A few weeks ago, we had a day of heavy rain and very loud thunderstorms through our valley. I think I may have mentioned this, but coming from the South-west of England, I thought I knew all about rain. When it rains in the Mediterranean, it is no holds barred, and we had floods of water streaming down our road. A couple of days after the storm, Simone and I went on one of our favourite walks. It includes a visit to the weir and a stiff walk up into the mountains. The weir was quiet, and so we headed upwards, with me scanning the road for snakes and lizards and Simone in her accustomed place, several metres behind me so that she cannot scare the wildlife away. The views up into the mountains here are wonderful.
There is a skeleton of a cow along this route, and it always amazed me that nothing had disturbed it, as it is completely intact. A little further along this path I noticed a new carcass. I hurried up to it and found another dead cow. It seemed to be perfectly ok, apart from being dead, no wounds or trauma visible. Now for those of you who do not know me, I have no sense of smell. It has been gone for over 30 years, but I always look on the bright side of things, as I could examine this cow with no problems. I went back to Simone to warn her that it was crawling with maggots and probably did not smell nice. She covered her nose, and we went past the cow and further up the mountain. It was not long before I saw another dead cow. This beast had a singe mark, and the gorse nearby was burned, so I think it may have been hit by lightning from the recent storm. This cow was also still moving from the attention of the maggots and Simone decided enough was enough and we should go back. Simone was now gagging from the smell, but I was thinking about vultures and eagles. There are griffon vultures on the island as well as Egyptian vultures, and golden eagles which will also feast on carrion. I was excited to return early the next morning to photograph them all.
I was up at 5 the next morning and made my way up the mountain track. The first cow was still as we had left it the day before, and so I moved further up and examined the next dead cow. Again, this animal had not been touched, brilliant, I was ahead of the game and so I positioned myself halfway between the cows and waited. Nothing, a buzzard circled overhead for a while, but nothing else came close to investigate the 2 carcasses. I was disappointed, but there was always the next day, and so I made my way home. I decided to cheer myself up with a visit to the weir, but that was quiet too, so I drank my coffee and was about to leave when a little bittern flew into the bank of the weir. I made my way up the weir, until I was opposite this cracking little bird. This little bittern was a splendid male, with a black back and hood, and it posed nicely on a branch so I could get its green feet and legs.
It has been 2 weeks since the storm and I have been on watch between the 2 cows most mornings. The animals have not been touched, they even still have their eyes, which I find incredible considering the crows and jays that are here. There are foxes and weasels here, but nothing has bothered these cows. I must concede that there are no vultures this far South on the island, which is a great shame. I will have to venture North to satisfy my longing to see wild vultures and golden eagles.
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