October Weather

October is normally the wettest month here in Mallorca. However, earlier in the month we had a storm which took everyone by surprise. I was looking out of the window at around 5pm one Thursday and noticed that the clouds above were moving to the right and the clouds a little way off were moving to the left. It was starting to get a bit darker too. Then the clouds moved in from the right and it went very dark. This is a picture of the storm arriving, moving in across the Bay of Palma. It moved roughly northwards across the island and several tornados developed from it causing a lot of damage and hundreds of minor injuries, plus at least one more serious injury. As the storm arrived there were lightning srikes but as it passed the lightning was just overhead within the storm itself, thunder was very loud and the wind blew sheets of heavy rain horizontally bending the pine trees to their limits. The rain ran down the streets like rivers and the cars parked there were at risk of being flooded as the drains failed to cope and got blocked with debris. Since then we have had more rain than normal, including one other storm with tornados, more damage done and sadly killing one person.

Sundown over Cap de Cala Figuera and the sun sets at sea

One of the great things about sailing in the evening is the sunset. Here the sun has not quite set but has dipped below the skyline and a plane leaves a trail in the sky like a comet as it probably takes some holiday makers home.

A few minutes later after changing course we are sailing into the sunset with the island of Dragonera in the distance. The sky is clear and the first stars are appearing. The constellation of Scorpio is very easy to pick out. As it turns darker more and more stars can be seen until the sky is so full of stars it becomes difficult to make out the different constellations. An amazing sight.

Sailing to Barcelona

One of our clients is the skipper on a rather lovely yacht and I was invited to sail overnight to Barcelona. I even got to steer her out of Palma harbour before the auto pilot was switched on. It was very nostalgic and if I had remembered to charge the battery on my camera there would have been a lot more photographs on this post.

Here is the yacht moored 'stern to' in Palma harbour....

......and here is the view looking up her deck. It was exciting for me just to be on the boat, let alone to be about to set sail. Sadly there was virtually no wind so we had to motor all the way but it was still wonderful to be back at sea again.

And it's views like this of Palma with the Cathederal and the mountains in the distance that help make it something a bit special.

Mantis Eating a Bee

This mantis is about 10cm (4 inches) long and is eating a bee. It was moving around a bit and claerly seemed to be aware that it wasnt alone, and at one point, looked straight into the camera. The pictures are not perfectly clear as the depth of field on the camera is very short for close up photos but these are the best ones and I thought it was worth posting them.

The veins on the wings show up well in the first picture and look just like the veins on the leaves of the bushes.

At this point I felt we had made eye contact! Maybe she likes me!

Undeterred she goes back to her lunch. Oh yes, the bee is still alive by the way, poor little chap.


The final one shows the open mouthparts quite well but also the veining of the bee's wing is very clear, but you will have to click on the picture and look at it full size to see that properly.

View from the apartment

This is a not very good quality video of the view from the apartment balcony. Its not that clear but there is actually a nice view out over the Bay of Palma. The villa immediately below the apartment has now been knocked down and is now a building site.

A big fat spider!

This is a really spectacular spider! I saw it today at a plant nursery, quietly tucked away inbetween some shrubs so I moved a few out of the way to get some decent pictures. Its body is about an inch and a half long (37mm?) excluding the legs. It was one of those 'arachnaphobic' situations when you want to get as close as possible to get get a good picture but...........its a big spider! I believe it is a 'Wasp Spider', there are traces of the zig-zag line within the web but only a bit, I think some repairs may be in order. When the spider moved a little or there was a slight breeze the whole web moved as if it were struglling to support the weight of its owner. It certainly was a big fat spider! Strangely scary but amazingly beautiful at the same time.

Creepy-crawlies

These little chaps are not easy to photograph. they are usually running very quickly and disapear before you even think about taking a photo. Luckily this one tried to hide in a corner instead. I took several shots but because of its size and almost transparent nature, this was the only one with any degree of focus. You do need to click on this one and see it full size to appreciate it properly.

Petrea volubilis

This is a plant I have never seen before. It is planted against the wall of a building in Sollèr Botanical Garden. From a distance it seems to have long rcemes of flowers like a Wisteria but on closer inspection you can see that each flower is very small and is surrounded by bracts of the same colour. The flower buds are tight and open up to look like this. It is absolutely stunning. I hope to be planting it in many gardens on the island as I think it is worthy of wider propogation. For any botanists it is labelled as being of the family Verbenaceae and comes from Central America.

Lovely!

New Camera

This is a cropped section of one of the first pictures I took with a new camera. It is worth clicking on to see a closer view as the detail captured is excellent. I was quite amazed when I downloded the picture onto my laplop. Try zooming in if you dare!

Beach Bug

This one looks like a type of shield bug and was seen on a sandy beach. Its not the most glamourous of insects but it did open its wings so was worthy of a picture. Try clicking on the picture for a full screen view, the auto focus worked perfectly and the detail visible is excellent.

Beetles

These colourful beetles were seen on the trip to Cap de Ses Salines, the southern most point of the island, a couple of weeks ago. There were literally thousands of them on the rocks but it was not clear why they were there. there seemed to be little to eat, they weren't all mating, there were just lots of them. This small group seem to be scrambling over something but I'm not sure what or why. Perhaps they are all males except for the one under the pile and they are all competing to mate with her!

Bats

These bats roost in whatever space there is between this block of apartments and the next- you can see the join in the wall that they squeeze in and out of. I have tried counting them as they fly out in the evening and there are at least 20, probably many more as they dont all come out together but they all seem to fly off in the same direction evey night. They fly very close at times, right into the balcony area and I often feel the need to duck as they fly past. I don't know what species of bat they are - something else I have to look up but I don't know if the pictures are detailed enough for identification. They look quite big when they are flying but when they crawl in and out of the crack in the wall you can see that they are really tiny.

Cicadas

It is Cicada season here at the moment and a few weeks ago I found this one on the trunk of a tree we had just planted in a garden. According to the Collins Pocket Guide To Insects the nymphs live under ground for several years. This one (foreground)has presumably just climbed up to emerge as an adult from it's old 'skin' (background). Ones have seen since have all flown off as soon as you get near them so maybe this one was still drying it's wings out as it just sat there.

South Coast Flowers

These 2 photographs were taken on a day out to Cap de Ses Salines which is the southern most point of the island. The second plant is a Euphorbia but I havent identified the first one yet.

Wild Carrot

This spectacular umbelifer is a wild carrot Daucus carota. There are vast numbers of them and they grow in all sorts of places so they can look quite different for example, the ones growing on exposed cliffs are short and stubby but this one growing in a field was tall and splendid.

A Blue Scarlet Pimpernel

This is a blue version of the scarlet pimpernel Anagallis foemina. It grows all over the place in grassy areas in full sun and is weel worthe a closer look as the flowers are small but lovely.

What is this plant?

Mallorca is a great place to visit in the spring if you are interested in wild flowers and plants as there is a wide variety. I haven't looked this one up yet so if anyone wants to do it for me then feel free. It was seen at the S'Albufera wetland reserve but it was on a dryer bit of ground.

Planting Old Olive Trees 2

.....to create this, it looks a bit tidier now and will look better still when the garden is finished and the builders have left.

Planting Old Olive Trees

A couple of olive trees like these were lifted in........

Planting Palm Trees 3

.....and here they are being manoeuvred into position.

Planting Palm Trees 2

Here are the trees in mid flight

Planting Palm Trees

Arriving in Mallorca at the end of November is not the best time if you want to look for work. I didn't start looking until the new year which wasn't much better as the island is relatively quiet at that time of year. Of course it does depend on what work you want to do and how well you speak Spanish. As the island is largely dependent on tourism most of the work available revolves around the tourist industry in one way or another. There are a lot of people who have a second (or third!) home on the island and many properties are being built or refurbished (they call it reformed here) to supply this market. These houses have or need gardens and there is plenty of work to be done in this area. I was lucky enough to get a job fairly quickly designing gardens and helping implement the designs. This picture, along with the following few, illustrates the type of work being done in some of the properties being developed. here we have a group of 3 Washingtonia palm trees being lifted by a large crane. The road has been closed for the day. The trees are to be lowered down the hillside into the garden below which is still a building site.

Palma courtyard

This is a courtyard in the old part of Palma. Its a beautiful city centre, very old and with lots of interesting architecture

Dragonera

The island of Dragonera lies off the south-west corner of Mallorca. It is a nature reserve and can be visited by boat. This picture was taken from an ancient stone-built watch tower (they are dotted along the coastline) originally built to warn people inland of attacking pirates.

S'Albufera

This is the wetland nature reserve at S'Albufera which is a fantastic place to see a huge variety of birdlife in the spring and Autumn as migrating birds stop off here on their way north or south. Its is a real contrast to the busy tourist resort of Alcudia just along the road. Only been here once but definitely plan to return.

Cap Formentor

Here is a picture of Cap Formentor to the north of the island as seen from a specially constructed viewpoint. There is an old path through the pine forest to the end of the point which I may walk one day perhaps in Spring or Autumn. This picture was taken in April on my phone so the quality is not so good.

First 3 Months

For the first 3 months home has been an apartment in Santa Ponsa. This is the view at night from the apartment balcony.

Introduction

Its the first of July and I have now been in Mallorca for 7 months. I have been taking photographs of various things whilst here in order to keep a record and show people what I have been doing here and some of the things and places I have seen. This is just a collection of pictures of things I have seen or done and a few comments. This is an interesting island for many reasons, maybe I will be able to show something that interests you.