saturday night we were in Oliveira, watching the parades of local folk-dancing groups - really fantastic!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Clover's sand pit
1st visit for Clover (the grunt) to the beach- loved the sand but not too sure about the sea! Nice frango and bottle red wine and a relaxing day.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
owl watch
ok- not the best photo in the world, but if you look very (very!) closely you can see one of our resident tawny owls on the top of our crane!
Saturday, June 7, 2008
springwatch portugal!
I know everyone likes looking at the photos, but thought as I'd got ten minutes to spare i'd do a blog entry with a bit of chat (don't worry i'll stick some photos on later!).
We have had a manic few weeks with lot's of visitors and several birthday parties, which has been really wonderful, but it's been back to normal this week.
The weather has turned very hot, which has meant our time in the vegie patch has to be morning and evening- but really the best time to be there. It's truly wonderful with masses of wild flowers- verbascum, poppies, verbena, snapdragons, foxgloves, echium- the list goes on and on (and we spend half our time weeding them out of the vegie beds!)- and with the flowers and the warmer weather, wonderful insects- big beetles, bright yellow butterflies and ones that can only be described as ' big buggy things'!! (sorry i'm a horticulturalist not a -oh dear i dont even know what a bug expert is called!!). I got my first ever wasp sting yesterday while having a quick pee in the outside dunny- you'll be pleased to know it got me on the arm! Paul was very smug as i have spend years saying to him 'what are you scared of its only a wasp!!).
Last night I saw two owls- one landed in the tree right in front of me- I think they must have been tawny owls- we now have owl watch in the evening, as we think that a nearby nest of owls has fledged recently (hope thats the right terminology- wow Bill Oddie would be proud!).
The outside of the thunderbirds house is being rendered at the moment- Paul keeps going down to admire the finish and stroke it (- yes he's weird like that). It is looking amazing tho'.
Think that's all from 'Springwatch Portugal' for now!
We have had a manic few weeks with lot's of visitors and several birthday parties, which has been really wonderful, but it's been back to normal this week.
The weather has turned very hot, which has meant our time in the vegie patch has to be morning and evening- but really the best time to be there. It's truly wonderful with masses of wild flowers- verbascum, poppies, verbena, snapdragons, foxgloves, echium- the list goes on and on (and we spend half our time weeding them out of the vegie beds!)- and with the flowers and the warmer weather, wonderful insects- big beetles, bright yellow butterflies and ones that can only be described as ' big buggy things'!! (sorry i'm a horticulturalist not a -oh dear i dont even know what a bug expert is called!!). I got my first ever wasp sting yesterday while having a quick pee in the outside dunny- you'll be pleased to know it got me on the arm! Paul was very smug as i have spend years saying to him 'what are you scared of its only a wasp!!).
Last night I saw two owls- one landed in the tree right in front of me- I think they must have been tawny owls- we now have owl watch in the evening, as we think that a nearby nest of owls has fledged recently (hope thats the right terminology- wow Bill Oddie would be proud!).
The outside of the thunderbirds house is being rendered at the moment- Paul keeps going down to admire the finish and stroke it (- yes he's weird like that). It is looking amazing tho'.
Think that's all from 'Springwatch Portugal' for now!
