Where has February gone? For me I have been in lots of places within the UK. A London jackdaw at my favourite birdplace reminds me of the northern jackdaw colonies I live near when in the UK. My phone managed my best ever jackdaw photo as the bird perches waiting for fish bits at the otter enclosure at the Barnes Wetland Centre.

In the midlands we watch the Beekeeper of Aleppo on the Nottingham stage. First this was a book and I hastily took it from my long overdue to be read shelf and was absorbed in the psychological displacement of fleeing a war zone as well as the physical loss of loved ones and a well loved environment where they kept bees.

Onto the North East we visit a Tyne side beach with the Sunderland port in the background. A mix of greys, light blues and rock pools. The North sea stretching out, a shallow sea and one that is under so much pressure. A UK supermarket makes the headlines that they will no longer sell mackerel from this north east region as its being overfished. Well, they can’t anymore as the closure of the fishery happened 6 months ago because of the dramatic decline in numbers and the species could not reproduce sufficiently to allow for more to be taken. There is too much pressure to legally overfish and push the quotas to the limits. The result though, no more of that species in that area. If I manage to write on substack I will have a focus on ocean nature issues. At present I volunteer on Marine and Coastal policy work for strategies to allow for the return to a healthy and abundant ocean.

Arriving back in the Sierra Aracena we come a different route. Below are the Pyrenean mountains covered in snow. Later the country has sunshine glistening on thin ribbons of rivulets, ponds all flowing into big rivers and reservoirs. These look more earthy coloured water. I guess a lot of sediment flowing down too because of heavy continuous rain.

We must have crossed the Spanish meseta, where so many of the mighty and long Iberian rivers flow from. My intention for this Spring will be to follow the Guadiana river from source to sea. However, not just yet it seems. There has been so much rainfall especially in the south of Spain in Andalucia that many roads are not passable due to water, landslides and subsidence. There are still some towns and villages cut off and others where folk were evacuated and not all able to return. There is a high cost to this rain and flooding with so much damage to infrastructure and houses.

Grazelema suffered 500ml in 24 hours. This town and natural park is famous for its diversity of nature, particularly for botanists. Its climate is usually wetter than most of Andalucia and therefore is a distinctly different mediterranean region.

The cost of more extreme weather due to the heating up of the oceans and climatic changes is adding up the insurance costs here in Spain.

Back in our home in the Sierra Aracena, the coldest winter was recorded in the last 10 years and since September the rainfall level is back to that recorded in the years prior to the drought – 1000 mm but over 6 months. This is now more than last year when I wrote about how much rain we had in February 2025.

On our land in the lowest valley area we not only have a stream running into an over flowing pond but a wetland. Also around the well it is almost up to the top and boggy.

And the birds are singing. There are the regulars – robin/ petit rojo and lots of blackcaps. But I walk to the gate and see the Iberian green woodpecker that seems to laugh out its call of danger. High above me in the spindly pyrenean oak grove the laughing call warns of the intruder, me. The humans are back. The wild boar will be catching on too and as their ploughing has got nearer to the house and garden lets hope soon and they keep themselves further away.

Of the birds I have heard there has been an interesting range – the nightingale, treecreeper, song thrush, greenfinch, and mainly the blue tit. Where are the others in that family I wonder; the great tit, crested and long tailed ones?

On my walk up the hill of the valley side I look out for where the dead boar lay. A massive beast came to its end by some large badger holes last November. One walk to check on it then was too difficult because of the smell. Nothing seemed to be eating this rotting carcass and there were too many branches in dense woodland for the vultures to land.

This time I expect to see some remains, bones, a skull perhaps. We had found a skull a year or two ago in the valley area. But there was nothing. Totally gone. Where? How? Now, I had my path back. But the badger holes looked filled in. There are quite a few badger setts, entrances, signs of latrines too on this side of the valley. These ones were now no longer in use. I guess the badgers didn’t like the smell too and seemed not at first to tackle the rotting carcass.

Let’s get back to bird song. We need a lighter note or two. How did these amazing feathered beings develop their song instruments. I was listening to David Attenborough’s book ‘The Life of Birds’. So birdsong and the syrinx / pipes of birds began to put the whole picture together for me.

The evolution of the syrinx in birds is still causing a lot of study as in the above article. Dinosaurs, flying ones, birds, reptiles. How did the syrinx evolve in birds?

Birds have evolved a different voicebox to other animals and this is situated further within their bodies just above the two bronchi. Some say their voices emanate from their hearts but scientifically it is much closer to their lungs. The lungs are already well adapted for flight and on the syrinxes there are tiny muscles which move and the air can pass through and sounds made very easily but in a two way flow too!

Some of the sounds are songs which are learnt and distinctive to each species. Perhaps this song complexity came later but the other sounds such as calls came first. These can be made while flying and are very much a communication tool for survival and the importance for some of belonging to a flock: Finding each other and flying together.

However it seems the males have more of the song repertoire for helping them stand out as a very viable suitor or displaying their strong genetic heritage for reproduction and survival of the species.

We might like to believe birds sing for joy so let’s not totally lose that to scientific understanding. Perhaps these are songs for the future, songs of hope being passed down the generations, songs of love and desire!

Or

Spring is coming! Choose me!

Here’s hoping for everyone the signs of hope are beginning to sing out around you.

Today 28 th February is Dia de Andalucía. In 1980 in a referendum, not long after the death of Franco, Andalucía became a self governing province. And so this day is a public holiday.

Finally the sun is out after all the rain and terrible floods in Andalucía this winter. The whole of the Sierra Aracena is full of visitors enjoying walks or like us some music.

We visited the village/ pueblo of Alajár today for the Renaissance Festival. The Andalusian province flags were flying too. A young woman with a beautifully angelic voice singing renaissance music in the church in Alajár. A reminder of how our voices were our first instruments. And did we learn to sing because we listened to the birds and tried to copy them!

My next project is to take us all an A to Z tour of the villages of the Sierra Aracena. I will begin with those beginning with A

Alajár – first

Almonaster- a favourite

Aracena – our main town

Aroche -the furthest west and closest to the Portuguese border.