Honeyguide and GOB Menorca

Guest blog by Honeyguide leader Chris Gibson, highlighting the long partnership between Honeyguide Wildlife Holidays and the  Grup Balear d'Ornitologia i Defensa de la Naturalesa (GOB – the Balearic Ornithological Group) - here GOB Menorca.

In Menorca, as usual, our group was visited one evening by GOB, the recipients of our conservation contribution. That donation was £560 this year, bringing the total over the years to £13,598 (mostly GOB Menorca, also some to GOB Mallorca during the 1990s). We always value those visits as they give us great insight into the wonderful and varied work that GOB Menorca manages to do on a relative shoestring, from advocacy in relation to new developments, agricultural stewardship, marine conservation, animal rescue and recuperation, environmental education and running a native drought-tolerant plant nursery. In the UK it takes half a dozen major charities to cover such a wealth of activity! 

This year we welcomed Carlos Coll (past President of GOB) and his wife Deborah, both old friends of Honeyguide, and the new President of GOB, Margarita Masferrer. As always they gave a delightful presentation and stayed with us for a lovely informal meal at Matxani Gran. Margarida this year wanted to mark the valuable contributions we have made, the only wildlife tour company visiting the island that does this, by presenting us with two books. 

First, a copy of a sumptuous new photographic book that has emerged from the seemingly booming Spanish birding scene, inscribed ‘With love and gratitude from GOB Menorca’. Of course we reflected those sentiments back to GOB, with love and gratitude for all they do to keep the island so special.

'With love and gratitude from GOB Menorca'

And secondly, perhaps even more meaningfully, as it is published by GOB Menorca, an educational guide from their series ‘Little Animals of Menorca’, this one the story of a family of black-winged stilts. The illustrations and much of the text is aimed at kids, but each page has a section of ‘grown-up information’ intended to encourage families to learn together. That is the future!

Chris Gibson, April 2025

Note: This holiday, in April 2025, was Honeyguide's 24th group on Menorca, all based at Matxani Gran. Twenty of these have been in the spring and four in autumn. We took five groups to Mallorca in the 1990s, three in the spring, two in the autumn.

Signs of Spring

What was the first butterfly you saw this spring? The bright yellow brimstone is a distinctive early species, the ‘butter that flies’ that probably inspired the word butterfly. More likely as a first-sighting, though, is a comma or a peacock butterfly. What all three have in common is that they spend the winter as adults so can wake to take advantage of early-season nectar. Butterflies that overwinter as a chrysalis, such as orange tips, appear a little later (my first orange tip was in the garden today, 1 April).

Comma, this one was in February.

We all love spring flowers, and perhaps primroses, cowslips and violets come to mind, then bluebells a little later. Often less glamorous species are commoner and overlooked. Dead-nettles – red and white – are two of these, and can be found easily. Red dead-nettles are often on roadsides, patches of grass or unmanicured lawns, sometimes with dandelions. These ruderal flowers – a fancy word for growing on waste ground – provide valuable nectar sources for early season bees and other insects.

Red-dead nettle, late March 2025.

In gardens we tend to choose cultivated flowers that bloom early as they lift the spirits. These can benefit wildlife. A good example is lungwort (Pulmonaria), which is very popular with the hairy-footed flower bee. Though strictly speaking called a solitary bee, often there will be several feeding in the same place.

Hairy-footed flower bee on lungwort. This is a male, which looks similar to a common carder bee. Females are black.

Now is a good time to think about ‘No Mow May’. This idea is promoted by conservation group Plantlife, and the name says it all: having an area of grass that remains uncut to benefit wildlife. Naturally you can start this in April and extend the idea into June. If it’s not practical for all your lawn to be long, then do what you can. It can be surprising to see what flowers are just waiting to emerge, helped by sympathetic management. Take time, if you can, to witness the extra wildlife activity on a patch of mixed long grass and flowers, compared with a cut lawn.

No Mow May collage, all in my Thorpe St Andrew garden.

Spring and birds singing go together, and the greatest variety and volume of bird song is during April and the first half of May. A dawn chorus at a nature reserve may be a lovely experience, but it isn’t for everyone. Happily, some of our best songsters are birds of parks and gardens, such as blackbirds, robins and dunnocks. And here’s a lazy alternative to a dawn chorus: step outside and try a dusk chorus. For birds, a simple logic applies, morning or evening: when light levels are low, feeding is less practical, so they concentrate instead on establishing territory and attracting a mate.

Chaffinch in song (Barry Madden).

Article written for Just Thorpe St Andrew magazine, here as a blog. Chris Durdin lives in Thorpe St Andrew. He runs Honeyguide Wildlife Holidays  www.honeyguide.co.uk and is the guide for the monthly guided walks at NWT Thorpe Marshes.