Spain, sun and mountains...

Well, It has been a very eventful last week. I have been in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada on a family holiday. I have seen my first swallowtail butterfly, bee eater, eagles and much more! here is an incomplete list of the species I saw:

Ants - (not sure what species,) queen too!
Bee eater
Black kite?
Booted eagle
Cockroach
Gecko - not sure which
Goldfinch
Large Psammodromus (sand lizard)
Sardinian Warbler Red Admiral
Scarce Swallowtail
Swallow
Swallowtail
Swift

I may add some more later.

I was very lucky to see the bee eater, it was the last bird I saw. I had a mental bucket list and the bee eater was included. I saw it on the drive down the mountain, a species that I very nearly missed!

Here is my best photo of the swallowtail:

Wow! what a holiday it has been! I hope to return to sunny Spain soon.

Just a quick post...

The last post I did, (see here or scroll down), I said "I found a shoe with something special in it". Now that I have talked to one of the people who help manage the reserve, I can safely say it was a signal crayfish, an American invasive. Alas, I can't do anything about it, but just keep an eye on the population and destroy any that I find.

I am sorry it was a short post, but I am going to Spain for the first time tomorrow so I am sure I can do plenty then. Adiós!

Hedgehog!

Over my holiday in the New Forest, I put out my only Trail camera in our holiday cottage's back garden, (See here for why only one trail cam), and I found something that I would always love to see in my garden; a hedgehog.

Hedgehogs are sadly in decline because of hedgehog-proof garden fences and tidy spaces. That is bad news for gardeners because hedgehogs eat slugs! I hope that I may one day have one in my garden patch.

Updated to add this link (see here) to log hedgehogs and learn more about them.

Brownsea Island - red squirrels

On Monday we went to Brownsea Island, the place to see red squirrels. I had looked forward to it for a long time (see here) and when I got there, I was amazed how many red squirrels live there.

Red squirrels are smaller than the greys

The red squirrel is a native mammal, unlike the larger alien greys. Sadly the greys have squeezed out most of the red squirrels population and very few places have the reds.

New Forest - Fungi

I arrived at the New Forest yesterday and we have already gone on a walk. I have found some really cool looking fungi and I would like to share them with you. Here are a few...

I hope I see more fungi in the future.

Looking forward to the New Forest

From this Friday, I will be on holiday in the New Forest! I am hoping to find some amazing wildlife and some fantastic places.

I have high hopes of seeing some red squirrels on Brownsea Island. In England, Red squirrels are rarer than America's alien grey squirrels and the greys have wiped out most of the red squirrel population. I have only seen red squirrels at the local wildlife education centre, the British Wildlife Centre.

This was taken at the BWC

I am also looking forward to the wild horses, spoonbills and other wildlife that I may find.