Since my last post we have had what passes for Winter here and Spring is just arriving.

Whilst I was at Chefchouaen, it rained a lot and the Oued Amsa finally managed to become a river all the way to the sea again. It was a couple of days before I walked to the bridge at the far end of the beach to have a look.

The river must have been much much higher to force that tree underneath the bridge. It is still there and a gravel island has formed downstream of it. Note the brown water. A few weeks earlier there had been enough rain to make it possible to plough and sow. As most of the land ploughed is sloping and the seeds were still at most very small seedlings, much good soil has now been swept out to sea.

During the rest of the year the river bed accumulates all sorts of rubbish, which was also swept out to sea. Strong winds from the north at the next high tide threw it up on the beach, to the delight of the little egrets.

Between Xmas and the second week of January we had cloudy, rainy cold weather. Probably at no time was it colder than 7C, but It is then that the problems of designing houses to be cool in summer become apparent. There is no heating whatsoever, the windows are small and all the floors and many walls are tiled, so we all dressed for the Arctic to eat our meals, and spent most of the rest of the time on our beds, under piles of blankets with a hot water bottle. I even needed fingerless gloves to use my laptop. When the sun came out, there was plenty of heat if you were outside, but it didn’t change the indoor temperature at all. It required great courage to take a shower.

However it was much colder in the mountains at the head of the valley. The snow remained for about a week, but it is on a north facing slope, so probably disappeared elsewhere sooner.

Yesterday the middle sized of the three almond trees on one of the high terraces in the garden burst into blossom.

And today the humans have noticed as they have started to paint the mosque next door.

This photo shows about half of the space behind the mosque. It is about an acre in size, but seems to belong to 5 different people. Three patches have been ploughed and sown with different crops by different people, and there are another 2 patches still fallow. The system of inheritance divides and sub-divides land every time someone dies, so now few people have really viable holdings, and the land they have is scattered in very small pieces. It also causes major disputes between neighbours. Where the family’s friends Anisa and Mohammed live, there is a narrow strip of land which Anisa thinks is hers, but the neighbour (a distant relation) believes is hers and she cultivates it. A legal dispute over this has so far been running for 14 years! Of course, the neighbours are not on speaking terms.

When I arrived in Amsa at the end of June, everywhere was brown and there were few flowers. I had expected that once it rained in October, flowers would spring up everywhere. It didn’t happen. It all turned green, but that was virtually all grass and milk thistle – Silybum marianum.

Every plant that follows has been identified using an app on my phone called PictureThis. I point it at the plant and it takes a photo and attempts to identify it. I always read what it says to ensure it is actually a credible identification, but many apologies if I am wrong for some of them.

In the last couple of weeks  I have spotted the following.

Bermuda buttercup – Oxalis pes-caprae

In the distance among sprouting wheat shoots, it does look like buttercups in a water meadow.

Musky stork’s bill – Erodium moschatum

I found the next two plants in the concrete ditch alongside the road.

Sweet nancy – achillea ageratum

Evergreen bugloss – Pentaglottis sempervivum

Amazingly the next one is growing on pure sand on the beach.

European sea rocket – Cakile maritima

While the following are just about anywhere, though the first is not abundant.

Lesser calamint – Clinopodium nepeta

Salt cedar – Tamarix ramosissima

I was expecting these seedlings as there are plenty of large tamarisk bushes about, though I missed their flowering period.

The next one is left over from the autumn and is at the bottom of the river bank – that is river mud.

Bitter apple – Solanum linnaeanum

During the time I have been here, only one plant has made a real splash of colour, albeit not for long.

This is False Yellowhead, which grows everywhere in the valley and most plants had some flowers on them from when we arrived here in late June. In October it all had a sudden burst before dying. Since ploughing this has been revealed as the largest wheat field in the valley. The photo shows about a third  of it. This field was actually ploughed with a tractor, whereas most land is ploughed with one or 2 donkeys and / or horses, and the smallest parcels of land are turned over by hand with an asada – a bit like a spade but with the blade at right angles to the handle, so it is used like a mattock.

False Yellowhead – Dittrichia viscosa

The next most common plant is used for fodder, but I assume it is basically a wild plant as it is everywhere, though in places it is woven to form a hedge. It can grow up to about 20 feet, but here is mostly up to about 12 feet.

Giant reed – Arundo donax

Before we arrived the oleanders must have had a flush of colour as they were flowering in Rabat before we left. They are abundant particularly along the river banks.

Oleander – Nerium oleander

Equally abundant on the river banks, but not very attractive are

Castor bean – Ricinus communis

Mastic tree – Pistacialentiscus

though I am not certain of the identification of either of these.

I spotted a few of the following during the summer and autumn, but they are not widespread at all.

Balloon plant – Gomphocarpus physocarpus

Bloodflower – Asclepias curassavica

Way leaved mullein – Verbascum sinuatum

The following is spectacular in the autumn from late afternoon, but it may actually be a garden escape.

Four o’clock plant – Mirabilis jalapa

Although the hill sides above the houses are covered by evergreens, I don’t actually know what they are, though they are probably fir trees. I haven’t been up the hills since August. In any case they all post date the fire about 40 years ago.

In the valley there are many fruit trees, but i have only seen two other types of trees.

Italian cypress – Cupressus sempervivens

This may have survived the fire as it is in a marked dip in the ground.

The following cannot be native, so must have been planted. There are several groups all near the lower part of the river, so presumably they escaped the fire. I think they are too large to have been planted since.

Eucalyptus

They are definitely Eucalyptus, but PictureThis has suggested 2 different varieties at different times, Tasmanium Blue Gum – Eucalyptus globulus and Red River Gum – Eucalyptus camaldulensis.

This should be my last post from Amsa, and hopefully from Morocco. By the end of the month I expect to be the owner of an apartment in Hoylake, and will then return to quarantine for 10 days. The exact timing depends on when the family can arrange to get me, Assia and Jamel back to Rabat. Then I have to find one of the very few flights to England and get a Covid test. And, of course, it depends on no other Covid calamities arising in the interim that further disrupt travel.

Covid is well under control here, with fewer than 300 new cases yesterday (UK equivalent about 600) and only 12 deaths. The schools have now returned to normal, having been working split home and school since September. There are still precautions in place, and it will be a long time before a substantial part of the population has been vaccinated. The borders are still firmly closed to travellers from most countries.

I will make a final post when I get back to Wirral.

Keep safe