In the still of the night at La Pasera

In the still of the night when we are asleep, the garden continues to host an array of wildlife we rarely see or think about... What happens in your garden at night?

As dusk falls, the birds call out the end of the day before roosting in bushes, trees and crevices. The bats take flight and feast on the abundant mist of midges, flies and moths and the owls fly low from perch to perch in search of mice, voles and frogs. The frogs begin their chatter and the toads sing out loud announcing their presence to passing mates. Meanwhile the snails and slugs exit their daytime refuge and take advantage of the cooler air and dew that settles on the grasses and plants, easing their journey to feast on luscious greens and petals.

Excitement grows for Wentworth and Gawber as they tune in to the music of the night. A rustle here, a flutter there, a call in the distance, both Wentworth and Gawber finely tune their senses to ensure their safety and maintain their territory. A large male stag beetle signals its presence with a loud whirring noise as it navigates the garden only to be chased by two curios and playful cats.

Every so often we sit in the darkness on the terrace and experience the sounds and sights of the night. It is amazing to think that within a few meters, creatures great and small are feeding, travelling to and fro and, on constant alert for friend or foe. It is clear that we only ever experience a fraction of the abundance of life that uses our garden.

Here is a short compilation of night-time infrared videos filmed in the wildest parts of our plot. It features, badgers, deer, fox, pine marten, hedgehog, wild boar, a raton and of course, cats. When we view the films we can often see the reflections of curious cats eyes watching from a distance. The final scene is a lovely reminder that our domesticated cats bridge the life in the garden we know and the life we rarely catch a glimpse of...

Visiting mammals

When our friends John and Be recently lent us their brand new Trail Cam I was expecting some interesting results but thought it would take a few days before we managed to film anything of interest at night in the garden... but I was wrong:

Can you guess what it is? Please leave suggestions in comments

La Pasera is surrounded on three sides by fields, cuetos (rocky outcrops and meadows), caves and woodland. We often hear larger mammals scurrying around after dusk, some of which you can identify but others impossible to see or name.

Taken by John Shackleton
www.wildasturias.com

Deer can be often heard, especially the barking of the males, but rarely seen. On occasion we can identify the small herds of wild boar by their rough low pitched growls as they turn over turf looking for bulbs and roots. Rodents of various kinds can be heard gnawing away of fallen nuts with their teeth and hedgehogs can be seen hurrying around looking for slugs, earthworms and beetles, grunting as they work their way around the garden.

We have recently seen a beautiful young red squirrel perched in the top of the old cherry tree, brought to our attention by Gawber who sat for ages trying to work out if it was worth the effort of pursuit. Some years ago, we found a young pine marten during daylight hours, in the longer grass near the hut but have not seen once since.

Otter part two: footage

With Luis busy, I took an unexpected opportunity to walk the Rio Sella with Be the other day. After sighting the otters for eleven consecutive days, Be was pretty confident that we would see at least one of them for a brief moment at least. After walking for 30 minutes or so we were beginning to feel disappointed and decided to watch a goosander as it navigated a small waterfall and rapids. Suddenly Be waved her lens at me and shouted, in a whispery sort of way, to look down river. Sure enough he (the dog otter) was there. Surfacing and diving, bringing bites of food to the surface, turning on his back and chewing away.

His constant dives meant he was hard to follow as you never knew where he would surface. He stopped, several times and look straight at us, probably to assess the threat but fortunately, carried on and became more adventurous and confident.

He surfaced with a medium sized eel and carried it off to the far bank at the foot of the fall, where he devoured it with gusto. Occasionally he stopped and checked his surroundings by sight, smell and sounds. He circumnavigated the rocks and waterfall on the bank, disappearing into fallen trees and reappearing as he plopped into the water on the topside.

We watched, photographed and filmed his antics for up to 30 minutes, losing him from time to time but locating him when water was disturbed or ducks flew.

I have more film but the files are just too big to load with our limited bandwidth.

Carnival

Sunday:
There is something strange happening around the village......lunchtime brought strange and silent visitors to our door:


After supplying them with some vino tinto, they seemed appeased and went on their merry way.


Monday brought large crowds of people into town, some dressed in weird and outrageous costumes and others in various guises. It was Carnival time. As usual, times were fluid and the 11.30pm start of the parade was of course, delayed. Time for another drink in a much warmer place then outside again as we heard the band strike up. The parade had many groups and individuals competing for the 800€ first prize and lots of other cash prizes. The carnival was as always a great atmosphere and brought many people into town. We managed to escape sometime in the early hours of the morning before frostbite set in.

Oink

We have just had our good friends Sue and Sam, Mother and Son, to stay for a few days just before Christmas. Despite the dreadful snow and ice in the UK, they managed, just, to get both out here and home again. We had a really chilled time and didn't feel the need to be dashing about. Sue and Luis decided to make a mosaic number plaque for Sue's house. For anyone who knows her, it doesn't take a genius to guess what Sue choose as an accompanying decoration....a Pig. For anyone who knows Luis, it doesn't take a genius to work out how he felt about the opportunity to talk Mosaics. Teacher and Pupil, Guru and Groupie or Mork and Mindy....take your pick. Needless to say Sam and I welcomed the break and took the occasional opportunity to irritate where possible. The goggles and hats were just for show - they both love posing.

A walk to the cliffs of Hell

One of the pleasures of life at La Pasera is the beauty of the landscape that we explore on a regular basis. One of our favourite walks takes you to the Cliffs of Hell - Acantilados del Infierno and Tomason (Tomason is shown in the photograph above).

Starting from La Pasera, we walk down the lane for a few meters until we join the famous pilgrim´s route to Galicia or "Camino de Santiago" (St James´ Walk). This is the coastal route that starts at the border with France, there is also an alternative route that takes you through the heart of Spain.

To walk to the cliffs we join the Camino de Santiago and soon leave behind the apple orchards that line the first part of the route. The apples have just been harvested to make the famous Asturian cider. Within a mile or so, we join a path to the right that leads you straight to the coast. As you walk past the meadows and hedgerows, you may come across some domestic animals grazing and if you are lucky enough a variety of wild animals and birds such as song birds, pheasant, deer, insects, lizards, snakes and a variety of raptors. With regards to the flora, it is very interesting to see many wild forms of plants and flowers we had in the garden in the UK. The wild flowers you come across on this walk are a treat and there is always some to be admired regardless of the season. The best time of the year for the meadow flowers is late Spring before the farmers cut the grass when the abundance and variety of flowers and especially the orchids is very impressive.

As you get closer to the coast, you can smell the sea and hear the waves pounding against the cliffs especially if the seas are rough and the waves crash over the cliffs.

This walk is very beautiful on a nice sunny day when we enjoy the tranquillity and beauty of the sea views. If you turn your back to the sea, you can admire the mountains. At times we just let time pass by while we observe the fishing boats and distant mountains. During a storm when the sea is rough, this walk offers a completely different experience with the drama of the sound and views of the rough sea as the next photos and video show. The coastline is littered with Bufones (blow holes) where sea water is forced through holes in the limestone - some of them are extremely dangerous and people have died in the past being blown of their feet - thrown up in the air and land on sharp jagged rocks.