Spanish Wildlife 2018

Black Winged Stilt 

As well as visiting the battlefield of Castalla which is just up the road from our place in Spain, Carolyn and I took time to enjoy other sites and just 'chillax'.

Regulars here on JJ's know I like to bring you pictures of natural history as well as the military stuff and often it is very easy to combine the two whilst wondering about the countryside looking at battlefields.

This part of eastern Spain has long stretches of beach bordering the Mediterranean interspersed with salt flats and reed beds providing excellent habitat for a wealth of wildlife and bird life in particular.

Some of these creatures are often seen only with fleeting glimpses as they dart in and out of cover or not seen at all but only heard from the depths of the reeds.

Ideally if I were taking more time and the facilities were available the best way to capture pictures of the more shy varieties would be from a hide, but we were just walking and enjoying the weather and I was keeping the camera to hand should something wonder across our path.

These beautiful black winged stilts announced their presence by giving their high pitched call and circling the area we had walked into trailing their long legs behind them in their somewhat ungainly flight style, only to land in a pool a bit further along our path, which enabled me to get these pictures.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-winged_stilt

These birds are an infrequent visitor to the UK and I had never seen one in the wild before now, but they have a wide spread coverage around the globe stretching from southern Europe to Australia.

One of our favourite places to walk are some nearby salt flats with their shallow white banked lagoons being the favourite habitat of a wealth of water birds including flamingos.

I am instantly taken back to Alice in Wonderland and surreal games of croquet every time I see these elegant and yet ungainly creatures.

I am thinking the next bird seen with its distinctive stocky shape and stumpy red legs picking over shore line debris is a Turnstone but I am open to correction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnstone

We get lots of Shelducks in the Exe estuary back home but it was nice to see this large esturine duck in sunny Spain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_shelduck

As mentioned at the top of the post, the coastline here is a mix of beach, reeds and salt flats and the path opened out on to a warm but blustery Mediterranean with boats out on the briny and a distant look at Torrevieja.

On our walk back to the car I caught a fleeting glimpse of an LBJ, known in bird spotting parlance as a 'little brown job' which after I managed to get the camera on it before it scuttled into the undergrowth turned out to be what I think is a Calandra Lark but again I am open to correction as I am far more familiar with UK than Spanish bird-life which is still a work in progress.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calandra_lark

Can you see him?  - The Lark's camouflage doing it's job with only movement alerting you to its presence 

JJ's Spanish Delights

The Southern Grey Shrike or Iberian Butcher Bird

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_grey_shrike
https://www.birdguides.com/species/species.asp?sp=122083
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_grey_shrike

JJ's Wargames has been off line for a few days as some much needed R&R was taken at JJ's Casa in Spain.

I love both Spain and Portugal offering great climate, food and scenery and Carolyn and I have been going back, mainly to the south, again and again over the years and brushing up on our rubbish "Spanish" speaking capabilities.

As regular "JJ blogesters" will know, as well as military history, natural history is a bit of a passion and I like to share some of the creatures encountered at home and abroad. Whilst out on a days cycle ride I took the camera to try at catch some examples of Murcian wildlife in this warm part of southern Spain.

The first thing that drew my attention was a long tailed bird using a telegraph wire as a perch, flying out over the dry scrub behind the beach and back. It was quite difficult to get close enough to picture, but I was quite pleased with the final attempt.

I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at but on closer inspection, that characteristic sharp pointed heavy bill reminded me of the Great Grey Shrike I have seen in more northern climes. This is the southern European relative, the Southern Grey Shrike. The Shrike has a more common name of butcher bird due to its habit of creating a larder by impaling small animals and insects on to barb wire or thorn bushes, very often to allow toxins and poisons to degrade before coming back to consume the unfortunate victim later.

Little Egret on the lookout for small fish in the shallows of the Mar Menor

http://www.avibirds.com/html/Little_Egret.html

We have Little Egrets common to the waterways in Devon, but I never tire of seeing these slender white heron like birds focused on catching their daily bread. This chap was pretty straight forward to picture at the waters edge, unlike the Common Turns that were performing "Stuka" like dive bombings into the sea behind at the same time.

Swallow Tail Butterfly basking in the mid-day sun - watch out for that Shrike

 http://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/Britain%20-%20Papilio%20machaon.htm

I have never seen a Swallow Tail Butterfly in the UK, but they were in abundance on our cycle ride displaying their powerful gliding abilities as they moved between the thistle heads. They were quite tricky to photograph, constantly levering the wings up and down while in place, but I managed to get the camera on fast shutter to get this shot of the spectacular pattern on the wings. Quite a stunning insect.

Common to Southern Spain the large Egyptian Grasshopper or Anacridium aegyptium 

And finally, whilst walking the bikes through a particularly narrow scrub-land path, keeping an eye out for any basking adders I caught sight of several giant grasshoppers who had the same idea and winged back into the bushes on our approach, watching us as I moved in with the camera.

These chaps are big, unlike their British cousins, and carried a noticeable yellow stripe at the back of the head that allowed me to attempt an identification, insects not being my strong point.

The camouflage was amazing and once they had backed further into the undergrowth became totally invisible to the eye, despite trying to trace a likely path of retreat.

So back from the Iberian Peninsula I am fully rested and recharged, and have the 3/94e Ligne well under way. This weekend will be given over to getting everything ready for our display game at Legionary 2016 next Saturday

Happy St Georges Day and a dedication of this post to the Great Bard of Stratford, William Shakespeare who died, four-hundred years ago, on this day at the age of 52. I spent many hours as a teenager memorising lines from Henry IVth Part One for my O'Level English Literature and it left me with a passion for the plays; and it seems we are in for a treat with the next series of "The Hollow Crown" coming up on the BBC covering the Wars of the Roses from Henry the VIth to Richard IIIrd. Oh and I fall into the camp that says Richard was as guilty as hell, as the two Princes went missing on his watch, being a classic case of "the buck stops". I am looking forward to the comments on that one!

Next up will be a report from Legionary 2016 and a book review of some Spanish reading, "Fighting for Napoleon", French Soldiers' Letters 1799-1815

Sunshine, Good News and Cartagena History

The weather on Wednesday took a turn for the better and we were able to enjoy some festive sunshine, together with some excellent news.

Will, my youngest son, passed his university interview and has been accepted for medical school, next summer exam results permitting.

The pool in the sunshine, not a cloud to be seen. Not quite warm enough for a dip, well not for me.

Having Festive Fun. Front row, Yours Truly, Aimée (Will’s girlfriend), Will, back row Carolyn (Mrs JJ), Teresa (Mrs JJ’s sister)

Today, Thursday, was spent soaking up the history and culture that is Cartagena, where we visited the fantastic 1^st Century Roman Theatre. The archaeology first revealed in the mid 80’s has gradually been restored as a public monument and museum to the grandeur of this imposing Roman building and also explores the changes in the city under Byzantine, Moorish and later times. The church left standing on the corner of the theatre acts as an entrance to the site showing the various walls that were built under the building during the time the theatre fell into disuse. The church was bombed during the Spanish Civil War and is a monument in its own right, being the last city to surrender to General Franco’s troops and was a major Republican stronghold throughout the war.

Roman Theatre - 1st Century BC

The stage area in the theatre. The pillars at the back with the people on the stage give an idea of the scale of the building

A lunch of Tapas was followed by a trip to the Castillo de la Concepcion (Castle of the Conception) a medieval castle that surmounts the highest hill in the city that itself has been recently restored as a museum and display of the evolution of the city during the Moorish and early Christian periods. The views from the top give a great panorama of the key historical sites in the city. Next to the keep stands a bust of Hasdrubal Barca, the Carthaginian General who was the founder of the city back in 227BC.

Amphitheatre

Cartagena is like the counterpart to Plymouth back home in Devon, with both cities having a long history associated with their respective country’s navies and today the Spanish Navy still have a major base in the port, together with a very interesting naval museum. The city lays claim to the first electric powered submarine invented and designed by Isaac Peral and launched in 1888. The vessel has been taken in under cover at the museum.

Caitarranas

Castillo de los Moros

San Jose Hill and Punic Rampart

Low flyer

We were feeling quite tired after these visits and still have lots of other sites to see the next time we’re in town. Cartagena is a lovely city and well worth visiting if you have the chance

Will contemplating forgoing a career in medicine and joining the Spanish Navy

War Games and Flamingos in Spain

This week we are taking a short break in Murcia in Spain. We have had a house down there for a few years now and it is a lovely part of the world to relax in prior to getting together with family and friends over Christmas.

While I am away the painting goes on hold, and with no Internet access in the house my ability to communicate on the net is slightly limited. The good news is that the nearby bar has complimentary Internet access and so I can catch up on things every now and then, whilst sipping their very nice hot chocolate.

Much fun was had at the Devon Wargames Group last Saturday as we held our annual Christmas Big Game, a “King James vs King Billy Beneath the Lilly Banners Match Up” with Chas and Vince fielding their 28mm collections and everyone in the club taking part. The rules are very good, capturing the feel of that particular early horse & musket era and allowing a large game like that to run along easily with players unfamiliar with them soon able to get competent with the system. I have toyed with the idea of building some War of Spanish Succession (WSS) forces and these rules would be very much top of my list. I managed to post a full report of the game with many pictures taken of the toys. My role in the game was not insignificant as I assumed the role of traitor to Prince William’s cause and succeeded in completely messing up the left flank and centre of his lines.

My cavalry fight each other in our club game last Saturday. See the report to find out why.

Whilst away I like to take the enforced time away from the paint desk to play with other war game ideas and to read generally. I have been playing with another computer rules set, “The Great Captains” by Computer Strategies designed by Mr Clinton Reilly. The rules cover the early to mid horse & musket era (WSS, Seven Years War, AWI) and as with his other period sets come with a campaign system. 

It is the campaign system that Clinton is looking to upgrade and has invited mine and others feedback on changes he has incorporated and will add based on that feedback. It is early days at the moment but I did set up and run solo a little campaign based on operations around Boston in 1775 as General Gage et al attempted to maintain the city as a base for future operations against the rebels. With the said rebels attempting to grab sites around the city to set up gun positions for batteries using cannon captured from the British at Fort Ticonderoga. A good test of the system as I had little garrisons of minute men set up in the small towns together with an American field army and the British in Boston trying to ferry troops out to different areas to secure high ground overlooking the city.

The program allows the player to paste a copy of any map he wishes to use and, with the help of a grid superimposed on to it, define particular areas of terrain, flat plain, hilly, mountains, sea and swampy. These terrain definitions impact on supply and movement. In addition supply depots of various sizes and defence can be identified allowing for bases of operation to be set up. However these definitions would benefit from additions and my play test this week, and the notes I made confirm this and when I can get near an Internet access I will copy off my notes to Clinton.

My mini campaign map that I have been trying things out with

In addition to “The Great Captains”, I have taken a mini campaign system made available on the net by Bruce McFarlane Bob Barnetson which using their fast play rules for the AWI “Two for Tea” allows players to pre manoeuvre the armies at Brandywine prior to setting up the table top battle. I have always fancied using this set up but with my own rules. In addition, rather than a paper based map and counters, I have put the whole thing into Cyberboard to keep things much easier to use and will make it available as a download in my collection of freebies. 

The Brandywine campaign map for Cyberboard

As with our break in the summer to Sri Lanka, I thought you might like to see some pictures of the area and wildlife, as this part of Spain is really beautiful and a popular holiday destination. At this time of year the coastal salt flats are home to some amazing bird life, including visitors from Africa. We were lucky to find these Flamingos the other day, happy to ignore us as we took these pictures. It’s great to see them in the wild and particularly when they are in flight as they must be the most ungainly bird you will ever see in the air with the large floppy wing span and trailing legs counter balanced by a beak that looks just a little bit too big.

A little bit of winter sun in Murcia, Spain

Keeping warm on the beach

The flamingos were doing what they do best, eating and looking cool. I couldn't help thinking about the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland about to play croquet, whilst photographing these guys.