Full Circle

Here we are on the final segment of our walk around the Forty Saints and if you cast your mind back to the beginning you may recall that we saw some little Mirid Bug nymphs on some Asphodel leaves. I hazarded a guess that they may have been the young of the Orange Blossom Bug, Dionconotus neglectus, as we'd seen the adults before on Yellow Asphodels when we visited The Chamomile Lawn. However, it seems as though we have another contender because if you look closely, these Yellow Asphodels are being visited by another type of Mirid Biug, Horistus infuscatus. But what does it matter which bugs visit which plants? Simply, plants and their attendant insects move around over time as conditions on the planet change. They are climate refugees in a sense and by monitoring the direction of their migrations it helps us to predict where our future climate refugees will go as Earth temperatures continue to rise. The plants, the bugs and us all react to environmental changes in much the same way.

Now, who's for a nice hot mug of saloop? If you'd have lived in England in the 18^th century you'd have kown exactly what I was talking about because this was what was sold on the streets before Starbucks and Costa or even Ye Olde British Tea Shoppe dominated the High Street. It was made from the ground up bulbs of certain orchid species such as this Pyramidal Orchid, Anacamptis pyrimidalis, down at our feet here. As it takes between one and four thousand tubers to make a kilo of orchid flour, or salep, this is rather taking its toll on the orchid population as it is still widely used, particularly in Turkey but also in Greece¹.

You may have noticed these yellow signs during our perigrinations around the Cretan countryside. They are warning you that this is an official dog training zone - in other words; if you're molested by an unruly dog you can't take the owner to court (not successfully at any rate). So far I've never had a problem with an overenthusiastic hunting dog nor an overenthusiastic and trigger-happy hunter for that matter. Meanwhile, sitting on this piece of milky quartz we have a totally misnamed Gaudy Grasshopper. This particular one, Pyrgomorpha conica, couldn't be more camouflaged if he tried but some of the pyrgomorphs have very bright, warning colouration. Hence the group name.

We've nearly come full circle now and the path is lined with so called 'everlasting' flowers. They're very popular with flower arrangers because their colours hold for a long while after they've been cut. They're pretty popular with this cockchafer too who's having a good old feed on this one. Strange word, cockchafer. The chafer bit is late middle English meaning to rub abrasively, but against what I wonder? Cock, in this sense just means large or vigorous (sorry, you were thinking what?) so we're left with a large or vigorous abrasive rubber. As I say, a strange word.

And so we arrive back where we started and we're being sung home by a little chaffinch up on the rock. These are probably our most dedicated of song birds repeating their short phrase up to six thousand times a day. Back in Victorian England singing matches were held between cock birds, the winner being the one who sang his song the most times in a specified period. I was going to point out that there was no television in those days so people had to devise their own entertainment but given the state of British TV today with Bake-offs, Sewing Bees, and Pottery Throws then I wouldn't be surprised if The Great Chaffinch Sing-off wasn't already in the pipeline.

The Extra Bit

1 Eaten to Extinction by Stephanie Pain

Although we have been all around the Forty Saints I am still hoping that we can have one last trip up on the top. However Mrs D is still requiring a lot of nursing and, as recovery is a long term process, I'm not sure when that will be. Stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter or by following the blog. All the best for now,

Steve

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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LINKS:

Share your nature thoughts, photos and comments on Naturalists (the facebook page that accompanies this blog)

Explore the region with the #CreteNature interactive Hiking and Nature Map

Cretan Flora

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Crete Birding

Greek Butterflies and Moths

Aquaworld Aquarium

Visit Greece (National Government Tourist Office)

The Orchid Hills

The rain has been; the sun is shining and orchids are appearing all over the Kritiweb. I have a confession to make: I am not a great fan of orchids (but I'm sure we'll find some later on for those of you who are). Meanwhile, we have some serious climbing to do today to get onto that rocky ridge up there so let's have a look at some of the other flowers that are dotted around the hills. The tall white ones that our friend the Tropinota beetle is pollinating are Asphodels and the exquisite little purple and gold blooms are a subspecies of dwarf Algerian Iris that is endemic to Crete and Karpathos. Not everything is in flower yet but this rock lettuce (another Cretan endemic which will have spectacular 80cm blooms in April) is just ripe for picking a few salad leaves. Finally, these little clusters of golden sunshine are Gageas, one of seven species that we have here on Crete.

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.

*********************************************************************

LINKS:

Share your nature thoughts, photos and comments on Naturalists (the facebook page that accompanies this blog)

Explore the region with the #CreteNature interactive Hiking and Nature Map

Cretan Flora

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Crete Birding

Greek Butterflies and Moths

Aquaworld Aquarium

Visit Greece (National Government Tourist Office)

The Milonas Waterfall of Crete

Cyclamen creticus, Anacamptis collina, Fumana arabica

We seem to have emerged from the woods unscathed and the waterfall now lies directly ahead of us. We’ve had to take quite a detour to get around those imposing cliffs but it should be quite a gentle stroll today (famous last words) with plenty of opportunities to look about us. Let’s start with a few flowers that are heralding the arrival of spring later this month. In the shade of the rocks among the pine litter we have the white nodding heads of the Cretan Sowbread which is a type of Cyclamen; the yellow Fumana, a type of rock rose which we saw budding a few weeks back, is now in full flower; and our first orchid of the season: The Fan Lipped Orchid. 

Lucilia ceasar visiting Euphorbia dendroides

Many flowers have lovely scents to attract insect pollinators which we greatly appreciate but some, like this tree spurge here, have a pungent odour which we find somewhat off-putting. Some people have likened it to a decomposing corpse. Fortunately I have never had the experience of smelling a three day dead body so I can neither confirm nor deny but it certainly seems to be attracting these Greenbottles. Not everybody’s favourite insect but they’re quite beautiful when you look at them closely and useful too. Not only do they help to cleanse the planet of rotting bodies but their maggots (which feed on dead animal tissue) have been, and still are, used medically in maggot therapy. They are dropped into a wound such as an ulcer where they not only remove all the dead tissue but also secrete antimicrobial fluids that sterilise the wound.

Cicindela campestris mating

Have you noticed these little green beetles scurrying around on the sandy ground? They’re Tiger Beetles, so called because of their predatory nature. Notice the way that they sprint and stop in a series of jerky runs. This is because they run too fast to see where they’re going and they have to stop and visually reorient themselves. They hold their antennae straight out in front of them to stop them bumping into things. There’s a pair mating here look (in graphic detail if you look closely). I hope he wasn’t running at full tilt when he commenced – the female would have got the shock of her life.

Chalcides ocellata, Rumina decollata, Julidae family

We’re nearly there now and I see that we’re into stone flipping territory so let’s see if anyone is at home. Now here’s a strange group of bedfellows. An Ocellated skink, still hibernating by the way he’s remaining immobile and blinking at me sleepily, three Decollate snails and a Julid millipede. I say odd bedfellows because a skink’s diet generally includes snails and millipedes although I believe that this particular species prefers spiders and beetles. I wonder if the snails and millipede know that? It still seems like us cuddling up to a hibernating bear but nature is full of surprises.

Veliidae family

Well, here it is at last, the Milonas Waterfall, at 40m vertical drop it is the highest streaming waterfall in Crete. There’s a lovely pool here at the base that looks ripe for a bit of pond dipping so let’s go for a paddle. That’s rather refreshing isn’t it? We seem to have some small bugs swimming on the surface that may be worth a closer look. They’re rather quick and not easy to photograph but the body shape and size, the fact that they’re not doing the backstroke and the plated appearance of the abdomen make me think that they are Riffle Bugs. These are small predatory water striders typical of this sort of habitat but I’m not 100% sure. What do you think?

The Extra Bit

You know, that pool does look rather inviting, did you bring a towel? Come on then. Let’s go for a dip. Don’t be a sissy, the snow’s melted and there’s not even any ice on the surface.

Time for a dip (short video):  https://youtu.be/RUybOxhLqRg 

The Chamomile Lawn

We had a nice little relaxing stroll last week along the banks of the Milonas stream but a bit more effort will be required this week as we’re heading further up into the valley where the stream shows a totally different side to its character. We’ve got a lovely day for scrabbling around the hills, about twenty degrees C with a little cloud cover and with the rain we’ve had over the past week the flowers and insects should really be bursting into life.

Orange Blossom Bugs on Yellow Asphodel

At the beginning of the year we were looking for the first Yellow Asphodels and now they are dying off but they are not without their attractions, especially to these bugs. Smell is very important in the natural world and plants produce various aromatic chemicals to attract different insects. As their name suggests these bugs, (Horistus infuscatus to give them their scientific name) are attracted to sweet smelling orange blossom. However they have also been documented as being attracted to certain Arum lilies that smell of dung. As far as I know no-one has documented their relationship with dying Yellow Asphodels. Stick your nose in one and tell me how it smells will you? It’s a bit like marketing, each plant uses a different slogan as it were to attract a particular demographic. 

Crag Martins and a Buzzard over the ravine

We seem to have reached a point where the valley below us narrows considerably and just look at the cliff face opposite us. These are sedimentary rocks and you can see quite clearly how they have been formed layer by layer. We’re looking at slices through time here, an ancient sea bed laid down over millennia. The flying black dots you can see flitting around the face are Crag Martins, dusky relatives of the more familiar House Martin. And look, there’s our old friend the Buzzard patrolling the skies above. We’ve climbed to about 200 metres now so let us push on through this rocky terrain as it slopes down towards the edge of the ravine.

Orchids galore and a Malthodes Soldier Beetle

I expected to see a few flowers today but I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many Orchids as we have up here, you can hardly put your foot down without treading on one. Some of these, the so called Bee Orchids, use another marketing strategy to attract pollinators. They’ve evolved to look like the backs of female bees which attracts male bees like, well, bees round a honey pot to coin a phrase. We all know that sex sells but orchids knew that long before Madison Avenue. Cast your mind back a fortnight to when we came off The Hidden Plateau. Do you remember we found a Malthodes Soldier Beetle of which nine species have so far been discovered on the island (and there may be others waiting to be discovered)? Just look up in the top right of that Butterfly Orchid, I do believe we’ve found another one. We’re right off the beaten track here in a relatively unexplored part of the island so just maybe, we’re the first people ever to see this particular species of beetle. That’s an exciting thought.

A Wall Butterfly on the Chamomile lawn

Now doesn’t that look inviting? After all that clambering over rocks and pushing our way through bushes we can stretch out and relax on a chamomile lawn a la Mary Wesley (although she left the ‘h’ out). There are many of these daisy like plants that are commonly called something Chamomile but only Matricaria chamomilla (German Chamomile) and Chamaemelum nobile (Roman Chamomile) are generally used for making Chamomile tea. Even my inadequate nose tells me that it is not either of those and I rather suspect that it’s one of the Field Chamomiles of the closely related Anthemis species. Nevertheless it’s very pleasant to lay down in for a bit and watch the butterflies.

Fritillary and Valerian

Come on, if we stay here much longer I shall be lulled to sleep by the drone of the insects in the warm sun. Let’s see if we can get to the lip of the ravine. Now that is what I call a dramatic view. I don’t suffer from vertigo as such but I have a healthy respect for heights and the distant ground below and have no wish to fill the intervening space between with something me shaped so I suggest we watch our footing very carefully here. And what a bonus, a plant I haven’t come across before. It’s a Fritillary which derives from the Latin for dice box although I believe the Americans call them Mission Bells which seems an even more apt name. Although many species contain poisonous (even deadly) alkaloids, extracts are combined with loquat in traditional Chinese cough medicines. The other plant which seems particularly abundant up here is Valerian. Now this plant, who’s name derives from the Latin valere meaning to be healthy, has been used since Hippocrates time particularly to relieve insomnia and the jury is still out as to whether it is an efficacious substitute for anxiety relieving drugs such as benzodiazepines. Whichever, if you suffer in this regard and are currently a benzo-addict, there are few known side effects and it may be worth looking into as an alternative to (but not in conjunction with) such drugs. Check it out with your doctor first though. Personally I find that our best cure for stress is to do just what we’re doing today – get out in the open air and marvel at the fascinating world around us.



Until next week – happy hunting.

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LINKS:

Pollination Studies in Cretan Arum Lillies, Johannes Stokl, Universitat Regensberg

Naturalists (the facebook page that accompanies this blog)

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Crete Birding

Greek Butterflies and Moths

Aquaworld Aquarium