Back from Spain and some garden photos from August

We’ve managed to come home with no nasty illnesses thank goodness! Two weeks having a really relaxing time in Catalonia was so nice that it didn’t feel like nearly long enough, so next September we will do something very similar and take three weeks. It helped that the weather was fantastic - a couple of nighttime thunderstorms and a day of rain, the rest of the time it was sun, sun and more sun. Most of our time when not birding was spent lazing around on our pitch, on the beach or by the pool, or wandering around the boutiques and markets. And eating of course!

Below is a picture in Lloret de Mar. About 10 years ago we drove past an attractive looking small town on a bay with a nice beach and a castle, and I kept it in my mind that it was Lloret and that I would like to visit one day. Only when we got there, I realised my error - the pretty place was actually Tossa de Mar, just up the coast! Not to worry, we had a good time anyway and caught the large market that was on in Lloret. So next year we will finally get to Tossa!

We went as far as the Ebro Delta at the southern end of Catalonia for some birding amongst the rice paddies and lagoons, stopped for a few days at l'Estartit which has a really good Indian restaurant and on the way back, had a couple of nights near Collioure, just back over the border in France. Collioure (below) is gorgeous and we caught the market there too.

We started with a couple of days at our favourite bird reserve at the Aiguamolls de l’Emporda, not far from the French border. Our campsite was right beside the reserve area and next to a lovely beach (photo further up) and we were serenaded by Bee Eaters both there and most other places we stayed at too. 

Below is my fave pic that I took (I haven't seen K's photos yet - no doubt some good ones with his big lens) but these Cattle Egret were standing in a tree beside a lagoon and their punky looks make me laugh! Make sure you click to view the photo larger as they all come up much sharper than what is shown embedded in the text.

I will do a few write ups of our birding days later on.

*****************

Going back to August, I have some photos I took that I didn't have time to share before going away. It's occurred to me now that it's either drought, heatwave or both which causes my reluctant Lagerstroemia to flower. This was the best it's bloomed since we moved here and there are still a few flowers on the bush. Even the tiny one (which we call The Stick) had a few flowers.

The Tamarisk had a really good second flowering (you can see it better in the picture of the Lagerstroemia above). Bertie approves.

Tamarisk flowers close up - taken with my phone so not ideal with them swaying in the breeze. I don't know which species it is.

Praying Mantis (Mantis religiosa). When I took this photo I didn't notice that little red bug - poor thing must have been having a heart attack!

My courgette stopped producing about early August. I don't understand what happened but the flowers just stopped opening up. The fruitlets were forming but the flowers on the end (which need pollinating) just didn't mature any further, nor did the flowers with no fruit which need to pollinate them. So that was the end of that, sadly. One tomato went weird and is half dead, but the other two are going like mad - and produced a million more side shoots whilst we were away (aaaarrrggghhh) and one of the self seeded ones is producing medium sized tomatoes which was a nice surprise and they are quite tasty too.

We often eat tomatoes just with basil and olive oil - below is my Greek Basil which has tiny leaves and is a million times better than the usual larger leaved basil. You only have to barely touch this plant for amazing wafts of basil scent to envelope you. We use tons of it but we can't keep up with its growth! It's a bit floppy now as it's got so big. If you ever have a choice when buying basil, get this one.

I saw my first for the garden Silver Washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia) at the end of August, and in fact it's the first one I've seen in quite a few years now. It was enjoying the Garlic Chives and wouldn't stand still, opening and closing its wings and wandering around on the flowers.

These are my Garlic Chives in the herb bed, looking amazing at the beginning of September. I've had to water them all summer though as they have a tendency to just disappear and go dormant if it is very dry, and I wanted the display of flowers!

Southern Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides feisthamelii). K took this photo out of the kitchen window and it is my first known sighting of the southern version of the more common Scarce Swallowtail, which we see fairly often. However you need to see it close up or manage to take a photo to tell which one it is. It isn't an absolute way to ID it but the southern version generally have a blunt short black line (third from the body) whereas the normal version has a pointy line. So I'm counting this as a lifer!

It's still summer here in the Aude but it looks like rain is coming at the weekend and the temps are cooling down to mid/low 20s. It's been a very dry month again but it's a bit more green after the rain we had in August. The pool has cooled down too much for my liking though which is a real shame, but it is getting far less sun on it to heat it up now. So I guess it’s time to winterise it. 😢

This Friday to Sunday is the orchid festival at an abbey in the Corbieres, the one I went to a few years ago and got a couple of interesting orchids from. So we are planning to go again and I will no doubt come home with a few more orchids! Not sure where to put them as I have too many house plants and not enough space for them, but I'll sort something out! As usual my orchids are flowering their faces off.

Hope you are all well and that is is not too autumnal where you are (unless you want autumn, I don't) - or it may be spring for those of you down under in which case I hope it is nice and warm for you! xx