The stone cross at Barranc d'Algendar

When Dr Camps wrote this story in 1910, he commented that it had already happened many years ago.

 
The fact is that in an undetermined time in the middle of 1800 there was a man in the town of Ferreries who was said to be able to talk to the birds and who use to make remedies with herbs that he collected from the wild fields that wade through the ravine.

 
On one occasion in the middle of a winter, he left town. Some said that to catch a nest of real hawks, others that to collect a plant called "Jew's beard", the fact is that he did not return to town that night, and it became a stormy night

 
The next morning he was found dead at the foot of the rock from which he had clearly fallen off.

 
And even when many stories circulated through the town as a result of the people superstition at that time, their parents ordered the erection of a stone cross that even today, almost 200 years later, appears among the almost insurmountable exuberant vegetation at the bottom of the ravine.

 

 

Wryneck

 Not a common bird in Menorca, but some of them can be seen every year in the migratory pass in September.

 

 

The Eurasian wryneck or northern wryneck (Jynx torquilla) is a species of wryneck in the woodpecker family. These birds get their English name from their ability to turn their heads through almost 180 degrees.

Restoration of paintings in the vaults of Santa Maria

It has been hard work but the restoration of the paintings of the largest church in Mahón is already finished.

The Church of Santa Maria Mahon, was built between 1748 and 1772 on the site of a thirteenth-century Gothic church. The interior is neo-Gothic style, with a single vaulted nave, has many side chapels dedicated to different saints. Outside we find a very simple decor, with a bell tower and the door that opens onto a small enclosed space.

It has an impressive organ built in 1810 by masters Francisco Otter and Joan Kiburz from Barcelona. It´s 15 meters high and 9 meters wide. It has four keyboards and 3006 pipes sound (197 are made of wood and the remaining of metal).

All pictures by Andreu Murillo.

Lathyrus ochrus. Muntanya Mala.

Lathyrus ochrus is a annual growing to 0.6 m (2ft). It is in flower from March to June, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and is pollinated by Insects. 

Although no records of toxicity have been found for this plant, the seed of some species in this genus contain a toxic amino acid that can cause a severe disease of the nervous system known as 'lathyrism' if they are eaten in large amounts (although small quantities are said to be nutritious)