A rare bird in Canaries

To escape the cold I migrated south to the Canary Islands for a couple of weeks.

At first sight Lanzarote is not a promising place if you have an interest in natural history. This is not just because of the tourist development, it’s also because most of the island’s wildlife has been eradicated by recent volcanic activity. The last major eruption was in the 1820s and 70 years before that there was a catastrophic event that lasted several years and covered practically the whole island in lava and ash.

Some hardy plants and invertebrates survived and more have colonised the island since or been brought in by people. But for the first few days I hardly saw any birds, apart from a pair of collared doves that joined us for breakfast on the patio every morning.