Spiny Broom | nightingale trails

Friday 1st April

My friends generously rescued me from an otherwise lonely weekend and invited me to stay with them at their home near Jimena, which along with the hospitality also presented the opportunity to catch up with some of what is happening in that part of the countryside. As I’ve said before, I love the drive from Sotogrande down to the Jimena road always, but at this time of year it can be particularly special. I was not disappointed, driving over last evening with the car windows down I heard plentiful snatches of songs of newly-arrived Nightingale and then reaching the bottom stretch of the road, the air was filled with the uplifting and heady perfume of orange blossom; a heavenly combination.

Later on we took a short walk down to the river where another Nightingale was singing from a tree at the top of the high bank that is surrounded by scrubby shrubbery and a tangled mass of brambles, another heavenly combination, but for the bird this time. There were Cetti’s Warblers calling from both sides of the river too, but as usual offered us only very brief glimpses of themselves as they dashed between covers.

Saturday 2nd April

We set off this morning with a bit of a list of things we hoped to see during the course of the day. We were heading up to Gaucín, our primary purpose being to seek Orchids, but then I also had a yen to find out if the Bee-eaters had returned yet to the nest-site I knew to be just beyond Jimena Estacion and additionally to maybe a sighting of a Woodchat Shrike. A little greedy maybe, but I was anticipating leaving the country for a few weeks and hoping to see as much as possible before then; by the time I return the freshness of spring will have already passed into early summer.

The 'white town' of Gaucin nestles into the mountainside watched over by its castle

Our orchid hunt was to be along the same track we explored last April where we discovered a varied selection of the flowers. That was on the 17th of the month, a couple of weeks later than now, so thought we may be too early, but we were delighted to discover an even better, fresher display today.

Spiny Broom, Grey-leaved Cistus, Periwinkle

Walking along this track on a sunny spring day is like walking through a beautiful wild garden, shrubs and flowers compete for the best patches of ground amongst the rocky terrain of the mountainside, interweaving to create artfully full and colourful displays that only pure nature could imagine. A photograph can only hope to highlight a tiny detail of the wholly glorious sight, no amount of words or pictures can do it justice, you really have to get out there and experience it if you can.

Grey-leaved Cistus

The petals of the pretty flowers of the cistus resemble crumpled paper and last only a few brief hours. This one is being devoured by a chafer, its hairs stained with bright yellow pollen.

Blue Alkanet

A Yellow Anemone, Anemone palmatum hosts a murder scene- a tiny spider preying upon a hoverfly

A view of the mountains in the direction of another white town, neighbouring Casares

The Orchids

Some of the orchids are soberly coloured and surprisingly difficult to spot, until you’ve found the first ones.Once we began to pick them out today we were surprised by their numbers, there were a lot more individual plants than we had seen last year and some impressively large colonies too. There were very good numbers of Mirror Orchids, an attractive and distinctive species that is easy to identify.

Mirror Orchid

A large colony of Mirror Orchids together with other Ophrys species, growing in dry gravelly soil at the side of the track

Also plentiful, the Yellow Ophrys is again distinctive and unlikely to be confused with anything else.

Yellow Ophrys

Sombre Bee Orchid-Ophrys fusca

The Sombre Orchid (or Dull Ophrys) also grows abundantly here. First impressions are of a slender plant, often taller than the Mirror or Yellow Orchids. They have a dark-coloured lip and a two- lobed blue speculum. There are also other species growing alongside them that have a similar appearance, but that have subtle differences. One such is Ophrys iricolor

Ophrys iricolor is similar to Ophrys fusca

The two species are very similar in their general appearance, but when you look closely you can see there are differences, most noticeably Ophrys iricolor has a more squared speculum with different patterning.

The species also cross-pollinate and produce sub-species, so there are even more variations to be found, but naming them is another thing!

Quite unique, the fascinating Man Orchid is easy to identify:

: The Man Orchid is unlikely to be confused with any other species

There were fewer specimens of the pretty and more showy Sawfly orchid to be found, but we did find a few, including this lovely large fresh specimen sited on a rocky slope and with other species behind it.

Sawfly Orchid

There was so much to enjoy on this walk, the warm sunshine, the glorious sight and wonderful scent of masses of golden flowered broom, the orchids and other early spring flowers and then an unexpected bird treat. Sitting quietly for a few minutes while I was photographing flowers, Jill heard two birds calling to one another as they worked their way towards us through the branches of a pine tree. When one popped out of cover she saw they were Crested Tits; I arrived to get a quick glimpse and a very quick photograph just before the second one flew out and away.

: A little Crested Tit amongst the cones of a pine tree

Griffon Vultures circling overhead are very much a feature of this mountainous area and we had several sightings of them today. We also saw a few other migrant raptors including Black Kites, Short-toed and Booted Eagles. We were pleased to hear our first Cuckoo and when we first arrived a Nightingale, but Sardinian Warblers were our most seen and heard birds throughout our time here today.

(For further details of Orchids, including scientific names etc, please see page listed under Flora)

7th March 2011

Following last Saturday’s high the week’s temperatures rapidly descended back to winter lows and we had rainy days, climaxing over the weekend with torrential downpours and thunderstorms. I have only ventured out for short walks during pleasanter parts of days, so for now I thought I’d do an update on some of the most commonly found plants that are presently flowering throughout the region.

Beautiful flowering shrubs and plants, many of which are widely cultivated and grown, or attempted to be grown in gardens throughout Europe, flourish here in some seemingly inhospitable places. Most thrive in a variety of different habitats, on dry sandy and often stony soils, in salty air by the sea and on rocky slopes. The plants compensate for the lack of available moisture with leaves that help to conserve it, these may be thick and felted, tough and leathery or needle-like. Many also protect themselves from being eaten by grazing animals with sharp spines or by producing chemicals that make them unpalatable. They flower early in the season to allow time to set seed before the summer drought begins.

Shrubs

SPINY BROOM – Calicotome villosa

An uplifting sight of bright yellow broom against a blue sky and sea

: Shrubs are covered in a profusion of blossom

Flowering: February to April (May)

Habitat: Open spaces, especially dry hillsides with Genista and Gorse bushes and often in coastal places close to the sea.

A very spiny shrub that is often confused with gorse. The flowers are a rich yellow colour, very scented and are so profuse that when they are fully out they hide the leaves. The flowers almost always come out at the same time and a mass of the shrubs growing together is a spectacular sight. The formidable spines are 3-4cm long, straight and tough, at the tips of the short leafy twigs and remain on dead wood.

*The spiny branches are so complexly interwoven that a stand of the shrubs is almost impenetrable and in the past, goatherds would cut bushes to use as fencing to corral their goats.

FRENCH LAVENDER – Lavandula stoechas

: French Lavender – Lavandula stoechas

The colourful 'petals' at the top of each flower-head are actually bracts, the flowers are tiny and purple.

Flowering: Nearly all year round, but flowering is most profuse from late February to April/May.

Habitat: I used to struggle to grow this lovely plant in Wales, but here it grows in a wide variety of habitats. It is very common in sandy and acid soils; also in limestone areas, in light woods or in open places amongst open larger shrubs.

French Lavender is a small woody perennial shrublet : all parts of the plant are slightly aromatic. The leaves are pale to mid grey-green, softly hairy and pointed. The flowers appear in elongated heads that are topped with purple to lilac or pink bracts varying in shape and length from about 1-2.5cm long. The flowers are tiny and usually purple in colour.

*During the intense heat of summer the normally pleasant scent of the plant tends to alter, taking on an almost ‘goaty’ scent. It is a very old medicinal plant and its essential oil was used here as an antiseptic forwashing wounds.

A plant growing in light woodland amongst limestone rocks

TREE GERMANDER: Teucrium fruticans

: TREE GERMANDER- Teucrium fruticans

Most common colour of this species are very plae lilac and almost white

Flowering: January to June

Habitat: A very common plant in a wide variety of habitats, woods, heaths, thickets, open spaces with other shrubs from the coast to mountains, on any soil type.

Tree Germander is a woody shrub that may reach a height of 2m, but usually much less. The leaves have short stalks and are arranged in opposite pairs; the upper surfaces of fresher leaves is slightly downy, the undersides white felted. The flowers are usually out two at a time on a twig end; colour is variable from pure white though pale lilac, pinkish or pale blue-lilac, very rarely dark blue. The plant is frequently cultivated, especially the deep sapphire-blue flowered form which originated in North Africa.

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Climbers

DUTCHMAN’S PIPE – Aristolochia baetica

DUTCHMAN'S PIPE -Aristolochia baetica

FLOWERING: Over a long period from autumn to early spring.

The plant takes its common name from the shape of its flowers

HABITAT: In almost any soil and a wide range of habitats, often in semi-shade on woodland edges, but also in more open places where it has support.

Dutchman’s Pipe is a robust, tall hairless creeping plant that will clamber high into trees, through shrubs or along the ground. The leaves are dull, blue-green and attractively heart-shaped.The flowers are about 7cm long, curved and a dull red-purple to brownish-red in colour: the plant takes its name from their curious shape that are designed to entice in insects to pollinate them, holding them captive until the job is done.

*The roots of the plant have been used in Spain since at least the 16th century for reducing fever.

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Bulbs & corms

STAR OF BETHLEHEM – Ornithogalum orthophyllum (collinum)

STAR OF BETHLEHEM

FLOWERING: Feb/March to April/May

HABITAT: A variety of locations including light woodland, grassy roadsides, rocky ground and sandy coastal places.

A beautiful bulbous perennial with quite large star-shaped white flowers, 30-40mm across. Commonly cultivated.

ONE-LEAVED SQUILL, SCILLA – Scilla monophyllus

FLOWERING: Feb/March to April/ May

HABITAT: Light woodland, sandy and stony places.

A pretty, delicate-looking small bulbous perennial that produces a single long basal leaf that often bends over from the middle so the tip reaches the ground. The flowers are bright blue and star shaped, 7-9mm across and are held in compact spikes of 1-12 florets.

ROMULEA-Romulea bulbicodium

FLOWERING: January to March, April in the hills

HABITAT: Not fussy- sandy, stony or heavy rocky soils, open places or in light woods, coastal; very common.

Small, slender plants growing from corms, resembles a small crocus but does not have the deep green leaves with the central white line. Flowers open in the sun and range in colour from almost-white or pale lilac-pink to deep lilac.

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Pretty but pestilential

BERMUDA BUTTERCUP – Oxalis pes-caprae

Bermuda Buttercup - Pretty but highly invasive

FLOWERING: December to early May, later in hills.

HABITAT: Nearly everywhere, mainly open places, but can quickly become a pest in gardens too; covering fields and roadsides in vast patches and quick to take hold on disturbed ground. In our area it grows in any soil from the coast to limestone crevices at least to 500m.

This enormously successful plant, (not related to buttercups), is a native of South Africa that has naturalised in most Mediterranean countries, in Portugal, Florida & Bermuda and is ever-increasing its range. It does look pretty when it cloaks fields with its soft primrose-yellow coloured flowers, but it is a serious pest, covering many acres of agricultural land. The plants contain oxalic acid are not eaten by domestic animals. It is seriously difficult to eliminate as it has bulbs deeply buried in the ground, and new methods of controlling it are being sought.

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Herbaceous plants

COMMON ASPHODEL- Asphodelus aestivus

Common Asphodel against a background of Spiny Broom & the sea

Ashphodel with fruits & a visiting Violet Carpenter Bee

FLOWERING: January to March, April

HABITAT: Very common and widespread on rocky slopes, waste ground, woodland clearings, open coastal areas.

A tuberous perennial that often forms extensive colonies as it is unpalatable to grazing animals. (See post -GONHS trip to La Janda) This is a very robust plant with tall stems that can attain 1.5m or more in height. The flowers are white, 20-30mm across and the tepals have a pink-brown mid-vein. they are born in a much branched inflorescence that resembles a candelabra.

* The roots bear spindle-shaped tubers that are rich in starch, they are just edible and have been used as food in the past; they were also used to make glue.

ANDALUZ STORKSBILL – Erodium primulaceum

Andaluz Storksbill - one of the prettiest of the early flowers

FLOWERING: December to May

HABITAT: Sands, gravel and grassy fields; amongst scrub and in light woods; common across lowlands to hills.

A delightful, small annual plant that may grow to 30cm but is frequently smaller. The leaves are deeply cut and fern-like; the flowers are supported by long thin stalks with 2 to as many as 6 heads to each. Individual flowers are about 2-2.5cm across, with two petals larger than the other three, each having a dark pink mark near its base. The colour of the flowers ranges from pale to mid-pink, occasionally white. In early spring it can be more conspicuous when it forms large patches of pink in fields and on roadsides.

FIELD MARIGOLD – Calendula arvensis

FIELD MARIGOLD -flowers appear in a variety of sizes depending on location

FLOWERING: Almost all year round, but mainlyJanuary to May/June

HABITAT: Sandy, stony soils, often favouring disturbed and cultivated ground. Widespread across the region.

An annual plant with tiny flowers, 1-2cm across that range in colour from bright yellow to orange.

FEDIA – Fedia cornucopiae

Fedia is very attractive to butterflies and bees

FLOWERING: December right through to April/May

HABITAT: Grassy roadsides, damp pastures and disturbed ground.

A small, low-growing and spreading annual, very common and widespread plant and having a very long flowering period. The leaves are oval, quite a dark green and hairless. Flowers are borne on stems that branch into two at their end, with two leaf-like bracts at the joint; each stem then bears a densely clustered flower-head. Flowers are about 1.5cm long pink to dark red in colour.

BORAGE-Borago officianalis

Borage is a good honey plant and is grown as a culinary herb in gardens

The flowers are gentian blue

FLOWERING: February to May.

HABITAT: Country roadsides, seasonally damp fields in sandy or rubbly soil; often cultivated; mainly located in lowlands.

An annual plant that grows to about 70cm tall, it is much-branched with hollow stems. All parts of the part except the petals are covered with short, sharp and pale-coloured hairs. The leaves have a puckered surface and are variable in size. The deep blue flowers are held face-down on short bent stalks and are almost scentless, which is a pity as they are quite beautiful.