Hello everybody
We have been back for almost 4 weeks and I have a little
news that I will put in different posts. It was nice to be home after
spending 8 weeks in Spain, France, Scotland and England. When the Euro
dollar is about it will not be soon enough.
Starting in Spain, after a short cultural run in London, we visited
Barcelona, where I was to talk at a tourism conference later in Feb, and
hired a small car. I know like us, a lot of Australians have not driven a
car on the right hand side of the road. The skinny little streets of this
part-medieval city is perhaps not the best place to start. No matter I now
know how our international visitors feel and keep thinking about Tom and
hope he is fully recovered.
We made a bee line for Coto Donana which turned out to be a prime
birding spot. Europeans bird quite differently from what I am used to in the
rainforest using telescopes as their prime tool with 10 power bins as the
back up instead of a well developed sense of hearing and 7 power bins. I was
at quite a disadvantage but we saw lots of new birds including the early
spring arrival of the Swallow, House Martin and Sand Martin. With the
services of a very good multi-lingual birdwatching guide, Claudio, I saw
what we took to be a Lanner Falcon well outside its recorded range. I am
still not sure. I also did not expect to see owls during the day but saw a
Little Owl on a stump, not unusual according to Claudio.
After the conference and a brief vist to Costa Bravo, costa lotta
according to Denise, it was back to England. I have a great respect for
English birdwatchers and this was renewed as we cruised around the main
island on the left hand side of the road with some infinitely more polite
but fast drivers. It was in Norfolk that the highlight of the whole trip
occurred. At 1.30pm I spied two carloads of birdwatchers stopped by the side
of the road and looking at what I took to be a Common Kestrel hovering over
a field. We stopped also and when I focussed on the "kestrel" I found it to
be a Barn Owl. I like to see these universal birds in other continents and I
have seen a few here usually sitting on a post by the side of the road. But
actually working away over a field in good light put a whole new feel to it.
Birding in snow has a whole new feel to as well and not far from Loch
Garten, Scotland, I bumped in to a Campbell whilst looking for the Scottish
Crossbill. Years ago he named a fairy-wren found in Papua New Guinea after
his father. There is some stunningly beautiful countryside in Scotland and
we enjoyed Speyside enormously. The only thing I would add to this brief
post is that Britain has a very high cost of living compared to almost the
whole world and it takes a lot of pleasure out of the trip with your hand in
your pocket all the time. An Osprey near Land's End near the end of the trip
late in March was another highlight. I gather that both the Barn Owl and the
Osprey are very scarce in Britain.
If anyone would like some travel tips on any of the above, and I would
tackle Britain differently next time feel free to contact us.
Cheers for now
Chris and denise
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Chris Dahlberg's Specialised River Tours. Daintree Village Phone 4098 7997
............................................................................
...... Denise Collins, Manager, Red Mill House.(for 1999) Phone and Fax
4098 6233
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****** Our river tour and Red Mill House can be seen on:
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~fnq/daintree/dvta01.html
along with links to other local sites especially
birdwatching.
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