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The short toed eagles continue to patrol the stormy Spanish skies. Perhaps more in hope than in expectation. For these birds feed upon snakes and sometimes larger lizards and their prey will be beneath ground in this cold unseasonal weather. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAKbWAkqfVbLPfmEMQnP-ktixHAStkj1NVmFRk0/?igshid=95lznp79s9ii

The commonest are not always the most familiar. The chaffinch is one of Europes commonest birds, yet one could be forgiven for thinking it was much rarer than the house sparrow. It is a little wilder than that fellow traveller of ours, living in open woodlands and rolling traditional farm landscapes. Those rich in hedgerow, copse and thicket that surround grassy mead and fields of grain. Indeed the chaff in finch comes from the old English; when grains were threshed the spillage proved a secure supply of food. This is one of a breeding pair who live the great oak. Right now their nest is full of chicks eager to be fed. This nest is an avian work of art, a sculpture crafted from spiders web, lichen, moss and decorated with bark. More life enters the local ecology. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAHxH16qO2SfENWt0B3jwGkcURlE2-ArIyD-Gw0/?igshid=1buynw90lvmz

The beautiful male sparrow taking flight from its perch atop the wild carrot. All around the air is filled with their noisy chatter and constant motion. Fellow travellers, they enrich our lives and are a reminder of the wild, even in the tamest of places. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAFOoFQK4t7i-_KgXEX0THYy-_htiIrKBY8J6o0/?igshid=1uaq65kfm1jxj

This long slow Spring echoes to the sound of new life. From tree, bush and sky birds sing and declaim their territory. Insects rise in untold millions from the grassy meads. This is the little life upon which the big life depends. In their myriad forms the insects comprise the foundational feast here in the dehesa. In turn, this abundance supports the vast diversity of being found in this old ecology. The stonechat baby, timid with new horizons, ventures forth into the great web of life and adds its presence to the serene spring. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/CACnWv9K5YfjWARwaP4WZMlkqhGkyvKZssA-S80/?igshid=a4hage801csb

The long spring rains ensure that it is a magnificent year for flowers in the meadow. The sheer abundance of form and colour is staggering. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAALG-wqVbcy2WMHiEDu1OYpHPBPN4ef6sa7ks0/?igshid=c2ah9hgu2lj5

One of the resident griffon vultures drifts over the Finca. There are two breeding colonies close by and this one has soared over from the Sierra del Niño. There, upon their pyramidal crag, some thirty pairs breed. This colony is on the large size and this is a testament to its inaccessible and undisturbed nature. Even from five kilometres away it is possible to discern the white splashes of guano upon the rock face. Yet this sapient resolution is as nothing compared to the griffon. Their penetrating gaze can spot a dead sheep from a distance of seven kilometres. Above this guano graffiti sits a griffon nest. These are unsurprisingly huge constructions and sitting within them are the young birds. This species is an early breeder, often the eggs are laid in January and hatch some fifty days later. The young will be fed on regurgitated carrion for four more months and it will be late summer early autumn before they take wing. With more mouths to feed, the leviathans scan the dehesa for death and weakness. With a nonchalance that belies his size, he breaks west and soars across the thermal at incredible speed, up to seventy kilometres per hour has been recorded. The dehesa continues to thrill with its abundance and diversity. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_9fiGOK2dfdmuN3Zf6VnexHb30zP2grPuzC9Y0/?igshid=1q9j6h6qeq4aw

The usually hidden subtleties of the swallow. The magnificent glossy sheen and faint red tinge of the black feathers catch the early sun Final preparations are being made to the nest, a little fine tuning and it is ready. For now, a pause in the frenetic rituals of new life. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_64VPbK0QNWHnlcP3cql4dlG0yKnq3AudLBns0/?igshid=1f9n8p4re565m

The decisive moment. Right now, millions of years of evolution, learning, native cunning and the particular abilities of this bird meet in action. Its prey is below. Yet all around predators of the shrike await. It has judged that the tipping point between safety and opportunity is now. It rolls the dice. With perfect motion the insect is secured. Yet if the tipping point was misread, then it becomes the prey or its own food is not secured. Either way the shrike either dies or breeds. In every moment the Darwinian hand is played. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_6zwzFK1SdchjwPVEo_UJVMgKxX9G2YWLiMJo0/?igshid=1w7qw1viardqx

The booted eagles are another of the migratory raptors and are seen daily, passing over on their journey north. These hawk eagles are strong flyers often covering 200 or more kilometres per day. Some have even travelled 500km in a day as they move from the near equator to the temperate zones. This however is one of a pair. The behaviour is different to the migrants. I watch him hunt and return to the same tree. He patrols the river and alights to rest and feed. There is no urgency or desire to move, he is home. Already he is with his mate and they have engaged in their spectacular and acrobatic flight display. To see them stoop, dive and tumble is one of the great natural sites at the Finca. For some weeks they hunted and courted together. Now there is one. This is why it's probably the male, as she is incubating her eggs on their great stick nest. During this time, around 40 days, he will feed her as the new life forms beneath the shell. This land is perfect for this eagle. I'm surrounded by hilly crags and extensive wood pasture and it's the pasture element that's so important to these birds, it's the clearings where they hunt. From height they scan the ground or near ground in the case of small birds for their prey. Then wings fold and they fall like a bolt of lightening from the sky. The Finca bird is pale and this is the commonest form, about a quarter of the booted eagles are dark and look a little like a black kite. I've always felt that the beautifully contrasting pale morph is the more spectacular and I'm happy this variation is common. Almost all these birds migrate, but a few overwinter here in the far south. There is at least one bird that stays with me through the cold winter months around the plains of La Janda and the wooded slopes of Alcornacales. I wonder if this is he. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_4XAFxKwBUvWcwb0Izna9NQSvBrlDmjKVDsEk0/?igshid=glqlijm8rjrj

The morning sun burnishes pinions and tail feathers with golden light. Another of the raptorial migrants arrives over the Finca. With weary beats the black kite crosses milky calima skies. One almost senses the relief of landfall. The tail is flared as it banks into a thermal, resting those tired wing and chest muscles. And what a tail, perhaps less forked and long than the great red kite, but still it stabilises this bird as it darts and twists through the air. Now they disperse across the continent, north, west and east. Soon their magnificent aerial displays will commence. A true skydance of power and grace. For now, as it crosses the dehesa it's keen cruel eyes are looking for prey. Yet this bird is no hunter, it's a scavenger of midden, farm yard and houses of the dying. Today only a handful are moving, yet sometimes the sky darkens as thousands cross the narrow straights here. What a joy to sit beneath the invisible sky roads that lead from south to north. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_1vB5jquWlOmLWSQ-kfkA2p8ZrbylXobe7uKU0/?igshid=1qxqzsfoaksiq

These familiar birds are so easy to relegate to the background, a part of a noisy backdrop to suburban life. Yet they repay a second look. Their familiarity is due in no small part to their phenomenal adaptability and success. Holding this together is a fascinating sparrow society telling their story through song, movement and plumage. They're a communal species, almost always seen in groups. Partly this is a defence in numbers strategy against predators. But because they live in groups they require societal codes, just like us. Look at the males, as a rule of thumb, the greater the extent of black upon the chest the more dominant he is. Watch him display this to other males and females. But not during the breeding season, for then it's the female that becomes dominant. When agitated, they crouch, throat feathers raised, tail twitching and wings rolled forward. A noisy outbreak of chirruping and fluttering wings usually means that the threat display was inconclusive. Even during the breeding season they stay close. Like now they venture onto the lawn in search of insects with which they feed their highly altricial helpless young. As the summer approaches they will start to eat more seeds as they become available. The wonderful thing about the common is that they allow us to observe them. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_zUSiYKmYra7-frUQ-IldtHmSqNuC8h6KhfX00/?igshid=23vdwaop90ok

The thermals are shared this morning at the Finca. These giants of the sky rise higher as they describe their lazy circles. They are very different yet they are similar too. The great vulture searches for its food from hundreds or even thousands of feet in the sky. Whereas the stork moves stealthily through grass and rush, gazing just inches from its prey. In the air though, these are the soaring birds. They use the convective energy of the air to save their own energy. This efficiency allows them to achieve their great size and weight. To watch them is to become aware of effortless ease and their mastery of the sky. They seem to paint the blue canvas of the sky with those majestic pinions. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_wi5Gqq36vMBdo4eOOYU-OYp4XgCP7v1uNR840/?igshid=1gsu01v8nlzw6

One of the great commensals. The collared dove is familiar to all, it rarely breeds more than a kilometre from human habitation. It is close to us. Despite this suburban familiarity it is a new species to much of what we call the west. Our grandfathers or even fathers would not have known the somnolent cooing. It moved from orient to occident in the blink of natures eye. It is part of our lives and we are part of its life. For now, we walk together upon this small blue planet. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_uCUbHqz3HiWecIcDaktEEQ0V8zRqHC6dVMDY0/?igshid=981d05n86nkf

The woodchat shrike arrived not too long ago from its African winter. Already territories have been established, pairs have mated and nests are built. These small birds are hunters. Fierce eye and hooked bill bear testament to that. They love to sit atop post and bush. Eager eyes watching for movement. Then with lightening strike the prey is secured. Closely related to the much missed butcher bird, these were near mythical birds for those of us from the far north. Here in Andaluciá, they are bold and frequent in the wild places. A flash of white and rasping call belies their presence. Another specialist within the great nexus of life. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_rhIYWqva6VdZ8AGO1OxG3Gxilbkm-ZPJ1SSI0/?igshid=xbn9b9ooj5x1

One of the joys of living in southern Spain is sharing the ecology with the storks. In so many cultures they are associated with new life, birth and spring. They are birds of great beauty and fidelity. Like the great vultures, they are lords of the air. Soaring high and sheering across the wind, they are like galleons in the sky. Already the couples are breeding and the young sit in the giant nests surveying their kingdom to be. Soon their own new life will fly and join the white giants as they glide across the Andalucián blue. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_ovwDlq16Um4hgQ8TTjdzV2zxB_yexddm1-aA0/?igshid=ye95z1iufz1r

One of the joys of living in southern Spain is sharing the ecology with the storks. In so many cultures they are associated with new life, birth and spring. They are birds of great beauty and fidelity. Like the great vultures, they are lords of the air. Soaring high and sheering across the wind, they are like galleons in the sky. Already the couples are breeding and the young sit in the giant nests surveying their kingdom to be. Soon their own new life will fly and join the white giants as they glide across the Andalucián blue. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_ovSlVqPomlR3Q2JitA8isL7ZC1qq4DzCj5140/?igshid=1ufkjgoshvoeb

Another of the nesting birds in the garden. This greenfinch gazes fiercely over its territory. For weeks now he has been singing and guarding this precious patch in the line of old cypress trees. The boundaries delimited by the butterfly like song flight. Then those golden patches flash in the spring sunshine as he declares this is mine. The nest, as is the way with greenfinches, is placed low down in a fork of this tree. It's a beautiful construction of moss and grasses and the female sits patiently with her eggs. (at Rewildingbushcraft) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_mIHi_q1240_moW4FvdPpUaJdJH79enSpPUuk0/?igshid=m3y80ym2az53

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