As
our next port of call, literally, is some distance from the city of Venice I
thought I'd book us in at a midway point between the two. By sheer
chance the hotel is only a short walk from the 19th
century Forte Marghera which is now a cultural centre and wildlife
refuge. I think that this will be a good place to start our
explorations. A good place to build a fort, surrounded on all sides
by a double waterway and the wildlife starts here below the bridge in
the shape of this crab mumbling his way through the residents of the
green algae.
The
place is an absolute haven for insects. There's a Shield-backed
Katydid in the grass alongside a Click Beetle; a Mediterranean
Spotted Chafer Beetle getting itself covered in pollen as it feeds on
a mallow flower and a rather handsome Leaf Beetle of the Lachnaia
genus down there. Hang on, I'll just root him out for a second so
that you can have a closer look.
Hello,
looks like we've got a bit of wildlife action on this Mallow over
here. A ground crab spider, Xysticus sp. has taken a fancy to a
small bee for its lunch. You can tell that it's a bee and not a fly mimicking a bee because you can clearly see all four wings and flies
only have two. Bee mimicking flies also have much shorter antennae
than bees but I think that the spider has them in its jaws. Talking
of lunch there's a nice rustic looking restaurant here so I propose
that we adjourn.
That
was delicious and very reasonable. I liked the complimentary bottle
of home made wine. I think that all restaurants should adopt that
policy. Shall we go and have a look at Venice? Very pretty, now get
me out of here. It's full of hat and tat stalls and camera clicking
tourists. Let's find a quiet backwater and have a civilised cup of
afternoon coffee. If I hear one more person singing 'Just One
Cornetto' they're in for a ducking. Giovanni Capurro, who wrote the
original lyric to O Sole Mio, must be turning in his grave.
I
have another reason for visiting this part of Venice. Did you notice
that small park that we passed earlier? That is the Giardini
Papadopoli and it is one of the scenes in my novel, The Magic of
Nature of Magic which is now complete . I just want to go and soak up
the ambiance and sit with the Lizzies for a bit. These are Common
Wall Lizards, Podarcis muralis, and I see that we are being
watched over by a Yellow-legged Gull, Larus michahellis. These
predominate over their pink legged cousins that you find further
north.
Talking
of books, The Quick Guide To Creepy-Crawlies is now under final
revision and proof-reading stage. I was hoping to produce a paperback
version and a Kindle version but as Kindle cannot handle internal
hyperlinks (What???) I've had to abandon the Kindle version.
Crete
Nature Catch-up
|
||
|
A light-hearted look at life through the eyes of the fairer sex. Kindle Edition 1.99 pounds sterling (or equivalent).
Click
on the link to the right to read two complete stories for free.
Paperback Edition 4.99 pounds sterling (or equivalent).. Read snippets, samples and stuff at Steve's Books |
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