BIRDING IN SPAIN'S WILD WEST: The sadness of a last goodbye, and the joy of Bee-eaters.

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.