Spain Day 7. Fuengirola

 A beautiful morning again. Out for a run early and finally found the 'right' route. The wind had dropped right away and the sea was flat calm. It was beautiful to be out. A local day today. M&M went into Fuengirola and Heather and I decided to wander down to the beach restaurant for lunch. Walking down we heard a cetti's warbler and later, on the beach, we saw and heard a whimbrel. As before, we really enjoyed the friendly atmosphere in the restaurant and the views, including a flock of sanderling running in and out of the tide. We walked back along the beach enjoying the plants and I finally steeled myself to go in the pool. The water turned out to be not too bad but I had swum two lengths before I realised that I was still wearing my hearing aids. Doh!!! 😟 I put them in the sun to dry out but they were dead!!! 😭

Spain, Day 5. Fuengirola Feria.

 A cloudy start but clearing to give a hot and cloudless afternoon. It was International Feria day today so we went down to watch the parade and wander around the food festival before more grilled sardines on the seafront. Smashing. 

Then it was back to the villa and a walk up into the hills behind. This area is part of the Sierra de Mijas and is thermo-meditarranean and predesert scrub. I loved it. It supports many unfamiliar and aromatic plants as well as plenty of birds and butterflies, notably sardinian warbler, thekla's lark, pallid swift, woodchat shrike, southern speckled wood and painted lady butterflies. We had excellent, though distant, views of woodchat shrike and sardinian warbler.

Spain Day 4. Fuengirola

 In view of the overcast day today we decided to have a history day: Sohail Castle and the Roman site of the Finca del Secretario, a villa with pottery ovens, salting factory and thermal baths, discovered when the Malaga - Fuengirola metro was constructed.

Spain Day 3. Reserve del Guadalhorche and Chiringuitos in Fuengirola

 Up early and out for a run this morning. That sounds simple, and would have been at home, but here it was either fiercely steeply down or up with very little flat. I had been warned by Katy whose parents also have a villa here!! I eventually found a route which, although tough, was enjoyable and involved a half mile stretch along the beach road with wonderful views. This week was probably the only time this year that I shall run in a vest; by and large, at home, I don't move fast enough to keep warm in a vest any longer.

Run and breakfast, over we drove back towards Malaga to the superb estuarine reserve of Guadalhorce. It is a typical marsh land but rather than reeds as there would be at home it is bamboo. We had a very productive and enjoyable visit with 37 species, 14 of which, at home, are either extremely rare or not possible to see at all. Highlights included sardinian warbler, zitting cisticola (fan-tailed warbler), hoopoe, nightingale, black-winged stilt, squacco heron, mediterranean gull, gull-billed tern, glossy ibis, marbled duck, kentish plover and yellow-legged gull. There were quite a lot of clouded yellows about and we saw pond turtles as well as a cattle egret doing what they should among a small herd of horses. 

From the reserve we went into Fuengirola to have a late lunch at one of the famous chiringuitos beach bars specialising in seafood, especially grilled sardines BBQed over olive wood fires and which were delicious. Next up was ice cream and a walk along the beach which was lovely and the sea excitingly rough. A wave was misjudged resulting in two very soggy Pickwells.

Knapweed sp

Knapweed sp

Mallow sp

Clouded yellow

Thistle sp

Pomegranate

Distant crested lark

Marbled Duck

Black-winged stilt

Black-winged stilt

Black-winged stilt

Branched Camomile

Distant sardinian warbler

Cattle egret

Cattle egret

Pond turtles

Fuengirola

Fuengirola

Fuengirola

Fuengirola

Fuengirola