Butt Out

Last weekend Spain saw the frightening spectra of forest fires taking lives, severely injuring people, destroying homes and devastating countryside and wildlife. It is now clear, beyond doubt, that the two fires that raged were started by carelessly discarded cigarette ends.

 We have just had the driest winter in living memory, the hottest June, the temperatures are soaring. You only have to look around you to see how tinder dry the countryside is and some thoughtless fool casually throws a cigarette out of their vehicle. Lord above it just makes you despair does it not.

If you have ever seen a place that has been razed to the ground by a wild fire you will never forget it. We were profoundly affect by the sites we saw in parts of the Australia state of Victoria that suffered on Black saturday 7 February 2009. Areas we knew well, and had visited only months before the fires stood like barren moonscapes, stark reminders of that dreadful day.

If you drive along the Spanish motorways you cannot fail to see the flashing signs. You do not need to speak the language to know a triangle ( warning) sign with a cigarette crossed through is not telling you smoking is banned on the motorway. It IS telling you to be extra careful what you do with the butt. So lets hope and pray all smokers will take heed and that we will have no more tragedies this summer.

http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_35366.shtml

MIni praying Mantis

More wildlife -last night as we were sitting having a glass of wine a tiny praying mantis walked onto the table, we have seen big ones but not one this small maybe it is a young one or a small species, there are over 2000 species of the Family Mantidae, so i dont think we will identify it that easily.

Not turkey!

When we go to Guardamar market we always like to walk through the Reina Sofia Park. It’s still looking lovely and the wildlife seems to be enjoying the cooler weather. We never fail to see a red squirrel or two playing chase around the trees and as the children’s playground is quite mid morning the local duck population seem to make good use of it.
The Muscovy ducks are my particular favourite, they look a little like the wild turkeys of America which could be pretty dangerous for them at this time of year.
The Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata) are a large duck which is native to Mexico and Central and South America. They are particularly good at adapting to different weather conditions.
The weather is still warm enough to fill the air with the scent of pine eucalyptus and even Jasmine, unbelievably we are still hearing the odd cicada as well. I must say it does feel like summer goes on and on this year. We have lots of self sowers coming up in pots and containers on the terraces, seem like winter is bursting out all over.

The Red Squirrels of Guardamar

Is there any more lovely small wild animal than the Red Squirrel or to give it its Spanish name the La Ardilla roja. Red squirrels are the only type you will see in spain.You may have seen them and not realised they are the red variety as in the winter they can lose the bright colouration that gives them their name. During the cooler weather they become browner and darker and develop prominent ear tufts. There is also a lot of variation in their general colour right across their range in Europe, from quite pale to reddish to almost black. The ones we see in Guardarmar are looking very very red at present though and have lovely almost white faces and fronts. We have read that you do not get them in southern Spain but I have seen postings on the WWW about the squirrels in Granada. Maybe they where on a cultural visit! If you want to see theses lovely creatures take yourself off for a coffee at the cafe in the Parque Reina Sofia. On a week day when its little quieter you have a good chance of spotting a few playing in the trees, If you are as fortunate as we were the other day you may get to see one taking a drink by the pools in the middle of the park