SONGBIRD

Every morning I am serenaded by the fluid songs of blackbirds and other birds. I don't know whether they are singing, "This is my patch!" or, "I'm sexy, come and get me!" or even, "Oh what a beautiful morning!" but I rarely see them.

They are usually perched in the pepper trees, whose feathery leaves shift in the slightest movement of air and disguise any fluttering of wings.

They are in bloom at the moment, too, which adds to the density as well as to the perfume - think green pepper sauce without the cream.


But this morning I had passed those birds and ducked under the pepper trees, collecting floral confetti in my hair as I went, and I was on a tree-less stretch of pavement when a wonderful song poured over me.

I looked up and there he was - the tiniest speck on the fence round a tennis court on top of a row of garages - singing fit to burst.
He must be a mature bird to have perfected such a wonderful sound, but how can this minute creature produce such volume?


This was the closest close-up I could get with my small camera - he's clearly not a blackbird - wrong colour and too small - can anyone identify him?

PEPPER SURPRISE

A bit of a shock
WOW! I was searching Google for information on California pepper trees, because I have been trying to propagate some seeds and nothing has worked so far. I went into images and clicked on the photo in the top right corner - and got my own blog from May last year! How about that!

The reason I'm trying to grow the seeds is to make a bonsai, but it seems my best option is either to find a baby growing wild or take a cutting, so if you see me out on the rough ground looking furtive you will know what I'm up to.

I also wanted to identify this plant that is looking at its magnificent best right now on a roundabout at Parque la Reina.
The Christmas decorations have gone and this appears - great, isn't it?
I have looked up 'succulents' but can't find out what it is, so if anyone can tell me I would be grateful.

It bears some resemblance to a house-leek, but it's around fifteen feet tall, and the flower spike gets so heavy that it bends over and will eventually touch the ground.

As far as I know it's not a variety of Tajinaste. These flowers, for which Tenerife is famous, only grow at certain altitudes, and they have tall spikes of pink flowers that don't bend.

People go on hikes just to look at them - I wish my hips were up to the challenge.