ESTAPAS DE YECLA BEFORE SUN-UP AND A GREAT FLOCKING DAY.

We were looking over Estapas de Yecla before the sun came up. It was a cool 18 degrees and immediately we heard and saw over 200 Jackdaws flocking onto pylons and attached cables. On a road nearby a dozen or so Magpies fed on a ‘road kill’. The adjacent irrigation poles hosted two Woodchat Shrikes.

We were discussing Starlings when we saw on the ground a great number of them and then within seconds two murmurations had taken to the air weaving their mesmerizing fluid shapes. We could clearly see the markings. So, the European variety then. The camera proved it. I have seen good numbers of this sort before around Elche Zoo and so the question is, are these birds resident or have they travelled south to us? We did hear and see Spotless ones too, but only in small numbers.



That was a great few minutes and we had travelled no distance at all!

We carried on skirting the valley and entered from the Yecla end. Our only bird of note was a perched Iberian Green Woodpecker until when we came up to the treeline on the ridge where we watched Barn and Red-rumped Swallows with Swifts among them - all going south of course.

One of Bryan’s flying shots proved that at least one was a Pallid Swift. At this same spot we could hear Sandgrouse calling. We had some terrific aerial views and with the scope we were able to detect them amongst the stubble. There were a good number but not easy to quantify.

The camera recorded a flying shot of a Pintailed flight, but we also saw two Black-Bellied. Whilst watching them, and even more Woodchat Shrikes, a dog fox patrolled the field margins. That is nice to see. We drove in a circular route and coming past the farm buildings known previously as a site for Lesser Kestrels, but, today there was not one to be seen. Even then we could still hear Sandgrouse. It must have been a good year for them.

In this same area we saw a two flocks of Calandra Larks numbering in excess of 400 or so. We watched Greater Short-Toed too, but Crested were not abundant.



We also saw several Buzzards who did their usual four wing flap and then a glide. We checked every one, but apart from the Booted they were our only largest Raptor. No Golden Eagles this time!



As we travelled through towards Caudette we saw flocks of both Wood Pigeons, Jackdaw and Chough - the later in excess of 50. Then our first Eagle of the day when a white morph male Booted Eagle flew around. It was a clear sighting and good to watch. Maybe it was on its way as part of our internal migration.


Crows were easily seen, but no Ravens. Also absent were Wheatears, Great Spotted Cuckoos, Rollers and although we heard Bee-eaters not one came into view. We searched for Little Bustards as they have been located here before, but not today.

It is changing out there with more of the ‘disused’ fields being used for horticulture and, as we saw, within our first few minutes acres/hectares of newly planted olives. It's vast and another example of intensive planting on an industrial scale. There are groves of Walnut too and all planted in straight lines. The problem is that the habitat is no longer varied enough to provide alternative habitats for the co-existence of the natural. Control, of the human kind, seems to be the order of the day!

The photographs taken by Bryan prove my point.

WILL DEAN AND DARK PINES

MURDERS IN A SWEDISH FOREST.
What a location to pick for a crime novel. ‘Wild Pines’ by Will Dean set in a Swedish swamp, has a definite edge that stirs the imagination. It is an animalistic world where creatures both small and bulky can threaten as well as the ‘hunting and shooting’ ones. Will Dean crafts pictures of danger and then there are the people. Dead ones too.

We saw Will Dean at Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate this July and I met him when he signed ‘Dark Pines’ for me. He lives in Sweden, and the book is set in a wild and swampy forest that he must know well. The setting becomes a character as strong as any of the human kind. It's both impressive and oppressive.

I became quickly hooked on his writing and I enjoyed how it is told through, Tuvo, a journalist who works for the local newspaper. He creates all his characters well, from the odd ones to seemingly normal ones, and I lived with them as the pages turned in my hand.

I liked the detail and his attention to detail. And not just to the major parts but to the everyday things that his characters do. It makes for very good reading. I travelled through the first pages rapidly and the middle section seems to be less so, but all of it was for a good reason. He has created so many images for me and there are some unusual ones to take in too. I loved the wild forest setting, but I wonder if an ‘urbanite’ would take to it as I have done. There is also a soft loving aspect weaved lightly throughout. A great read that I would highly recommend.

His next one and the first chapter of Red Snow is at the end and so you can sample the sequel. It says ‘ Read ahead and discover the case that's going to make her wish she’d left arctic Gavrik long ago…..’

However it is not in the shops until January next.

Since this is something different and he is a new writer - to us anyway - I thought that I would add this profile:

Will Dean grew up in the Midlands, living in nine different villages before the age of eighteen. He was a bookish, daydreaming kid who found comfort in stories and nature (and he still does). After studying at the LSE and working in London, he settled in rural Sweden. He built a wooden house in a boggy clearing at the centre of a vast Elk forest, and it’s from this base that he compulsively reads and writes.

THE PEOPLES WALK FOR WILDLIFE

THE PEOPLES WALK FOR WILDLIFE LONDON SATURDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER

the people’s walk for wildlife: london, 22 sept 2018
By RaptorPersecutionUK 4 Comments
Categories: News
Sick of reading about the ongoing slaughter of birds of prey and feeling helpless to stop it?

This is the event for you!

Come along to the People’s Walk for Wildlife, hosted by Chris Packham, and join thousands of others who care passionately about what’s happening to British wildlife, whether it be raptors, mountain hares, badgers, bees, trees, foxes, fish, birds, butterflies, wildcats, water voles, dragonflies….the lot

The walk will take place in London (and there’s a reason for that, which will become clearer nearer the time) and everyone is welcome to this family-friendly event.

DETAILS

Saturday 22 September 2018

10am: Gather at the Reformers’ Tree in Hyde Park

12pm: Infotainment

1pm: Walk

2pm: Finish at Richmond Terrace, Westminster

For further information, including logo t-shirts, hoodies, bags and downloadable posters, please visit Chris Packham’s website HERE

If you’re on Twitter follow news of this event with #PeoplesWalkforWildlife

Don’t make excuses, make plans to be there, five weeks today!
I THOUGHT THAT I WOULD INCLUDE ONE COMMENT

August 18, 2018 at 6:02 pm
In my 70’s I’m ashamed that I have allowed the likes of
Thérèse Coffey to be in charge of our environment in the u.k. My generation should a be ashamed, and I do not know why they are not all of the same mind as me. The future lies with the young, but the mess we are in at present lies with the older but not wiser generation.

Big Skies and Huge Vistas near Albacete

Big skies, huge vistas and our presence of being out there creates a wonderful feeling within me. It is a huge country, Spain, and we always try and see more of it and still to remain focused, on some areas that we have researched and re-visited on more than in one occasion.

And so it was on Friday morning, 17th August, when we left Gran Alicant at 6.15am and a temperature of only 23 degrees. Our destination was to concentrate on the area not far from Montealegre and a favourite area for us of the route in to Higueruela on CM 3209. We took our time on the road to the village and we were soon rewarded. The ‘pig farm’ complex had House Martins flying over it and the adjacent fields produced a flock of Corn Buntings and then, a Northern Wheatear. Around a derelict structure and a pile of vegetation we saw surprisingly, a Chiff-chaff, and also Serins, Linnets and Tree Sparrows. We scanned the stubble and when we were at the corner by the railway we counted twenty Great Bustards. Okay they were not that close, but we watched a male and female walk past the bales of straw though the stubble.



In the foreground was a preening Common Buzzard, and a little further away the Bustards and in the background ‘El Pastor’ with his flock walking past. Some could say a strange juxtaposition of the wild surviving with the domesticated in an intensively agricultural setting.



We moved on towards the village of Higueruela and on a quarry face a Black Wheatear was observed with food in its beak. A Golden Oriole called from the trees without showing and a Green Woodpecker was heard.



Our usual spot was quiet, but both a Great Tit and a Tree Creeper called. The Bonelli's Warblers were absent and so were most of our regular species. A damaged Silver Washed Fritillary clung to a fence before flying away.

By this time we had experienced a little rain and the temperature was down to 18. We had good views of Buzzards and Marsh Harriers and then on the road to Petrola, flying around, and what we initially thought was a Red Kite and on closer inspection it became a Black Kite! Much better. We have seen a Red Kite here before, but to see a Black Kite was very special. And then a Short Toed Eagle perched in clear view on a distant pylon. The Short Toed would have been our bird of the day, but it will have to share that label with the Black Kite. Many species are already on the move and that could be our last chance for that species of eagle before it flies south.



At the Lagunas de Petrola the water looked dark and it stank. The margins were black for about a meter from the waterline. We counted only seventy Flamingoes, three Black Winged Stilt, one Black Headed Gull and a few Shelduck. This area has been teeming with BH Gulls and and, it seems, that the Gull Billed Terns have departed too. A Zitting Cisticola flew. Tree Sparrows too and White Wagtails flew over the mud. Marsh Harriers are often here and one ‘spooked’ three small un-identified waders. This general area has had rain the previous day and there was evidence of it although no standing water that we saw seemed to attract anything.



We moved in to our other chosen destination on the road towards Montealegre to where we knew there is a substantial area of natural water that is much more than a scrape. It was teeming with life. Little and Black Necked Grebes with Coots and Moorhens covered the water. Both species of Pochard swam with numerous White Headed Ducks. It also held 200 Flamingoes. A Water Rail squealed twice. Lapwings were in a corner and ‘eagle-eyed’ Bryan scoped two Kentish Plovers. Flying over the water the Bee-eaters hawked and gave us superb views of this colourful bird.



On two separate occasions and only in flight we saw both Black Bellied and Pintailed Sandgrouse. We saw numerous Crows but no Ravens and around some farm buildings about 200 Jackdaws assembled.



A few Swallows fed over the stubble and the odd House Martin was observed. We did not see one Swift. We were looking for incoming wintering birds and we also noted those species that were no longer evident. Seasons vary and this summer we have viewed fewer Rollers and even where we knew Bee-eaters to have bred before - they were not there. Maybe our views of them hawking this morning will be our last for this year. I will miss them, as always. Another great day out in good company.

MAN THE 'SUPREME' PREDATOR.

MAN THE ‘SUPREME’ PREDATOR
August heralds the day of the IngloriousTwelfth. In a quaint twist of fate game birds cannot be shot on a Sunday and this one day's reprieve saw the killing commence one day later.

On Saturday 12th The Guardian Newspaper carried an article by Dr. Mark Avery and led with the heading:
Grouse Shooting: half a million reasons why time is up for this appalling ‘sport’.

How can this still be called a sport? It is not a game, there is no ball and two teams do not compete. It is archaic and using the term ‘sport’ has been intended to imply fairness. There is nothing fair about shooting at anything that has no defence.

Also contained in the article by Dr. Mark Avery are these lines. “Some 500,000 birds will have been shot by the end of another inglorious season as a select few continue to trample on the interests of the rest of us.”

It is so well said and the full article is stacked full information.

I started with a reference to ‘man as the supreme predator’. There are elements within our society that have the power, the mentality and the will to destroy. They will eradicate everything that does not support their chosen species. Natures predators are trapped indiscriminately because they are seen as a threat to grouse and pheasants. There is no natural balance, either with habitat, or diversity of wildlife. Areas that have ‘re-wilded’ can show what can be achieved.

There is slaughter in the name of a so called ‘sport’ and the slaughter of natural species of birds and mammals. The culprits are those with power, money and influence and that is criminal.

The killing has to stop.

CHEMICALS FOR THE RED GROUSE

The following is a letter to The Courier, submitted by David Mitchell:

DRUGGED GROUSE

Sir,

It will soon be the “Glorious 12th” when thousands of grouse will fall to the guns of the rich and powerful to satisfy their unsporting bloodlust.

Prior to this medicated grit pans that are dotted all over driven grouse moors will be removed. This grit, essential for their digestion, is coated with a powerful drug, usually Flubendazole, which purges the grouse of debilitating worms.

And to make doubly sure of this, on some estates the birds are dosed with Levamisole Hydrochloride, a drug used in chemotherapy.

Add to this cocktail Respiratory Cryptosporidiosis, a didease normally associated with factory farmed poultry. It has now crossed over to estates with artificially high densities of grouse and affects their sinuses and causes painful, swollen eyes.

In Nature, grouse numbers crash every few years to keep a natural balance favouring healthy birds but perhaps these worming agents and an artifically safe environment some less robust grouse are preserved and are more susceptible to disease.

My concern turned to what food safety measures were in place before they were in shops and restaurants. Who checks the meat for the presence of these drugs?

Food Standards Scotland? No.

Animal and Plant Health Agency? No.

Local Authorities? No.

Veterinary Medicines Directorate? Yes!

Phew! That’s a relief! Until you realise that out of the hundreds of thousands of grouse that will be killed shortly, throughout Britain, the number of grouse designated to be tested for these substances is ten.

That’s right. Only ten birds will be examined for any indication of these powerful purging agents being present in the meat.

Well, I for one, will not be eating glow in the dark grouse, anytime soon.

David Mitchell, Kirriemuir.

Well done, David, a blog reader who regularly submits letters to The Courier on the subject of unsustainable grouse moor management. An excellent example of how anyone can help spread the word.

For those who want some background reading on the unregulated use of medicated grit on grouse moors and the rapid spread of disease resulting from it, see here, here and here.

We’ll be posting another blog shortly that appears to demonstrate an appalling abuse of so-called ‘best practice’ in relation to the use of presumed medicated grit on one particular grouse moor.

Meanwhile, here’s Mr Carbo’s interpretation of a drug-crazed grouse:

HEN HARRIER DAY

HEN HARRIER DAY
by Ruth Tingay
2014 is when it all began
Amidst Hurricane Bertha at the Derwent Dam
There was a bloke called Avery and a bloke called Packham
And the Sodden 570, united in passion.
 
We arrived as strangers but left as friends
Determined to bring the killing to end
To protect our skydancer from the guns and the traps
And the murderous intent of the men in tweed caps
 
There were only four nests in England that year
The grouse shooters toasting success with a sneer
But to underestimate us was their biggest mistake
We are defiant and strong and we’ll do what it takes
 
These rallies and banners are just the beginning
There’s a long way to go but we know about winning
They can hurl their abuse and call us all liars
We don’t give a damn ‘cos our bellies have fire
 
We’ve come a long way since that very first rally
Westminster, the papers, all over the telly
We’ve changed the narrative and people are listening
Grouse shooting no longer all shiny and glistening
 
We’re exposing their fiction, their greed and their crimes
Their friends in high places all wilfully blind
Nine nests this year and we’re supposed to be pleased
Our hen harrier population, brought to its knees
 
You can keep your fake partnerships and your grouse-shooting peers
Your Gilruths, Amandas and your crocodile tears
Stuff your brood meddling right up your arse
We’re know what you’re up to and we know it’s a farce
 
There’s progress in Scotland and the grousers are fearful
That’s reason enough for us to be cheerful
So raise up your banners, keep singing our song
By standing together we won’t go wrong
 
END
The event was superbly organised by Lisa Mobley and her team of volunteers. Other speakers included Mark Avery, Natalie Bennett, Martin Harper, Chris Packham and Barry Gardiner MP. The presentations were filmed by PJS Films and can be viewed HERE (talks start at 44.40 mins).

AN INVESTIGATIVE MORNING

In the ultra high temperatures of Spain I met Bryan at 7.15am as the sun was struggling to get through some heavy clouds. The chances of rain was up to 40 per cent and the likelihood of us getting some was slim, but somewhere could have had a soaking!



We stopped at the lagoons opposite Las Brisas, The Salt Tower and the small pull-in past it. Little, Common and Whiskered Terns were evident. And one Sandwich Tern did fly over us. There was not one wader in sight and this emphasizes the purpose of today to see what was going on. We knew that the migration had started from reports of northern breeding birds being seen at Slimbridge and on the Isles of Scilly. We were out and about to see what we could see.

El Pinet normally yields some excellent species and on an island and on the far bank were good numbers of Collared Pratincoles. Again not one wader.

However, our ‘bag’ of the day, was caught in a bush. It had flown, by whatever means, from a seller of fish in Santa Pola and handed to a supporter who has a diet of fish and who is a user of plastic.



The irony was in the logo. How can we stop the ‘ingestation’ of plastic? Let's grate some more on to my pasta, it saves on the Parmesan! We have muslin bags and the price labels do adhere. Honest.

We moved on taking the caminos towards San Felipe Neri. We had hoped for good numbers of both Rollers and Bee-eaters and apart from three distant Rollers that was it with not one bloody Bee-eater to be seen. Both Bryan and I have heard their burbling when in our respective homes. So where are they as they are not due to depart yet.

A mixed group of over two hundred Gulls came up from a tilled field, flew around and landed back. There were Yellow Legs that were easily spotted and not one Lesser Black Backed among them. Amongst the Black Headed were at least six Mediterranean and one bird with the black hood was easily seen. Many would have been juveniles.

Palm Farm Road and Sandpiper Alley was not worth the diesel except we put up about three Green Sandpipers. Some fields had been irrigated as the Alfalfa/Lucerne was in various stages of growth. Some had been cut and was waiting to be bailed. Over one of these we saw both Barn and Red-rumped Swallows with some House Martins. On other occasions we did see Swifts, but they were flying high and heading south.

As we progressed a flock of about 200 Glossy Ibis flew with a number of Cattle Egrets amongst them. They had been feeding somewhere presumably where a field had been irrigated and through the morning we did see other Ibis too.

We called in to the Visitor Centre and took the boardwalk. There were some margins, but again no waders. On a couple of occasions we heard a Little Ringed Plover and a Common Sand calling. Our prize bird of the day was a Purple Gallinule that fed within meters of us! What great iridescent blues and the striking red crown showed so well.

Small birds were scarce and not one Raptor to be seen. Two Common Kestrels only, probably summed up, our morning. But it was great to be out and by mid morning we were heading back to Gran Alicant and a cold beer.

Duchess of Malfi - Royal Shakespeare Co.

DUCHESS OF MALFI - Directed by Maria Aberg
I knew nothing about this story, either about its origins or when or where it had been performed.
We came to it only knowing that it was ‘bloody’. We sat in the upper tier and so we looked directly down onto the stage with the audience on three sides. I gave myself an advantage as we bought the RSC literature on the play and I was able to read some of it while waiting.

The language was simpler than some other performances and it had to be listened to, but it was not as intricate as Shakespearian verse can be. Even so, attention to the actors voices was essential, just to get the drift of the story.

The stage was empty apart from the prone body of a large bovine which was hauled up by a pulley into a more upright position. There it remained and its significance only became apparent during the latter part of the play. Set furniture was minimal with a bed being positioned centrally, but for most of the performance a bare stage where the actors moved freely.

It is a dramatization of a short story by William Painter contained in his collection, The Palace of Pleasure (1566/7). John Webster’s dramatization of it was in 1614. A difference of two reigns, a Tudor Elizabeth to a Jacobean James. And then Webster (it says) ‘seems to be rewriting and challenging the original story’. That’s it in a nutshell, but is anything ever as simple!

The Duchess, played by Joan Iyiola, was superb throughout. She starts by hauling ‘the beast’ higher to more commanding position stage left. We wondered why it was necessary and was it an original idea? There is evidence of macho men in that her soldiers danced for her and for us. It was a demonstrative display of power. I will not give the plot away, but there is a lot of action that follows.

David Ridley, the musical director’s starting point was to identify the gender stereotypes rife in music and to explore ‘gender bias’. It is there in the programme to read.

Academics will have discussed the issues of gender and so I will take a small chunk from the programme and say ‘This is early modern victim-blaming of the highest order, in which men who “should be honoured and praised” are allowed to blame their misconduct on any woman who has stepped out of her “right trade”. Mysogonystic ideas in 1566 adapted for 1614.

The germ of the story is straightforward in that a highborn duchess marries a ‘gentleman’ of lower standing. Fighting and killing are there to be viewed culminating in a blood bath. Well, the animal had to be there for a reason and in ‘the death throes’ of the evening the red stuff oozes from it and across the stage providing a slippery sliding place to kill and be killed.

I expected it to be brutal, vicious and evil. It was all of that, but never sadistic or as cruel as in Titus Andronicus. Did I enjoy it? Yes, but I had to think about it and writing this piece helped me to put it into some sort of perspective. In these days of diversity and gender bashing is it a play for the purist? After all it is theatre.