With the heat of the summer approaching the Cork cutting season is getting under way. This is a vital economy for our deprived region and as well as providing employment it also sustains the countryside ecologically as well, so it’s imperative we try to keep it going. I’m so passionate about it that I’m going to be giving a lecture about it at the British Bird Fair in Rutland in August – Marquee 2 15.30 on the Sunday if anyone’s visiting.
These few pictures show the cork being taken off the trees – a highly skilled, uncomfortable and hard job, especially as the temperature rises through the next few months.
Plains-20090609_4677
Although up in the hills here we’re still fresh and green, down on the Plains the sun has arrived with a vengeance, the crops are coming in and the over-riding colour is brown ….. this is a view of them I took a couple of days ago on a birding trip. I was born close to the Sahara and this is the kind of countryside that rings my bell just as loud as a sylvan wooded glade ….
Special People
It’s very rare that I put my picture up on this blog and just as rare that we have Buddhist monks come to stay, (in fact it’s a first for both), but we had such a lovely time when these three were here last week that, with special permission, I’m posting this shot to show that it isn’t all birds, wine, weekend breaks and family holidays here at the Quinta; good times, yes, but sometimes there’s an inner peace that can best be gained by silence … Ajahn Sumedho, Tan Subhaddo and Dhammiko were relaxing here before running a 5 day retreat further north and it was a real treat for us to have staying in our home.
The Quinta’s choice of wines June ’09
The Quinta’s choice of wines June ’09, originally uploaded by Paradise in Portugal.
…. the Quinta’s wine choice as organised by Heather! Our ethos here is that all our wines are Portuguese, all of them have real corks, and …. all of them have a bird either on the label or in the name! This third point is very important!
Seriously though, Portuguese wines are gorgeous and we are very insistent that all of ours must have real corks so that we do our bit to keep the Montados alive, which is an absolutely vital industry in our area.
Heather 20090601
Heather 20090601, originally uploaded by Paradise in Portugal.
Let’s also introduce Heather, our volunteer for these next few months, here measuring the water temperature yesterday morning – it turned out to be a very balmy 24ºC, (75ºF), warm enough for me to go swimming!
I came up afterwards to find she’d cleaned and organised the bar, even down to getting the heights of the bottles aligned ….
Carolina & Honey 20090601
Carolina & Honey 20090601, originally uploaded by Paradise in Portugal.
Honey 20090601
Honey 20090601, originally uploaded by Paradise in Portugal.
Let me introduce Honey, the Quinta’s newest dog …. yes, another one! We’re a bit of a soft touch when it comes to animals and people around here know it, so we weren’t surprised when Zé Manuel popped over a week or so ago with this bundle of fun, but we set our hearts to stone and refused his “gift” ….. until the children saw her! Zé Manuel is actually one of our local bee-keepers and the one who runs the Quinta’s bee hives now that I no longer do it myself, so what with that and the puppy’s colouration, you can see how she got her name!
(Nearly) Mature Male Epaulet Skimmer 20090528-2
(Nearly)-Mature-Male-20090528-2, originally uploaded by Paradise in Portugal.
This was one species that took me by surprise. The Epaulet Skimmer’s main habitat is in north Africa, and though known in the Iberian Peninsula, I had no idea they’d be as abundant as they proved to be today. Every time we approached the water they seemed to be there, mostly, like the one pictured here, immature males – though this is so nearly mature it makes little difference.
Mature-male-Scarlet-Darter-20090528
Mature-male-Scarlet-Darter-20090528, originally uploaded by Paradise in Portugal.
There were many different species zipping this way and that and I could only get shots of a few, but this is a particularly striking species …
Male-Goblet-marked-damselfly-20090528
Male-Goblet-marked-damselfly-20090528, originally uploaded by Paradise in Portugal.
I had with me a Dragonfly Specialist, (complete with net and inspection jar), so we had a fun time pottering around identifying the various species. The valley is broad-bottomed and the river meanders this way and that, sometimes between rocky outcrops, sometimes through shaded groves of alder and poplar, sometimes with deep pools, sometimes rustling and rushing over loose rocks, sometimes disappearing altogether only to appear again 50 mts later.