Grazalema area, Cadiz and Malaga Provinces.

Day two at Sue's and its still Raining !!

Narcisus cavanillessii.

The weather during the night was wild with some high winds and heavy rain but by morning it had eased slightly. The Siskins (Lúgano / Carduelis spinus) which had been seen yesterday were still around and numbers had risen up to nine and were being joined by several Serins (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus) which was nice for a comparison. 

The Flooded site.

Out in the garden there was a pair of Nuthatchs (Trepador Azul / Sitta europaea) chasing each other around in the eucalyptus tree along with a calling Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Común / Certhia brachydactyla), Song Thrush (Zorzal Común / Turdus philomelos) and in the air over the ridge there were surprisingly good numbers of Griffon Vultures (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus) due to the very overcast conditions. 

Apteromantis aptera.

Once we were all ready we headed out towards Grazalema and then on to a site which I had not visited before to see a plant the Sue had seen a week or so earlier. We arrived at Los Álomos to find one hell of a lot of moving and lying water which made moving around hard going but we quickly located several plants of the uncommon Narcisus cavanillessii but due to the rain which had started again and the gusty wind the photographs were truly aweful as you can see!!!

Ranunculus bullatus.

Whist we were here we could here some frogs calling but at the time we were not sure which species as the wind was making it hard work to hear them clearly, we had a quick search around the area but could not locate anything but we did find some very small Mantis called Apteromantis aptera which took some spotting in the grass and several clumps of Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima).

Ranunculus bullatus.

A couple of days later Sue returned to the site and managed to identifiy them as Parsley Frogs (Pelodytes punctatus) and got a nice photograph. We then decided due to the rain we would head back to the main road and go and have some lunch at the bar on the way back to Grazalema. After we had eaten we made our way back towards Grazalema and Sue pointed out the spot where she had seen around a hundred plants of Autumn Lady’s-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis) a couple of weeks earlier and then on the way back down to the house we stopped briefly so that I could get some shots of the Autumn flowering buttercup Ranunculus bullatus.

Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima).

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening identifiying my insect photo's.