This spider has a wide distribution encompassing the whole of Africa and stretching to southern Europe and into Asia. Without the legs, it reaches 25 to 30 mm in length. The female’s characteristic lobes distinguish her from other spiders of the araneidae family. The web is loose and the threads are very thin. I found […]
Tag: Spain
Migrating Raptors on The Strait of Gibraltar
It’s been a busy six weeks with almost non-stop birding here on The Strait and across Europe. I thought I’d quickly post some of the raptor shots I have managed to edit so far on the blog to show at least some of the autumn delights… Black-winged Kites (old name is Black shouldered Kite) have […]
A Pile of Leaves – Red-necked Nightjar (Caprimulgus ruficollis)
It’s been another busy season with September tours to Austria-Hungary, and two back-to-back tours here on The Strait of Gibraltar with the autumn migration. I’ll be posting some of the migration photos later when I get more time but right now (up early again…) I thought I’d show some very recent photos of a really […]
Raptor Movement and La Janda News
It’s been another busy week here down on The Strait of Gibraltar. As the summer slowly comes to an end and autumn weather and shorter days signal birds to move slowly south, the skies above Cadiz province have all kinds of bird species flying over or stopping off to feed before crossing the narrow stretch […]
Thermals and more…
Migration: Black Kites are the first raptor to migrate and cross The Strait of Gibraltar. The skies will continue to be filled with them slowly moving down towards Tarifa and if the wind is too strong for them to cross to Morocco there will be a huge build up as more and more arrive in […]
La Janda News
Good news that aerial crop spraying is now limited to only a few specific controls for health and agriculture. Natural sprays are used against mosquito control in La Janda although to be honest the problem with such insects is the same in the pine forests. Most of the fertiliser spraying that takes place is showering […]
In the Pyrenees mountains, the Yellow-winged darter
In Spain, a gentle climb from a beautiful lake at 1500m high, leads to 2 peat bogs in the becoming. There, Sedge Darners, Four-spotted Chasers and Yellow-winged darters are the main Anisopterae flying around; the latter are emerging by the hundreds, probably more. Sympetrum flaveolum The highest peat bog is on my left here, but […]