Nature with Nev

(Article written for the Majorca Daily Bulletin as part of my weekly 'Wild Mallorca' column. Pictures copyright Neville Davies) Adult male Son Real Woods Mallorca Mallorca has a member of the finch family that is packed with character, quite large and with a unique shaped bill. Here, the Common Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra balearica) is a sub-species that in Catalan goes by the name of 'Trencanpinyons', or 'pine nut cracker', or Piquituerto común in Spanish. They have a length of 15 - 17cm with a wingspan of 27 - 30cm and a weight  between 40 and 53g. The familiar 'chip chip chip' calls always give away their presence, and they utter these calls both when feeding and flying to and from feeding areas in their small groups. Cases Velles on the Formentor road is my favourite site to visit to see these colourful finches, and where Mediterranean Flycatchers and Firecrests can also be added to the day's list. Mondrago is another good site as like Cases Ve...

 Article for the Majorca Daily Bulletin for the week beginning July 25th 2023. I decided to write this week about my experience of getting stung by Jellyfish in the cove at Cala San Vicente (Mallorca), as this week parts of the cove have been closed off to swimmers for that reason. Read below a section of the chapter taken from my forthcoming book, 'Not quite living the dream'.   The scene of the crime - the beautiful little cove of Cala San Vicente. So, here I am one late afternoon with my three-quarter length shorts and white pasty legs on show, all set to go into the sea. I watched an Osprey that was showing well in the area and a Booted Eagle had passed high over the ridge. At the water’s edge however, I noticed a large number of purple coloured Jellyfish  about the size of a hand. They seemed to be motionless and washing up gently onto the sand. They all seemed to be on the left side of the cove by the protruding rocks. I had heard stories of people getting stung by ...