Today, the weather is cold in Barcelona. If a week ago, there were still very warm temperatures, the situation has changed drastically.
Claire Fontaine and TheGrandma have decided to wrap up well, take their photographic equipment and go spend the day in Montserrat in search of wildgoats.
The wild goat is a relatively young animal on this sacred mountain, but since it was reintroduced, it has been adapting to an ideal orography for its survival and protection. And as in any type of species observation, you need to have a very good technological team, a lot of patience, silence and, of course, luck. It has been a fantastic day that they will soon repeat, this time in the Ports de Tortosa-Beseit.
The wild goat has found its little paradise in Montserrat and the data proves it. The species was reintroduced 30 years ago with specimens from the ports of Tortosa-Beseit and, in three decades, it has gone from around twenty specimens to more than 400.
Specifically, the latest census carried out by the DARP and the Rural Agents at the end of December is at 439 goats, almost forty more than last year. The goats have found in Montserrat a very suitable habitat. These ungulates have no natural predators in the area and, therefore, it is important to control their population because an excess of animals can be incompatible with other uses of the mountain, such as climbing.
The last census was carried out on 24 December 2024 and 439 individuals were counted, while the previous year 401 were found. According to the Department of Agriculture of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the number of males and females continues to increase, while the number of kids remains stable. The census is carried out in winter because it is the breeding season when adult males and females come together. Although the counts are very accurate, it is never possible to count all the individuals, so it is estimated that, in practice, there would be more than 439 individuals.
Wild goats have found Montserrat their ideal habitat and, for this reason, their growth in recent years has been exponential. They have plenty of food and they have also found a lot of peace because they have no predators. The climate is also very favorable for them and this makes them very comfortable. The characteristics of Montserrat, with rock conglomerates, make it an ideal refuge for the goats. It is their comfort zone, where they seek security in the face of danger.
Look carefully at the goat sitting on the edge of the cliff: Everything that shows you the peace of being fearless is a great teacher for you! That goat is a teacher for you, respect it!
Today, The Grandma has been organizing her travel photos. She has found some photos of Montserrat,theCaribbean island. She visited Montserrat some years ago because she was very interested in knowing this island that takes its name from Montserrat, themost popular Catalan mountain.
On a day like today in 1995, the Soufrière Hills volcano erupts in Montserrat. Over the course of several years, it devastates the island, destroying the capital and forcing most of the population to flee. The Grandma wants to remember this fact that changed the lives of Montserrat inhabitants forever.
The Grandma has remembered her travel across the Caribbean Islands and she has decided to come back with her friends Claire Fontaine, Tina Picotes, Joseph de Ca'th Lon, Jordi Santanyí and Tonyi Tamaki.
The Soufrière Hills volcano is an active, complex stratovolcano with many lava domes forming its summit on the Caribbean island of Montserrat.
Many volcanoes in the Caribbean are named Soufrière, in French sulphur outlet. These include La Soufrière or Soufrière Saint Vincent on the island of Saint Vincent and La Grande Soufrière on Guadeloupe. After a long period of dormancy, the Soufrière Hills volcano became active in 1995 and has continued to erupt ever since.
Its eruptions have rendered more than half of Montserrat uninhabitable, destroying the capital city, Plymouth, and causing widespread evacuations: about two thirds of the population have left the island.
Lava Dome of Soufrière Hills volcano, Montserrat
It is andesitic in nature, and the current pattern of activity includes periods of lava dome growth, punctuated by brief episodes of dome collapse which result in pyroclastic flows, ash venting, and explosive eruption.
The volcano is monitored by the Montserrat Volcano Observatory. Volcanic gas emissions from this volcano are measured by a Multi-Component Gas Analyzer System, which detects pre-eruptive degassing of rising magmas, improving prediction of volcanic activity.
-2460 BCE (± 70 years): An explosive eruption formed English's Crater.
-1550 CE (± 50 years): Between 25 and 65 million cubic metres of lava was erupted at Castle Peak.
Seismic activity had occurred in 1897–1898, 1933–1937, and again in 1966–1967, but the eruption that began on 18 July 1995 was the first since the turn of the 20th century in Montserrat. When pyroclastic flows and mudflows began occurring regularly, the capital, Plymouth, was evacuated, and a few weeks later a pyroclastic flow covered the city in several metres of debris.
The first phreatic explosion in this new period of activity occurred on 21 August 1995, and such activity lasted for 18 weeks until it caused an andesitic lava dome formation. This was initially confined by a sector-collapse scar. This period lasted for another 60 weeks, after which there were major dome collapses and two periods of explosive volcanic eruptions and fountain-collapse pyroclastic flows. The explosion blanketed Plymouth, 6 kilometres away, in a thick layer of ash and darkened the sky almost completely.
Earthquakes continued to occur in three epicenter zones: beneath the Soufrière Hills volcano, in the ridge running to the north-east, and beneath St George's Hill, about 5 kilometres to the north-west.
Montserrat after the Soufrière Hills eruption
A large eruption on 25
June 1997 resulted in the deaths of nineteen people. The island's
airport was directly in the path of the main pyroclastic flow and was
completely destroyed. Montserrat's tourist industry also crashed, although it began to recover within fifteen years. The governments of the United Kingdom and Montserrat led the aid effort, including a £41 million package provided to the people of Montserrat;however, riots followed as the people protested that the British Government was not doing enough to aid relief.
The riots followed a £10 million aid offer by International Development Secretary Clare Short, prompting the resignation of Bertrand Osborne, then Chief Minister of Montserrat, after allegations of being too pro-British and not demanding a better offer.
The British destroyer HMS Liverpool took a large role in evacuating Montserrat's population to other islands;
this included Antigua and Barbuda, who warned they would not be able to
cope with many more refugees. About 7,000 people, or two-thirds of the
population, left Montserrat; 4,000 went to the United Kingdom.
On
24 December 2006, streaks of red from the pyroclastic flows became
visible. On 8 January 2007, an evacuation order was issued for areas in
the Lower Belham Valley, affecting an additional 100 people.
At 11:27 pm local time on Monday 28 July 2008, an eruption began without any precursory activity. Pyroclastic flow lobes reached Plymouth.
These involved juvenile material originating in the collapse of the
eruption column. Further, a small part of the eastern side of the lava
dome collapsed, generating a pyroclastic flow in Tar River Valley.
Several large explosions were registered, with the largest at
approximately 11:38 pm. The height of the ash column was estimated at
12,000 m above sea level.
The volcano has become one of the most closely monitored volcanoes in the world since its eruption began, with the Montserrat Volcano Observatory taking detailed measurements and reporting on its activity to the government and population of Montserrat. The observatory is operated by the BritishGeological Survey under contract to the government of Montserrat.
The 9 October 2008 issue of the journal Science suggests that two interconnected magma chambers lie beneath the surface of the volcano on Montserrat -one six kilometres below the surface and the other at 12 kilometres below the surface. They also show a link between surface behaviour and the size of the deeper magma chamber.
Montserrat after the Soufrière Hills eruption
On 5 February 2010, a vulcanian explosion simultaneously propelled pyroclastic flows down several sides of the mountain, and on 11 February 2010, a partial collapse of the lava dome sent large ash clouds over sections of several nearby islands including Guadeloupe and Antigua. Inhabited areas of Montserrat itself received very little ash accumulation through either event.
Montserrat is a British Overseas Territory (BOT) in the Caribbean. The island is in the Leeward Islands, which is part of the chain known as the Lesser Antilles, in the West Indies.
Montserrat measures approximately 16 km in length and 11 km in width, with approximately 40 km of coastline. Montserrat is nicknamed The Emerald Isle of the Caribbean both for its resemblance to coastal Ireland and for the Irish ancestry of many of its inhabitants.
In 1493, Christopher Columbus named the island Santa María de Montserrate, after the Virgin of Montserrat in the Monastery of Montserrat, on Montserrat mountain, near Barcelona in Catalonia. Montserrat means serrated mountain in Catalan.
An exclusion zone, encompassing the southern half of the island to as far north as parts of the Belham Valley, was imposed because of the size of the existing volcanic dome and the resulting potential for pyroclastic activity. Visitors are generally not permitted entry into the exclusion zone, but a view of the destruction of Plymouth can be seen from the top of Garibaldi Hill in Isles Bay. Relatively quiet since early 2010, the volcano continues to be closely monitored by the Montserrat Volcano Observatory.
A new town and port are being developed at Little Bay, which is on the northwest coast of the island. While this construction proceeds, the centre of government and businesses is at Brades.
Montserrat's economy was devastated by the 1995 eruption and its aftermath; currently the island's operating budget is largely supplied by the British government and administered through the Department for International Development (DFID) amounting to approximately £25 million per year. Additional amounts are secured through income and property taxes, licence and other fees as well as customs duties levied on imported goods.
The limited economy of Montserrat, coupled with a population under 5,000, many living in shelters and shacks without utilities, only consumes 1.7 MW of electric power, produced by five diesel generators. Two exploratory geothermal wells have found good resources and the pad for a third geothermal well was prepared in 2016. Together the geothermal wells are expected to produce more power than the island requires.
Ground she's movin' under me, tidal waves out on the sea Sulfur smoke up in the sky, pretty soon we learn to fly Let me hear ya now I don't know, I don't know I don't know where I'm a gonna go when the volcano blow.
Merche Jones climbs Vermell del Xincarró, Montserrat
Today, The Jones have revised Countable & Uncountable before visiting the Palace of Versailles. The family has visited this amazing palace and has rested in its gardens sharing personal experiences and talking about their preferences in literature, music and places.
The Grandma has remembered that today, April 27, is the festivity of our Mary of Montserrat, patron of Catalonia, a black virgin very adored and respected by its populations, believers or not, that represents more than a religious symbol. Montserrat is also a symbol of cultural resistance during the darkest years of prosecutions and disctatorships.
If you didn't visit Montserrat, The Jones would recommended to do it. You will enjoy of one of the most incredible natural landscapes, full of activities to do; one of the most libraries around the world; and a spiritual place to rest for believers. Montserrat is much more than a mountain, it's the spiritual symbol of a whole culture which has resisted and survived along the history and which is alive and showing its black virgin to the world.
Versailles is a place of contrasts. For one hand you can visit the Palace but for other hand, in the same city stands up one of the biggest banlieues of Paris. The family has been talking about last French colonies in North Africa and its results nowadays in architecture, urbanism, immigration, social policies and human rights.
Joaquín Jones has offered his knowledge about Ildefons Cerdà's Urbanistic Plan in l'Eixample in Barcelona, an incredible plan which searched the convivence between all the social classes offering the possibility of living together, offering facilities to everyone and avoiding social exclusion.
The Jones have decided to rest in Versailles gardens and talked about their preferences and wishes. They have recommended some books. Ana Bean-Jones has chosen, Banana Yoshimoto's books and Claudia Jones has proposed Màxim Huertas with No me dejes-Ne me quitte pas.
Some members of The Jones and their preferences
Moreover, Merche Jones has talked about Fernando Aramburu's Patria and Michelle Jones about Masterchef's books.
Finally, Joaquín Jones has recommended Eduardo Mendoza's No word from Gurb and Aldous Huxley's Brave New Worldwhile The Grandma has chosen Herman Melville's Moby Dick and Faïza Guène's Kiffe kiffe demain.
The family has also talked about places to visit. Next week, they're going to leave Paris and their destination is unknown. Paqui Jones has recommended Aix-Les-Bains, a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It's as a beautiful place to visit although the family has talked about other interesting places like China.
Joaquín Jones is very interested in laboural conditions in this Asian country, especially now when May, 1st is arriving, and The Grandma, who is a great fan of human towers, has expressed her surprised about Chinese culture and its capacity to adapt to new goals without any kind of problems explaining the case of the Xiquets of Hanzghou as a example.
The Palace of Versailles, in French Château de Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France. It is now open as a museum and is a very popular tourist attraction.
King Louis XIV in the Palace of Versailles
When the château was built, the community of Versailles was a small village dating from the 11th century. Today, however, it is a wealthy suburb of Paris.
Versailles was the seat of political power in the Kingdom of France from 1682, when King Louis XIV moved the royal court from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789, within three months after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.
Especially under Louis XIV, the senior nobility were pressured to spend large amounts of time at Versailles, as a form of political control. Louis XIV evolved a rigid routine of court life as a performance, much of which took place in front of large groups of people, at some points in the day including tourists.
Château de Versailles and its gardens
Building the château and maintaining the court there was phenomenally expensive, but did a good deal to establish the dominance of French style and taste in the whole of Europe, giving French luxury manufacturing advantages that long outlasted the fall of the Ancien Régime.
Louis XIV's expansion of the building was begun around 1661, with Louis Le Vau as architect.
It was not completed until about 1715, having been worked on by architects including François d'Orbay, Charles Le Brun, interiors especially, JulesHardouin-Mansart and Robert de Cotte.
André Le Nôtre began the gardens and structures in them. There were a range of satellite buildings around the grounds. While the main château building remains essentially intact, though without much of its contents, some of these other buildings have been destroyed.
The
Ocellated Lizard, Eyed Lizard or Jewelled Lacerta in the pet trade is a species
of wall. Timon Lepidus is one of the largest members of its family. The adult
is 30 to 60 cm long and may reach up to 90 cm, weighing more than 0.5 kg. About
two-thirds of its length is tail. Newly hatched young are 4 to 5 cm long,
excluding tail.This is a robust lizard with a serrated collar. The male has a
characteristic broad head. It has thick, strong legs, with long, curved claws.
The dorsal background colour is usually green, but sometimes grey or brownish,
especially on the head and tail. This is overlaid with black stippling that may
form a bold pattern of interconnected rosettes. The underside is yellowish or
greenish. The male is brighter in colour than the female and has blue spots on
its flanks; there are fewer or none in the female. Young are green, grey, or
brown, with yellowish or white, often black-edged, spots all over.
This reptile
is found in various wild and cultivated habitats from sea level up to 2100 metres in the Iberian lands. It is rare at higher altitudes. It prefers dry, bushy areas,
such as open woodland and scrub, old olive groves and vineyards, and is
sometimes found on more open, rocky or sandy areas. It can occasionally be seen
basking on roadsides. The lizard usually stays on the ground, but climbs well
on rocks and in trees. It can dig holes and sometimes uses abandoned rabbit
burrows.
Timon Lepidus
This lizard feeds mainly on large insects, especially beetles, and
also robs birds’ nests and occasionally takes reptiles, frogs, and small
mammals. It also eats fruit and other plant matter, especially in dry areas.
Breeding
occurs in late spring or early summer. Males are territorial in spring and
fight in the breeding season. The female lays up to 22 eggs in June and July
about three months after mating, hiding them under stones and logs or in leaf
litter or in loose damp soil. It tends to lay fewer, larger eggs in dry areas.
The eggs hatch in eight to 14 weeks. The lizard is sexually mature at two years
of age.
Last August, a pair of this species of lizard was released in Sant
Ramon Mountain in Sant Boi de Llobregat. This species had disappeared because of the last
fires in 2005 and 2006. The CRARC (Centre de
Recuperació d’Amfibis i Rèptils de Catalunya) is working to reintroduce it in
this zone. Previously, this species had been released in the range of
Montserrat.
I love all animals. I have a fascination with fish, birds, whales -sentient life- insects, reptiles.
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