When I see those doughty chaps and chapesses throwing themselves off the cliffs at Santa Pola, I always ask myself, how do you DO that when all that’s keeping you from a sticky end is a few square metres of canvas? The answer of course is the effect of both thermals (hot air rising) and
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Ever since I became interested in birds at a very early age, one species which I always wanted to see was the Golden Oriole. In the UK, they are an extremely scarce bird, and although I managed to visit the right sort of areas for them, I never found one. Fast forward to 2009, when
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The annual miracle which is spring migration is now well underway. The statistics are quite staggering, with billions of birds making the hazardous move from Africa northwards to their breeding grounds, many having to cross the vast wastes of the Sahara Desert on their way to Europe, and having crossed this obstacle it makes sense
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So you’re lying in your bedroom at night after a fine evening out in GA, all’s well with the world and you’re planning what to do tomorrow when you suddenly hear that high-pitched buzz-saw sound and you know you’ve got a very unwelcome intruder in there with you, who’s going to leave you with nasty
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Every birdwatcher or bird photographer will tell you that they have a bogey bird or birds – a species which they should have seen or photographed, but they never seem to be in the right place at the right time. How many times have I heard the phrase “you should have been here 10 minutes
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My picture this month is of a White-headed Duck found in the Clot during October this year. This is a female; the male bird has the white head with a black crown line, and in the breeding season it has a distinctive bright blue bill. Another globally endangered species, it has a stronghold in our
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Well that felt a lot longer than nearly two years, and the frustration of not being able to visit the Costa Blanca was tempered by the knowledge that sooner or later I would be back. One of the things I promised myself was that when I did return, my next article for the GA Advertiser
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I’m trying to remember the name of those little toys we had when we were very young – you know, those small two-legged objects which you placed on a slope and the toy went down the slope with its legs going at ten to the dozen? Minutes if not hours of fun for small minds,
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Are you a birdwatching beginner? Lesson #1 in the identification of birds – if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck, it is probably a duck. You can apply this principle to a greater or lesser degree to anything you see, improving your technique as you go along,
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This month’s photograph is reproduced with the kind permission of Greta Owen, my birding friend and resident of Gran Alacant, who took it in May of this year. The bird is a Roller, which is rarely seen in the Clot, but is regular around the countryside, particularly between La Marina and Elche, where it often
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When my younger brother got his first bike, he developed the unusual habit of looking down at the foot pedals while he was cycling along. A combination of this and an unexpectedly parked car led to a badly chipped front tooth and a determination not to cycle like that ever again. If you don’t look
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I keep a close eye on reports from my birding friends who are resident in Spain, and read with considerable envy their news on local sightings – and just a few days ago it was brought home to me just how much I’m missing Spain, when records began to appear of the return of the
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Spring is here, and it must be wonderful for those of you who are able to stroll around the Clot in lovely sunny weather. Those of us stuck back in Blighty are extremely envious, as April showers drench us and night temperatures can still get down to near freezing; we can’t wait for the restrictions
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In May 1897, the great American humorist, novelist and social critic Samuel Clemens – best known by his pen name, Mark Twain – was in London. While Twain was in London, someone started a rumor that he was gravely ill. It was followed by a rumor that he had died, and one major American newspaper
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Have you ever considered why a rifle marksman is called a Sniper? That’s because the bird we are looking at this month is one of the most difficult to shoot with a gun, which is jolly good news for the Common Snipe and bullet manufacturers, but bad news for the budding shooter, and when he
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Well thank goodness that’s all over! The car crash that was the year 2020 is now behind us; we can look forward with a bit of hope and pray that the Stork bringing us the new year of 2021 is going to deliver a much more acceptable package. The legend that Storks bring babies is
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I was surprised to realise the other day that I’ve been writing this column since 2009; I was checking back to see which species I haven’t covered yet, or perhaps which ones needed a bit of an update to reflect changes which have occurred in the Clot. We have gained more species than we have
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There can’t be many residents of the Costa Blanca with even a passing interest in nature, who don’t know the Hoopoe – that pink-bodied bird with an incredible crest and black and white wings which flaps past you like a huge butterfly, or who sits on your TV aerial at early o’clock and wakes you
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The autumn transition of bird species, when many of them are moving south for the winter, is one of the most exciting times for birdwatchers. Spain is one of the top places to be – not only do all the summer visitors depart, but many others from the north either arrive here to spend the
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I appear to have been quite fortunate – one of the downsides of getting older is the gradual loss of the ability to hear sounds in the higher register, meaning that some birdwatchers of advancing years cannot hear the high-pitched calls of the smaller birds. Fortunately, I am still able to hear them, but even
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Last month I told you about the breeding success of the Great Crested Grebe, a bird not usually found in the Clot, but due to the improvements in the water system, it has made a successful appearance. It would now seem that yet another bird has found the area much to its liking. The Night
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This is all highly frustrating. I am stuck in the UK, with little prospect of being able to get out to Gran Alacant any time soon this year, what with underlying health issues and having to self-isolate. The only birding action I’m getting at home is a troupe of scruffy Sparrows, two fat Woodpigeons and
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Lockdown, what lockdown? By the time you read this, things should be back to some sort of normal, and you can get out and about in the countryside and see how the lack of human disruption has benefitted wildlife over the past few months, with cleaner air and less artificial noise improving conditions at the
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I recently dusted off my old guitar for something to do in the current situation, and discovered that I had turned into a very bad guitarist. I am pleased to report that after weeks of practice, I am back to being a very mediocre guitarist, and I still can’t play an Em7add11 chord.* I was
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Why am I showing you two pictures of the same bird? Actually, I’m not, they are different species, although closely related, and both will arrive in the Clot in some numbers this month. In fact, a few have already arrived in March from their winter quarters in Sub-Saharan Africa, and both species are making their
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Why am I showing you two pictures of the same bird? Actually, I’m not, they are different species, although closely related, and both will arrive in the Clot in some numbers this month. In fact, a few have already arrived in March from their winter quarters in Sub-Saharan Africa, and both species are making their
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Over the past few years, I’ve described the wide variety of birdlife that can be seen in our area, particularly down in the Clot which is a tremendous resource right on our doorsteps. So you don’t have to travel far to see the best of what Spain has to offer, but the other day someone
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I’ve been coming to my house in Gran Alacant for the past 12 years, usually for 3 months in Spring and 2 months in autumn. Each season has turned up its surprises; it seems that each time I visit there is at least one remarkable occurrence in the Clot, and the end of the year
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I received a message the other day from Barry, our esteemed former GA Advertiser editor. He had been asked by another reader if I could answer a few questions about all the white egrets which descend on the Clot during the evening to roost in the reed beds. As many of you will know, the
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Most birders keep lists of the birds they’ve seen. We can’t help it, it’s just one of those things we do, and we keep different lists for different places. I have a UK list (278) a USA list (109 – well it was only a two-week visit in 2006), a Spain list (194) an Offshore
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Earlier this year, while I was at home in the UK, I was somewhat irritated and envious when my birding friend Greta (who lives in Gran Alacant) posted a photograph she had taken in the countryside near La Marina. It was on a Facebook group dedicated to bird sightings in our area, and showed a
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I don’t really recommend the summer months for wildlife watching, it’s all too uncomfortable and there are much better things to do! It can become very unpleasant to be out in the midday sun (accompanied by the odd mad dog) and besides that, most birds will be seeking the shade and making themselves difficult to
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Ask any keen birders what their best moment was while birdwatching, the chances are high that the story will involve a raptor. There’s something about these aerial warriors which brings out the Jeremy Clarkson in birders – Jezza would rather talk about Ferraris and Bugattis than Fiats and Fords, birders want to talk about Eagles,
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NIGHTINGALE Each time I visit Spain, it is clear that changes are taking place. Every visit has its star birds for me – I see lots of one particular species, but on the next trip they are hard to find. This spring has been no exception, and I will be remembering it as the Spring
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Sometimes it’s quite simple to identify a bird out here on the Costa Blanca – once you know what a Hoopoe is, for example, you’ll know one when you see one, an unmistakeable starling-sized pink bird with black and white wings and a crest – easy-peasy, and you’re likely to see at least one on
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How many bird songs do you know? No, I’m not talking about “Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep” by Middle of the Road, or the massively insane “Surfin’ Bird” by The Trashmen (look it up on YouTube!), but actual birdsong. Most regular birdwatchers could probably identify 30 or more; if you’ve got a good memory for sounds
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This month, I was ready to tell you all about the many summer migrants which will be arriving in the Clot throughout the month, at the start of one of the most exciting periods for local birdwatchers. The swallows will undoubtedly be back by now, and there are many more species to come. However, events
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Everybody knows the House Sparrow, you probably have them around your house or you encounter them when you’re having a meal at an open air restaurant, where they attempt to look as cute as possible in order to attract a stray crumb, or recklessly dive-bomb your table at the risk of a good swatting. You
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I was going through my past archive of all the birds and animals I’ve written about for the GA Advertiser over the past few years, and was surprised to find I’d missed out on one of the easiest birds to be found in the Clot – the Little Grebe, which you are almost certain to
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Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a big tree, and in this tree there was a big nest, and the big nest contained a big egg. Now the parents of this big egg were very special birds, because there aren’t many of them about, so the people of the land
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FERRUGINOUS DUCK Last month I told you about a new bird species which has been found in the Clot – the Crested Coot (our esteemed editor decided that the alternative name for it wasn’t very appropriate!) and I spent several days in October trying to find it, without any success. It’s probably hiding in the
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Autumn – most birdwatchers will tell you that this is the best time of the year, with summer birds leaving, winter birds arriving and this year’s crop of young birds dispersing to new areas. In addition to this, birds are moving through on migration and generally getting lost, which means that there is a good
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WHAT’S THAT IN THE CLOT? Well it looks like I’ve been lumbered yet again with trying to think up something to write for this month’s GA Advertiser, it’s a tedious job but somebody’s got to do it. As the Spanish would say – estoy encargado con el mochuelo – I’ve been given a Little Owl.
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WHAT’S THAT IN THE CLOT? Welcome to the hot days, for some people the best time of the year. You can lounge by your swimming pool or on the beach, ice cold drink to hand and a parasol to move beneath if you are beginning to crisp at the edges. You can strip off layers
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Even if you’re not very familiar with different bird species, you might possibly guess that the bird in my picture this month is a Green Woodpecker, and you’d be right. No, wait a minute – you’d be wrong. You’d have been right if you’d said that more than about 7 years ago, but the powers
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One of the great advantages for me of living in Gran Alacant is that the Clot de Galvany is within a ten minute walk from my front door, and anyone interested in nature will find a variety of things to observe in their natural habitat. There may be one or two of you however who
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WHAT’S THAT IN THE CLOT? Last month, there was a posting in the online Gran Alacant forum (search for Gasbags on Google – it’s a great place for local information!) from the redoubtable John Hannon, saying that he had seen a green parrot in Torrevieja. He asked what it was and he had attached a
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I always thought that the phrase “one swallow does not a summer make” was one of those wise old British sayings which came from the fact that if you see a single swallow in late March, you can expect a similar chilly weather period to the “Beast From The East” which we went through recently
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What’s in that Clot? One of the many things I have been unable to fathom throughout my life is why the makers of a very popular video game felt the need to make the opponents of Angry Birds a bunch of green pigs. There are plenty of reasons why birds get angry, but green pigs
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It can be a frustrating business at times, this birdwatching. One of the worst things you can hear when entering a hide on the lookout for a particular species is “Oh, there was one here just five minutes ago, but it’s gone now.” I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard that, the annoyance
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