Las Salinas, Finally

I can’t believe that we’ve been here for almost two months but hadn’t yet made one of our normal forays around Las Salinas in Calpe – until today, that is.

Today was looking like the warmest and sunniest day of the coming week, with temperatures hitting 18 or 19°C. With all the dragonflies now having died out (I think) but with butterflies on the wing, maybe there’d be something flitting about.

The short answer is that there wasn’t. Well, I did spot a single white butterfly but that was all. I suspect the lack of success was largely due to a noticeable lack of flowers for butterflies to be feeding on.

There is a lot of development going on in Calpe and there were worrying signs that some of this development was encroaching on what has previously been waste ground. Waste ground, covered in “weeds”, makes great habitat both for invertebrates and for birds, which gain shelter and food from the plants. A few sizeable tracts of the ground had been cleared of vegetation, making it look as though building of some sort might be commencing in the near future. [Gloom.]

On a brighter note, it looked as though the Greater Flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) resident in Las Salinas had had a reasonable breading season last year because several small groups of youngsters were to be seen wading around near the edges. Well, I think they’re quite cute, albeit in a large, grey sort of way, and I’m sure their mothers love ‘em.

You can’t beat the gaudy pink of an adult bird, though, so just for the record, here is one with its head briefly out of the water, taking a break from sifting.

The birds are showing signs that they think spring is on the way by singing. Blackbirds are being decidedly vociferous around Casa Libélule. Some birds are clearing pairing up, too. We frequently see Serins (Serinus serinus) both here and in France, the males advertising themselves with their frenetically fast song. They are difficult to catch on pixels, though, but a pair did pose nicely for me beside Las Salinas. catching not just the male but also the female on pixels assuaged my frustration a little.

I didn’t see any Stilts. Maybe the season is wrong; I’ll have to check.