Back from Italy!

We've been back from Italy for several weeks but I have only just got around to downloading my photos! That is partially because we both came back with rotten colds, which may or may not have actually been Covid as they were not the same as normal colds - I did do a test but by the time we got around to getting one from the pharmacy, it was 10 days since I had caught Keith's cold and the results were negative. Anyway, it left me feeling drained although I am glad to say we are both feeling much better now.

I found some photos from July and August on my camera so I am sharing those now, before I get back to reporting on our Spanish trip.

I decided to try shooting butterflies in flight, but you know how it goes - you go outside to do so and where are the butterflies? Well exactly. I shall have to try again next year when there are more butterflies around. This summer was so hot and dry that I didn't see that many butterflies in the latter half of the summer, and it was too hot to go out for walks. A bit of a wasted summer in that respect (although the pool was nice and warm, see above. 😀)

I did get a reasonable shot of a Long Tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus) in flight - interesting because they usually sit with their wings closed. If you open up the collage you can just see its little tails. The other picture is of a more worn specimen which is lacking its tails and eye spots at the base.

October has been a very pleasant month with temps mostly in the low 20Cs and lots of sunshine. Just before we went away we had an enormous amount of rain which was sorely needed - I think it was about 50mm (2 inches) so when we came home it was very green everywhere which was so nice after the dry summer. There are still a few butterflies around, one of which is the Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) which is below taken on wild oregano, back when it was flowering.

This is a Rough Saddle Bush Cricket (Uromenus rugosicollis) on a garden waste bag. Love its eyes! Also, I've just remembered - I don't have a photo but we found a gecko in the garden - it was on a watering can that I was carrying around at the time! I thought they were only found in the coastal areas so that was a real surprise. Haven't seen one since though there are lots of young Wall Lizards around.

And whether it is the heat or what, I don't know, but I have seen lots of Preying Mantises (Mantis religiosa) this summer. There are probably lots more, but look how well it is camouflaged against the colours of the plant! Often I spot them because they are on a wall, or have just flown out in front of me to land in a plant. If they don't move, they are very hard to notice.

My indoor orchids are doing really well. The Odontoglossom below is one of the fancy ones I bought at the plant fair last year so I was really pleased to see it come back into flower again, although these flowers didn't last very long (about two weeks) and are actually going over in this photo.

This is a Phalaenopsis that came back into bloom for the first time, so I didn't even know what colour it was going to be! These blooms are really huge ones.

My favourite purple Dendrobium flowered its face off before we went to Italy and this time, instead of the usual 5 or 6 flowers on each stem, it had loads of flowers, I think about 11 or 12 on each stem! When we came back it was just going over but has two more flowering stems which have just started flowering!

Three of my other Phalaenopsis are about to flower yet again, having already been flowering for four to five months earlier this year, and my fancy Jewel Orchid (Ludisia discolor) with the stripey leaves (you can just see it in the foreground below) has a bud on it.

I can honestly say that at the moment I have really green fingers where orchids are concerned. 💜 I am being very good about watering and feeding them regularly, and have been repotting some of them, which might help!

But how was Italy, you may be asking? It was really enjoyable and made a nice change from Spain and France. However, the amount of tourists in some places was incredible; I absolutely dread to think what it is like there during the school holidays! It was also very green everywhere which was surprising and the weather, whilst sunny, was very humid which wasn't so nice. As for the Roman sites we visited, they are out of this world. You'll have to wait until I finish blogging about our earlier Spanish travels first though! 😀

Spain Trip May 2025 - Part 2 Castilla y Leon and south to Extremadura

Our plan was to work our way southwards to Andalucia and our next stop was still in the Castile and Leon region, at the Natural Park of Las Batuecas-Sierra de Francia. I had noted an accessible walk which I thought suited my dodgy knees and hips much better! As you can see, it wasn't exactly warm and my brother was very pleased to have a thick blanket over his sleeping bag. Rather him than me in a tent in northern Spain in May - I can put the heating on in our Moho! 😀

Our walk was a loop past a number of century old chestnut trees which were huge! Some of the path was on boardwalk which is great for easy walking. We had been higher up to a monastery earlier in the day but it wasn't very picturesque and the clouds rolled in and spoiled the view, so no point posting those photos.

It may have been chilly but the sun was shining and there were wildflowers which make my heart sing. This yellow flower is another rockrose, Cistus lasianthus (according to PlantNet), with common names of Lisbon False Sun-rose or Woolly Rockrose.

The trees were late coming into leaf here but what caught my eye the most was this amazing lichen, which is really long and hairy! It could be Ramalina farinacea but I know very little about lichens so if you know better, please let me know!

I caught a glimpse of snow capped peaks as we were driving south so I took this photo with my phone through the windscreen. You can see how lovely it looked everywhere with all that yellow Broom!

The map below gives an indication of where we were - we started off in Castile and Leon, by the Portuguese border, and worked our way south to Extremadura. As we'd seen a lot of this region a few years ago, we only visited one town and drove through the Monfrague National Park again, as it was along the way.

Credit: Orangesmile.com

In the park we went to Gypsy Leap where the Griffon Vultures all hang out. If you are lucky you may see other less common vultures. We weren't lucky in that respect.

There aren't any Griffons in my photos but there were loads of them around.

We were lucky though as this Rock Bunting (Emberiza cia) came and perched not far below us and the water behind made for a lovely clear photo - taken by Keith. This bird is a lifer for us! The black markings on its head are similar to those of the Cirl Bunting. They are both very handsome birds.

Another great sight was this Black Stork (Ciconia nigra) sitting on its nest across the water from us.

It then stood up and surprise - it had been sitting on two eggs! Seeing things like that are always wonderful.

Mr Stork then came in to land and stood beside his wife on the nest, with the babies to be. 💕

A quick note about what's going on here - the workmen have just finished and then on Monday, the removals company are bringing our things back! In between we have to clean - I don't know why I went and washed the floor in the bedroom after the tiling was finished as I've had workmen traipsing through it to the bathroom these past three weeks. The garage is really dusty so it's a good thing our stuff isn't there, after all. Then we will be busy putting all our things back in place in the garage and bedroom so I don't know if I will have time to do another post before we go away - we are heading off to Italy at the beginning of September. I will post some photos from the work going on here after our return. I took loads of photos as you can imagine! (All went well, thank goodness!!!)

Spain Trip May 2025 - Part 1 Castilla y Leon region, the Douro River between Spain and Portugal

Going back to our most recent holiday in Spain, we started off beside the Portuguese border in the region north of Extremadura, in the north west of Spain. In this part of the region, they have these amazing large Rockroses, Cistus ladanifer, which mostly have crimson spots on the white petals, but as you can see below, not all of them do! The only place I got a chance to take photos was at a layby just after a shower, so the flowers were a bit droopy. They did look amazing en masse through the countryside as we drove along.

We spent the night at a campsite on the Portuguese side of the border (a new country for me!) then the next morning boarded a boat at Miranda do Douro in Portugal for a cruise up the river. This part of the river has high sided cliffs and there is a Natural Park on each side of the river. The cruise was labelled as an eco cruise and we were hoping to see Spanish Imperial Eagles, but yet again, no such luck! We did see a few Griffon Vultures flying overhead.

In this part of Spain and Portugal the broom was flowering in abundance - possibly Spanish Broom but I don't really know as there are many kinds of broom.

At this point I was taking photos from inside the boat. Our cruise was all in Portuguese (and probably Spanish as well) but we had an idea of what they were talking about as we had read the leaflets in English.

Halfway through the cruise we were allowed out on the viewing decks.

The cliffsides were covered in moss, ferns and lichen.

We spent the afternoon exploring in the Arribes del Duero* Natural Park on the Spanish side and stopped at a reservoir for our lunch. It was a fabulous place to while away some time.

* That's the Spanish spelling of the river, the other is the Portuguese!

There was nobody else here and it would have made a great spot to wild camp, though with my brother's tent and a husband who doesn't fit inside the shower of the Moho, we went to a campsite.

There were wildflowers galore, including this small Spotted Rockrose (Tuberaria guttata).

Standing out the most with the yellow Broom was the French Lavender (Lavandula stoechas), which was growing wild everywhere, all the way down to about halfway through Extremadura region to the south. We have some in the mountains around where we live but only in patches with acid soil - the chalk soil has normal lavender.

Later on we took a walk to a waterfall on a tributary of the Douro which I had read about, which had a platform hanging out over the cliff to view the falls. On the way my brother spotted this butterfly, which is a Spanish Festoon (Zerynthia rumina). It's sadly very worn as there should be red spots amongst the black and cream markings! I've seen one flying away before but never really seen one properly, so this is sort of a lifer.

After a little while walking downhill on a very rough rocky path, I caught a glimpse of the river down below. I mean, really down below. I had no idea it would be that far down!

Then looking through my binocs I could see that this was the place we were aiming for, with the viewing platform. I knew that there was no way I could get down that far on the rough path, never mind getting back up again! I have been suffering from a dodgy hip whenever doing stairs or uphill slopes, not to mention my weak knees. I know now when to call it a day. I don't think the guys were too sorry either to give this hike a miss! 😁