Feeding Ravens at the Roque

Sheila Crosby feeding cat biscuits to a cheeky raven, Roque de Los Muchachos
May 23, 2015

  This morning the ravens came to say hello to my group of tourists. To begin with they’d eat food I left for them, then they moved on to eating out of my hand, and now they’ll jump onto my arm or shoulder, if I make it worth their while. Jose Luis Rodrigo Alonso took this great photo of the cheekier one on my arm, helping himself from the box…

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Wild Peas

Wild peas, Pisum sativum in Breña Alta
May 22, 2015

  These are wild peas, Pisum sativum. They grow all over the island, and very pretty they are too. The flowers are edible, but I don’t know if the peas themselves are. Certainly sweet peas are poisonous.

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Tower of Flowers

Blue tower of jewels (Echium webbi) Breña Baja, La Palma, Canary Islands
May 20, 2015

  Because La Palma is an island, the plants here evolved in isolation, and many of them are unique to the island, or to the Canaries. One of my favourites is the Tower of Jewels — Tajinaste in Spanish and in Latin, the Echium genus. It’s related to borage, and most species have a big spike with hundreds of tiny flowers. The most spectacular is Echium wildpretii, which really is…

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Los Cancajos

The beach at Los Cancajos, breña Baja
May 16, 2015

  If a beach is all you want for your holiday, then frankly you’re better off in Tenerife. But if a beach is part of the mix, then we have two main beach resorts, Los Cancajos and Puerto Naos. Our sand is like the Model T Ford – “Any colour you like, as long as it’s black”. When the sea mashes up black, volcanic rock, that’s what you get. However,…

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Amazon links

The front cover for 'A Breathtaking Window on the Universe'
May 15, 2015

Well, I finally got my books on sale. I would very, very much appreciate reviews. I’m not asking anyone to lie, but if you liked any of my books, please put in a review. And if you didn’t like it, you are, of course, completely entitled to your opinion, but perhaps you’d like a cup of tea instead? And if you see anything wrong with the listing, please, please tell…

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Books on Amazon

The front cover for 'A Breathtaking Window on the Universe'
May 13, 2015

At long, long last, I’ve put two of my books up on Amazon, although so far they’re only visible on Amazon.es. I’ve been meaning to do it for ages. Even after I’d worked out which program to use (Amazon marketplace) it was quite slow. They wanted to know my name and address (fair enough) and my nationality, date of birth and passport number (no, I’m not the Tuvalu mafia money…

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