moving on Bryan spotted a raptor that was high and not that close. It came our way and we had excellent views of a Short-toed Eagle - probably our last sighting until 2017.

We checked out San Felipe Neri to see what the water levels were like and whether the far lagoon was still dry or not. It still is. The water around the centre is still opaque and with hardly any margins. At the far end of the boardwalk six Squacco Herons flew out and that was about it. We do need rain and water needs to flow in.




All photographs copyright Bryan Thomas 2016

Poets Meet in Summer's Heat

Stanza Mar Menor held their end of summer meeting just before one of the group's members headed overland to Murmansk. We wish David well and we will stay in contact by email and audio recordings of our meetings. Likewise, Douglas, who is still in Scotland was sent recordings of today's readings and comments.

Margaret, having returned from Sheffield, read four poems that were both interesting and as usual thought provoking. There were many a-look-over-the-shoulder-thoughts when she penned the one on dancing. As a child she stood on her father's shoes and moved as her parents danced. There was evidence of love and memories. One of her others stemmed from a recent conversation with a friend when they were both young and trying to be careful. That did not work and another pregnancy followed. There were so many good and image evoking lines in here.

John Mc. joined our group for the first time and brought with him three from his childhood past and vividly portraying hard and penniless days, a wondering about his genetic father and the harsh words that he had to endure and then 'Fight Night' witnessed from his bedroom window of the sectarian brawls of his home town. Tough days indeed. For me, the most intriguing one, was. 'Forget Me Not' that related to his experiences of a person with Alzheimer's. Wonderful lines revealed some of the hurt that must be there. Lines such as 'sudden shafts of light illuminated the gloom' describes it well I thought.

Robin too, is looking back, and brought one on her father's funeral. Descriptive with great detail, including what she wore, and humour was well defined. We discussed the use of the present tense in this one and also the past tense.

John E. read a revamped one that originated from his visit to his native county and his return to a location alongside the Gloucester and Herefordshire Canal. He was never satisfied with his first attempt and still considers it unfinished. The one read today had omitted some of the previous opening stanzas and it is possible that we could have a piece in two,parts.

His second one involved an idea to see how or whether it worked at all. 'Dialogue With An Idiot'
broke many rules and it will be looked at again.

It was intended that the group read and discuss 'In Plain Sight', a collection of poems, using the theme of Ledbury's alleyways and yards. There is some beautiful writing in the pamphlet and we will include it when we next meet.

Following on from that. Rialto have launched a pamphlet competition and maybe we should consider this challenge without bothering to enter such a competition. John E. will give it more thought and subscribe to their latest publication.

Again the discussions that followed all the readings was supportive and of value. That is what we have always done and the quality of our writing has benefited.

A Siege of Biterns by Steve Burrows

An eye catching front cover of an elegant bird was enough for 'A Siege Of Bitterns' by Steve Burrows to leap into the hand. The author with this book won Arthur Ellis Award in 2015 for best first novel. The cover tells any prospective buyer that it is 'a birder murder mystery' and whether that will turn some people away from wanting to read it is perhaps only what the sales figures could reveal. I never read what is on the outside until I have finished reading any book, but being a birder and with the obvious front cover I had to read some of it at least.

It is set on the north Norfolk coast near Cley and where there are protected salt marsh sites of considerable,importance. What is it about? Well, it is a good mixture of people and events. Locals and birders are involved and they are well fleshed out. Add into that mix the new detective wearing a halo; a high ranking ambitious and class conscience officer, an aspiring politician and one or two others that have their own agendas.

There are many references to birds and birding, but don't let that put you off for it is a serious of events well told. Dominic Jejeune the D.I. with the reputation to maintain really does it his way and shows a reluctance to share his thoughts with the murder team. I began to love the people involved and the writing shows their characteristics vividly. That's it and I am not telling you who gets killed or how or how many, for that is for you find out, when you read it.

As an afterthought I will say that there maybe more to Burrow's writing than is obvious at first. I know that there is a need to protect the planet and the species; all the inhabitants large or small, despite what we humans do. This novel seems to indicate what a good writer can achieve to help any microsystem and I will end there. There is another book to follow and it looks being another 'must read' for me.

Photos from Yecla on 10th August

All photos taken by Bryan Thomas

Tawny Pipit

Pin Tailed Sandgrouse

Black-Eared Wheatear

Hoopoe

Thekla Lark

The Intrepid Birders John & Ian

Scenery

Scenery

Another Saturday Morning in El Hondo

Saturday 13th August the temperature at El Hondo was a comfortable 18 degrees with a very slight breeze. A Southern Grey Shrike was in the top of a tree next to the barrier It was beautiful and quiet with no more than five birders bothering to come in. It was a morning of sounds with a Golden Oriel calling and a male was seen by another birder who also saw a pale morph Booted Eagle.

The larger water contained birds in the far distance with Curlew Sandpipers and a count of 1310 Avocets. (permission given to quote and so thank you.). I went straight to the larger hide and we had in full view 13 White-headed Ducks that included only one Male. From this same hide a dark morph Booted Eagle flew and perched with his back to us so that we could see all the plumage including the white edge to the tail. It was beautiful.

Down at water level in the far hide I saw three Green Sandpipers and very little else except Swifts, Barn & Red-rumpled Swallows and a few House Martins. Some Whiskered Terns were around. In and around the tree at the beginning of the boardwalk were Reed Warblers and Melodious feeding in the Eucalyptus tree.

Kingfishers were easily seen. The usual Herons and Egrets flew except I did not see one Night Heron this time around. Bee-eaters were burbling and flying over head.

My last viewing was from the first hide on entry where there was a Short-toed Eagle perched, at a distance and seen in a scope. I have not included everything that was there.

I am looking forward to Sepember rain to bring the water closer.

Murder on the Grouse Moors

It is the day after 13th and there has been carnage on the grouse moors. All in the name of what some will call sport. We are trying to change that and not just because of this slaughter, but because of the destruction to the habitat and the killing of mammals, including mountain hares, and gorgeous birds of prey. It has to stop. I could go on and on, but I will continue to say that the petition to BAN DRIVEN GROUSE SHOOTING has reached 100,000 and Marks & Spencer have declined to stock red grouse. I intend never to shop in their stores again.

My feelings are summed up in the few words for the morning after, below entitled:

A DEADFULL 13th

the guns are quiet now;
a few corpses remain
in every-mans-land

over the top we will
have to go again
into yesterday's
resumed hell

and so it begins again;
"they're coming"
the cries grow louder
from the beating army

powerless we are;
we have to flee,
fly higher, and higher
to beat the guns

it's an outrage
it's murderous
it's a carnage

Nualla Ellwood - My Sister's Bones

Harrogate Crime Writer's Festival provided another gem for me. It is good to hear and see the top crime writers, but it is even better when an event comes up with a new name. This was the case when I went into the 'Dead Good Writers' Awards'. They were giving away freebies and so it was packed with jostling people. Despite this I picked up My Sister's Bones by Nualla Ellwood. Okay it is a limited edition proof and it is a signed copy to add to our collection.

This is one of the best reads that I have had in a long time. In my opinion it is that good. Obviously it has to be well written and I cannot fault any of the language or the way that the story is told. It is complex with many facets involved and coming together eventually. The reader has to decide as the pages get turned as to what is real or what is not real. There is so much in this book that travels from a domestic childhood scene, into a journalistic world of war and all that seeing would entail and then back again to domestic settings. It moves at a good rate and is never dull. Sometimes the reader's level of sanity is questioned by this book.

That is all you will get of this book from me as I never want to spoil a damn good read! It will linger in my memory for a long time. I enjoyed it. The research to finalize the details must have been thorough and intense. Apparently she has another book on the way and I will read that one too.

Eagle Owls around San Miguel de Salinas

Eagle Owls are numerous here, but they don't always pop up when you want them to. Ian, a birder, that I had met last Saturday wanted to see one. I have not been to the sites around San Miguel recently and so I wanted to check them out. Yesterday we travelled via Torremendo towards Estación to a well known site. We did hear noises, but nothing that I could definitely say was an Eagle Owl.
I expected to see some raptors flying into roost as I have noticed in the past, but tonight not one.
Wood Pigeons were obvious, a line of ducks flew over and too high to distinguish what species, but probably Mallards. A Common Swift was low enough to easily to distinguish from Pallid. Turtle Doves flew over and I was able to get a good sighting of one. There were some strange sounds and then a Scops Owl called - but we could only hear one. However that one call is the first one that I have heard around home.

On our return a Little Owl flew up from the side of the road and perched for us. I decided to try another location and took the Camino around La Pedrera. It was very quiet there and apart from Little Owls calling I heard nothing that I could identify as an Eagle Owl although my companion with
keener ears did hear some faint calls. No sighting then and no first for him. I will spend some more time checking out the sites and maybe concentrate on one nearer to home.

Esteppes de Yecla & Coral-Rubio

For Tuesday 10th August we had planned to go to both Esteppes de Yecla and then onward to Corral-Rubio and some of the farmland around in search of the Great Bustard. We left very early as we knew that the temperatures would be in the 30's by early afternoon and so we were birding by 8am.

Opposite the road leading into the 'Esteppes' there is a camino that took is into farmland with some uncultivated areas. We had been very lucky here before with a juvenile Black-eared Wheatear and again we scored well. This time it was a Tawny Pipit and captured on camera by Bryan which confirmed the identification. Ian, a birder on holiday, saw it and drew our attention to it. He claimed it as a first for him and so did I. Adult and juvenile Woodchat Shrikes flew and so did Crested, Thekla and Greater Short-toed Larks.

We moved on quickly as we wanted Ian to get two more firsts with both Black-bellied and Pintail Sandgrouse. We could hear them in flight and then three possible ones were seen flying in the distance. Eventually after much searching of both ground and skies we saw both species with nine Pintail flying around in good view. Two were later seen on the ground feeding so that we could see the neck and head markings. Later we saw the other variety which showed clearly their black bellies. We had to work for these, but our efforts paid off very well.

We noticed an almost total absence of Lesser Kestrels and not one was to be seen at the nesting site or even foraging nearby. We did see Calandra Larks, but not in high numbers as we had seen before. What is going on? Hoopoes were everywhere and this is the first time that we had seen so many.

When approaching the Caudette end of the valley we saw both adult and juvenile Black-eared Wheatears and we also had distant views of Black Wheatears. It is always a joy to see Little Owls and the tally stands for them at five individuals.

Moving onto Corral-Rubio which still had water where there was a good collection of waders which included Lapwing, Redshank, Wood Sandpiper and Kentish Plovers. There were thirty Red-crested Pochard, but all we had time for was a quick scan before heading off in our search for Great Bustards. We had no luck! This was Bryan's first ever abortive visit to find the GB's. His hundred percent record is no more and his reputation is in tatters!

On a more positive note three firsts for Ian, one for me and we will look forward to spending more time up there examining closely what is in the water. We did locate one Black-bellied Sandgrouse feeding on a scuffled field. It is such an excellent and vast area that we are considering staying for a night or two. That will be once we have had a substantial amount of rain.

North Gate at El Hondo

I spent three wonderful hours in going through the North Gate at El Hondo this Saturday morning. It was hot, but not too hot with a light breeze. You never know what is going to show and who you may meet. Today a regular attender entered and we spoke of Barn Owls and he informed me that they are to be seen, but of course, we are not there at the correct times to see them. We also discussed shooting and hunting. I could hear guns that were fairly close by and he stated that they should only be shooting rabbits, but also Turtle Doves could be what they are shooting at. That's a shame and why shoot such a beautiful bird?

There were only two cars that entered with me and one of those was driven by an ornithologist whose home patch was East Yorkshire. He was great company and I benefited from his knowledge and keen eyes.

Birding wise it was great morning. All around Little Bitterns, Squacco Herons and Water Rails called. One of the latter flew across right in front of us. My companion was able to get the scope on a female Little Bittern as it perched low down in the reeds while it looked for prey. It was really beautifully marked and the stripes were so clear. Night Herons, like last week, flew and perched. Grey Herons also flew and we saw one Purple Heron. Also, in addition to Little and Cattle Egrets, a Large Egret flew. Glossy Ibis also flew.

On the water we counted eleven White-headed Ducks and they were a mixture of females and juveniles. Together with the three smaller ones we saw last week it does seem that there has been some successful hatching and fledging. One Kingfisher called and flew past us.

On the larger lagoon an Osprey was perched for the entire morning and in a margin we saw one Common Sandpiper and one Green Sandpiper. As we walked to this hide both Melodious and Reed Warblers were seen in the trees. The Moustached remained invisible!

On our return we spent a short time in the small elevated hide. The water is some distance away, but Curlew Sandpiper were identified. It was quiet by now and a search of the skies revealed
an Alpine Swift (I need to see one for myself) amongst the Pallids and possible Common Swifts.
Barn and Red-rumped were easily seen and the occasional House Martin.

I have not listed everything that we did see. I had a great time and now I will be paying more attention to the skies to try and see an Alpine Swift for myself and next Saturday I will be doing the same again.

One Week to the In-Glorious Twelfth

NATURAL ENEMIES?

natural enemies! Pa-ah!
they don't exist no more,
but we watch the skies, just
in case, you never know.

humans come and leave
things. We peck at stuff
and then there's that bunch
of feathers tied to the post.

It's really scarey that,
and the unseeing eye
socket scares us all,
but hey-ho

we eat our way
to plumpness;
good enough to eat -
and THEN......

JE(C)04/

An Ample Roller Day

Tuesday 2nd August with a forecast of sun and at least 30 degrees we nevertheless picked Bryan up in Gran Alacant. As Clot de Gaveney was close by we spent a few unsuccessful minutes there before we made an attempt to see a Rufous Bush Chat. However this area did yield a Spotted Flycatcher. We moved on quickly via N332 to the area opposite Las Brisas where this lagoon has quickly become a favourite spot of ours. A Zitting Cisticola immediately flew, calling as it went. A Purple Heron and a Squacco showed well. A Mediterranean Gull flew together with Whiskered Terns. It should start to hold more birds here when the waders continue to arrive.

Our next stop was the Salt Tower that fortunately yielded a flying Spoonbill and nothing much else of interest. We moved on to El Pinet which was much more productive. Common Terns were very evident on the nearest island with both Little and Sandwich Terns seen. We were surprised when a number of Collared Pratincoles took to the air. Two juvenile birds were in close proximity and were photographed. There must have been at least two hundred Pratincoles and in the distance we saw about 80 Glossy Ibis in flight. A Redshank was seen feeding with one Black-tailed Godwit.

We then headed inland towards El Hondo in search of our target bird for the day and for Ian, our guest. Eventually we had numerous sightings of both perched and flying Rollers and they were so good to see in the summer heat. A juvenile Common Kestrel perched to be photographed.

We passed some fields that were in the process of being flooded and these yielded many Cattle Egrets and some Glossy Ibis. At San Felipe Neri water was being introduced into the nearest lagoon. It had a milky appearance and there was not a bird to be seen. The furthest lagoon was bone dry! What is going on? A Common Sandpiper was the only wader to be seen here.

At the rear of the reception centre were some young Red-knobbed Coots, one Marbled Duck amongst the Mallards and Purple Gallinules. Bryan pished a Great Reed warbler, a Yellow Wagtail flew and later a Little Bittern did the same.

Marbled Duck. Photo by Bryan Thomas

The Twelfth? Never!

The Twelfth? Never!"

quick upward escaping flight

crack crash-crack

suddenly altered into
a fast whirling out-of-control
plunge,

crack crash-crack

dead or, worse still,
only dying, bombs into
the eco-system that
nurtured it, allowing
a feather to break free
from the body that
was its life

crack crash-crack

they hear the call
of death once more,

filling the skies
with harmed and harmless birds,
with toxic lead shot,
with death

echo after echo re-echoes
the vision stays

the guns go silent
the dogs begin their work

Nature England - My Reply to their authority to kill

There is so much criminal activity in killing birds of prey and much of which will go unpunished and yet Nature England has granted a licence to kill up to 10 Buzzards that can be viewed as harming Pheasant chicks. These are only bred for one reason for someone to shoot for fun, in the name of sport, when they are driven towards the guns. I understand that you have placed restrictions for around the pens, but this gives a clear indication that you are weak in preventing the killing of raptors. The shooting fraternity may have power, money and influence, but for those of us that love our wildlife I cannot agree with this grant of a licence and I oppose it in the hope that you will rescind the licence.

Nature England grant a licence and El Hondo

On a day when an email told me that Nature England had granted a licence to an individual to be allowed to kill ten buzzards so that young pheasant chicks would not be killed by these predatory killers I downed by early morning tea and went out 'birding' as planned. I thought about it all morning and beyond as how any authority with 'nature' and. 'England' in the title should do such a thing. So now we have killing to allow chicks to grow into adult birds so that they can be shot for fun. It is ridiculous and I will say more later.

Back to this morning where our trip, myself and a visitor, travelled to El Hondo although we knew it was going to be hot on the basis that I always see something worthwhile. My guest enjoyed seeing Purple Heron, Grey Heron, Squacco Herons and Night Herons. Add to these Little and Cattle Egrets together with both flying and perched Little Bitterns. Moustached Warblers flew and so did Reed Warblers. Norwegian birders next to us had also seen a Savi's. Young Southern Grey Shrikes were also seen.

On the water there were three White-headed ducklings, young Great Crested Grebes and Common Pochard. Water levels were down and so some of the waders were far away, but we think there were Little Stint and Ruff.

In the far distance we did see a big raptor fly and can only guess that it was not a common occurrence here. Who knows what it was, but maybe next time it will come into close view. Sadly and interestingly there was dead Barn Owl lying on path. There were no leg rings and I did tell Antonio. Up to this point I did not know if these type of owls were in the area. I shall continue my visits through August and hopefully for most of the year.

Reflections on Harrogate Crime Writers' Festival

WHAT DO I THINK OF THIS EVENT?
This has been our third visit to Harrogate Crime Writers' Festival since 2012 and it is a few days that we enjoy immensely. We do work at it and initially we hardly missed an event although I did miss one or two. Our last visit was just a little bit more leisurely.

For this year the sun shone and we enjoyed being in that setting in front of the Swan Hotel, amongst the mature trees, writers, authors and of course readers. Everyone is friendly. You can approach anyone and converse with them. Authors can be asked for their signatures and their time is willingly given. After all they should please their consumers!

THE COST
We booked the package that covered three nights, including breakfast, and a 'Weekend Rover' ticket at a price of just over £900. This included every event except the The Kill Me Quick: Author Dinner. This cost £30 per head and that is a very expensive fish and chip dinner with Ice-cream as an after thought! It was fun and having won before, in 2014, we thought that we would give it another go and we won again. We came away with a novel by Alyson Joseph, our allocated author, which is 'A Sister Agnes Mystery' titled 'A Violent Act'. As we were the winners the whole table were presented with 'Love You Dead' by Peter James. Mine is now signed.

I don't think that we would do this again although it was enjoyable and we met different people.

CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS FOR COMFORT
Alright, I have praised this event and entered my comments on each day. Now I turn my attention to about what could be better for the comfort of customers: The area where the events are held is spacious enough and will hold a large number of people although there were empty chairs at all the events that I attended. The front portion is crammed with too may chairs per line and with too many lines of them. These are uncomfortable and do not suit the prestige of this event. The rear portion contains some very comfortable chairs and this is where I sat. There are two screens that allow the rear portion of customers an almost clear view, with sound, of what is happening on the stage.
As the floor is not inclined as in a theatre then why not raise the participants position on the stage. That cannot be difficult to do.

Every year that we have been we are uncomfortably hot during the events and so are the people on stage. If customer satisfaction and participation is to be maintained then this matter should be solved.
There is now an outside tented area with a small bar and some seats and the book shop has it's own area and both of these are a vast improvement on where they were accommodated before. Now the rub; this bar and the small bar inside the hotel are inadequate and queues are there all the time. It is not good enough. The bar staff are inexperienced and sometimes do not have the goods to sell. When we arrived on Wednesday the Pinot Grigio was not chilled and I had un-chilled can of Guinness. What nothing on draught! It is criminal in my view and always, always Theakston's best bitter runs out.

This is a prestige event and the customers do deserve better so come on Harrogate International Festivals do what you should be doing and provide the amenities to suit your customers.

FINALLY
Would we go again? Yes, of course we will, as it is a wonderful and stimulating experience. So, a huge thank you to the crime writers that are involved in it.

Harrogate Crime Writer's Save the Best for Last

Once Sunday (24th) morning has arrived then you know that it is almost time to go, but you are still drawn back for the last two events and fortunately we stayed for them.

The first event was POLITICAL CORRUPTION chaired by Charles Cumming, a master of spy thrillers, and if you have yet to pick up any of his books then, in my opinion, you should. He was assisted by two well known names in Frank Gardner and Mark Lawson. Gillian Slovo's childhood was surrounded by political intrigue in apartheid South Africa where her parents were involved in the fight against white supremacy. The fourth person was Kate Rhodes who has focused her recent attention to the urban landscape of London. This collection of people in one space was fascinating and intriguing. The hour went rapidly by and I just wanted to listen to more of the same. Afterwards, me included, were saying that it was the best hour of the festival.

We are living through a very political and stressful time and since the note in the programme says: 'The world of politicians is rich fodder for the crime genre. Riddled with corruption, fury, and the power mad' and with that premise in mind the comments were meaningful. In examining the scenario for this it was said that to create a story set two years hence could be superseded by events. The last few news laden weeks have proved that point. Truth was discussed, or more precisely the lack of it and the extent that 'cover ups' are common.

There must be a story in the simple fact that more people are engaging in politics because of the mistrust that we have with politicians and establishments. It is a devious world in which we live and with the unacceptable face of capitalism and with the unscrupulous pocketing of millions, a news line of this morning, emphasizes it.

All five of this panel have new books. I will research what they have on offer and they book titles were mentioned, but it was the subject matter of the conversations that made this the best hour I have ever spent in three visits to Harrogate. They saved the best for last, but how many people missed it as a consequence?

I sat in for the last event which was Peter James talking to Peter Robinson. My concentration and thoughts were still with the previous event and I am sure that fans of either man would have found it worthwhile, but I just sat back, relaxed and coasted.

I am told that we have 70 new books in total with 20 of those 'free'. We are in budget and well within our weight limits. That is a success in it's own right, but it is the event itself that excites and stimulates. It has been so successful that I wish I could do it all again.

Another great day at Harrogate Crime Writers Festival

Another fine summer day in Harrogate on Saturday 23rd July

Jeffrey Deaver was interviewed by Mark Lawson in the early start at 9am and strangely enough the hall was not full. We had a brilliant hour being enthralled by this great writer and he can talk to. He even spoke about 'Trump' and made his views very clear and he earned a round of applause for that.

After a few questions towards the end of the hour he said to those who wanted his signature can ask any questions that they liked at the signing. What a gent and he stayed signing until after the next event had finished.

Gerald Seymour was next and this provided a good contrast to the previous hour. The quietness of his telling was enthralling. We had the journalist's view on where to get his ideas from which included walking the streets of South London and Tipton and being escorted by a local police officer. Deaver on the other hand gave the impression that he was totally organized and in control. He would complete eight months of planning and organizing before the script began to be written. That is something to think long and hard about.

NEW BLOOD. Val McDermid was there again with four gems that she has unearthed with writers that are relatively new, but all with books being published.
Firstly she spoke with Martin Holman, a Swede, that writes about Sweden in 1930's and his writing is open about sexuality for both sexes. That should encourage some readers,
Then JS Law with an experience of 22 years as a sub-mariner and now a writer in crime. His first is set in a submarine, but his next ones will have to be placed elsewhere as there is only so much killing you can have under the water. Tenacity is the book title.
Thirdly there was Beth Lewis with Wolf Road and set in North-West Canada. The basics are that a child is found and brought up by a killer. She said that she explores how characters behave under stress. I would like the read this book as tales from the wilderness and the two characters mention should help to make it an intriguing read.
Lastly an accountant from The City who has explored some of his origins in 1930's India in the context of the locals versus The Empire. Of course it is a crime novel and so there will death as well as a delve into the past. I like history and so I will look out for it. The book is 'A Rising Man' by Abir Mukherjee.

I sat in and listened to Peter James interviewing Martina Cole although I am not a reader of her work. It maybe interesting for her fans, but I have heard it all before.

KILL ME QUICK:AUTHOR DINNER
This cost the great sum of £30 per head for a meal of fish and chips followed by ice cream. It was not great value and it did not even include a drink except water. Alcohol cost another twenty quid! We have done it before and won and tonight we won again. It was fun and we met a new author (to us), Alison Joseph, together with a free book. Our prize for winning was Peter James' 'Love You Dead' which him to sign for me. Even with two books to take home it was expensive, but we had decided to do it again just for the hell of it and we enjoyed it.

The special guest was Tess Gerritsen and she is a star. She did the presentation by herself and the minutes flew by. She explained in detail how the ideas came to her in the music for Incendio and that she wrote the music. She plays both piano and violin and went on to say that violins need to be played otherwise they can go to sleep. The one that was used to play her piece was on display in a glass case. It is worth millions of dollars and eventually after four hours the violinist was happy with it. Intriguing. The Devil's chords are the ones that causes the trouble. If you read this book you will find out why - no spoiler alert necessary. She showed us photographs of Venice and we had three and half minutes of music. It was stunning. 'Playing with Fire' is the book title.

There was so much seen and heard in another great day.

A Full Day at a Crime Festival

Last evening's award ceremony with Clare Macintosh winning with 'I Let You Go' and Val McDermid's achievements being recognized at the beginning of the festival. The words that flowed from Mark Billingham for Val McDermid were endearing and even loving in relation to this writer and to how she had contributed to writing and to the crime genre. Her reply was just as warm and also humble insomuch that she thanked the readers.

The beer jolly is now over and there are two and a half days of the serious stuff with authors being lightly grilled about how they got the kernel of an idea and how they developed the plot. First up this morning was Linwood Barclay and Mark Billingham in the chair. I have not read Barclay, but he has many books to his name and he is very popular.

Next up was Peter James (of Roy Grace and Brighton fame) with a whole panel of people that included writers and Graham Bartlett who was the contact for Police detail in the books. The idea of this event was the thought that 'You Couldn't Make it up or Could You' where real life cases were discussed and does life imitate art far more than art imitate life. In this event Ysra Sigurdardottir was introduced as a new writer to the English scene.

At noon we sat in for Domestic Suspense - The Killer Behind The Front Door with an all women panel. I made more notes on this hour than I thought was possible beforehand. I was considering what the 'under-story' could be which I think I will have to give more consideration to after a period of reflection,

Set a Scientist to Catch a Killer was chaired by Peter James whose brief was to elicit facts from his inspiration for Roy Grace an ex-C.I.D officer Dave Gaylor and a forensic podiatrist Hadyn Kelly. Dr. Brooke Magnanti with a doctorate in forensic science and Belle de Jour, Elly Griffiths with an interest in forensic archaeologist and Kate Medina who has studied psychology all added to this interesting mix.

A new event for both of us was the Dead Good Reader Awards. It was packed as there were gifts on offer. Michelle picked up six books and I walked away with a signed copy of My Sister's Bones by Nuala Ellwood. She was lovely and I thanked her and wished her well.

Finally for entertainment Susan Calman chatted to Val McDermid. Funny, yes, but with many reference to their sexuality. As far as I am concerned it was too much as I try to treat everyone the same irrespective of what they say that they are. But that is me. It is what is inside the person that really matter.

We forwent the last event and sat out on an English Summer's evening and supped ale. great it was.

Harrogate Crime Writers' Festival

Okay, this is another day in paradise and we are just relaxing and enjoying our own company in Harrogate town. We had achieved enough on Wednesday so that we knew we had ample time to go to to York by train. The rail stations are great reminders of how good England can look with their floral displays and Victorian architecture. The Railway Museum was interesting and we spent a couple of enjoyable hours looking at the history and carriages of a century or so ago.

We discovered in the station precincts,York Tap, run by The Tapped Brewery Company.that served excellent ales in a building that originated a century or more ago. A high domed roof, stained glass windows, marbled floors and a bar with an excellent range of ales. Wonderful. Michelle had a pint of Motueka from Mallingham Brewery at 3.9 abv and I had a pint of Timothy Taylor best at 3.5. We still had time for a pint of U235 by Mallinsons and Michelle supped another pint of Timothy Taylor Best. Upon returning we found Harrogate Tap and called in for a quick one. These were wonderful bars where the staff were friendly and who knew their beers.

Since this is the start of the festival we went to the Old Swan Hotel to collect our passes, tickets and bags of books. We examined the books having ordered a Guinness (not on draught) and a Pinot Grichot. Both not chilled and as I left almost all of the Guinness it was a tenner wasted! Why it is that some bars cannot function properly? I will stick to water in there next time or free coffee.

Prior to the evenings award ceremony we dined in The Old Bell Tavern. The beer, food and service were superb. Thankfully it is a short event, but excellently presented by Mark Lawson. Val McDermid was presented with outstanding praise from Mark Billingham and the award of the outstanding contribution to crime.
The six authors and books shortlisted were:
Mark Billingham withTime of Death
Eva Dolan with Tell no Lies
Robert Galbraith with Career of Evil (she was not present)
Renee Knight with Disclaimer
Adrian McKinty with Rain Dogs
and finally the winner Claire Mackintosh with I Let You Go.
And now a full day from 9am with events on the hour and every hour.

Crime, beer & books

Books and beer says it all. We enjoy our beer and of course the books last that little bit longer except if the love of your life is a 'book- aholic'. So there you have it and now you know what I have to put up with.

We brought twelve books over with us and the total after this morning's meanderings brings the total to thirty. The idea is that they will all be signed by the respective authors.

Now back to beer. The Montpellier, 4 Montpellier Hill is not CAMRA listed and it did look okay. Both of us went for a brew of Timothy Taylor. Michelle ordered one of her favourites, a Timothy Taylor Landlord and served in the proper glass. I went for a new one to me from the same brewer Lightfoot, but served in a Theakston's glass. I just hate that! Both pints were great, but we only stayed for one. The barman did not know what CAMRA was and didn't seem to care. We decided that it this place was a mixture of chic city centre wine bar and a fake pub. It was empty when we left and I am not surprised.

We always want to support the tenanted local pub, but the pull of Wetherspoon and the whole concept of the The Winter Gardens took us back for the second time today. After all you know what you are going to get both to drink and to eat. Daleside Bitter at 3.7 ABV and Pride of London at 4.0 I will recommend. Total cost just a few pence over £20.

It is so good to sit and chat in fantastic historic surroundings.

Harrogate Crime Writers' Festival starts this evening with the result of the winning book of six 'short listed' for this year. There are some well known names, including a stalwart of the festival and some lesser known. Now I will have more books to read although I have read the Robert Galbraith one before traveling.

Harrogate Day One

We are here again in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England for the Crime Writers' Festival and it is our third visit. We had flown into Leeds Bradford Airport by 9am and that gave us the whole day to collect books from the Post Office, pre-ordered from Amazon, and another pile from The Works. Included into that are two visits into charity shops and more 'target books'. It's a mission that we are on and the festival does not start until tomorrow night!

It is great to be in England and when we were waiting for the bus a few Jackdaws called, the sky was patterned with some blue, but predominately covered in clouds from dark to light grey. And then it rained a few spots and on the way it threw it down - great globules of it. I loved it and we did not get wet walking to the hotel. This town is beautiful with all the flowers, trees and buildings and it is an absolute change from where we live in Spain.

As sad as you may think that I am I have already listed the real pubs listed in C.A.M.R.A and know that we do not have to walk too far. Living in Spain I am nerdy about good ale and have no intention of missing out on the best there is. I do not waste my time in hotel bars that do not have a 'hand pump'.

We breakfasted in Wetherspoons with Eggs Royals for me and Pancakes with maple syrup and bacon. My one pint was Ruddles Best priced at £2.05 and Michelle supped a pint of Blonde at £2.69. This was for a total of £12.03p. What a bargain. How dare anyone say that England is expensive and free WIFI.

HELP STOP THE KILLING

THE INGLORIOUSNESS OF AUGUST

A cockroach lay on it's back this morning, motionless, but not to be presumed lifeless. And so it was until I encased it in a plastic tumbler which activated it. It climbed the smooth sides, fell back, agitated it's body and climbed again and again.

This was my lesson for this morning that when there is something that I don't like, something that I think is wrong and an issue that needs addressing then I should get on with it whatever the odds against seem to be.

In my lifetime there has always been a news item reporting on the commencement of the 'grouse shooting season' on 12th August and it has been like a 'drip feed' into our psyche that it is all okay. The norm, but why should it be?

The idea that birds can be shot in the name of sport is only one small piece of what is actually occurring. To get those defenseless birds up into the air there has to be a lot more going on. Environments and habitats have to be manicured for the birds to be raised in with moorland being prevented from doing it's environmental job of soaking up rain water and the loss of territory for our other bird species has enormous consequences. Build into the scenario the killing of beautiful birds of prey that gamekeepers and their bosses consider a menace to their precious grouse then it becomes even more abhorrent to me.

The 'Real Price of Grouse' Episode One follows other videos and articles by Chris Packham. Many words will be said again and again and the brief words 'Sport v Slaughter' and the 'Not So Glorious 12th' encompasses my thoughts.

Let is keep the words flowing against those people who have the ill-considered right to change our landscape and kill for the sake of it.

Please read the blogs, watch the videos and sign the petition and Google the various sites for more information. There should be more to follow from me.

Juvenile Black-eared Wheatear

Our trip to Estepas de Yecla, as I have previously said, was not very productive, but it still turned up one other bird that was interesting. I would not have been able to identify it on my own, but Bryan was able to do it. It was a juvenile Black-eared Wheatear and this was confirmed when it flew and showed it's distinctive white tail and rump with a broad black terminal band separating the two sides. This is clearly shown in Collins Bird Guide on page 266. We know that this species are in the area as we generally see them, but not in this exact spot. The opportunity to see this species within a few meters of where we were was very helpful when we were watching this young bird. The photograph is not of a flying bird so those diagnostic features will have to be viewed on the page.



While I was writing this short blog an Audouin's Gull landed on a nearby roof and then it flew down and walked in front of the house. Almost a garden bird!

Yecla and Petrola

Yecla in the morning and then onto Petrola before the water evaporates in the summer sun was our plan for today and we stuck to it.

We arrived in the 'estepas' well before 8am with a temperature of only 20 degrees and a strong breeze. It certainly was quiet, but we heard Sandgrouse calling frequently and eventually we saw four Pintail Sandgrouse flying in the distance. We were not out to search for every bird or to list everyone that we had seen, but we decided to see what was actually about. We were surprised to see only a few Calandra Larks and we had good views of both Crested and (Greater) Short-toed and not a lot else.
Greater Short Toed Lark, (Juv)

We travelled through the valley and headed north on A31 to see what waders had arrived in Corral Rubio, Bonéte and Petrola lakes.

We knew that this would be our last chance to check on the water until September at the earliest. Indeed we found some had dried out and others were drying fast. However we did notice 10 Black-tailed Godwits and numerous Gull-billed Terns in the company of Black-headed Gulls. Red-crested Pochard were also seen and in the company of four Gadwall we discovered one Ferruginous Duck. It was some distance away, but the photographs, although not sharp confirmed what it was with its wrap around white under tail. Waders were few, but we did see Lapwing, Kentish Plovers, one Redshank, numerous Black-winged Silts, Avocets, a raft of Coots and Flamingos.


Gull Billed Tern


Furruginous Duck with Gadwall behind

On the route to first wader stop off point and very close to the road were a male and female Great Bustard. The female walked slowly in front of us and the walked away.


Great Bustard

The photograph says it all and it is the closest both of us have been to this species at ground level. What a beautiful bird and it made our day. Later we saw one more in the distance and then we saw four more near an expanse of water.

Apart from the two highlights we did not have an amazing day, but we both came away with more knowledge of the area and the delight in seeing a Great Bustard close up and be able to see all the detail.



All photographs and any contentious identifications are both due to the skill of Bryan Thomas.

BIRDING ON THE COSTA BLANCA

KEEP WATCHING EVEN IN THE HOT MONTHS

Birds are to be seen, depending upon the season, all the year round. Bryan and I have found that to keep going out every month of the year has benefited our knowledge and we have had some very good days. Some birders seem to give up during the hot months and others head north to colder climes. There is nothing wrong in that.

Okay, we are now at the end of June, and it has got hot. Yesterday, 28th June, we did our local tour and heard and saw good birds and some interesting spectacles. Cloud cover was at 90%, humidity was high, a reasonable breeze was refreshing, a distinct lack of mosquitos was very beneficial to us both and as the day progressed the sun showed strongly and the temperature rose to over 30 degrees.

Our first stop was via N332 opposite the Las Brisas Playa and this is proving to be a little gem of a spot. Parking by the barrier we heard both a Moustached Warbler and a Zitting Cisticola which flew high singing and after dropping lower and rising again to again sing. I searched the books for information on this flight pattern and in Birds of Britain by Rob Hume I found the closest comment to what we had seen. I quote '....deeply undulating song-flight, single short, sharp, penetrating note with each bound....zeet....zeet.....zeet'.

Over the water both Little and Whiskered Terns were active. Two Purple Herons were easily seen with a Squacco near us.

A Great Reed Warbler was loud. We will keep checking this site out as it could produce something unusual.

We moved via El Pinet where the usual were to be see, but with not a Collared Pratincole to be seen. There was an abundance of terns with Little and Common being in the ascendency. Also Sandwich and Slender-billed Gulls further away on an island.



Now heading towards El Hondon we again took the back road and saw Bee-eaters, both types of Shrike, Common Kestrel, and one Roller. We know that a more extensive search of the area would have revealed more species, but it was getting hotter by this time. Overhead at least one hundred Mediterranean Gulls passed over and on a distant wire there were the same number of Starlings - presumably Spotless. We thought that it was unusual sight as we were still in June.

Now our bird of the day. Bryan spotted something perched in a tree. It stayed for long enough to see it through the scope and for Bryan to photograph it. The short version was that we considered it to be a Short-toed Eagle, but only after a reference to Collins Bird Guide and a quick examining of the photographs could we confirm it. A photograph supports this.



San Felipe Neri was next and we confined our time to the boardwalk. There was nothing unusual here except that we saw our first Collared Pratincoles of the day and more Whiskered Terns with a bird that had unusually much darker plumage. The photographs indicate that this was a male Whiskered Tern with a molting head pattern.



On our way home there were a good number of Cattle Egrets showing their plumage and highly coloured beaks. Again we came across another bird with different plumage. It had all the distinct features, but where the plumage should have been white it was predominately grey. Interesting or not! And on the way home to San Miguel a male Montague's flew over the road. Another good day in sunny Spain.



There is still water in the Bonete area and so we are going there on Monday before it dries out