It’s been a cold winter in the north of Europe with snow and bitter weather making a mockery of the forecaster’s predictions at the end of last year and bringing misery to millions …. but that cold weather up north has meant that we’ve been having a soggy time down here in the south, and it seems to have rained pretty well every day since just before Christmas which the two pictures above and below, (taken from exactly the same spot), illustrate graphically. The lake in front of the Quinta has risen a good 12 mts already and it’s surely going to be full within a few days, even though all the sluices are open and they’re letting out hundreds of thousands of lts a day now.
Surprisingly – though I’m touching wood as I tap away – we’ve had no real disasters here despite the constant deluge, though I must admit we’re all becoming fed up of hauling the pontoon up the shore every morning!
However, in contrast to the north of Europe, where the snow melting brings further misery with slush and mud and then is quickly gone, the rain here during these last few months alters our lives for months and even years to come; the lake will be full again and water problems a thing of the past for the local communities, but, even better, this Spring should be absolutely stunning and the Summer … well, we’ve half the distance to go to have a swim!
Ilhadasgalinhas2359
Blackcap-2010
It was Daniela’s idea and she should take some of the credit for this lovely shot. Every morning we wait with Carolina for her school bus to arrive, and it was Daniela’s idea to try to film some of the birds that wait with us. Unfortunately we didn’t get a film of them – they were just too flighty today – but we did get this lovely shot of a Blackcap while we stood there.
Madeira-Sunset-1497
On holiday in Madeira at the moment and though this has nothing to do with the Quinta I couldn’t resist posting this little gem. Daniela and I were coming back by ferry last night from Porto Santo where we’d gone in search of some birdlife – check out http://www.birding-in-portugal.com/blog for the results of the day – and as we left the island for the return home this was the view of Madeira as the sun set behind it …
Sunset-20091004_5329
This photo of the sunset must be viewed along with the one of the Moon below – ‘cos that’s how they were taken. I was at the Top of the World when I took the above and all I did was turn around to take the one below …. sometimes Life’s like that!
Moon-20091004_5338
It’s that time of year again …
Though we haven’t had any rain to speak of yet – we’ve had one thunderstorm and two days drizzle since May – it’s just damp enough to produce a lovely early crop of mushrooms and we’ve been busy little bunnies making the most of them. A fantastic bonanza of Caesar’s mushrooms, (like the basket-full Daniela has in the picture above), as well as Parasols a-plenty … Wonderful to be able to get out and about in such clean air, warm sunshine and beautiful countryside with the kids and the dogs and grab dinner from amongst the cork oaks!
Lapwing
A-Lapwing-20081024_1821, originally uploaded by Paradise in Portugal.
The first Lapwings are arriving back again to over-winter here. We find a lot of them on the plains of the Alentejo along with Golden Plovers.
Hares
A-Hare-20090328, originally uploaded by Paradise in Portugal.
Sometimes our northern European visitors are surprised to see so many hares near the Quinta, but the countryside suits them admirably. Prime eagle food they have to be alert and quick ….
Red-Deer-20090908
We drove back through a part of Extramadura in Spain, just keeping our eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary, and one of the sights was the above.
Now, before anyone starts having a go at me about the subject being out of focus … take a look through his horns. The wonders of camouflage, eh?!