A beaked whale in an advanced state of decomposition has washed up on the coast of Fuerteventura just after the latest NATO exercise off the island. The latest stranding follows the multiple strandings of beaked whales in 2002 after NATO tested new sonar equipment close to the Canaries. Experts have yet to examine the corpse and cannot yet tell the cause of death.

It is coming up to the time when the almond and fruit trees that grow wild in the highlands of Gran Canaria (and the other islands) bloom. For anyone visiting during February or early March, a trip up into the mountains will be well rewarded. The volcanic hillsides covered in pink and white blossom are spectacular.

The Charco de Maspalomas, once a large saltwater marsh in the south of Gran Canaria, had almost disappeared completely due to a lack of water and increasing numbers of tourists. Now, with a recovery plan in place, it is becoming a haven for migratory birds. The unique thing about it is that it is an area of wilderness right in the middle of one of the largest tourist resorts in Europe. Thousands of people walk past it every day without realsing how remarkable it is that it has survived.

The reports about starving swarms of locusts invading the Canary islands have been a little exaggerated. Apart from Fuerteventura, only a few have blown ashore, all too worn out to breed and cause future mayhem. On Fuerteventura about 100,000,000 are said to have arrived, but did not seem to cause much damage. One of the worries is that a large scale invasion would result in heavy insecticide use: in the 1950s a similar plague and massive use of DDT dealt the coup de grace to the Red Kite and the Egyptian Vultures on many of the islands.

A group of German and Austrian scientists have recently announced the results of a genetic study into the Blue Tits of Eurasia and North Africa. The results have shown that the Eurasian and African birds are two separate species, with the Canarian races now part of the North African species Parus teneriffae. Blue Tits are found on all the Canary Islands but island races vary considerably and there are four separate subspecies present on the archipelago.

Las Canteras beach, running the length of the city of Las Palmas on Gran Canaria, is one of the best and most accessible snorkelling sites on the island. On a recent trip I was lucky enough to observe a huge ray in just over a metre of water, several large moray eels along the lava reef and even a school of apparently lost sardines. Since fishing and trapping were banned along the beach the wildlife has recovered rapidly, making Las Canteras perhaps the best “inner city” snorkelling site in Spain. Regular feeding of the fish has also led to vast schools of fish right by the shore which are both tame and friendly and make for wonderful underwater photography. The only thing to bear in mind is occasional visits by jellyfish, indicated by a red triangular flag on the lifeguard towers.