Today our host arranged a visit to Golega’s Natural Reserve with Fernando who is in charge. The area is about 5kms square and we spent the morning walking through mostly ‘untouched by human hands country’. While our trail walking is often filled with bird sounds, there is little that is so highly concentrated on nature as this Reserve.

Walking initially between two small creeks, through long wet grass (where my non-waterproof shoes don’t work so well), we could hear the soft and musical sounds of tiny birds. These were the same birds we saw Fernando and Katerina ‘ringing’ today, and tagging them so they could carry out research on what is happening in their busy world. 

As we walked, a Ciguena (the white stork I posted some days ago) flew out from one of the creeks a metre away. I was hoping to see the young ones tagged but this was nearly good enough. Two lakes with large nesting grounds of reeds were full of storks, white and black, and a myriad of other birds obviously content in their permanent resident status. We passed through a field of cork trees that had been stripped of their commercially important cork, leaving them with a somewhat mysterious presence.

Then a trainline came into view, with a train which could barely be seen nor heard due to a purpose-planted thick band of bamboo, enhanced by colourful poppies in the foreground.  Soon we were back at reserve headquarters where photos were taken and our friend ready to take us home.

On the way, he suddenly applied the brakes;  he had seen a rare bird, unseen for decades.  We scrambled out of the car to peer at a black vulture – one of few seen in Portugal in this region for 25 years. It flew too high to get a clear look at its three metre wing span but F will send me his telescopic photo. It is so large that at times it hurtles towards the ground, and if undamaged,  needs two people to help it take flight again.  We learnt that these vultures are great for the environment by cleaning up tonnes of diseased carcasses. This has now fully made up for not seeing the young Ciguenas. 

A final coffee with F had us debriefing about this exciting development, then it was home to be spoilt and entertained by Paulo’s wife, Louisa.