Fauna & Flora Articles

Iris in the Pyrenees

Spring flowers and exercise at last!

We've been able to get out and excercise over the last couple of weeks after a very strict lockdown here in Spain. I've been taking advantage, getting out on the bike with the dogs a lot and preparing a vegetable garden in our field. Everything is so green at the moment and the spring flowers have burst into life in the fields around Biescas. I've spotted my first orchids of the season -...

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Emperor Moth

Saw this beautiful, huge moth on the pavement right outside our front door the other morning. Found out it was an Emperor moth. Really large – about 5cm across  and fantastic colour around the eye spots and the bright red flashes near the wingtips. He kindly...

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Egyptian vulture & Northern wheatears

Saw my first Egyptian vulture of the year while out walking near the village of Piedrafita today. There very distictive with their black and white wings, yellow head a diamond shaped tail. These vultures migrate from northern Africa and the Middle East at the...

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Ophrys Orchids in the Pyrenees

Ophyrs orchids attract male bees by imitating the shape, colour and scent of female bees. Each orchid is specialised to be pollinated by only one type of bee. Read an interesting article on the bbc today about bees cross pollinating different orchids creating hybrids....

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Signs of spring

Few signs of spring as I took a walk out from Biescas yesterday. First few primroses are coming out in sunny spots alongside the path and few hepatica have started to join them. The stinking hellebore have been out a few weeks – the flowers of these remain green...

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Mating Swallowtail Butterflies

Anna took this fantastic picture of a pair of Swallowtails butterflies mating last week on one of our Peaks & Passes walking holidays. We regularly see these colourful butterflies on our walks but we’d never seen them mating before. Sorry for the lack of...

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