Goats remembered

Thursday 19th March 2009

Unable to get out and about for a couple of days due to having my 6 pack repaired. Rather inconvenient cos I'm missing out on a Tame valley birders Curry night and a pint with the Church End Thursday night Club. Still important to get fit for the deluge of Mediterranean overshoots that descend on the Midlands in the next couple of months.

The next bit comes courtesy of Max Silverman who felt I'd achieved 'old goat' status. Cheers Max. There are still a few characteristics of goats that I haven't yet acquired. My experience of goats particularly in Cyprus, Lesbos and Fuerteventura is that as well as being picturesque on a distant hill, up close they're are not so endearing. Their digestive systems produce considerable quantities of Methane gas, which is emitted at regular intervals. The reason Goats have bells is not to produce an evocative soundtrack to a walk through aromatic hillsides of Mediterranean islands but rather to drown the sounds of the incessant farting of these wandering ruminants. Anyway it got me thinking about Goats and Birds, as you do, and I remember some goat farms on my travels that have attracted some good birds.

On Fuerteventura, at Los Molinos the area around the goat farm had Egyptian Vultures at close quarters, with Barbary Falcon, Plain and Pallid Swift also seen there. The area around the Goat farm, at Anarita Park, near Paphos, Cyprus was notable for wintering Finsch's Wheatear, Lesser Kestrel and Rock Thrush while the Goat farm at the start of the track up the Potamia valley on Lesbos regularly held Sombre tit, Middle spotted Woodpecker with Olive tree warbler a little further up the valley.