Squalls, Snot, Thornrays and Spoonbills

A weekend camping on the Minho coast, the NW corner of Portugal that borders Galiza, started out with a 2 hour drive from home in the early evening under a leaden sky. Destination Caminha, a small, picturesque (without being twee) coastal fort town situated on the estuary of the River Minho and the River Coura. The local camping site, open all year round, is situated in a large pine wood just behind the protected dunes and the beach where the mouth of the River Minho meets the sea. The far bank is Galiza, Spain. The beach is exposed and the sea is pretty lively in this area. Offshore and south of the mouth of the River Minho, the Ínsua fort stands above the waves, a reminder of the contested history between Portugal and  Spain in this area. I like it here; it's good for beach-combing, sitting by the river, bird-watching, wandering into town, reading, writing, eating fresh fish, walking or jogging around the paths and tracks in the pine woods or popping over to Spain on the little local ferry. It's a very green corner of Portugal and Spain. For a reason. It rains. A lot. Though the summers are warm, even hot, there can still be occasional showers, but I prefer that and the greener landscape to roasting myself mindless or towards melanoma on an arid, overcrowded beach elsewhere.

Walking into Caminha. The mouth of the River Minho meets the Atlantic.

Stopping off for a massive tray of calamares and rice with a bottle of vinho verde ("green wine". It's not green, just young, slightly sparkling white wine) for a paltry 20€, my boyfriend started to sneeze and sniffle. Since he has allergic rhinitis, neither of us paid much attention - it's a fairly normal occurrence. It's also serves him right being able to consume such fare without putting on an ounce (or 28.3495 grams) while I visibly widen (in metres) by just looking at it.
By the time we arrived at the campsite it was 10:30 pm, raining and windy. No time to pitch the tarp over the back of the van, and not wanting to get too wet, we set up the amdro in the van and settled in for the night. Or so I thought. More sneezing and sniffling and much nose blowing from the boyfriend, who was now producing prodigious quantities of snot and was not a happy bunny. Not, perhaps, an allergy after all. However, after protracted wheezing and hacking, he eventually drifted off into the land of snot.............I mean nod.

The next morning was grey but quite warm, with extremely light, almost imperceptible drizzle falling. I dressed and set off to walk the 2 km along the sea front to town to get medication for the now heavily sleeping producer of copious amounts of viscous colloid, get some cash and have a wander. The tide was on the ebb, starting to uncover the sand and mud banks that attract many wading birds to this area, especially at this time of year as they migrate to breeding grounds. The view across the Minho Estuary to Spain is verdant which is unusual; there is little or no urban sprawl or high buildings to mar this quiet corner of the Iberian Peninsula. The Minho and Coura rivers coalesce then meet the Atlantic via the estuary that fills and empties with the tides. The peak on the far shore houses an extremely well preserved iron age fort and community or "castro" - Castro de Santa Trega.

Castro de Santa Trega - on the Spanish side of the Minho Estuary.

The walk in was fairly uneventful but pleasing. Caminha's main square - which boasts at least 3 patisseries, assorted cafes, bars (all with esplanades) and a paper stand and is the social hub of the town -  was unusually quiet on this dull grey but muggy morning. After some breakfast in one of the said patisseries, a visit to the pharmacist and a wander around, I made my way to the fish lot in the small local market. A reasonable selection of fresh fish was being bought by locals for the weekend. An other-worldly thornback ray (Raja clavata) lay in a polystyrene box waiting to be sold. The vicious looking spines projecting along the dorsal column and the tail, indicating an adult, possibly a female.

A thornback ray at the local fishmarket in Caminha

The weather had improved and so I made my way back along the seafront to see if my boyfriend was still managing to breathe - at least through one nostril. The tide was out, uncovering mud flats that extended across the estuary, bar a deeper channel carved by the Minho that is used by small vessels to navigate across the bay. Not a lot of bird activity, although in the distance I could make out a small group of rather large seemingly pure white wading birds with blackish legs, about the size of a grey heron. All with their head down and feeding. 

Exposed mudflats. Spoonbills feeds in the foreground

Could they be............Spoonbills? I hadn't yet "bagged" a Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), although they are relatively frequent across the Iberian Peninsula. However, the species is of "European conservation concern".  I slowly made my way closer to the feeding group get a firm identification, but with their heads down, moving their semi-submerged bills from side to side in a constant to and fro motion, it was impossible to see the characteristic spatulate tip of the bill. Not in any particular hurry (assuming boyfriend was still breathing since I had not seen any ambulances hurtling towards the campsite during my wanderings), I sat on the sea wall, as close as I could get to the feeding group without scaring them off and took out my ancient but trusty and sturdy Canon PowerShot G10. And waited and waited....... for at least one of them to lift its head long enough for me to get a a look and shot of that bill. A Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) joined the feeding party, darting in and out of the group to pick off invertebrates and small fish uncovered by the Spoonbills. It didn't seem to bother them; plenty for all. In the meantime, I ran off photo after photo waiting for my shot. Eventually, two of them raised their bills from the water long enough to me to confirm my first sighting of Spoonbills. I sat and watched them a little longer, my day had been made. My boyfriend has the 'flu.

A small group of Spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) feeding in the Minho estuary. A Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) has butted in on the mud action.

The Little Egret waits to pick off food items dredged up as the Spoonbills sweep their bills to and fro across the sediment.