A dark and stormy night

Last night I was awoken by the biggest thunderstorm I have witnessed since living here. That is saying something as we have a lot of storms here, far more than I ever experienced living in the south of England.

I got up to look out of the window and found that the lightning was so intense that the sky did not get dark again between flashes. It was as if the sky was white, and yet flickering constantly. Then, when the thunder sounded, a huge glaring streak of lightning would flash through the sky above the hills behind our house. Flashes so bright that they hurt my eyes and I couldn't look at them. The thunder, meanwhile, was extremely loud almost making the house shake. After a few minutes the rain arrived. Torrential rain. I was so pleased that we were safely at home and not out having to travel in it. I couldn't help thinking about the local wildlife and wondering what the animals were making of it.

This morning the river, of course, was full and flowing quickly. The world feels cleaner and brighter after a storm like that.

River Congost after the storm, La Garriga

Poolside lizard

Getting out of the swimming pool at our campsite at Torroella de Montgrí, I headed back to my towel and found a little lizard sunbathing on it! He allowed me to take his photo before heading off to sit on another pool-goer's towel. I think he was a Catalonian wall lizard (Podarcis liolepis) but would be interested to hear from anyone who can confirm this for me (or give me the correct identification if I am wrong).

Catalonian wall lizard / Sarganta bruna (Podarcis liolepis)

A new book

It was my birthday the other day and I received a very exciting new book: the "Guia pràctica per conèixer la natura de Catalunya" published by IPCENA. It is a beautiful and informative nature guide with many illustrations and photographs about the geography, plants, fungus and animals of Catalonia. There is also information about protected areas and places to visit. I am already enjoying it and look forward to delving into it a lot in the future. You can find out more information about the book here.

A trip to the river with the kids

We got out our fishing nets, put on our flip-flops and marched the children to the river to look for wildlife. Soon everyone was soaking wet and having fun splashing around. Toby, the youngest at three years of age, had the most success as he found two crayfish. We believe they were invasive red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii). We put one of them into a pot to have a closer look at him. As I approached him with my camera, he reared up and raised his two big claws at me. "Ta-da!" called out Toby! Yes, perhaps the crayfish was showing off his pincers with a fanfare! A few small snails also caught our attention but they didn't stand out as much as the crayfish whose colour and interesting posture really made the trip to the river a memorable experience for parents and kids.

Red swamp crayfish / Cranc de riu americà (Procambarus clarkii)

Ta da! 

Very small snail

Beauty in the rain

Yesterday it rained all day. A beautiful photo opportunity presented itself.

Snail on lily

Feathered friends

We have had lots of birds in our garden this week. The sparrows and a great tit come to eat the guinea pig food. There is a magpie who drops in occasionally too. I try to photograph them all but they usually fly off before I can grab my camera.  Happily, I did manage to photograph this beautiful collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto).

Collared dove / Tòrtura turca (Streptopelia decaocto)

Introducing Hoppy the wild boar

Last week we got some excellent footage of a wild boar (Sus scrofa) next to the River Congost in La Garriga. We had filmed this individual before and recognised him because of his hopping gait as he does not put any weight on one of his rear legs. Maybe the leg is broken or the foot is injured in some way. Though he may be in pain, he manages to travel a fair amount as the two areas where we have filmed him are not that close together. This week he was particularly interested in the camera and I am surprised that he did not knock the tripod over.

Snails

It rained during the night on Saturday, so on Sunday morning the garden was full of snails. Here is a photo of one which I found on a terracotta pot. It is easy to take these garden 'pests' for granted, but when you look at them closely they are really quite amazing animals. I thought the shell on this one was particularly beautiful with colours ranging from pale yellow to deep magenta.

Rodents by the river

This week we filmed mice and shrews by the River Congost. We left the camera very close to the river where there was a lot of plant cover but easy access to the water. We put some sardines as bait and thought we might capture some footage of American mink but this time it was only rodents that came to investigate our bait and camera.

A lot of the daytime videos just showed plants blowing in the breeze and maybe some insects buzzing past. Of the 37 videos which had rodents in them, I have chosen two to share here. One shows a shrew (possibly a common shrew - Sorex araneus) coming in from the right and then being chased off by another rodent. It happens so quickly it's hard to see if it is another shrew or a mouse! The other video shows a mouse (possibly a wood mouse - Apodemus sylvaticus) running and jumping about.

A mystery spider

Yesterday I found an interesting spider living in the bottom of our guinea pig hutch. I scooped it out carefully and took some photos. I'm not sure what the species is, so if anyone can help with that I'd love to hear from you! My guess at the moment is that it is a female Steatoda bipunctata but please correct me if I am wrong. This species is also known as the "rabbit hutch spider" which seems appropriate considering where I found it.