We
also have the usual array of 'damned yellow composites' as botanists
fondly call them and this one is being pollinated by a Mining Bee.
When she's finished collecting the pollen she'll go and find a patch
of sandy soil and start to excavate a mine. Down in the mine she'll
construct a series of cells, lay in a pollen food store, lay a single
egg on each heap of pollen and seal them up. There they will hatch, feed and grow
and pupate to emerge about this time next year. Mining
bees can be found all over the world except South America and Oceania
(Australia, NZ, New Guinea area) particularly where the soil is sandy
as it is around here.
Now
we have a bit of serious rock scrambling to do. Ah, there's the
pumping station where we were ferreting about last time. Nice to get
a reference point as we've zigged and zagged a bit to get up here.
This rock is what is known as a composite rock, that is, it is
composed of many different types of rock (most of which appear to be
unnecessarily sharp) and my eye is drawn to that green one sitting
alone on the edge. Let's take a closer look. How strange, it is
entirely coated with a crustose lichen. I wonder why that should be?
I think I'll take a scraping to look at under the microscope later1.
Here
we are at the summit which looks to be an ideal place to sit and look
at the orchid photographs that we've taken on the way up. The first
two are Bee Orchids which mimic insects, very often bees, in order to
entice them to come and mate and thus get covered in pollen. Sneaky
little things but all's fair in love and war. They are also highly
promiscuous and hybridize quite readily so it's rather difficult to
identify them to species level with any accuracy. Still, it keeps the
botanists amused almost indefinitely. We're on safer ground with the
purple one which is a Butterfly Orchid. Not because it is pollinated
by butterflies specifically (which would be far too logical) but
because it resembles a pea flower. It's scientific name is Anacamptis
papilionaceae which means 'like a pea flower with a bent back
spur' but as papilio is Latin for butterfly it's finished up
being named as a flower that looks like another flower which looks
like a butterfly (if you squint at it in a certain light). Finally we
have quite a few Robert's Giant Orchids around. It's a fairly robust
orchid but by no means the biggest of the Cretan orchids and who
Robert was seems to have been lost in the mists of time but there you
go, that's orchids for you. Give me a Broomrape any day of the week.
We'll
make our way back down now and see what else we can find on the way.
Huginn
and Muninn are having a laugh at our expense again. Having neither
heard nor seen a feather of them this morning they decide on a fly
past with a third Raven in tow just as we're negotiating this tricky
bit of rockery. Never mind, there's something even more interesting
here: a spring - and some of the water has collected right here, just
as it emerges from the rock.
Here's
a little puzzle for you to ponder while I set up the field microscope
on this ledge. What photosynthesises like a plant, is made of glass
and gets smaller as it grows? In the words of Dr Spock in Star Trek -
“It's life Jim, but not as we know it.” These are diatoms.
Microscopic life forms who's cell walls are made of silica and
because of the unique way in which they divide and reproduce the
offspring are smaller (and often a different shape) than the
original. Curious little critters all round really but they are
responsible for fixing more of the Earth's carbon than all of the
world's rainforests put together. Even so, the trees and diatoms
combined can't cope with the amount of carbon which we are still
releasing into the atmosphere.
The
Extra Bit
1
I hadn't noticed quite how precariously I was perched when collecting
the lichen sample and you may be wondering how I managed to take the
photo whilst both my hands were otherwise occupied. Truth to tell, I
was accompanied on this hike by my friend and neighbour Nico and two
of his teenage girls and it was great having some young, enthusiastic
company. It was Nico who took the photograph.
Photographic
Bit
Many
of you have asked
me
what photographic equipment I use so for details of aperture
settings, shutter speeds etc. my pictures will be on Flickr
within
a few days and that has all the geeky stuff.Pictures
were edited with FastStone Image Viewer and combined with Microsoft
Paint.
*********************************************************************
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amazing! GBU
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