In view of the lack of input into the blog in recent weeks, and having received the following gem on the culinary delights of cooking and eating cormorants by courtesy of Ernest García, this seemed to be a splendid way to see out 2008. I do hope that nobody feels ill after reading this - you have been warned!
When the smoke has cleared away, take the cormorant down and cut off the beak. Send this to the local Conservancy Board who, if you are in the right area, will give you 3/6d or sometimes 5/- for it. Bury the carcase, preferably in a light sandy soil, and leave it there for a fortnight. This is said to improve the flavour by removing, in part at least, the taste of rotting fish.
Dig up and skin and draw the bird. Place in a strong salt and water solution and soak for 48 hours. Remove, dry, stuff with whole, unpeeled onions: the onion skins are supposed to bleach the meat to a small extent, so that it is very dark brown instead of being entirely black.
Simmer gently in seawater, to which two tablespoons of chloride of lime have been added, for six hours. This has a further tenderising effect. Take out of the water and allow to dry, meanwhile mixing up a stiff paste of methylated spirit and curry powder. Spread this mixture liberally over the breast of the bird.
Finally roast in a very hot oven for three hours. The result is unbelievable. Throw it away. Not even a starving vulture would eat it.
From Countryman’s Cooking, by W.M.W. Fowler, published by Excellent Press, 9 Lower Raven Lane, Ludlow, Shropshire, SY8 1BW. Tel: 01584 877803. Available from Times BooksFirst at £15.25, free p&p: Call 0870 1608080
18/12/08
Arboleas Bird Group trip, 17 December
I have been rather out of touch with the real universe (ie. the birdy one) because of circumstances beyond my control. Therefore I am really pleased to be able to put in the chronicle from Dave and Gilly with the Arboleas Bird Group. The photos are also Dave's.
Hi all,
As we left Arboleas the cold winds were blowing off the snow covered mountains, but as we reached the Cabo de Gata reserve it was obvious there was little or no wind. There was however a roaring sound coming from the beach. It sounded like a distant train, but we discovered later it was only the large rollers breaking onto the sand. As we were on a time constraint due to a later carol service, we didn't spend a huge amount of time at each hide and didn't venture to the lighthouse.
Gilly's usual count of the Greater Flamingo population found 186 individuals there. Hiding amongst them she spotted a pair of Spoonbill. A single White Stork was an unusual find. The usual waders were there in small numbers. Grey Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Avocet, Little Stint, Dunlin and Black-winged Stilt. A single Spotted Redshank was flushed from a large puddle
round the rear of the reserve There were large flocks of Serin, Greenfinch and Linnet. It was nice to see about 30 Trumpeter Finch (photo R) and some Lesser Short-toed Lark. A few Shoveler, Mallard and Shelduck were the only wildfowl seen. No Black-necked Grebe, which was unusual for this time of the year.
Our next proposed trip is the 7th January, so Gilly & I wish all a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Hi all,As we left Arboleas the cold winds were blowing off the snow covered mountains, but as we reached the Cabo de Gata reserve it was obvious there was little or no wind. There was however a roaring sound coming from the beach. It sounded like a distant train, but we discovered later it was only the large rollers breaking onto the sand. As we were on a time constraint due to a later carol service, we didn't spend a huge amount of time at each hide and didn't venture to the lighthouse.
Gilly's usual count of the Greater Flamingo population found 186 individuals there. Hiding amongst them she spotted a pair of Spoonbill. A single White Stork was an unusual find. The usual waders were there in small numbers. Grey Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Avocet, Little Stint, Dunlin and Black-winged Stilt. A single Spotted Redshank was flushed from a large puddleround the rear of the reserve There were large flocks of Serin, Greenfinch and Linnet. It was nice to see about 30 Trumpeter Finch (photo R) and some Lesser Short-toed Lark. A few Shoveler, Mallard and Shelduck were the only wildfowl seen. No Black-necked Grebe, which was unusual for this time of the year.
Our next proposed trip is the 7th January, so Gilly & I wish all a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
8/12/08
Yellow-headed Blackbird in the Guadalhorce
Paco Rivera went to the Guadalhorce today and met a Belgian woman, Michelle (I know not her surname), who I had met some weeks ago. As Paco's French is like my Swahili and Michelle speaks no English, the usual medium was the guide. She had seen and identified and Paco later photographed a beautiful male Yellow-headed Blackbird, obviously an escape but a bird which brightened a damp December morning for them.
long time, no write blog
True, long time no write but things have been a bit on the pear-shaped side of things with the older female of the family rather unwell and about ready for the knacker's yard at the rate she's going (she can't read English, ha-ha!)so a lot has devolved around myself, even unto cooking (I hate bloody food, why can't we have tablets?), hanging up and taking down washing (wonderful for reflection about the meaning of life!) and cleaning (why every day? Why not until you can write your name in the dust?).
The last time I was at the Guadalhorce was Sunday 1 December and was it cold! It was the weekend when there was snow on all the sierras, on Tejeda-Almijara over the eastern side of the bay (below left), and inland behind the Guadalhorce a lot on Sierra de las Nieves (below right).
Really, the only birding that I've done has been bits and pieces when I've been able to escape. I have been doing occasional flying visits to the beaches and port at Fuengirola to look for colour ringed gulls,
with some success at least.
Most of the colour ringed gulls are Lesser Black-backs but trying to see the rings amongst a forest of legs and bodies, plus the disturbances from nasty little children and some mentally retarded adults like the wobbly grease-ball that waved her arms at them and kept flushing them because the she liked watching them fly. She'd have flown with a 12 bore shotgun, the way I felt about her antics!
These gulls have included a rather nice adult Mediterranean Gull green 3E8 which was ringed in France in 2006, which means it is now in its first winter as an adult. 
The green ring can be seen and read quite well in the enlarged photo (useful these digital cameras).
Left is a 1st winter bird and a 2nd winter bird on the right to show the differences.
(The photos are mine, all mine!)
The last time I was at the Guadalhorce was Sunday 1 December and was it cold! It was the weekend when there was snow on all the sierras, on Tejeda-Almijara over the eastern side of the bay (below left), and inland behind the Guadalhorce a lot on Sierra de las Nieves (below right).
Really, the only birding that I've done has been bits and pieces when I've been able to escape. I have been doing occasional flying visits to the beaches and port at Fuengirola to look for colour ringed gulls,
with some success at least. Most of the colour ringed gulls are Lesser Black-backs but trying to see the rings amongst a forest of legs and bodies, plus the disturbances from nasty little children and some mentally retarded adults like the wobbly grease-ball that waved her arms at them and kept flushing them because the she liked watching them fly. She'd have flown with a 12 bore shotgun, the way I felt about her antics!
These gulls have included a rather nice adult Mediterranean Gull green 3E8 which was ringed in France in 2006, which means it is now in its first winter as an adult. 
The green ring can be seen and read quite well in the enlarged photo (useful these digital cameras).
Left is a 1st winter bird and a 2nd winter bird on the right to show the differences.
(The photos are mine, all mine!)
22/11/08
Fuente de Piedra and Campillos
This afternoon in fit of madness I took off for Fuente de Piedra to try and see if there was (a) any water to speak of and (b) anything worth seeing on said water or its fringes. As it turned out, the answer to (a) is that there is very little water (which can be partially seen or guessed at in the photo below)
and to (b) that there was very little of note, none of those pink things (I have just finished translating a very interesting paper which summarises the past 24 years at the laguna,) a few rather brassed-off Lapwings which were the only waders, a scattering of Mallards and Shovelers and about 6.000 gulls, basically Black-headed and Lesser Black-backs with some Yellow-legged thrown in as an afterthought. Pretty bad.
After the fairly disastrous visit to Fuente de Piedra except for 4 Cranes on the way to Campillos, I took off to have a quick look at the Laguna Dulce, except that there's no laguna as it's been dry for ages. So, you will ask, what is the attraction of the place? The attraction of a dry lagoon is that in the bed of this one, admittedly distant, there are often Little Bustards. In fact, they were feeding in field near the road before the pull-off, so I shot in like a frightened rabbit, grabbed camera (the binocs were already around the neck) and crept out of the car to try and get a better look at them, in which I succeeded partially and also managed to count them, about 42 I reckoned and took a photo. I gently walked a trifle nearer and they flushed, they usually do. A quick photo before they pitched down rather further away and enabled a better count, this time 52 of them. Very nice.
The two heavily manipulated photos show first the birds in the field and it can be seen how difficult they can be to pick out in a field in the first (try counting them quickly and remember this photo is enhanced!) ....
..... and below in flight where the white in the wings sticks out wonderfully and is a good identification feature.
Click on the photos to enlarge them, it helps a lot!
and to (b) that there was very little of note, none of those pink things (I have just finished translating a very interesting paper which summarises the past 24 years at the laguna,) a few rather brassed-off Lapwings which were the only waders, a scattering of Mallards and Shovelers and about 6.000 gulls, basically Black-headed and Lesser Black-backs with some Yellow-legged thrown in as an afterthought. Pretty bad.
After the fairly disastrous visit to Fuente de Piedra except for 4 Cranes on the way to Campillos, I took off to have a quick look at the Laguna Dulce, except that there's no laguna as it's been dry for ages. So, you will ask, what is the attraction of the place? The attraction of a dry lagoon is that in the bed of this one, admittedly distant, there are often Little Bustards. In fact, they were feeding in field near the road before the pull-off, so I shot in like a frightened rabbit, grabbed camera (the binocs were already around the neck) and crept out of the car to try and get a better look at them, in which I succeeded partially and also managed to count them, about 42 I reckoned and took a photo. I gently walked a trifle nearer and they flushed, they usually do. A quick photo before they pitched down rather further away and enabled a better count, this time 52 of them. Very nice.
The two heavily manipulated photos show first the birds in the field and it can be seen how difficult they can be to pick out in a field in the first (try counting them quickly and remember this photo is enhanced!) ....
..... and below in flight where the white in the wings sticks out wonderfully and is a good identification feature.
Click on the photos to enlarge them, it helps a lot!
16/11/08
The good, the bad and the ugly
Well, what a day today (Sunday, 16/11) has been, and the heading sums it up, but let's start with the week first.
THE GOOD! Monday, 1o/11, down by the river with my faithful dog, a single Common Swift in immaculate condition (no broken/worn feathers) treated me to five or six very low, very fast fly-bys, and I learnt later that Israel Lozano had seen another (or very probably the same one) over the centre of Málaga bout an hour earlier. The same day down at the Guadalhorce ponds Antonio Miguel logged in a flock of 34 Cranes over-flying, and there are also some back at Fuente de Piedra.
On Thursday afternoon, 13/11, Federico and myself spent a very pleasant three hours wandering around the Guadalhorce, not a lot of birds but a couple of Wigeon, a single Greenshank and three very nice Snipe were sufficient.
I have mentioned that it's not unusual to see Griffon Vultures down on th coast at this time of year during their migration, but also on Thursday Samuel Peregrina saw two 1st year Black Vultures over the centre of Málaga. No, no mistake although one who should have known better queried the identification, which rather annoyed Samu, and I'm not surprised!
This morning, 16/11, was pretty good, really, with some the domingueros and, of course, Antonio Miguel. We saw a couple of Penduline Tits, a cracking male and a juv. with no mask at all, a Blue Rock Thrush - they do come down off the sierras in the winter but this is the earliest I can remember seeing one, a total of 7 Teal, some of the males very smart in the morning sunshine and a Richard's Pipit, is it the same bird back to winter for (I think) the fourth winter? Paco Villalobos and Paco Rivera swore blind they had seen 2 immature Rollers - they are unmistakable and everything tallied! We heard a Little Bittern, a few do over-winter in southern Spain, and Antonio had heard a Water Rail during the week. Here endeth the good.
THE BAD There are always half-wits on bicycles, usually mountain bikes, who tear along the tracks at high speed. No bell, no warning and we have been waving them down to slow them down. Federico usually tells 'em what a bell is, but if they don't one day there is going to be a major accident with a child or dog on a lead getting hit. And today one idiot, head down, high speed, with earpieces to listen to his mp3 or whatever, hit a leg of my tripod. Down went tripod, down went 'scope. Tripod wrecked for ever, 'scope battered at the front end but the optics seem to be alright, however, it will have to be checked out which means sending to Germany as Zeiss have no technician capable of dealing with it Spain - a major oversight, I feel.
THE UGLY Me in full verbal flight and not mincing words about the guy, his parentage, what would have happened to him if it had been a child he had hit, or even more my dog - I'd have killed the s.o.b.! But words don't go far in assuaging what I feel or what it'll cost as he had no insurance and it would cost more to prise cash out of him than pay the repairs myself, lawyers tending to show a strong affinity to leeches or tics. Paco reckoned I had scared him badly and if I see him there again, I'll have him- subtly of course, but I will.
9/11/08
EGMASA rectify signs, congratulations!
Those with longish memories will recollect me getting wound up in my blog of 11 August 'OFF TOPIC - CHAPUZA' about the English on the then brand new signs at the Guadalhorce.
I am very happy to report that Egmasa, the perpetrators, have rectified the errors and the English is now correct (L) and just about in the other (R), as can be seen from the photos.
I am very happy to report that Egmasa, the perpetrators, have rectified the errors and the English is now correct (L) and just about in the other (R), as can be seen from the photos.
Thank you and well done, Egmasa!
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