Sheer Cold

“I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.” 

Andrew Wyeth

 

It´s cold... my feet are frozen and so are my hands... like tiny needles perforating my skin, the chilling temperature enters my flesh... shivers run through my body, but oddly enough, somehow, deep inside i feel warm :) Outside the rain has stopped... but the air itself is wet... there´s no wind and everything is quiet... The winter has come :)

For me it began this tuesday... a month earlier than what it is supposed, but that´s nature and my own vision of it :) Getting out of bed has been a task harder by the day... it feels so cozy and warm in it... why should i wake up before the sun does? =P but i guess that´s life... and i´m happy about it :)

The beginning of my winter was, as this post name may suggest, a freezing experience...  as in the days before, we started the day by meeting with the olive gathering workers. To facilitate the transportation to the reserve, eduard decided to take his car and i the jeep. My first sign of the arriving season was a thick film of ice on the car´s glass... it has been some time since i last witnessed this :) After taking the workers we went back to the village to talk to the shepherd about last day´s otter incident. We wanted to know where he found it and we wanted to see it...

The weather in Faia Brava was something that my poor linguistic skills can´t describe... a dense fog had fallen on all the area... everything seemed fragile and untouched, like we´ve entered a parallel world that human have never stepped... Everything looked still... frozen in time. 

As we get to the place, one thing was sure to me, that place was perfect for otters ^^ The pond where it was found was full of dog footprints... i try to find otter ones as well, but nothing can be seen... I try to follow the water line and begin my search for clues :) On the way a find a little creature on the ground ^^ a tiny green frog. A little further, otter footprints :) i try to follow its path and eventually reach another pond... I feel like a detective looking for clues in a crime scene... by luck, a little european robin lands nearby, and happily hops around, allowing me to take a lousy picture of it... Nothing else to be seen, i go back to the car, no need to say that my feet are frozen and so is my nose... everywhere perfect spider webs glow thanks to the thousands of little water drops...

Our next stop is a nearby pine forest, we´re going on the hunt for mushrooms ^^ And what to the untrained eye may seem like an empty place, is in reality full of mushrooms :) little bulges on the carpet of pine-needles are a good sign, that something may be lurking underneath it... shall u look beneath the  pine tree leaves and u´ll probably find, a mushroom ^^ As we make our way through the place the most abundant ones are the poisonous ones, and also the more attractive to the eye... Eventually, an edible one, the red pine mushroom, locally known as "sanchas" :)

By lunch time we join up with the workers... they´ve lit up a fire and its warmth is very welcomed :) Soon enough i´m lost in the labyrinth of flames  and my mind flies to a place that my awareness can´t reach... I´m suddenly awaken though, by a peculiar sound... it comes from an almond tree... and it´s a lesser spotted woodpecker ^^ after cracking the almond shell it cheerfully eats it and flies away from our sights...

On the afternoon it´s time to check the vultures feeding site... it needs repairs and we have to find out where... When we get there, little holes in the fence can be seen everywhere... small repairs won´t do... we´ll need something a little more serious... decent concrete.

Wednesday is passed from place to place, helping with the olive gathering and buying what is needed for the repairs. Something interesting was sighted though, a male northern harrier (Circus cyaneus)  flies across us, exhibiting its wonderful black and white colors :)

Today, due to the morning rainfall, no olive gathering happened, but we had to check for everyone's presence and head back home again. In the afternoon, the weather calmed down a little bit, allowing us to go fix the fence in the vultures feeding site.  I just hope the foxes don´t ruin our work during the night... On the way we spot something on the top of a rock... once i grab my binoculars, it becomes more clear :) It´s a peregrine falcon :) this time i´m able to see it way better ^^ and on the way home on the top of a pole a common krestel (Falco tinnunculus).

And i guess that´s all for the day :)

I shouldn´t be posting here today, since my internet connection broke up last night, but luckily enough i was able to capture someone´s wireless network ^^ the universe works in its own secret ways i suppose :)