Serra da Estrela

Sunday, 9am, warm sunlight slowly awakens me from my rest :)

It's been quite sometime since I last slept without an alarm clock...! These last few weeks have flown by and it feels great to finally be able to stop for a while. Under the blankets of my cold room I feel comfortable and in peace. Outside seagulls cross the bluish sky in risky flying maneuvers.  It's so nice to live by the sea :) My mind inevitably wanders to unwanted realms. It's impossible to tell yourself not to think about something without thinking about it. I guess only time can help me with this one. In the meantime I try to get busy, find time for me and for things I enjoy. Not that I didn't use to do that before, but now I can finally enjoy it on my own without wondering how nice it would be if this and that. Life without 'ifs' is so liberating.  

Saturdays have been filled with ringing sessions in Gaia. Although I haven't gotten any new species lately, it's always nice to go there and handle a couple of birds. It's the only real excitement I have during my whole week, what can I say?! Being stuck in the lab is not exactly my dream job, but a woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do! 

Last Sunday though, me and a couple of friends went to Serra da Estrela for a walk. It was great to be back on a mountain again :) to walk up and down the valleys and enjoy the greatness and strength of Nature! It had been a while since I last saw snow as well, so I felt like a little child ready for christmas! :D We started by walking down to the Zezere Valley and eventually climbed and walked down again to the Candeeira Valley. As we gained altitude to return to our starting point, snow covered the ground and sometimes formed amazing crystal-like carpets. Fox footprints could be seen on the snow every once in a while, and once even helped us finding our way...! :) I kept the binoculars with me all the time, but unfortunately I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Even on the Zezere valley all I could find were Wrens, Blackcaps, Great-tits, Blackbirds and a Buzzard that crossed the skies. The walk was more than worth it though and although I couldn't see what I wanted, I kept my faith that I would see it next time...

And I did! Thursday I went back to Serra da Estrela, this time with FAPAS to help planting some trees, and during our free time in the afternoon, near the Long Lagoon, there they were... 3 Snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) to brighten my day! This second trip was a lot of fun ^^ The people were great and it had recently snowed, so I couldn't have asked for anything else! Except perhaps a Alpine accentor (Prunella collaris), but I guess that will have to wait =P

This Saturday beside ringing I went to the lab to help cleaning up the freezer, which took us the whole afternoon, and today...well today I did nothing ^^ Tomorrow there's more lab for me, but hopefully it will end soon enough!