Torre de Meca

I've been interested in the association of planet positions during Spring for a good number of years now and as an avid observer of quite a lot of nonsense, have noted that the position of planets do have a rather remarkable influence in the timing of our seasons according to our position on planet Earth.Spring will be early this year and already I have seen flowering orchids for two weeks along the pathways in the local forest.

Living creatures, including Man feel the change and force of these planetary influences and it triggers all kinds of behavioral activities, least of all breeding. I love birdsong and our garden and the surrounding cork-oaks and pines are alive with life. Birds are also starting to look their very best and their behavior is markedly different.

Today was a lovely day with the wind now coming back in from the west with not a cloud in the sky and the temperature hovering around the low 20's.

Orchid - Ophrys tenthrendinifera
I have already seen some Brimstone butterflies over the last week, lots of Large Whites, some Painted Ladys, Orange Tips and today we had a Small Tortoiseshell flitted briefly past.

A Brimstone feeds on Cape Sorrel

Mediterranean flowering Maquis has erupted and the sights and scents in the air are already attracting numerous insects to feed on the rosemary, lavender, yellow flowering cistus and vast swathes of the beautifully bright (also yellow-flowering) but alien Cape Sorrel.

Wild Asparagus
Locals have been busy searching for and collecting wild Asparagus in the woodland and country lanes and there were good quantities of different wild mushrooms to be found.

We took a walk through the pine forest and Parque Natural of Las Breñas the other day to the Torre de Meca, one of the many 18thC lookout towers built along the coast. It was windy but we thought that the forest was the place to be when the levante or east wind blows. We all needed a walk and this was the ideal solution!

We did see a migrating Ospery being buffeted over Cape Trafalgar as it struggled to make progress North. Despite the wind we saw a few birds that included Common Kestrels, Red-legged Partridge, Blackbirds, Goldfinches, Linnets, Great Tits, Chaffinch, Cirl Bunting, Sardinian Warblers, Serin and one Great Spotted Cuckoo - disturbed by asparagus searchers.

Migrating Osprey heading North



Cape Trafalgar with its lighthouse out on the sandy spit and the town of Los Caños de Meca below the Tower or 'Torre'.