Wildlife

Over the years of living here we have had some encounters with wildlife, as you do, and coming from the UK some have been – to us – really unusual so I thought I would mention some of them here. Probably not that impressive to someone who has been living here for a while as most people tend to have had similar experiences but these are the things that have interested me.

Wild Boar

I was amazed when my Spanish neighbours told me that boar were very common in this area and apparently when they come out after dark they are quite happy walking around the streets after wandering in from the forests and groves. When told it gave an explanation as to why our dogs would, if left to it, spend the entire night barking at the field behind the house in the summer months. We have seen them ourselves a few times, always at night, when driving home. You can come around a corner and there will be a small herd, not particularly hurrying out of the way. There have recently been reports that as things have quietened due to lockdown they have been sighted in Gandia and other built up areas. They can grow to an impressive size and for that reason I suppose there is an element of danger to them however I´ve never heard of any problems associated with them from my neighbours. I knew someone in the UK who had far more damage done to their property by badgers than I’ve ever heard of being caused by boar. Personally I like that they are around and seemingly doing so well.

European Owl

One night, just outside our front door both of our dogs were barking like crazy with the sort of intensity that tells you something is wrong. We raced to the door to find both dogs with a huge owl cornered, looking very threatened and defensive. Standing on the ground it looked to be about 50cm in hight and is the largest bird that I have seen not in captivity. My running out and backing up the dogs gave the owl enough time to make a break for it and it managed to take off and escape. Looking it up later, from memory I’m pretty certain it was a European owl although I could be wrong.

Tarantula

Given that Christina is a total arachnophobe with a genuine fear of any spider these are probably the most unwelcome visitors. I´m personally not scared of spiders but even I but don’t like these things. There is something unnerving about how they react when you come across them. They don’t scuttle away and try to hide, they rear up and try and confront you. We get a couple a year, never in the house and more often than not at the bottom of the pool. They wander around at night, fall in and drown. That said, you can put them on the side and its not uncommon for them to come back to life after hours of being submerged. How can you trust anything that does that? Its rare to be bitten, I’ve never known anyone that has been and in any case the venom is weak but that said I’m still not that keen on them.

Montpellier Snake

I once went to pick up a hose pipe and there was a snake curled up in amongst the coils and another time in the garden nearly stepped on one but these creatures are so quick they disappear before you can work out what you’re looking at. You tend to only get a glimpse of them as they try to keep as far from you as possible but on one occasion my daughter and I had a close encounter with a Montpellier snake. Walking back from the fields at the bottom of our house we must have surprised it. It tried to get away but took a wrong turn and went along a route with only a wall on one side and a deep ditch the other with no ground cover between so we were able to get a really good look at it. At over 1.5m long with a thick, powerful body it kept rearing up to climb over the low wall going backward and forwards looking for a way out. We kept our distance because at the time we had no idea if it was dangerous or not. Eventually it found a gap in the wall and was gone. Looking it up later I was able to identify it. The Montpellier snake is venomous but bites to humans are very rare and because of the fangs being at the back of the mouth it is difficult for it to even occur. Mostly they feed on small birds, lizards, rabbits etc. They are not classed as anything to be concerned about and are even of some use to humans due to the fact they eat rats and mice….Interestingly the other name for them is the bastard snake.