Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year to one & all

I am determined that 2009 is going to be a good year for me and the business. Last year was very good with many new ventures being successfully launched and a mighty "thank you" to everyone who supported Oliva Rama Tours in 2008. I am very much looking forward to seeing you again in the following months.
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Eventually I surfaced after the traditional New Year's Eve party and decided to walk off dull thud in my head at the beach. It's been a lovely day in Oliva with nice warm sunshine and a light southerly breeze, the only downside being the beach was fairly busy. At my watchpoint I scanned the off-shore rocks and found a good flock of 30+ Sandwich Terns, along with a few each of Audouin's, Yellow legged & Black headed Gulls, Cormorants and Sanderlings. Further out to sea a steady stream of Balearic Shearwaters were heading north plus a few more gulls and terns. The Kentish Plovers and more Sanderlings were avoiding the people and dogs by running up and down the beach (boy these birds are fit!). So I left and headed north myself walking through the caravan park at Kiko to the dunes beyond. This area has been sanitised but there are still some patches of natural dune left, which can be quite productive and here I found a mixed flock of Tree Sparrows, Goldfinches, Chaffinches and Serins. A smart male Black Redstart quivered it's tail at me and was joined by a pair of Stonechats. A Small White butterfly was indicative of the day's weather and Crag Martins feasted on the amount of flying insects that were around. One of my resolutions this year is to greatly improve my flower identificaction and found this common yellow flower and with the aide of a book I got for Christmas discovered it is Bermuda Buttercup. A troublesome weed according to the literature - well I think looks quite nice. One plant I do find here which is great is the Sea Daffodil and is common amongst the spectacular Aloe Vera plants also found along the coastal dunes. It's a great place to relax, unwind and recover from a slight hang-over, however it was then back home to the demands of two young sons and their games - brilliant.

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