The
sadness of a last goodbye, and the joy of Bee-eaters.
My
father, Manuel Bermejo Marcos, died last autumn. At about the time of his death, we were halfway
down a mountain with two lovely British clients and their dog, after observing
Black and Griffon vultures, when suddenly there appeared a pair of Roe deer on
the track ahead. They stopped and looked
at us for some seconds, before lightly springing off into their woodland. I shall always link that moment with my father
and his beloved companion, perhaps reunited in some other dimension, choosing
the form of deer to say his last goodbye.
Now the
bee-eaters are back, filling me with joy whenever I see and hear them. There’s a pair of Golden Eagle breeding again
after several years’ absence and the countryside is filled once again with the trilling,
twittering and chirping of a thousand tiny winged beings preparing themselves
to create new life. Wild flowers are
springing up everywhere and I know my dad would have rejoiced in all this: the
birds, the trees, the plants, and all the animals we’re privileged to share our
landscape with here, so these photos are for you dad, and thank you for sharing
your love of nature with us all.
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| Our local patch |
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| Griffon Vultures at waterhole |
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| Verraco, or iberian boar |
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| Cranes flying to roost |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Golfinch |
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| Ibex in the Sierra de las Batuecas |
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| The beautiful Valle del Corneja |
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| Azure-winged magpies |
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| Marbled newt |
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Siskin feeding
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