It's.....

...beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

A very short walk this morning. We set out with all good intentions, but it soon became clear that it was far too wet under foot to enjoy it. Having rained heavily all night, the footpaths were transformed into rivers and the mud squelched up the sides of our shoes until it became too unpleasant and we turned for home again. The picture below is of one of the main paths on Shipley Park, but looked more like a shallow river this morning.

On a lighter note, no one can deny it, Christmas is upon us. Malcolm is beginning to look fraught as I get more and more excited at the prospect of the festive season.

I have always loved this time of year. The shopping for gifts, wrapping, card-writing, more wrapping, too much food being bought, the first carols on the radio (they have been on the in-store music systems for about three months already), Delia on the TV showing us how to stuff an old bird and the threat of Morecambe and Wise re-runs, is all just too exciting to my childish (or child-like?) mind.
I put the tree up this morning. Small though it is, it still sparkles with Christmas cheer.

To get us all in the spirit, here's a beautiful piece of music, the Coventry Carol. Dating from the 16th Century, it represents Mary's lament for her doomed child following Herod's ordering of the massacre of the innocents. Haunting, simple and stunning beautiful.....

Out and about

A fine walk this morning in the weak, pale winter sunshine. As we were both 'breaking in new footwear, we initially opted for a short wander, but still managed about 4 miles. Our route this morning took us through a small area of wet woodland which forms part of Shipley Park, known as Pewit Carr.

The ground around the trees is very wet and indeed runs with water in parts. An important habitat within the British Isles, wet woodland is full of wildlife at all times of the year. This morning revealed Goldfinches busily feeding on the Alder seeds, Blackbirds making a meal of the Hawthorn berries and a Squirrel splashing around in the water at the base of one of the Willows.

The area reveals it's industrial past with bits of old railway line sticking out of the undergrowth from the days of coal and mineral mining and the steel works which once filled the air with their acrid smoke. Embankments which once carried these lines and which separated man-made canals from natural rivers, are still much in evidence as can be seen here.

Around Straw's Bridge pond, the Geese, Gulls, Mallards, Tufted Ducks, Moorhens, Coots and Mute Swans were all still trying to mug the passer-by for bread.

Found it!

Having trawled (see what I did there?) through the web this afternoon, I think I have found what species of fish it was in the rock pools. It seems as if they were young White Bream (Diplodus sargus).

So, that's alright then!

Last of Portugal

I will end my series of Portugal pictures with a few more animals. I have already mentioned the rock pools and the abundance of life which can be seen in them at each low tide. One day, we saw large numbers of small fish caught in the pools. i have not yet been able to positively identify them however, but will 'stick with it' until I do!

A little more difficult to see in the next picture was a small Blenny trying to appear invisible next to an exotic-looking Murex shell.

Toddling along the shore and running at high speed into and out of the surf were numbers of Sanderlings (Calidris alba). Seemingly spending their whole life at the run, they seem to be expending more energy than they could ever get from the tiny specks of food they were managing to find.

Lastly, some rather cute animals which were to be found living around the apartments and spending all day asking for food. Mother cat and her kittens. Say Aaahh! if you like.

Out and about

The environs of Olhos d'Agua was every bit as nice as the rest of the area. Down towards the old fishing area of the town were a line of palm trees fluttering their leaves in the wind and looking very exotic against the blue sky.

The cliffs along the seashore are, as I have mentioned before, rather beautiful but are nonetheless very dangerous. Indeed, just a few weeks before we went, five Portuguese people were killed as they sun-bathed at the base of the cliffs. The cliffs suddenly and without warning, gave way and fell on the unfortunate people.

Along the roads, the gardens of some of the large villas had big, knobbly and contorted trees growing in them. These turned out to be Cork Oaks (Quercus suber).

The thick bark of these trees is 'harvested' every 9 to 12 years and is used to produce the corks for wine bottles and various others. strange to think that cutting off the cork bark has no lasting effect on the tree, which immediately starts to grow more.
Also growing as a commercial crop all around the area, are Oranges (Citrus X sinensis).

Many different sub-species exist and many flavours, shapes and sizes as we all know. The trees are strange among flowering plants as they produce flowers and fruit together and almost all year round. Portugal produces about 1% of the total tonnage of oranges of the world's biggest producer, Brazil.

Sunset!

As the weather was so good while we were in Portugal, we decided to have a walk down to the beach one evening to watch the sun set over the sea. There was still an hour to go when we settled down on the steps of a closed beach-side restaurant.

The colours of the sun deepened and reddened as it dropped slowly towards the horizon.

The redness of the sunset is due to the slight being scattered through the atmosphere by dust particles, soot and various solid and liquid aerosols. This explains why sunsets are usually more spectacular after events such as volcanic eruptions which blast huge amounts of particles into the atmosphere.

At last, the sun had set and it was time to get back to the apartment for dinner. A perfect end to the day.

More animals

As we walked along the beaches of the Algarve, we encountered several different species of animal. I have already mentioned the birds and today there are some smaller and possibly less attractive animals!
Firstly, some of the creatures to be found stranded in the rock pools along the shore as the tide went out. Limpets are simple gastropods and are to be found all over the world, clinging to the rocks where they eat the algae which grow there.

These were rather handsome as they clustered into any available crevice to await the returning sea. Among the limpets were thousands of barnacles encrusting the rocks. Related to crabs and lobsters, they are filter feeders raking microscopic bits of food from the water as it flows across them.

Another filter feeder, but this time much more mobile and animated as it swam around it's rock pool, is this shrimp.

Almost completely transparent, it was given away by it's dark stripes although, as Malcolm pointed out, not big enough to make a sandwich from! What would you do with him?
Away from the beach and an insect which we found stamping around out apartment block. Large and rather 'tank-like' I later discovered it has the rather catchy name of Pimelia costata. A Darkling Beetle....

Clinging to a wall nearby was this little charmer. A Wall Gecko (Tarentola mauritanica).

Common around the Iberian peninsular, they have a certain charm and look cute sitting on vertical surfaces by means of highly specialised feet pads consisting of hundreds of ridges and scales.