Monday 14th May (One Leveret Bites the Dust)


Mr. Kite looked out of The Joint window into a clear sunny Spanish blue sky. A hoopoe called and a nightingale could be heard singing.

Mr. Kite set off for Casa de Casceres down an undulating road. Thekla larks, crested larks, bee-eaters and eagles were watched on the plain in Spain. A tour of the town was followed by a visit to a church where the nuns were mopping the floor.

Then it was to a local pond where all types of gaggling geese waddled about in the dirty water and mallards, coots and moorhens joined in.

Returning to Casceres Mr. Kite stopped to watch a booted eagle sitting on a rock watching a white stork. The white stork picked up a leveret. The leveret did not like the white stork picking it up and it struggled and kicked and made noises. One of the parents of the leveret also did not like the white stork handling it's offspring and repeatedly ran at the bird and 'rabbit punching' it. For two minutes the leveret struggled to release itself from the large red bill of the stork as the parent ran and butted the bird from all directions.

Now the white stork seemed to want 'liebre Espana' as a treat and would not release the tasty morsel. To tenderise the hare the stork kept pummeling it on the ground. When the leveret stopped moving the white stork swallowed it. Yum. Then it flew away and the hare ran away with one less mouth to feed.

From Casceres Mr. Kite followed the ex 390 for five miles stopping at rio Guadiloba to watch European pond terrapins and a black-winged stilt. Hundred of terrapins swam around or lounged in the sun.

Further along the road Mr. Kite watch griffon vultures feeding on a carcass. On the ground these large birds were a  great sight as others circled, dropped down their legs and popped in for a feed.

At the end of the afternoon Mr. Kite returned to The Joint for a tipple of Negra Modelo. Cheers to that leveret that made a tasty meal.