Ansó, 27 June
by Isabel Isherwood - 22:32 on 27 June 2017
School has finished now for the summer. Typically, after weeks of cloudless skies and sky-high temperatures the clouds rolled in, the thunder rattled around the hilltops, and the rain began to fall. Long afternoons lounging by the river are evidently going to have to wait. The rain is definitely welcome; there has apparently been much less rain this spring than usual, and the temperatures have been much higher – the fields are already starting to look dry, the veg plots around the village are having to be watered twice a day, the Ebro river to the south is the lowest anyone can remember at this time of year and people are starting to worry about drought.
Jake has gone over to the UK for a few days of meetings, leaving the car at the airport in Zaragoza. The girls are feeling slightly at a loss without school to give the days a structure, and without daily trips to the river to swim. With no to car to enable to us to explore further afield, I was starting to feel slightly trapped – this is not a good house to be in all day with two slightly cranky children. So we spent some time studying the forecast and decided to make the most of a brief weather-window and go on an adventure. We borrowed a friend’s car and took ourselves off to camp in the Cueva de Susuei (which we’ve been to a few times now since our first visit back in January). It is only a fairly short walk in, and offers some shelter from the elements, both of which seemed a good idea in the circumstances…..
I haven’t been there for a few months. It is drier than before, but there is still running water – or dripping water, at least, falling into a small emerald green pool in the rocks. The cave is currently occupied by hundreds of crag martins, their little mud-brick nests tucked almost invisibly into the ridges and swirls of the cave’s limestone roof and walls. Some are almost completely closed with just a tiny slit-like entrance hole, while others are more cup-shaped and small yellow-gaped chicks can be seen leaning out whenever a parent is nearby. High overhead at the top of the cliff, a seasonal waterfall that pours down in front of the cave mouth – currently dry despite the recent rain – has deposited a projecting fan of calcite several metres across. Holes in the underside of this extraordinary structure have provided nest-sites for swifts. Further along the cliffs griffon vultures and kestrels are fledging. A badger sett on the path close by looked unoccupied, but Rowan and I found several very active latrines nearby, and pine and/or stone martens are also evidently around. I got the tent up while the girls explored, then after dinner Rowan and I went for a quiet dusk walk to see what was around. Unfortunately however, Rowan’s idea of quiet is ….. not very quiet. And her patience is not great. After half an hour of nothing showing up she declared herself disappointed and opted to jack it in and go back to the camp. Maybe she is still a bit young…..
A slightly cramped and uncomfortable night – the girls keep growing, it is getting difficult to get the three of us into a two-man tent…..! But lovely moonlight, water sounds, tawny owls and crickets, and screaming swifts at dawn
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