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The last instalment of Rich and Jeff’s Spain adventure.

The terrain gradually became flat and easier. Walking through towns like Pilar de la Horadada, Los Alcazares, Los Nietos we decided to give ourselves a 'treat' and follow the coast rather than the road.

In this area, much of the land has been 'saved' from development, because it is owned by the military, just like Salisbury plain in England.  These unlikely places have become havens for wildlife.

Finally, we reached La Manga, after spending nine days walking. Upon arrival we were interviewed by the 'Brit' weekly paper, Costa Blanca News and picked up by Ramon, Coordinator of SEO programmes and two of his assistants, for a reception, meal and nature presentation at Cabo de Palos nature centre.

After the event, Ramon drove us back to link up with a bus to take us back to 'base camp 'in Torrevieja, neither of us cherished being stranded in La Manga; too much concrete for my soul to take!

During the trip, all the members of SEO in Spain have been wonderful, so professional and passionate about their nations’ birds. Thank you to you all who have supported us in many and varied ways, to make this idea become a reality. I am planning next years operation, as we speak!

God bless you and wildlife everywhere, Rich Harris & Bill Jeffery

For 11-year old Jack Ravencroft from Moseley, it took a lot of courage when he decided to play his violin to bypassers on New Street in Birmingham on a Friday afternoon.
 
But Jack had a purpose that he felt very passionate about - he was set to raise funds for the RSPB’s Save the Albatross campaign.
 
No only did Jack gather enough courage to play for strangers, he raised £50 through sponsorship and a further £58 from busking.
 
King Edwards VI Five Ways School in Birmingham had set all new Year 7 pupils five summer holiday challenges - one of which was to raise money for a charity through sponsorship. 
 
As an RSPB Wildlife Explorer member, Jack was already aware of the Save the Albatross campaign, and he and a friend had spoken about it in an assembly at his old primary school last term.
 
Jack is one out of hundreds of youngsters across the UK who have felt so strongly about the plight of the albatross that they raised money for the campaign this year.
 
Since the appeal was launched in January, children have raised an astonishing £41,000 through activities such as sponsored walks, selling cake and old toys.
 
Jack is very interested in conservation work, but he is also a keen violinist and plays in the Birmingham Schools Music Service Junior Strings Orchestra. His other passion is cycling and he currently races for the U12's section of Halesowen Cycling club.
 
Jack said about playing: "I was a bit nervous to start with, but everyone was really nice and encouraging". 

 For more information on Wildlife Explorers go to http://www.rspb.org.uk/youth/index.asp

The third instalment of Rich and Bill’s hike to save the Spanish Imperial Eagle…

We walked through the salt lakes area, on the way to Guardamar. Here the biodiversity was very much in evidence; this area is now a national park, among the fauna we saw were curlew, flamingos in their hundreds, dragon flies, butterflies and lizards.

Once we arrived at Guardamar we were interviewed by Katharina from a local German paper. We hadn’t even had chance to check into the hotel and did the interview in sweaty gear, drinking beer - what a sacrifice eh!

For the next few days, faced with deteriorating weather conditions, we soldiered on to Torrevieja (little England) in heavy rain and thunderstorms. Throughout this part of our journey, we met up with many journalists from various towns along the route.

Hopefully, the focus upon us and our 'wacky' idea to do this bizarre thing has had the desired effect of lifting SEO's profile in the eyes of the Spanish people.  Part of our aim has been to increase membership to SEO and active participation in their activities in the local community. The same is also true for the much larger, sister organisation in the UK, the RSPB.

From Torrevieja, the weather improved and thankfully, so did our feet. The temperature climbed, but so had our fitness: 'bring it on' my mate, Bill would say.

We were more tired than we would like to admit, to be honest, but our determination had hardened as we could how see our ultimate goal, in the very far distance, namely La Manga Del Mar Menor (the in land sea).

Read the last episode next week