Easterlies bring in migrants

Strong easterly winds hit the Strait of Gibraltar yesterday. As the wind subsided today trans-Saharan migrants started to feed busily to resume the journey as soon as possible. Easterlies bring migrants to the Gibraltar area. These are birds heading in a north-easterly direction over North Africa, taking a more direct route to the breeding grounds than in the autumn when many fly down the Atlantic coast to avoid the drier areas to the east. Since Gibraltar is at the western end of the Mediterranean, most spring migrants are passing to the east which means that easterlies are best to bring migrants in. Once in the area, the low cloud and mists that form round the Rock itself add to the disorientation. Among the migrants today was the beautiful male Common Redstart at the head of this post.

The strong winds got the gulls sailing off the cliffs and raised an impressive sea

Common Redstart male (above and below)

Not easy to see, Nightingale was among the migrants, displaying aggressively at a Common Redstart (below) to drive it away from its temporary territory

Some Chiffchaffs (and a Robin) are still moving through. These belong to the most northerly breeding populations

where did that fly go?

...but it's the Western Bonelli's Warbler that is now coming through in good numbers, including this bird photographed on Sunday

Going underwater...

A number of posts have shown the seabirds that gather at particular times of year in the Strait of Gibraltar.  They come in to exploit the richness of marine life where Atlantic water meets the Mediterranean.  I take the opportunity in this post to show some of the richness of underwater Gibraltar.  The photographs were taken by my wife Geraldine this Saturday and Sunday.  Some were in a reef called Seven Sisters and others in a wreck called Burkhana.

Common Octopus

Contact!

Marine Landscape at Seven Sisters

Soft Corals

Stunning Nudibranchs

Spiny Starfish

Red Starfish

Scorpion Fish

Anthias in the Burkhana wheel house

Snakelocks Anemone

Gorgonian landscape

Colour and shine under a spring sun

Last week saw the start of the migration north of Bee-eaters. The southern populations, those around the Strait of Gibraltar, are the first to arrive and these birds are already busy digging into banks and soft earth. Their liquid calls and the kaleidoscope of colours of their plumage are a feature of spring in these parts.

 

The 19th Century ornithologist Howard Irby wrote about the spectacular spring arrival of the Bee-eater, noting that the peak was around the 10th April, a day which he christened St Bee-eater's Day!

Lesser Kestrels arrived earlier than the Bee-eaters. Some remain all year in small numbers but many return, from wintering areas in Senegal and nearby areas of West Africa, from January. They are now busily engaged in nesting activities and add more colour to the intense blue spring skies.

Not all colourful and glossy birds are migratory. Spotless Starlings (these photographed on 28th March) are endemic of the Iberian Peninsula and nearby regions. They never leave so are early breeders. The combination of yellow bill, red legs and glossy black plumage add one more brush stroke to the wonderful spring colours and sounds of this part of the world.

On a millennial Hill of Olives

Olives are common trees in many parts of the Mediterranean but wild olive woodland is not so easy to find. One such place is the Rock of Gibraltar where ancient wild olives thrive on the sunny west-facing limestone slopes. There is one particular spot where the olives form a dense woodland which is blanketed by a lush understorey of Acanthus.

Strange plants grow in the shady understorey, none moreso than the Butcher's Broom (below)

No, this is not a trick photograph. The fruit of the Butcher's Broom is not growing from the centre of a leaf! This is actually a flattened stem adapted for trapping sunlight deep in the undergrowth of the forest

The Osyris is a shrub that is especially abundant in the olive woodland. Its fruit grows "normally" from the branches of the shrub, with bright colour to attract bird dispersers.

Beautiful Spanish Festoons seek the sunlight between the trees

Dwarf Fan Palms, the only species to grow wild in Europe, are looking splendid thanks to protection - no palm hearts are cut off from these plants!

Deep in this wood is a cave. It had never been excavated until we started there over ten years ago. People were living here 14 thousand years ago, hunting and gathering in an environment with Aleppo Pines, slightly drier than today. Between 4.2 and 3.5 thousand years ago, Copper and Bronze Age people came into the cave and they buried their dead here. Charcoal remains allowed us to date these people and they also allowed us to identify what plants were growing outside the cave then. And, just like now, the wild olive was the dominant tree! A lot later, in the 14th Century AD a muslim goatherd came here, brought sardines from the sea 300 metres below and ate them while tending his animals!

Part of our ancient olive wood with North Africa, across the Strait of Gibraltar, in the background