swifts

Tales from the River

~ Kate Wilson ~ 11 Comments

Sometimes nice things happen and I don’t take a photo – either I don’t have the camera with me or the battery is dead or perhaps it just feels awkward to pull it out and start clicking.
Tonight we went down to the river to take Duna for her walk. On the way we passed by the little vegetable patches and the rough fenced in wasteland that houses chickens and geese and the two dogs that I always visit as I go by.
Do you remember? The border collie who is normally tied up inside the enclosure and who barks as you go past but wags her tail at the same time. I used to shout ‘Hola Guapo’ before finding out he was a she and on heat.
Tonight she and her terrier friend were running freely around the chicken plot. Her owner was there relaxing on an old plastic chair. We all got talking – actually I mostly smiled and listened as it was all too fast and in spanish. But I learned that her name is Lolita. That her owner is passionately against cruelty to animals. He is Andaluz and comes from Huelva north of Cadiz . He feels it is more important to live simply and take care of the planet than to work all hours just to pay for things you don’t need. He had three baby ducks who were being mothered by a large speckled hen. I don’t know what happened to the mother duck – you miss those sort of details when you can’t keep up with the language. Lolita put up her nose to nuzzle the ducklings soft yellow fluffy coat. Border collies are like that – protective rather than menacing.


Lolita obviously loves him and the chickens and the ducklings and her little terrier friend. So, sigh of relief, she is a happy dog!
And all around the swifts were swooping and swirling and screaming and streaming

And now the swifts

~ Kate Wilson ~ 10 Comments

A thousand birds are in my grove,
Melodious from morn to night;
My fruit trees are their treasure trove,
Their happiness is my delight.               Robert Service The Bird Sanctuary

The swifts arrived this morning while I was out on the terrace watering the plants.

I had just commented to my partner that last year they arrived on April 7th when I heard a familiar chatter, looked up, and they flew over. It wasn’t their normal screeching sound – definitely more like a ‘well here we are – back in Granollers’ conversation.

About 7 or 8 of them and how lovely to see them surfing the currents high above our home.

Why do I never see people here looking up in wonder at the birds?

Speaking of which….one of the things I imported from the UK was a new bird feeder as I can’t find anything like that in Catalunya. I need to make up some seed mix though – any suggestions about what to put in?

High above Granollers

~ Kate Wilson ~ 9 Comments

 

I took a walk this evening up to the derelict tower that sits on a hill overlooking GranollersThe tower Torre de Pinos is an old fortified defense tower built in the 14th century and now half in ruins it is protected but not really cherished.
But the place is magical. I took these photos on a sunny afternoon last week, walking along flower lined paths while trying to take photographs of the swifts. It is not easy to catch one moment of their flight path as they are the ultimate aerial birds. I had many photos of empty blue sky! Swifts eat, drink, mate and sleep on the wing and only come to earth for long enough to nest and feed their young. Barcelona is full of the sound of their excited cries and from our terrace here I can watch them at night. In Catala they are called Falciots, not orinetes which are swallows. Up in the fields around the Torre, high above Granollers, in the evening when the air is full of flying insects, I am able to feel as if I am in their world.
Tonight I went to the Torre just before sunset. The sun was hiding at first behind a large cloud and I watched it slowly emerge like a luminescent red balloon to glow with midsummer fire before settling down behind the hills. I had no camera and could only wonder and marvel at the dance of the swifts, the rays of purple light spreading across the sky and the wildness of this place so close to the city. So often I stand with my neck craned to watch them high above but tonight I had the amazing experience of having them whizz past my head so close I could hear their wing beat.
Life sometimes throws at us ‘momentos malos’ and it was in this kind of mood that I climbed the hill tonight with Duna as my companion. I felt very aware that nowhere within miles or kilometers was there anyone I could talk to freely in my own language. I was missing not so much ‘home’ but the feeling of ‘being at home’. If you ever imagine living in another country, include this in the fantasy, it can be hard! Small things can feel like the last straw and it is easy to feel inadequate when you can’t freely do the most normal thing – talk. So,what to do, where to turn?
For me it is to nature, which exists outside frontiers and customs, languages and barriers, frustrations and misunderstandings. All exists in the moment and tonight as the light was dying it was beautiful to be part of that moment.

Magical Places near Granollers

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment
You only need to drive a short way out of Granollers to find yourself in the countryside, in places of great natural beauty with hidden pools of fresh water and banks of aromatic rosemary and thyme. We came here last Sunday to walk and after a short climb up a steep path, found these two secret pools. The water was incredibly clear and foot numbingly cold.Total Solitude and Peace

We didn’t see anyone else in the time we were there – this area near Sant Feliu de Codines must be one of my favourite places to soothe my spirits and replenish my energy.

The swifts return

At this time of year I am waiting for them and back in Granollers they arrived on April 7th . They are now soaring high over the houses and streets screaming out in what sounds like glee. I stood for several minutes today in the main shopping street watching over 50 of them ducking and diving high above me. How amazing that no-one else seemed to notice they were there. They are called Falciot Negre in Catalan and Vencejo común in Castellano.

Watching them and listening to them is another thing that seems to be good for my soul.