Wildlife News: 10th June 2013

Just back from a week in Macedonia, of which more to follow. Meanwhile, a random New York Ovenbird and a catch up on some news...

• Amazing news from Portugal, where an Iberian Lynx has been photo-trapped in the west of the country, the first confirmed sighting for decades.

• Similar news from Morocco, only this time involving video footage of North African Wolves.

• While in Germany, European Bison are roaming wild for the first time in 400 years.

• Are Kelp Gulls killing Right Whales?

• 60% of UK species in decline. Meanwhile, the trial badger cull is underway and Natural England is licencing the destruction of Buzzard nests and eggs to "protect" a pheasant shoot and a poultry farm. You might like to contact your MP and let them know what you think of the government's priorities...

• Hula Painted Frog rediscovered in Israel, previously thought extinct. 

• Little Bittern are again breeding on the Avalon Marshes, an amazingly successful wetland creation project in Somerset. Big really is beautiful.

• And some Wildlife Travel news: our November trip to Iceland is now confirmed, as are our October holiday to Chile and September trip to the Algarve: plenty of spaces left for those wanting an autumn break.

Morocco Trip Report

The trip report from our March 2013 holiday is now online, to download from our website.

Morocco 2013: part 3, the people and places

A major part of the Morocco trip was the abundant 'local colour'. So it would be amiss of me to leave the people and places out.

 Agadir, seen from the Kasbah. The green space to the left is the site of the old city, destroyed by a devastating earthquake in 1960 and left as a vast necropolis ever since. 15,000 people, a third of the city's then population, were killed.

 The cascades at Izmeer, actually cascading this year!

Morocco 2013: part 2, the botany

Some of the botanical highlights from our Moroccan trip.


The most obvious landscape feature as you fly into Agadir airport over the Souss valley is the scattering of small trees, reminiscent of cork oak dehesa in Iberia, or of the olive and carob groves of the eastern Mediterranean. These trees are Argania spinosa, the Argan tree, endemic to this corner of Morocco, between the High Atlas and the Anti Atlas, and a key part of local life.

The olive-like fruit are used to produce, via a rather complicated and labour-intensive process, Argan oil which is used both for culinary and for cosmetic purposes. Traditionally, the best oil come from Argan nuts which have passed through the digestive tract of a goat... the nuts are then cracked open by hand, and then milled for their oil, again traditionally by hand by the village women. Several of the villages we visited are home to co-operatives of local women, producing Argan products, a vital part of the rural economy.

Some of the more exciting plants we found in the south were Saharan species, growing here at the northern edge of their range.

Warionia saharae near Cap Rhir

Calotropis procera, a semi-succulent and very toxic shrub, at the foothills of the Anti Atlas

Elizaldia calycina at Oued Massa

The bizarre succulent Orbea decaisneana

Along the coast, and stretching up into the mountains, we enjoyed the succulent, spiny, cactus-like Euphorbia officinarum, a Macaronesian species with a very variable growth form, depending on the local conditions and climate.

 

and parasitised along the coast, by Striga gesnerioides, a member of the Orobanchaceae.

And some nice plants of the mountains: Linaria ventricosa

 

Polygala balansae, a very thorny shrub

and Sedum modestum, a plant endemic to the High Atlas, Middle Atlas and Anti Atlas mountains of Morocco.

Morocco 2013: part 1, the beasts

Morocco: the land that wifi forgot!

Our week in Morocco, staying at the wonderful and highly-recommended Atlas Kasbah just outside Agadir, coincided rather spectacularly with the arrival of a heavy Atlantic front and two days of torrential rains, in an area which hasn't had any significant rainfall for the last two years! The result was some impressive nocturnal thunder storms, a re-jigged itinerary and a LOT of spare water. Dry river beds when we arrived had turned to raging torrents a couple of days later; roads were flooded or covered with rocks and sand, and a couple of strategically important bridges were washed away. Impressive stuff, that weather!

But despite the weather, and with some skilfull re-ordering of the itinerary by Tim Upson, our leader, we still managed to get to, and get the most out of all the sites planned and see some pretty cool wildlife along the way.

 Part of a big gathering of Audouin's Gulls at the mouth of the Oued Tamri. The other side of the lagoon, 7 Northern Bald Ibis were picking across the hillside and loafing about, with both Moroccan (White) and Spanish (Yellow) Wagtails nearby.

 Two pairs of Black-crowned Tchagra were great to see at Oued Massa, following each other round and song dueting. 

 The ever-present House Bunting

 Western Orphean Warbler: on our visit into the Anti Atlas, this bird sang from an Argan tree for a short while, hopped out into the open and then off across the road.

Moussier's Redstart, a common sight in the area, although never terribly approachable.

 Blepharopsis mendica, a beautifully patterned mantis, at Oued Massa

 The weather wasn't particularly condusive to butterfly-watching through most of the week, but on the first day, at Cap Rhir, this Moroccan Hairstreak posed nicely amongst the Euphorbia scrub

 North African Green Toad, Bufo boulengeri

and North African Water Frog, Pelophylax saharica. Considering the usually arid conditions, amphibians were surprisingly abundant, while reptiles were extremely hard to come by: during the week, I only caught sight of two lizards!

Morocco 2013

Morocco 2013, a set on Flickr.

Photos from our trip to southern Morocco.

Based near Agadir, we explored the Atlantic coast, the Souss valley, the Anti Atlas and the western end of the High Atlas.