Butcher Bird

Took a break at lunchtime to go look at Mourão's beach, now the Alqueva Lake is so high. Amazing to see the water rushing under the bridge to the island, which hasn't actually been an island for several years. Too many photos, and then, getting back in the car, saw this bird, which, unusually for birds round here, allowed us to get close enough to get a decent photo, so had to be my Blip. It's a Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius Meridionalis); lanius comes from the Latin for 'butcher' because of their habit of impaling the small rodents, reptiles or birds they kill (by cracking their skull or spinal cord with its strong beak) onto spikes or barbed wire to hold it still while they eat it, over several days. And I though it was such a sweet little thing.

Two extras: the same flowers we have all over our Land being covered by water, and Mike on the bridge from the beach.

Spent the whole day clearing everything out of the room we live in, and wiping the mould off the walls with bleach, cleaning and sorting and replacing - which involved re-varnishing my bedside table and Mike creating a new drawer for my clothes. It's not done yet...

Gratefuls:
- tackling the mess, together
- the wood burner, it's gone quite cold again
- satisfying chats with the family in UK

Oh, and I forgot, came back to add a link to this, at the Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona, do take four minutes to watch, just astounding. Dedicated to Keith, for his birthday.