Noticias en ‘Catalonia’
May 2nd, 2008
Update 02/05. The webcam has been up and working again for the last few weeks, and the new chick is growing fast. Click here to see webcam
It was decided to bring a chick from a nest outside the park. The new chick comes from a nest of two and its parents only managed to rear one of their two chicks last year. The pair on the webcam have been unable to rear any chicks successfully for seven years, and the two other pairs of Bonelli eagles in the park won’t be breeding this year as the two males have disappeared (one while its mate was incubating. Lucy
STOP PRESS 01/04: Sad news for everybody who has been following the Bonelli eagle webcam. The chick appears to have died. Follow up the discussion on this on the forum where Clive notes it might be early enough for them to make another attempt.
The live webcam of the pair of Bonell’s eagles (Hieraaetus fasciatus ) is up again. The nest is in El Parc del Garraf, near Barcelona. This is the best wildlife webcam in Spain that I know of. Yesterday I saw the chick, white, cute and fluffy, squeaking incessantly for food as it’s mother tore a rabbit apart, and gently fed it. There’s a limited number of visitors at a time so if it doesn’t work try again later.
Catalonia, birds, webcams | Tags: Bonelli’s eagle, Garraf, Hieraaetus fasciatus|
Eduard Durany, of the Barcelona Peregrine Falcon Reintroduction Project, a scheme close to my heart, has sent me this photo of chicks in Guadi’s Sagrada Famila. Eduard notes that this year four chicks have hatched in the nestbox, a record for the site. In 2005, 2 chicks were hatched, in 2006, there were another 2, and in 2007 just 1 females. The father was released in Barcelona port in 2001 and the female was born on the Montjuïc cliffs in 2006. Photos here another BCN pair. + More info on Barna’s peregrines.
Thalassia and Galanthus are also organising a Peregrine Watching Day on 10th May from the Plaça del Sagrada Família, which is right in front of the nest. Telescopes will be available. I’m going. The activity starts at 10:00am.
Barcelona, Catalonia, birds, urban wildlife in Spain | Tags: peregrine falcon, Sagrada Famila|
Spain is struggling to deal with the worst drought since the 1940s: reservoirs stand at 46 per cent of capacity and rainfall over the past 18 months has been 40 per cent below average. After months of low rainfall, parched Catalonia has had to appeal to Madrid for help - and now ecologists fear the costs of a long-term solution. The Guardian
Catalonia, On Spain, Water, desertification | |
Worst drought in Catalonia for 70 years with little rain expected till April (El Pais)
Catalonia, Extreme weather Spain, On Spain, desertification | |
The number of boars in Collserola has doubled in the last three years to some 65o individuals, which are increasingly moving into the city’s outskirts to feed. (El Periodico) Here below a group of 30 boars feeding next to the excellent Vall de Hebron Hospital, where I had my kidney stone removed. Thanks to Lucy on the forum for flagging this. Overfamiliarisation can bring humans dangeously close to what is a wild animal, particularly when this is a sow with young. Wild boar numbers are increasing throughout Catalonia mainly due to the recovery of forests to the detriment of farmland, but also due to proliferation of corn crops. See wild boar in Spain
Barcelona, Catalonia, Mammals, urban wildlife in Spain | |
Lucy has this report on the forum of a short trip to Sierra de Montgrony “Against the greys and browns there were vivid concentrations of colour: the ruby breast of a Bullfinch, scarlet splash of a Woodpecker and quantities of rosehips. Old Man’s Beard was plentiful, catching the sun. There was a lovely interlude when the route goes through a ghostly beech wood, ankle-deep in coppery leaves. No sign of the dramatic black woodpecker of last spring.” Read
Catalonia, On Spain, Pyrenees, Walking | |
I’m re-reading Robert Hughes’ Barcelona, a fascinating history of the city from its foundation to the early 20th century. There’s a very interesting section on the Barcelonan and Catalan seafaring tradition in which he mentions the importance of ship’s cats - the bigger and blacker the better - and the custom of Shanghaiing them by tempting them on board with a bit of fish. Under 14th-century Catalan maritime law (Les Bones Costumes de la Mar), ship’s owners were penalised of they failed to provide a cat and rats infested the ship. Here’s the full quote from the law I managed to find:
If good be damaged by rats, and there is no cat on board the ship, the managing owner of the ship ought to make compensation; but it has not been declared in the case where a ship has had cats on board in the place where she was laden, and after she has sailed away the said cats have died and the rats have damaged the goods before the ship has arrived at a place where they could procure cats; if the managing owner of the ship shall buy cats and put them on board as soon as they arrive at a place, where they can find them for sale or as a gift or can get them on board in any manner, he is not bound to make good the said losses, for they have no happened through his default.
from “Les Bones Costumes de la Mar” (14th-15th c. Catalan text) from Twiss, Sir Travers, ed. Monumenta Juridica, The Black Book of the Admiralty
Get Robert Hughes’ Barcelona from Iberianature/Amazon
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spanish sea tales, Spanish seas | |
I came across this remarkable event while reading about Barcelona in the Civil War
The “aurora borealis” is a luminescent meteor, a phenomenon that frequently happens in areas close to the North Pole and which can also be seen in rather exceptional circumstances in regions of Central Europe. So the aurora borealis that could quite clearly be seen from the Pyrenees, and even from the top of the Tibidabo hill in Barcelona, on the 25th of January 1938, was an absolutely unusual occurrence. It was in fact a unique experience. There are no known accounts of any other event of that kind at such meridional latitudes. Furthermore, the phenomenon took place in the midst of war, thus causing terrible confusion and shock among the soldiers who were fighting on the Aragonese front.
From THE REPUBLICAN YEARS (www.bcn.es) by J. Fabre, J.M. Huertas and. Pradas
Barcelona, Catalonia, Climate, Extreme weather Spain, Historical accounts about Spain, history | Tags: 1938 aurora borealis in Europe|
I came across this remarkable set of aerial photos of Catalonia. Above the Delta del Llobregat, now a sad vestige of its former glory. Continue reading … Leer
Catalonia, history, photography | |
A young alligator (70 cm) was caught in Barcelona in the River Besòs yesterday. The reptile was spotted by a local naturalist doing a study on birds. Experts believe the mild temperatures on the Catalan coast and the abundant presence of swamp crayfish may allow alligators to survive the winter here. This is the second alligator to be caught in just over a year near Barcelona, after the larger alligator caught in a pool in Collserola. (El Pais)
Barcelona, Catalonia, invasive species, reptiles & amphibians | |
Wikipedia tells me that Catalan is the origin of the French and posh English word for snail, escargot. This would be a corruption of “es cargol - the snail”, the es being the salat definite article still used in the Balearics and parts of the Costa Brava, once more widespread in Catalan and Gascon speaking areas.
Balearics, Catalonia, Iberian languages, food | |
Simon Rice has written for me this great guide to Catalan food. Here is on Catalan snails:
“Cargols - snails: dozens of small snails are washed and arranged open side up in special tin trays, olive oil is drizzled over them and the whole baked over an open fire and served with alioli or romesco or both as a dip. This dish is called cargols a la llauna and is a speciality of Lleida province, as indeed are many more snail dishes. As the snails are easy to collect after rain and are freebies, something close to the Catalan heart, the whole thing soon becomes a party with whooping children running amuck in a collecting frenzy and Hey Presto! You have a cargolada ! NB the snails don’t have a chance to clean themselves, i.e. to empty their horrible little bowels, before their cremation, so there’s a knack to nibbling the ‘flesh’ of from the ‘gut’ which is left on the end of your picking stick - personally I find the whole thing disgusting! ”
Catalonia, food | |
The attempts to save the Montseny brook newt (Calotriton arnoldi) from extinction have been bolstered by the successful breeding in captivity of the species. At most 1500 of these newts survive in a few fast flowing streams in Montseny in an area of 40km2, making them particularly vulnerable to fire and drought. So far just 7 larva have hatched in the breeding programme of the Centre de Recuperació de Fauna del Departament de Medi Ambient (El Periodico)
Photo of a Montseny brook newt, right, larva
Of all the amphibians in Europe , the Montseny brook newt has the most limited area of distribution and it is also one of the most endangered species on the continent. More on the Montseny brook newt
Catalonia, new species in Spain, reptiles & amphibians | |
Simon Rice of the Iberianature forum and owner of this restored Casa Rabassaire has sent me a comprehesive guide to Catalan food. I’ll be posting this soon on the main site. Meanwhile, here’s Simon introducing Catalan sauces.
“Traditional Catalan cooking is often described as ‘Gothic’, which is just as well as some theorists claim that Catalonia itself descends from the word ‘Gothalonia’ or Land of the Goths. What this refers to, however, is that many Catalan dishes are based not only on old world ingredients, oil, garlic, wine, etc. but have a general gloomy ‘Gothic’ feel due to their dark brown appearance. This is due to the basic sauce element upon which many dishes are built. Indeed many dishes have an architectural quality as they are assembled by the addition of various combinations of pre-made sauces. So here we have the essential key to the cuisine: five sauces, a selection of which, having been made separately, are assembled in differing combinations to make a dish from ingredients indigenous to the region. In contrast, contemporary Catalan cuisine takes these themes and transforms them into culinary fantasies. While taking note of this, and the fact that Catalonia has more Michelin three starred restaurants than anywhere else in Spain, this guide concentrates on traditional aspects.”…
more soon
Catalonia, food | |
Snow falls on average just over once a year in Barcelona, though it sticks less than one in every ten. These photos are testament to the remarkable snowfall of 25 December 1962, the heaviest in living memory. More on Barcelona
Barcelona, Catalonia, Climate, Extreme weather Spain | |
My Tortosí friends have been complaining about these for several years now. The images of the bites I’ve seen on TV are nasty. We’re actually dealing with two species from Africa Simulium intermedium and Simulium ornatum On occasions, farmers with orchards along the River Ebro have had great difficulty harvesting their crops
Black flies in Catalonia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_fly
Spain hit by plague of blood-sucking black flies
Dale Fuchs in Madrid Monday June 25, 2007 The Guardian
A plague of black flies has prompted authorities in north-eastern Spain to issue warnings on TV and fliers advising people to cover up and avoid riverside areas in the early morning and dusk.
The insect has been quickly breeding - and sucking blood - along the rivers and reservoirs of Catalonia and Aragon, causing alarm in small towns.
Only two to three millimetres long, the fly is much smaller and harder to spot than most mosquitoes, but its voracious bite sent more than 2,000 people to hospital last year in Catalonia alone. Its vigorous jaw, which releases a cocktail of chemicals, can produce allergic reactions.
“If the mosquito is a neurosurgeon that bites with a probe, the black fly is a butcher that scratches the skin and makes you bleed,” Raul Escosa, member of an Ebro river environmental board, told El Pais.
“We had to take my 18-year-old daughter to the dermatologist and the allergist because she had a dozen swellings of eight to 10 centimetres,” said Jesus Llop, a town council member in the town of Mequinenza.
The black fly, an umbrella term for several Simulium species, was first detected in the region in 1997, and it has been making its annoying presence increasingly felt. Unlike the mosquito, it breeds in clean river water. Regional experts believe the current outbreak stems from improvements in water quality and new irrigation channels, which created a new habitat.
The insect injects an anaesthetic, an anti-clotting agent and a vasodilator into the skin of its host, who belatedly notices the damage after the fly has moved on. In Switzerland an attacking swarm reportedly killed a calf.
Catalonia, Dangerous animals, Iberian rivers, Invertebrates, invasive species | |
Today’s Avui notes there are now four different wolves present on the Cadi area of the Pre-Pyrenees. All are male, which is typical of an expaning population. There have been 11 recorded attacks on livestock. Since the detection of the first male in 2004, 13 trained mastiff dogs have given to local shepherds. More here from Avui (Catalan).
As previously reported on iberianature these wolves are genetically Italian in origin, forming part of an expansion over a number generations out from the Apennines, with the first wolf appearing in Catalonia in 2004. The last Catalan wolf was shot in Terra Alta in the south of the Principality in 1935, though the animal is thought to have disappeared from the Sierra de Cadà more than 100 years ago.
See also forum thread on this news
 http://www.iberianatureforum.com/index.php?topic=455.msg3230;boardseen#new</p>
Catalonia, Mammals, Pyrenees, Wolves | |
A Great White Shark was washed up injured and later died at Tossa de Mar in 1992. It seems there was an attempt by the local authorities to cover up the incident through fear of upsetting the tourist trade. Juan Rodri from Tossa de Mar, whom I met on wolf-watching trip kindly sent me this photo and press clipping of the incident. Read Sharks in Spain
Catalonia, Dangerous animals, Iberian seas, Spanish Mediterranean, Spanish seas, fish | |
Excellent live webcam of a Bonell’s eagle in El Parc del Garraf, near Barcelona. There’s a limited number of visitors at a time so if it doesn’t work try again later.
web cam is here
I love the clicking noises of the chicks.
Catalonia, birds, webcams | |
I finally got round to posting Frances Barrett’s extremely entertaining writings on food.
Francis Barrett’s Deconstruction of Catalan and Spanish Food A Guide for Newcomers. http://www.iberianature.com/material/spanishfood.html
A couple extracts below:
- Sitting in a scenic country spot with a glass of wine and watching Spanish family members preparing a paella over an open fire in a shallow pit is rather like attending a choreographed performance of gender roles; I suppose the same could be said about Americans or Australians or British or even Irish people at a barbecue.
- Butter { mantequilla } is considered a strange thing to put on bread, but can also be bought with or without salt. Manteca means lard, which can be used for cooking but does not make a good spread. Margarine is sold in supermarkets, but I cannot imagine what sort of moron buys it. Mermelada means both marmalade and jam, and is commonly eaten at breakfast with croisans [croissants] (usually made with manteca rather than mantequilla , so not as nice as the French variety). If you want to see Spaniards go into total shock, give them some Marmite or Vegamite.
- Â Cardes / cardos / thistles are not widely consumed in Catalunya, but are very popular in Navarra, where several of my friends come from. The stems have to be peeled and boiled for a very long time in salty water, but the result is very pleasant either on its own or in combination with peppered celery and / or broccoli. They have a high reputation as a heal-all, being supposed even to cure the plague. Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing contains the line: ‘Get you some of this distilled Carduus Benedictus and lay it to your heart; it is the only thing for a qualm…. I mean plain Holy Thistle.’ This presumably refers to external application, but many older Spaniards regard thistle soup as medicinal in the same way as soup made from / ortigas / nettles and / dock leaves. Galicians also recommend Rubarbio / rhubarb for medicinal purposes but I’ve never heard anyone here enthuse about their granny’s rhubarb recipes, and Catalans seem to regard all these plants as only fit for donkeys
Catalonia, food | |
