Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes- September 3 2008

Of course, many farmers also use 4x4s and many also use a haybox on the back of the tractor. Forgive me for being away from West Sussex for this week but thought this picture would interest you.

What I was really looking for on these tiny islands in the middle of the Atlantic ocean last week were the four special birds that only occur on this Portuguese territory, which is midway between Europe and America.

All four have been on the Azores for so long they have adapted to a completely different way of life. It really is what Darwin was talking about regarding natural selection.

The first I saw was a 'funny' chaffinch. Lots of them, in exactly the same sort of places you would expect to see chaffinches in the UK, in the corners of fields and along the hedgerows and wherever cattle were living.

Azores chaffinches are less colourful, a greyer bird with less white on the tail and wings. There were hundreds of them, often in small flocks now that the breeding season is over.

The Azores are extinct volcanoes, in case you haven't seen them. I suppose they resemble small mountains with the peaks missing. Instead there is a large hole often over a mile wide with a lake inside. All very pretty and curious to us used to our Downs.

Dutch farmers brought over a breed of cattle that graze these verdant slopes of grass successfully. They are kept in bounds by hydrangea hedges.

In the wilder parts another endemic bird exists, the Azores bullfinch. This, too, is duller than ours, but the locals are very proud of this dowdy little finch and every tourist place sells postcards of it. I found several on the eastern end of Sao Miguel island, their stronghold.

I also found the Azores wagtail, skipping about among the dairy herds.

Best of all, though, was the Azores buzzard. These gave dramatic effect to the savage scenery, soaring endlessly into the clouds which frequently hide the tops of the volcanoes, only their wild skirling calls coming back down to us standing on the warm, sulphurous ground that is biding its time before the next big show of power.