Into the Whale's Mouth

Along the path which leads to the lighthouse, we were presented with the sight of a large cave, set high on the escarpment.  Unfortunately, the sun was a bit of a nuisance for taking pictures, always seeming to be in the wrong place. But I managed a few decent pics nevertheless. The cave goes by the name of 'The Whale's Mouth'.

Indeed the whole area was pitted with caves and holes of varying shapes and sizes.  This was just the biggest of them.

Looking in the other direction, the hill tops showed many more smaller caves.

As well as the natural holes, there was a man-made one too. This hole in the ground was once a red ochre mine and some of the old mine buildings were still visible in a ruinous state, dotted about the hill side.

Red Ochre was mined as a non-toxic pigment used for painting, right up to the 1970's and was once also exported - even to Britain. Despite the hard work involved getting the red ochre out of the ground, the workers would have had a decent view - if they had time to look at it!

At the end of the trail, we reached our objective, the Lighthouse.

Again, the views were spectacular from this vantage point and we even got to look around inside the lighthouse on our second visit.

And it was free!!! As we remarked at the time, if this had been in Britain, there would have been a car park charging at least £2 and an officious person in a cap charging you £5 entrance fee, but here in Spain, nothing!

Birds and Flowers

It has to be said, I was a little disappointed by the number of flowers we saw while in Albir. I was hoping that the onset  of Spring would have resulted in a flush of seasonal blooms, but it was not to be. Having said that, what few plants there were in flower, were well worthy of note. The only new species 'tick' we found, was an attractive, white flower called Mountain Sandwort (Arenaria montana).

Of course, there were quite a few of the ubiquitous Grey-leaved Cistus (Cistus albidus) shrubs flowering about the place. Their papery, pink flowers are something of a feature in Mediterranean parts.

Not a new 'tick' as such, we did find a new sub-species of a Common Thyme plant (Thymus subs. aestivus). The small but beautiful flowers adding their scent to the warm air.

Moving on from the plants, we were treated to the sight of a few birds while on our way to the lighthouse. One of the most colourful was this delightful Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa)

Malcolm was otherwise engaged as he was roped in to taking a photo of a group of Scandinavian tourists nearby. So, while he was busy working out how their camera worked, I was able to sneak up on the Partridge and get a good picture. What a beauty!

Less colourful, but no less gorgeous, was a pair of Black Wheatears (Oenanthe leucura). A smallish member of the thrush family, again, it was not a new 'tick' but a welcome sight nonetheless as it is a species we don't get in the UK.

All in all, not a bad collection for the few days we were there.

Blue Water

Continuing our walk on the Serra Gelada, we were never far from some nice views across the blue waters of the Mediterranean.

Looking north-east towards Calpe, you could just make out the massive rocky outcrop of the Peñón de Ifach, another natural park over eight miles away.  At 1,089ft tall, it's quite a rock!

We were very lucky with the weather and the bright sunshine (although a bit tricky when taking photos), glinted beautifully off the calm sea.

From our viewpoint high above the sea, looking south along the ridge of the Serra Gelada, we got some wonderful scenery.

You never know, there might be more pics tomorrow..!

Albir

Malcolm and I, returned yesterday, from a few days in Albir, Spain.  From the nearby Nature Park of the Serra Gelada, the sea-side town was laid out like all other Spanish Sea-side town.

The mountainous terrain in the background, known as the Prebaetic System,  was difficult to make out because of an almost constant haze. The tallest mountain in these photos, is the famous 'chipped' mountain of the Puig Campana at 4,613ft.

Albir itself was not very exciting.  All the usual things - cheap shops, road-side cafes and supermarkets of varying sizes. So we spent a good deal of our limited time there, walking through the beautiful nature park.

The rocky sides to the hills were covered in such delights as the shady pines and Lentisc bushes. These were under-planted with Thyme and Rosemary, while the flowers were provided by varying species of Rock-rose.  Al rather beautiful.

All with the prospect of rounding a corner to be confronted with another panoramic view.
There will be more of that over the next few days....

McMoo

Our walks over the last couple of days, have taken us past a field containing six sheep and two highland cattle.  The two 'coos' are (like all highland cattle), delightful creatures. Shaggy coated and equipped with formidable-looking horns, they attract lots of attention. On both occasions, as we walked by, the larger of the two coos has had his head in a large bucket of mineral lick.

The tub of SUPAlyx "super energy with fish oil" is quite clearly the tastiest thing to be found in this particular field and has caught the attention of this fine animal.

Only when another Highland Cow in a field across the way, began to bellow and the smaller companion of this chap grumbled and bellowed back, did he move his attention away from the task in hand.

With a look which seemed to say "what's all the fuss about?" he paused a for a moment while the bellowing died down, before getting back the more important task of licking the bucket clean.

Anser

A little less cold this morning - at least the wind had dropped and what sunshine there was, was more warming than of late.  So, we set off, splashing through the muddy puddles, for Straw's Bridge. All the usual suspects were there. Mute Swans, Mallards, Coots, Canada Geese and Moorhens were joined by a single Pochard and dozens of Black-headed Gulls. On the bank close to the car park, two Greylag Geese (Anser anser) were strutting about.

One of these geese seemed to be calm and at peace with the world, while the other tended towards the belligerent as it 'goose-stepped' about keeping a sharp eye on Malcolm and me.

It was quite comical at one point, to observe a Moorhen which seemed to be having fun by imitating the goose like a naughty schoolboy as it strutted along behind. Not that the Greylag was bothered at all. He just carried on with an air of haughty self-righteousness, which was undoubtedly well deserved on his part.  A beautiful goose and he seemed to know it!

Bitter

We set out for our walk this morning, all done up against a bitter, biting, face-stinging wind.  Battling against the icy wind, we were to be seen heads down, hands in pockets, all hatted and scarfed as snow and hail showers did their best to persuade us to turn around and head for home. We persevered however and were rewarded once more, by the sight of the drifts of snowdrops on Shipley Hill.

As I crouched among the nodding flowers trying to ignore the numbing of my fingers, Malcolm was to be seen in the distance enjoying the view from the more shoe-friendly footpath.

They really are looking at their best right now (the snowdrops, not Malcolm - who never looks his best in the bitter cold).

As we reached the Derby Lodge, the gardens there were looking pretty good too. Not bad for such a bitterly cold morning.