Yecla - Friday 29th January

On Friday 29th January I again travelled to Esteppes de Yecla with Michelle and Bryan Thomas. Previously there had been seen both Little and Great Bustard and these would be two of our target birds.

It was cloudy with poor visibility, and only ten degrees with a light breeze. This got a tad stronger later and with the temperature being a mere 10 degrees, it felt colder. It did not look promising at all and with a hint of rain in the air at times we had to remain optimistic. We worked at it and although there was bird song around us there was not that much to be seen.

Eventually we saw a buzzard flying and then a Black-bellied Sandgrouse flew and landed within our view. We had to wait a lot longer for any more and then six flew and landed in sight. A poor reward really, but that is birding for you.

We had travelled well into this valley when we saw a tractor scuffling the ground between rows of dormant vines. Our luck was about to change to make our day much more interesting. Here we saw flocks of White Wagtails and Linnets. Over and around the tractor where the earth had been a stirred up were three Kestrels, flying, hovering and facing into the wind to dive down and apparently feed. We all concentrated on these and there were two cameras clicking constantly. The question Bryan was asking was 'are these Lesser Kestrels'? His suspicions had been aroused in the last two months when he suspected that some of the Kestrels were not all common ones, but possibly Lesser ones that had stayed longer than normal! But now in January were these Lesser ones? We had superb views for about an hour with good close up ones, which were ideal for the photographers. The proof is in the photos shown in this blog where the distinctive features can be seen of the male and also in one of the female. The details are there to be examined and in the Collins Bird Guide too. A super hour well spent. It does go to show that attention to detail is so important. I am learning on every trip.



Earlier, in a bush, two birds flew into it and these were two Great Tits - our first ones for here. All three of us had a first for Spain when a Redwing was viewed and photographed in an Almond Tree.



Our list for the day was not great, but the views of the Lesser Kestrels more than made up for it and no Bustards. It is as follows:

Black-bellied Sandgrouse
Blackbird
Black Wheatears - two
Calandra Larks - a flock
Collared Doves
Common Buzzard
Common Kestrel
Corn Bunting
Crested Larks - some singing
Crows
Eurasian Starling
Goldfinches
Great Tits
House Sparrows (no Tree ones this time)
Lesser Kestrels
Linnets - flocks of them
Magpies
Mistle Thrushes - a good showing
Redwing
Rock Sparrow
Skylark
Southern Grey Shrike
Spotless Starling
Stock Doves
Stonechat - male
White Wagtails
Wood Pigeons - a good number

All photos taken by Bryan Thomas (Copyright Bryan Thomas 2016)

Stanza Mar Menor

On this entry I speak of some of our own work and speak very clearly about the winning entry in last year's Ledbury Poetry Competition.
This is what was said at our last meeting on Monday last.

The poets of Stanza Mar Menor met again for the third time this month to discuss a plethora of writing which did include four that Douglas had written since last week. He is prolific and that is something I need to be, but I (John) have been concentrating on other matters.

Douglas had previously paid tribute to Bowie, Mr Rickman and now we mourn Mr Glenn Frey. I am sad that another person has left us having given the world so many lyrics that we can hang on to. Douglas was able to remind us in his lines of some of those titles.

He then introduced 'On Being Scottish'. For me the one theme that came out clearly was the simple fact of 'him never leaving'. He knows where his roots are. There was one line that stood out ' We seem to be the artist's first macquette' and then he proclaimed in another line 'We are the nation that the world forgot'. Well, how could we?

Then he was 'Dreaming' and back to the sixties with a nostalgic trip into a world that had never really been! His words go deep and it has to be read line by line and picking one line, to quote here, is not effective.

Heather who read her poem Hello Dementia at TORREVIEJA WRITERS CIRCLE last week had sent us a hard copy so that we were more able to give feedback. We had a very full discussion on her work and sent her our comments. It was poetic and we liked it. What a subject to choose and she is to be congratulated on achieving some very beautiful lines. She has a way with words. We await her response from what we had to say about it and await her next offering.

Discussions have carried on from the early part of the month regarding what we see, as a group, those competitions that award prizes for something that we do not consider poetic. It is an ongoing item for us and David has already sent a well worded article to the manager of the festival, Phillipa Slinger. We had already examined Jane Satterfield's winning entry 'Forfeit' and decided that it was not poetic and was no more than words aligned in lines that contained no rhythm and had nothing to commend it.
We see that a single judge awards a fellow academic the kudos of winning and we note that almost all of the winning entries are female. What is going on, we ask?

Douglas had already written a unique response to Jane Satterfield's winning piece which goes to show what a good writer can achieve in only a few lines. He knows his Hamlet too! His last one 'Versifying' echoes in poetic form our contempt at writing masquerading as being poetic. He says in there that ' I want to write my own true verse' and then his final line is 'But, sadly, I have landed out of time'. He has not and when his writing is viewed it will stand the test of time unlike other much poorer offering.

Okay, now to examine a piece of writing by Deryn Rees-Jones who was the sole judge and we looked at her published 'poem', 'After You Died'. We would prefer to be kind in our comments, but we cannot be. It left us wondering what it was really about. We can accept the fact that a poem should linger on in the mind after the last line, but this one was not clear as to it's message.

If this sounds critical of what Ledbury is doing then we can say that we have listened to the recording of their Poetry Salons and this is a terrific idea. We enjoyed listening to Adam Horovitz reading his 'House built from Cloth' for it contained some wonderful pleasing lines. What a difference. He is currently Herefordshire's poet in residence.

In attendance, apart from Douglas, was Margaret, Robin and myself. Unfortunately Heather could not attend.

We recorded our event and it means that however scattered we are, we can remain in contact. We have yet to set the date of the next meeting, but I intend that we should meet again in February.

Writing

There is much more about writing to come on my blog as we have looked at winning entries in competition masquerading as poetry.
I have just posted on TORREVIEJA WRITERS CIRCLE a 'flash fiction' which I have taken from a theme they had been listed by them to write about. I have stretched the truth, just a little. Here it is.

THE FONDEST KISS

'You will never see her again.
You're a fucking bastard and
you can kiss my arse' she screamed.
The neighbours heard. Curtains twitched.
He left.
Her foot kicked the door shut.
Shattering another pane.
Prejudice in the court room.
Two boxes of legal papers
held the pain and shattered hopes.
Now, a fatherless daughter.

AN EAGLE OWL EVENING

A quest to see to see an Eagle Owl for the first time saw myself, Nick and Steve go in the direction of Torremendo for the sole purpose of allowing Steve to have the first sighting of Spain's largest owl.
We took the canal road out of San Miguel de Salinas to check on the reservoirs. These, and the surrounding areas, provided us with sightings of:
Collared Dove
Common Sandpipers
Coot
Cormorant
Eurasian Starlings
Goldfinch
Greenshank
Grey Wagtail
Linnet
Moorhen
Serin
Shelduck
Southern Grey Shrike
Spotless Starlings
Teal - male and alone except for the Moorhens.
White Wagtail.

We arrived at the owl site about an hour before sunset. There was very little breeze and it was strangely quiet except for the sound of construction work being carried on about a mile away.
Soon we heard the distinctive call, but we had to wait sometime before we saw any sign of it. Up on the ridge we identified one Buzzard and possibly another one perched in a tree. This highlighted the major difficulty of this site - distance from where we could see and where the birds can be seen. Then there was movement amongst the trees. Steve got his first glimpse and then Nick again saw some flight with enough of the bird to be seen to know that he had seen an Eagle Owl. We knew where it had flown to and there it was perched on a branch, with a fairly light background and in clear view. It was Steve's first sighting of this fantastic bird. Nick and I were both delighted for him and for Nick it was his best sighting. Then this bird flew and reappeared further along the ridge. We worked hard for over an hour with scopes and binoculars and then we had success. Patience generally is rewarded.

The previous morning at La Zenia I saw a bird flying low over the water. When it landed I could see the long legs and curved bill. I had to work hard at getting a good view as the sun was very low but through the binoculars I could see the distinctive white of the supercilium. Whimbrel for me and now Estepes de Yecla on Friday.

El Hondon again

Saturday 23rd January at El Hondon.

I went straight down to the large hide to check both lots of water there. The temperature was a pleasant 7*C, very still, but hazy.

Here is a composite list.

Blackbird
Blackcap
Black-headed Gull
Black-necked Grebe
Black-tailed Godwits
Black-winged Stilt
Bluethroats heard
Booted Eagles - three perched in same tree
Booted - dark morph also seen.
Cetti's heard
Coot
Cormorant
Chiffs
Eurasian Starling
Flamingos (at least 100 in front of the large hide in addition to the multitude on San Felipe Neri side)
Gadwall (three swimming on the far water with Pochard)
Glossy Ibis - about 80 and flying.
Great Tits singing - they do sing in late winter
Grey Heron
House Sparrows
Lapwings
Little Bittern
Little Egret
Little Grebe
Marsh Harriers
Mallard
Merlin. - female flying past.
Moorhen
Osprey
Pochard
Red-crested Pochard
Purple Swamphen
Robins - several
Ruff - one flying.
Shelduck
Shovelers
Spotted Eagle
Stonechat
Teal - about 150
Water Rail heard but not seen.
White-headed Duck

Thanks for all the company and keen eyes and ears.

Eagles Over El Hondo

This photograph, (which is a single shot,)was taken in early November by Paul Lagasi at El Hondo. The photo was taken to ensure that we had the correct identification and because all three birds were in the sky at the same time. The two birds in the left of the photograph are Booted Eagles, dark and light morph. The other bird is a Marsh Harrier. Thanks again to Bryan Thomas for the identification.

Stanza Mar Menor - Poetry & Dissent

We met again with only a week's break in between and we still had plenty to read, discuss and comment upon. However first things first. We examined the offerings brought by Margaret, Douglas and an updated version of David's 'Fuming'. Now that he has had time to digest our comments and to consider what should be amended he came up with a more rhythmic end product. His lines contain a very good damnation of those that pollute the atmosphere having no regard to it, and to those who cannot escape the fumes.

Margaret brought two that she considered were work in progress. 'Alan' was given our scrutiny first. It was one taken out of her early life where children were labeled and put into convenient compartments. We liked it with its simple style and rhyming pattern. Changes were suggested.
Her second one was entirely different. It was entitled 'News from 2001 - 2016' and originated from the news items and her attitude to the horrors in our world.
This is part of the first verse.
.....Perhaps I will be desensitised, or sentimentalised,/But No, I find myself sickened, reeling/feeling hurt and angry for those terrorised. ........

Her final line hits out at the waste of human life.
'Killing at a steady, effective, frightening pace'.
Says it all from 9/11, Charlie Hebdo to today.

Douglas had written 'Caliphate'. This was his view of THEIR view of the 'war on terror'. This piece is very thought provoking and chilling. We are used to hearing the Western view and this swings it around the other way. It expounds an external view, it being the very opposite of much of poetry that has an internalized version of life. In my view the writing takes us to another place. We discussed it and offered no suggestions. It stands as it is and maybe should be submitted to a quality newspaper.

Death came several times last week with David Bowie and Alan Rickman departing this planet. Both so well loved and now who can play the Sheriff of Nottingham? Douglas wrote Valedictory for the former and a short Tribute to a great scary character actor. I can now another sad note for Glenn Frey left us yesterday. No more standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona for any of us, but the memories are great and will live on.

John had reacted to a theme offered by TORREVIEJA WRITERS CIRCLE of ' The Fondest Kiss'. He had surprising comments from Margaret about the simple fact that she consider it poetry. David is of the opinion that it is 'poetic, but not poetry. A shock really as the three pieces were written as 55 word Flash Fiction. He will consider the thoughts offered and will probably read it for TWC this coming Wednesday. There is no 'fondest' in his three versions, but I suppose that is what a warped mind does!

And now to something entirely different. We are a small group and very enabled to spend time examining what is being offered by some in the poetry world. Some of it we don't like and we have decided to say so. This will involve much reading, digesting and the formulation of articulate replies - for we are writers after all!

We will look again at the winning entry at Ledbury, together with the TS Eliot Prizewinner, Sarah Howe and also Rachel McCarthy who has been labeled as 'the climate scientist poet unleashing elemental forces'. Articles have appeared in The Guardian and so they are already in the public domain. Ledbury Poetry Festival announced its competition winners and those can be accessed via their website. We are going to see who has been examining and judging and who has decided and adjudicated upon what. We will look at background and gender to see what prejudices ( if any) are in play. This is not a 'witch hunt' - no sexism at all here - and having read some of the comments on social media I know that we are not alone in being skeptical about what is good and well written and what masquerades as poetry. I believe that poetry is for every person and not for an elite group who evidently consider that they are the ones that know best. It does not mean to say that everything must rhyme, but it must have rhythm and it must be poetic.

SATURDAY MORNING AT EL HONDON

Saturday morning was cold with skeins of ice on the puddles on the track. The wind was blowing. at 22k and warm wind proof clothing was required. The usual culprit ensconced himself in the corner of the hide as usual, but I was soon joined by some great people. We had fun and still watched and saw the birds.
The Spotted Eagle (Moteada) flew and dropped into the vegetation with numerous Marsh Harriers paying it close attention. In fact we had very good showing of these birds. A Merlin flew across and I had a good view of my bogey bird. Later in the distance what we thought was an Osprey showing all black and white was a finely marked male light morph Booted. It landed and we all had good views of it.
On the water were seen two Wigeon and several Pintails. Dunlin flew around as did Black-tailed Godwits, Lapwings, and Dunlin. Very close attention was paid to the flying Lapwings as the flock could contain a Sociable Plover/Lapwing. Eagle eyed Mr Bryan Thomas saw it and for those left behind for the final few minutes we had an excellent sighting within the stationary flock.
This was terrific way for our few hours within El Hondon. The wind prevented good sightings of smaller species and I have not listed everything.
It always good to meet friendly liked minded birders who were a pleasure to be with. Thanks for your company. Some of us are in next week too.

El Hondon Parque Naturel

San Felipe Neri, El Hondon.
A cool Thursday (14th) morning with no wind, some sun
and light cloud provided an ideal morning.
In the new scrapes were:
Black-winged Stilt
Coot
Chiff-chaff
Purple Gallinule
Green Sandpiper
Little Egret
Little Grebe
Little-ringed plover.
Magpie
Meadow Pipit
Moorhen
Muscovy Ducks - a pair.
Snipe
White Wagtail

It was still cool as I went via the Boardwalk
where there was not much to see.
Sardinians called, flew and one perched in full view.
Collectively the two hides allowed us to see only:
Flamingos
Kingfishers - many in flight
Shelducks
Mallards
Pochards and nothing else not yet listed.

We searched and saw both female and male Black Redstarts, and Stonechats
Once it warmed up there were Marsh Harriers flying and overhead a white morph Booted Eagle and then a male one flew over giving terrific close-up views.
Returning via the Boardwalk we saw a 'vole' swimming. Still to be identified, but definitely not a rat!
It was good to be out and to meet two like minded people in Tony and Peter that made it all the more enjoyable. It is good to talk. And now Saturday morning via the North Gate.

Stanza Mar Menor

STANZA MAR MENOR

We met again on Monday 11th January 2016 and we intend to do the same again next Monday.
There were four of us assembled around the table with the IPad recording every word so that we can send our readings and comments to David in Murmansk.

Douglas had, with him, five sonnets and a five-verse-four-lined one entitled 'No Longer Daffodils' that referred back to Wordsworth and the Future Learn course that we had studied. It was not about daffodils, of course, but about something closer to our thinking. That important subject of what or how good are a collection of assembled words. Are they prose or are they 'real M'Coy' - Poetry. He spells his view out eloquently and then we have one line 'that poetry can be sublime' summing it all up. He and the rest of us are aware of what is being exhibited as poetry. That's the modern form that lacks rhythm for one thing and masquerades as being poetic. I do not blame the words for they are never at fault. I blame the writers, the academics and the judges that proclaim and exalt this tedious stuff. Poetry should be for everyone and not for some clique who think that they know what is best. We don't concur, but still respecting their individual right.

Douglas's five sonnets were of personal thoughts and touched, delicately, on important things to all of us. However, one of them, told of an old cure for sleeplessness. Of course everyone should know that a peeled onion placed by the resting head of the insomniac will always succeed! These last few months has seen his production rate soar and he has announced that his next book will be filled brimful with sonnets. That's good as I think that I can find enough space for another signed copy. Well done.

David sent one about the pollution he is experiencing up in frozen Murmansk. I will give you a the first few words. - 'In this shitty city, power station chimneys/spew out plumes of filthy fumes'. That sets the scene and he goes on to spell out the fact that the communities suffer while 'fat-cats' indulge themselves. We commented that this rant was 'soft' unlike his previous sharp edged words. It must be the temperatures! Keep it up David. Rant on for I do believe that there is ample space for poetics to protest.

He also sent to us more words on 'Tonka And The Shaman' which is a children's story that will be illustrated. We will send him our thoughts on this story.

Margaret read two 'stories' that she had heard in England that had been performed at an 'open-mic'. She wanted to share them with us and to elicit our views. Again we revert back to whether they were poetry or prose. The verdict was that neither were poetic, but very good stories.

On exactly the same theme we looked at the product of a Poetry Society Stanza meeting that had been placed on the Society's Face Book Page. It is all there for all to see and so we read and commented. The theme picked upon was the original reason for the recipe for Bakewell Tart. So we have a recipe 'poem' or several. The one offered publicly contained some good words and lines. We have to bear in mind that it was written in an evening, but we did suggest that things could be better. For us, it was not poetic. So be it.

Robin had joined us for only the second time and promised to write something again. Margaret too hopes to get some more words into print. John was not able to make a contribution of his own, but has several ideas to become more than work-in-progress.

We did also try to link up via Skype as well as record our meeting which was sent out by email. It is all to do again next week.