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| Katharo Plain |
Do you
ever feel wound up like a watch spring, your mind full of worries and angst
that you just can’t seem to let out? We all do at times and what we need is
catharsis – a process of releasing repressed emotions. Some people use music,
others something physically demanding but today I’m going to take you up to a
plain in the Dhikti mountains called Katharo, which means “pure” in Greek, and
is the very origin of the word catharsis. So let us stroll along the little
tracks that wind between the fruit trees, criss-cross the two small rivers and breathe
in the pure mountain air.
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| Spiny Restharrow, Ononis |
In spring
the plain is a vision of wildflowers but even at this time of year there are
still plenty of interesting plants to see such as this Spiny Restharrow down by
your foot. This used to be widespread in Europe but is becoming increasingly
rare as it cannot tolerate the fertilisers which we liberally strew across our
agricultural land; but this of course is Katharo, the pure plain, and
fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides are not much in evidence here. It’s a
useful wee plant as well – take that as you will - , having been used since
Dioscordes day as a remedy for minor urinary problems, and dried root extract
continues to be sold to this day by herbalists.
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| Common Blue, Polyommatus |
Along
with the flowers we have the butterflies and I’ve seen representatives of at
least four families so far. Now the old English family names used to confuse me
mercilessly. We had the Whites (Pieridae) which included yellows; the Browns
(now included in Nymphalidae) which included an assortment of colours; and
these, the Blues (Lycaenidae) which included some brown butterflies. Telling
these little blue butterflies apart can be very tricky, particularly when
they’ve been attacked from the rear as this one has. Some have ‘tails’ which
can assist with identification (see The First Eden) but if
this one had then he’s lost them. The best way to identify small blue
butterflies is to catch them with their wings up as the patterns on the
underside are all different. There’s one look – see if you can snap him. Hmm, a
bit tatty but it looks like a Common Blue, Polyommatus
icarus, if you want the scientific name.
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| St. John's Wort Leaf Beetle, Chrysolina |
Whilst
we’re down here on our hand and knees in the miniature world of insects I see
we have a delightfully shiny beetle crossing the path. It’s a type of beetle
called a leaf beetle, a very large group with different species often being
associated with specific plants. This one for instance likes to lay her eggs at
this time of year in the leaves around the base of St. John’s Wort, a plant
that became so troublesome in Australia in the 1930s that they brought this
beetle in to control it. One night in the spring a couple of thousand eggs will
begin to hatch and the ravenous larvae will devour the basal and developing
leaves before pupating in the soil and emerging as adults in the summer.
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| Raven, Corvus |
Talking
of ravenous (no it’s not time for lunch yet – I do think of things other than
feeding my stomach sometimes) can you hear that strange ‘cronking’ sound above
us? That is the distinctive call of the Raven whose legendary appetites
introduced the word into the English language back in the fourteenth century. A
pair of them, look, up there in the clouds. Ravens are corvids (from the family
Corvidae) like the Hooded Crows that we were watching at play while we were at
the Porto Belissario last month and go one better than crows in the play
stakes. They have been observed making toys out of twigs to play with. Great
problem solvers and (we think) able to talk to each other about what they found
a couple of miles away earlier in the day, they really are the Einsteins of the
bird world.
We’ll
wend our way back to the village now but keep your eye out for mushrooms like
that one sitting by the edge of the path. I expect we’ll look more closely into
fungi identification at a later date but for now here are a few tips regarding
what to make a note of to identify them:
1.
Cap colour, size, shape, gill colour and smell
(some are very distinctive).
2. Stipe
(stem) colour, length and breadth, whether they have a ring and whether they
are bulbous at the base.
3. Spore
print colour (leave the cap upside down overnight on something blue or grey).
4.
Habitat including any nearby plants, particularly
trees, with which they may be associated.
And now a
final treat. I’ve arranged to meet up with our friend Steve Lenton who’s been
guiding a group of Swiss nature lovers around the plain. We’re meeting at
Yannis and Despina’s taverna where we’re not only assured of a good lunch but
with a bit of luck Yannis will show us his bones. You’ve not heard of Yanni’s
bones? He’s only got a collection of ancient fossils of dwarf elephant, hippo
and mammoth which he found here on the plain. Nothing like a bit of
pre-prandial palaeontology to whet the appetite, come on!
If you’d
like to arrange a walk around the Katharo Plain with Steve Lenton (and myself
if you’d like), here is the link: http://www.exploringkatharo.com/
Crete Nature Blog is sponsored by:
www.belissario.com www.cretanflora.com Naturalists
Ferma's premier hotel Cretan flora - Illustrated guide Facebook Group
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LINKS:
Naturalists
(the facebook page that accompanies this blog)
Well here's a man after my own heart. I frequently go up to Katharo and I feel calmer with every metre we rise. The road from Kritsa up to Katharo is concrete or tarmac all the way now, so ok for hire cars. X
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