After Guadalhorce the remainder of my Saturday and Sunday was spent around the villa terrace enjoying the Crested Tits and I have to say the odd heavy shower. A Chiffchaff would pass through occasionally and the local Sardinian Warblers remained as illusive as ever, offering the odd view.
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| A Crested Tit makes his way through the pines |
Blackcaps are still enjoying the Fig fruits and overhead the first Crag Martins of the autumn are coming down to lower levels for the winter. A few Barn Swallows pass by, normally in the early evening and also noted a couple of local Sparrowhawks.
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| Kestrel ~ seemingly imitating a Hobby |
At one time after a heavy shower, through the window I thought I'd recorded my first-ever Hobby over the villa as high up a bird seemed to be hunting in the air, catching dragonflies and eating them on the wing. As the bird continued hunting and came much lower I was stunned to see it was a Kestrel! I managed several photos but I don't think I've ever seen a Kestrel feed in this way before.
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| A Raven adds to the 'terrace list' during lunch |
During lunch on Sunday a Raven paid a visit, perching noisily on a nearby pylon for a while before heading off.
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| Pea Blue on French Lavender |
There are butterflies to be found around the gardens too and a regular at this time of year is the smart-looking Pea Blue.
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| A Crossbill pauses briefly in the late evening sun before heading off to roost. |
In the evenings, a few Crossbills tend to visit the garden before heading up the mountain to roost. Today, four of them dropped by briefly. I ended my weekend with views of the local Eagle Owl flying down into the scrub, although it was too dark to take any pictures. Nonetheless, it was still a great experience to see him once more and he continued to call along with a couple of Tawny Owls well into the night.
