They’re back!

This week: In the orchards; Home maintenance; What’s that bird?; They’re back!;

We have had a beautiful week of weather this week.

Every day there has been clear blue sky from dawn to dusk and with it of course comes wall to wall sunshine too.

So I decided to remove all the protection from the citrus trees. I even managed to get slightly sunburnt doing so. There was masses of oranges and lemons ready to pick.

It has been very nice being able to dispense with my NATO sweater and work in shirt sleeves.

Every year, I know it takes me around two days in the early winter for me to protect all the trees. Each six metre length of shade netting has to be hung on the frames. Then the top pieces need fixing.

Removing, folding and then putting the netting back into storage also takes the same amount of time.

Each length of netting is marked and I took the opportunity to repaint the numbers before folding. So when late November rolls around again, I will have everything in the right order, ready to hang…

I finished clearing up the courtyard too. More cardboard has been laid as weed suppressant in the orchards, wood has either been put into storage or cut up for firewood and once again, I have free space.

There were some more problems with my wood stove smoking into the dining room.

As the day and nigh time temperatures are rising nicely now, I’ve made the decision that I have had the last fire of the year.

I will have to completely remove the metal flue and build a more permanent chimney. However, that can wait for the better weather!

In the orchards

I have harvested the first Wild Asparagus, Asparagus acutifolius this week. I have these plants all over the place, but especially in the east orchard, which has been left fallow for the last 30+ years.

They are tender, succulent and are just right for lunch, after 2 minutes in the microwave, then covered with melted cheese.

Another of my Cherry Plums has been in full blossom this week.

It has been covered with honey bees and other pollinators every day, the buzzing of the bees filling the air.

I have also been picking my autumn planted Broccoli and Broad Bean tips. Something else to have fresh for lunch.

Home maintenance

All the power went off at 07:45 on Monday. Nothing unusual there! Our power supply is unstable and the local electric company cuts power for two or three hours without telling anyone.

They do have a website where they give notice of planned cuts, however to be honest, I don’t check it very often and usually hear of planned cuts via the local FaceBook expats group.

Around two hours after the power went off, I heard a neighbour using a power tool. When I checked, my power was still off. So I investigated further.

At the main consumer unit, where power comes into my buildings, the main RCD had tripped, however I couldn’t reset it. There are 16 MCB circuit fuses, so I turned them all off.

I was still getting a fault with the main RCD, so went to my second panel and turned the RCD off.

I could now reset the incoming power and brought all the circuits back on line. As soon as I reset the second panel RCD, the main RCD went off again.

Bringing the second panel MCB’s back on line individually, I found that I has a complete fault in the workshop 13A sockets circuit.

At least I knew where to look for the fault.

I don’t leave anything plugged in or switched on, in case of fire. So many fires are caused these days by charging batteries, that I am super careful about leaving any plugs in sockets.

In the centre of the 35 m² workshop, I have a floor outlet box. This has two 13A sockets inside, so when I am using power tools, I can plug a tool in without running an extension lead to where I am working.

When I lifted the lid on the box, it was almost full of water.

Despite the floor being 10 cm of reinforced concrete, because of all the rain we have had recently, water has seeped in through the conduit holes where the wires enter and leave.

This has never happened before. It was when the rain water reached the level of the electrical nonnections that it tripped the whole system.

I have dried everything out and reconnected the power, however I am going to need a new socket box. The earth contacts, being made of steel rather than copper, have been completely corroded.

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What’s that bird?

Twice this week there have been a group of four big raptors flying over my Dol house.

Unless you spend the day looking skywards, the first you hear is a high pitched “pijaah” call, over and over again.

Looking up the birds were playing in the sky, swooping, diving, wheeling and just riding the thermal air currents that rise above the Maquis.

My video quality is not the best. I had trouble with my camera because it kept losing focus, as the birds moved around the frame.

These are Eurasian Buzzards, Buteo buteo, called Škanjac in Croatian.

From below, they are magnificent large birds with a lot of white on the underside of their wings and a wide splayed tail. The wings have a prominent dark patch at the wrists. The head is broad and pale brown with mottled white feathers.

They are year round residents and I often see one on an electric pylon when I go to the supermarket.

These four were obviously in the process of pairing up.

The build their nests towards the top of tall Pine trees, making use of forks in branches and building an untidy pile of twigs and branches, lined inside with soft grass and leaves for their brood of two or three eggs.

Just another sign that spring is well and truly here…

They’re back!

Spring on Otok Hvar is a magical time.

There are new things happening every day. More properly it is the old favourites returning following the end of winter.

As I mentioned already, we have had a fabulous week of weather. There has been unbroken sunshine from sunrise until the sun sinks below the hills to the south. This is now around 16:45, four hours later than on our shortest day.

I walked up into Maquis behind my home on Friday. Principally it was to see what early wild flowers were in the area that I survey along the old donkey track.

I was also looking for damage caused by the Wild Boar, of which there was mercifully none. Now the deer population which used to be only around Grad Hvar has spread, I was also looking for signs they have been around. I didn’t find any.

As I wandered along the track, as soon as I was into the area between the trees and shrubs, I heard them. They’re back!

The unmistakeable singing of two Nightingales filled the soundscape of the Maquis.

These diminuitive and somewhat dowdy songbirds leave sometime around late August for their trip south to sub-Saharan Africa and then return in the spring to mate and raise one or sometimes two broods of young, before migrating south again.

Just standing and listening, I could hear three separate birds calling.

For once I was pleased that none of the felines had accompanied me, because when they are around, the alarm calls of Robins and Blackbirds warn every other avian that there is a cat around.

I didn’t have my parabolic microphone with me, but will go out on Sunday, a day when there will be no agricultural machines, chain saws or other man made background noise to disturb the soundscape, and try and get a recording.

You very seldom see a Nightingale, however as their numbers increase – these are the first arrivals – their song quickly becomes an accompaniment to all work in the gardens and orchards for the next four months. NCG