Drought - and no end in sight

It has not rained here since May, and then it only rained half the normal  amount for that month, in fact if we go back through the statistics we can see that the last "good" rainfall was back in November 2011 and before that March 2011. So far we’ve had 165.4 litters this year, we’ve still got a few months, but I can’t see us getting to the average, around the 1000 litres! If things don't change soon we're going to lose a lot of trees. The oaks are the hardest hit, they are adapted to survive these harsh climates, sounds strange but it's true. The wells are drying up and it’s still hot which means the non-natives will struggle to survive if the drip system gives out. Speaking of which something happened to our automated sprinkler/drip system not sure what but looks like no water got to any of the plants for quite some time, we’ve been out for about 10 days, not sure how many are going to survive. Will keep you posted

The "Gato Montes"

 Back in December 2009, Mika arrived on our door step, and I'm glad to say she has been with us now for almost three years, we've looked after her as best we could, treating her when she was ill, looking after her 6 kittens and taking her to the vet when ever necessary, so to us she was just another member of the family. So it was with great surprise to learn that one of our neighbors had spotted Mika around the hide they had built for birdwatching, so far nothing special, they leave food out for the birds and Mika being the sociable cat she is has no qualms about sharing a bite or two. It must have been a slow day in the hide, all hands quickly searched for wild fauna of central Spain on Google and came to the conclusion that our friendly feline was no less than a wildcat (Felis silvestris) she may be naughty but she certainly isn't wild. Anyway they where very proud of their finding, they published it on their web site and came over to tell us of their finding, and of course who would they run into but the wild Mika, lounging on the window pain after a nice fat feed.

To be fair shed does actually resemble some of the photos I've seen of the Iberian wild cat. Anyway it's good to know that they have been feeding here when we haven't been around and now that they have been formerly introduced they are no longer scarred of her, yes they did confess to us that she had intimidated them. Oh dear...

New weather station

11 months ago, time flys, the local weather station stopped reporting, so there was no way of know how much it had, ar as has been more likely this year, it hasn't rained. Good news is that ther is now an official weather station in Candeleda, maybe there always was, but I never could find it. Anyway the National Institute of statistics here in Spain collects and publish for all to see everything we could possibly want, well almost. 
Enjoy....
candeleda weather station