Stork migration, delivered at home.

stork migration

We are bird watchers. We like to go out, taking along our binoculars, and look at the birds around. Even in the immediate vicinity of our house we see many different species. Occasionally we even go on a special journey for bird watching. For example, at the end of September we will travel to the Netherlands, to the Northern Islands for the  autumn bird migration. This week however we did not even have to walk out of the door to see something very special. Last Thursday, at twilight, some hundreds of storks came down in Chelva. On the roofs of houses and churches, no ledge or striker remained unoccupied. We had never experienced this before, and also for the villagers this was totally unusual. Friday morning when the sun gained some power the flock left again. As expected, I made photographs to show you.

Storks in Chelva
No ledge or striker remained unoccupied
On the wings in the morning hours, bound for Gibraltar and Africa.
On the wings in the morning hours, bound for Gibraltar and Africa.

In the beginning I told you that this blog would not always be about portraiture. Well this is a similar kind of different post. Not about brushes or paint but about a spectacular show just in front of our eyes.

25 years ago

25 years ago

Next week it will be 25 years since we left Holland and moved to Spain. Friends offered their house in Valencia. We planned to stay for a year but then never came back. We set our wings to the wind, to wider horizons. In Holland we were very happy and content, as we are now in Spain. Here was work to provide our livelihood, sometimes more, sometimes less, but we managed. We have been lucky to make many friends, and we still enjoy the simple life, in rural Spain. None of us knows what lies in store for us tomorrow. But just more of the same, that would be great.

scrapbook of the first year of our stay in Spain
My scrapbook of the first year of our stay in Spain