Santa Barbara de Nexe, Algarve, Portugal
The inner Algarve is pretty arid at this time of year and all the blossoms and wild flowers are long past, apparently January and February are spectacular months for wildlife.
I was unable to engage in wildlife conversation with any of the ex-pats, some of whom had been in Portugal for many years and knew nowt of the local nature.
However I did leave with some nice wildlife experiences and memories that will last my lifetime and I attempted to share these experiences with the rest of my family, who were mostly concerned with the swimming pool, the price of last night's meal or the slow internet connection speed.
I'll test them this week to see if they can remember the spectacular swooping and gliding flights of Bee-eaters or the Hoopoe that landed in the garden.
Point is, how can we make wildlife and the 'nature principle' part of our every day living and not just something to take away from our holiday break?
Our family visitors freaked when we talked of spiders, intelligent ants, lizards and giant bees that we had witnessed around the rural villa during our stay; they had just left a modern resort hotel, completely sterile of course, devoid of life but what many people prefer. Interestingly, their five year old son holds an innate fascination with anything creepy or crawly, but sadly this will probably turn to reactions imitating his 'bio-phobic' parents as they recoil at mention of anything with more than two legs. Biophobia is taught behaviour in many relatively wealthy societies, how would they cope if they had to live from the land like billions of people around the world? and what would they make of this carnivorous beastie? Well it's unlikely they'll venture anywhere where she might lurk.
Many bushes shrouded in webs at Ria Formosa Natural Park, Algarve
