Do you want the good news or the bad news? The good
news is that we’ve made it safely through the Milonas Gorge. The bad news is
that we have a flipping great waterfall ahead of us which means we’ll have to
find a way around and down and there are no paths to follow.
No matter, the sun is shining and there’s a flying
circus in the sky. In case that seems a bit odd, forget the tents, clowns and
performing seals and think of the origin of the word. Circus comes from the Greek
kirkos meaning a circle or ring and
was applied to a place of entertainment where the seats were arranged in a
circle around the performing area. It is also the generic name of the birds
that circle as they hunt which we know as Harriers. There have been four
species recorded on Crete: the Marsh; Hen (or Northern); Pallid; and Montagu’s.
The last three are rare and the Marsh, although a frequent passage migrant in
the spring, only overwinters here in small numbers. It’s a bit too high to make
out details but it’s still an exciting start to the day as it’s the first
Harrier of any type that I’ve seen in these parts.
This really is an impressive bit of landscape with
the lower valley stretched out before us and the great towering limestone
cliffs at our backs. Hard to imagine that this was once a sea bed. Look up to
that patch of blue sky and try to visualise yourself looking up to the surface
of the ocean instead. That it may also once have been a tropical beach is
easier to imagine because the evidence is here at our feet. The thing about
limestone is that it is good at preserving fossils and we’ve got a smashing fossilized
palm fan here. Pity it’s too heavy to lift, it would have looked nice by my
fireside at home. Palm trees aren’t entirely tropical, there is one species (Phoenix theophrastii) that is native to
Europe but there is only one authentic palm lined beach on the whole continent.
Where? Crete of course, at a little place called Vai on the east coast. Remind
me to take you there some time.
The water here is pushing its way around the rocks,
trying to get to the head of the waterfall, which means that there are some
intriguing little pools around. Let’s get a sample under the field microscope
and see if there’s anyone at home. That little patch of algae clinging to the
rock looks promising. Ooh look, an aquatic worm. There are three types of worm
that you can find in pools like these. There are nematodes which thrash about
frantically (you may remember that we found some three years ago down at Ferma
rock pools – see Rockin' All Over The Shore); flatworms which glide around rather gracefully;
and oligochaetes like this one which are rather squirmy wormies related
to the common earthworm.
We seem to be making our way steadily downwards
with loads of lichens, masses of mosses and cascades of chasmophytes (rock
loving plants) lining our route but I see that we also have some lovely little
yellow fungi down near our feet. Do you see that milky droplet exuding from the
stem? It looks like latex (but not the
same latex that you find in plants) which is exuded by members of the milk cap
family. However they exude latex from outside the mushroom not from the stem
and there are no milk caps with this colour and habit so it’s a waxy cap like
the ones we found in the gorge last week. Just when you thought fungi couldn’t
get more confusing!
Hello, we’re into the jungle. It looks as though
we’ll have to crawl through this bit. Still, while we’re down here we may as
well have a look about and see what’s going on. How delightful, an ants’ nest,
just what we need when we’re crawling along on our stomachs. But what’s this in
the nest with them? You see the little orange insect trying to hide? It’s an
Ant-loving Cricket (Myrmecophilus).
Ants’ nests aren’t just for ants. They are like big cities and, just as with our
cities, they have a diverse wildlife all of their own. Hundreds of different
species have adapted to ant city life and this is just one of them. Absolutely
tiny for a cricket, they never grow wings because they never leave the city,
they’re deaf and mute and have very poor eyesight. They don’t have sex either,
the females have virgin births, a process known as parthenogenesis. Doesn’t
sound like much of a life but they seem to get by.
The Extra Bit
At last we’ve emerged into the open and even though
we’re approaching midwinter a few of the flowers are beginning to emerge. We’ve
got anemones, fumana, Cretan cistus and field marigolds all beginning to open
their petals in the midwinter sun. If you look over there you can see the
waterfall and that’s the direction in which we’ll be heading next week.
Thanks to JJ Wuilbaut
at Mediterranean Fungi
for educating me on the difference between Waxy Caps and Milk Caps and to
various members of Crete
Birding for chatting about the various Harriers on Crete.
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LINKS:
Naturalists
(the facebook page that accompanies this blog)
See detailed pictures at http://www.inaturalist.org/login
(search -
people-stevedaniels-observations)
It' so beautiful! Do you not get griffin vultures in such a location too?
ReplyDeleteWe do indeed Simon. We saw some at the top of the valley (see http://cretenature.blogspot.gr/2016/11/the-final-ascent.html)
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