. . or should I say ‘the walk that wasn’t’!
On Sunday we decided to investigate the eastern end of the cycle path from Fuseta. It is evident from Google earth that less than 10years ago the salt pans here were still being worked, but now they have been abandoned and opened up to the sea. It is therefore difficult to create a long continuous walk away from the cycle path (which was surprisingly busy with fellow walkers, cyclists and even men on horseback on a greyish January afternoon) however if you enjoy the flora of the Ria Formosa then this could be a haven for you. What should have been a 10/15minute stroll to the end of one of the pans took me nearly an hour as I disappeared time and again down a bank or into the undergrowth to take a photograph!
I photographed nearly 30 species yesterday, of which most I have since identified with the help of my favourite book ‘Wild Flowers of the Algarve‘ and the wonderful website First Nature. I’m not going to spoil you by sharing all 30 now, but here are a few. Every one is labelled, you can hover your mouse over the photos for the name or if you prefer click on them to bring up the gallery for extra notes as well as the name.
As you will spot on some of my labels there are a few of which I remain uncertain. I’ve ordered another book and have also just discovered another good website Herbario Virtual del Mediterraneo Occididental. So maybe in my next Flora post I will be feeling more confident with my labelling, however as you may recall from an earlier post I have a long way to go before I can name things straight off!
I’ve shared less than half of what I spotted so expect another post soon. In fact there will be more than one post to come as we’ll be returning another day for the actual walk to Fuseta, and also to photograph the many plants not yet in flower. For now though I’ll leave you with a view, taken in a rare moment when I wasn’t in the undergrowth with camera in macro mode!
What a great site! I just began a blog this week, and i love birding and photography and just being in nature. Thanks for posting these, so neat to see!
Thank you so very much for popping by and for your lovely comments. I’m so glad you like 😊
I LOVED the bustard birds!!! Is that in Portugal? I mean it would make sense that all of the things on your site would be there, but I was having birder-envy. Right now I am currently in the not so fun part of blogging. Like once I get past this part it will be better….
Hiya they’re amazing aren’t they. In Alentejo in south Portugal one of the best places in world to see them 😊
Sorry to hear about your blogging problems, hope you’re past it now.
Yes, i think so!! I got some help from an experienced blogger, and even she said it was a mess and not being like normal.
Oh so pleased things getting better, and long may it continue to do so
You won’t be surprised to know that my approach is ‘ooh, there’s a flower’ 🙂 :). Even if I can identify them, I’m prone to forgetting 🙁
The latter is a problem I suffer from too!! I’ll walk past some of these this week and know I’ll be struggling to remember 😕
Wow, you are really capturing a variety of the beautiful Algarvian fauna. Must try that Fuseta walk. Not quite Spring in the Azores and we had some wet weather but really worth another trip!
Thank you 😊
So pleased you have had a lovely trip there. Really must go one day.
How delightful to see so many flowering in January. Like you I am often puzzled by wild flowers (or indeed all flowers) as so many are similar in appearance. A good book and a good website are crucial to ID.
I know we’re very lucky here. And yes they are crucial as are remembering to take identification style photos and not just pretty ones!! You should see how many photos are behind every pretty one 😉
I realised that some time ago, you need the leaf, the context and if possible some sense of scale, or a notebook to jot these things down!
After Sunday notebook and ruler are on my list to add to rucksack!
Ah, yes, ruler or a tape measure would be useful.