Spanish Wildlife!

Before I went to Madrid for my year abroad I was already really into photography. The only thing that's changed is that now I take more photos of actual people! Growing up I've always enjoyed wildlife watching and photographing the nature I found in my garden. I remember showing my dad my holiday snaps from Corfu, Greece and (after the 20th photo of a hermit crab) he asked me if I had any photos of the family at all or if everything was going to be either a twig or a snail!

Spain was a fantastic opportunity to test my photography skills and with so many gorgeous things to photograph I gradually expanded my repertoire... My love of nature remained though and here and there throughout my blog you can find the photos to prove it. I thought I'd put together a post with some of my wildlife snaps all in one place. So lets dive in!

Spain is of course not that far away from England so there is a lot of cross over in terms of the birds you can find. Here's a sweet little bluetit from Segovia:

And his mate the goldfinch:

This blackbird was warbling in the setting sun in Seville:

Spring springs early in Spain so the blossom was out in Toledo in full by early March:

There are some more exotic birds to see in Madrid as well - here are some of the quaker parrots that spend their days squawking in Retiro Park:

This Black Redstart was watching the world go by on the sea wall at San Sebastian:

There were also little wading birds scurrying along the beach:

A bird I was particularly happy to see was the Hoopoe - I first heard of this bird while playing a kind of top trump card game with my family when I was very small, I always wanted to see one with its huge crest and bright orange body with black and white stripes.

Córdoba was one of my favourite places that I visited while in Spain and this Gecko watched us one night as we ate dinner:

A gorgeous blue butterfly was sipping nectar in the garden of the Alcázar:

 Back in Madrid this was one of the splendid winter roses in the cemetery across the street:

Here's one of the hundreds of sleepy terrapins from Atocha train station:

And finally this little Sparrow was sheltering from the sun in a tree by the river on one of the hottest summer days I experienced in Spain!

I hope you enjoyed this collection of some of my wildlife shots from my year in Spain. I'm thinking this will be the start of a series of posts with roundups of the architecture, landscapes, food etc that I saw while away.

To see more of the photographs of all the wonderful things I saw in Spain then make sure to follow me on instagram @madridadrift!

Parrots in the Park!

The Wednesday before last was beautifully sunny and warm so I decided to head to Retiro to take some photos and enjoy the weather. Unfortunately after a whole day's use in Toledo my camera decided to run out of charge within about 10 minutes of arriving but I still managed to get some shots of the cerezos in flower and their resident parrots - enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These birds aren't in captivity but living wild throughout Madrid and most of Spain too I think as I once saw some in Barcelona when I was there years ago. They certainly are beautiful but they don't half make a racket squawking and flapping about in the trees. They didn't seem to be eating the flowers they pecked off either; just ripping them apart and dropping them on the grass - little vandals!

 

Panteón de Hombres Ilustres

Yesterday morning I was enjoying my cornflakes at the dining table and staring out of the window... when I noticed the building opposite our flat. On my first day here Marisa had told me that it was some sort of cemetery and that I ought to visit it as it has a beautiful garden. It was one of those gloriously sunny winter days we get here in Madrid and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so I decided to have a look.

 

 

 

A sign on the gate said that it was called the Panteón de Hombres Ilustres and didn't mention anything about an entrance fee so I hopped up the steps and went in. The building itself is surrounded by an ornamental rose garden with lots of lovely trees and benches to enjoy the sunshine. It being December there weren't many roses still in flower but I managed to find this lovely one:

 

 

 

 

There were also swathes of these white flowers all along the boundary walls:

 

 

 

 

The architecture was interesting with lots of moorish looking touches





 

 

 

 

Inside were the funeral monuments of several famous Spaniards from the Victorian era. I recognised some of the names from streets or areas in Madrid; Calle Sagasta or Ríos Rosas etc.

 

 



 

 

 



 

 

 

 

The sculptures were at times a little dodgy and at others quite impressive; I liked the detail in this foot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outside there were lots of little sparrows skipping about and while I was watching them I heard a squawking from above. It turned out to be a green parrot or parakeet! I'm not sure what species it is exactly as it doesn't have a ring round its neck or a red beak like a ring-necked parakeet, it also looks a bit like a quaker parrot but I really have no idea. If anyone knows and could leave it in the comments below that would be really helpful.

 

 



 

 

 

The Panteón de Hombres Ilustres can be found in Paseo de la Reina Cristina and is open to the public on weekdays and weekends for free.