Although I live on what is called an ‘urbanizacion’ it is very rural and not urban at all. The word just means residential development and there are many in this area. To one side we have the mountains, in front of us is the sea, and behind us endless farmland. I have never seen so many artichokes in my life 😉 and that is why we have such lovely fresh, and cheap food in our local markets.

I have posted previously about the verdes, the green areas in between the housing blocks, and the lovely gardens that many people create there. Most of the verdes are natural though and they are lovely to walk though. I usually chose that route to my Mum’s house, in the hope that I can spot squirrels who live in the more forested ones.

The squirrels here are very different to those in the UK, they are neither red nor grey in colour but a beautiful brown with cream stomachs, and are very tiny and nimble. Apologies that my pictures are not that clear as I was using zoom but I found this great blog with some clear pictures and lots of information so this close up is from there. They have such cute ears as well!

They are a species of red squirrel but are a lot darker and their coats can appear black. The Spanish word for squirrel is ‘ardilla’ (the double l is pronounced as a y).

The very wet weather in March, (where we actually had rain here for about 3 weeks!), has meant that the more open verdes have been transformed into the most gorgeous wildflower areas.

There are so many lovely yellow and purple flowers that have bloomed here, lots of varieties of what look like daisies and a small purple bell shaped flower which covers large areas. You can see that one on the top left of the above picture.

I love to explore the farmland on my bike, as well as great cycle trails there are also the ‘caminos’ which are the rougher roads into the farmland area. Often these run along the ‘azarbes’ or irrigation channels. There are amazing views out towards the mountains.

This week I came across a wetland area on one of the fields where one of the irrigation channels had pumped water onto the field and flooded it. Whether this was deliberate or not I don’t know but it had created a wonderful habitat for birds.

As well as a large flock of ‘gaviotas’, seagulls, there were also white egrets, which we see often here on the azarbes. There were also a few darker egret type birds with a wonderful dark purple plumage under their wings. I think they might be a glossy ibis from my research, this site has some great close up pictures which is where I got this one from.

We also have little lizards that I encounter on my bike rides or walking around, they are far too quick for me to take pictures of but I love to see them!

A little further away we also have the salinas where the flamingos live. I was very excited the other evening as a whole flock of them flew over my house while I was sitting on the terrace. I have seen a few flying over before but never as many of this and it was an amazing sight. No pictures sadly 😦 as the camera was inside.

I did take these ones of the sun setting over the salinas on the way back from Caceres last year. They always look amazing when there are clouds. They are are often a pinky grey colour in the sunlight which is why the flamingos come as eating the sea creatures there turns them pinker. These salinas are some of the best places to see flamingos in Europe. I love the fact that the Spanish for flamingo is ‘flamenco’ 😉

I am really enjoying finding out more about all the birds here, my sister is really into birds and so I have got more used to looking out for unusual ones. Many of the salinas are bird reserves now, as they are no longer used commercially for the salt.

It really is a lovely area to live in, so different from my gorgeous moors and reservoirs of Marsden but still with the same all important access for me to rural areas.

I am looking forward to more nature exploration in the autumn, it will probably too hot in June to go far on the bike so I will be planning lots more cycle routes for when I get back in October. I have also started planning where I will spend January and February next year, nothing confirmed yet but I am very excited!

Meanwhile there are cushions to be finished, the hand stitching is taking a lot longer than I envisaged but I am hoping to done this weekend, so will be able to share that soon. I hope that you have lots of nice things planned for the weekend as well. Do have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.