Dennis Hollingsworth

Iberian Nature

I remember finding this supercool website on Iberian nature when we lived in Texas, and today I refound it after lingering at another favorite blog, Kalebeul.

(who, by the way, deserves praise. Kalebeul, aka "the baldie", aka "Trevor" is a delightful writer. Strange, strange, fun, but strange writing. Right now, he's cycling south for Carnival:

Stop looking at me like that: cycling short or even slightly longer distances is no stranger than typing. You get up in the morning, hook up to your machine, and start chomping away. When you?re hungry, you stop and eat, and when you?re tired you find a bed and sleep in it. Then, every now and again, you get some kind of reward. If you cycle, that?s carnival, goat ? l?africaine, and a night out with the Belarussian putimafia. If you type, that?s your pay cheque and the chance to be patronised by suits. And cyclists.

Back to topic, be sure to peruse Iberian Nature and his blog. Here, a couple of selections:

1- a note on sea urchins (yes, I'm thinking of the paintings)...

On the Ampordan coast in northern Catalonia , sea urchins are a delicacy. The first time I ate them was some years ago in Figueres on a cold, crisp Saturday morning in January. My flatmate's brother had been out snorkelling and had collected a bucketful. Neus took out a chopping knife, whapped one in two (1), and presented me with the two halves and a piece of bread. With the bread- lubricated with olive oil or butter, you had to scoop out the five red fleshy tongues ? actually the animal's gonads. You can also use a spoon. They tasted of the sea. They tasted wholly delicious. We were young and washed them down with cold beer, though they say they go best with an Ampordan ros?.

hmmmm, I'll have to try it this summer....

2- ...and a reminder of the dangers in the deep blue sea here...

*A few years ago a female was caught near Tossa de Mar (Gerona Spain). Is it true that the local authorities silenced the news because of tourism?

Yes, indeed they did.... unsuccessfully (reported widely the next day in Catalunya newsmedia, pictures 'n all!). The Guardia Civil made a big meal out of their midnight antics on behalf of the Catalunya authorities, scooping the Tiburon blanco off the beach at 0100hrs with aflat-back truck and whisking it off to the local inland garbage fillsite, where (luckily) the folk from MarineLand at Palafolls located it and recovered the carcass back for examination the following day. It was nearly a shocking and lamentable loss of valuable data, all brought about through JAWS-inspired motivation given the tourist bias at Tossa de Mar, even when it occurred (November 17th 1992). Incidentally, the specimen was an adult male, 4750mm total length, weighing ca. 1000kg. It stranded moribund, rather than being caught.
I still have to smile at the thought of a nearly 5 metre white shark lying stinking-up an inland fill site, supposedly secreted away frompublic attention following a pseudo-special forces operation at the dead of night....I mean, it's not like dumping a dead 3cm immature goldfishin the trash, is it?. After all - someone *might* just spot it.... IAN K. FERGUSSON