Betty and Bert Go It Alone at Bramiana Reservoir

Hello, I’m a regular Betty on Steve’s Sunday strolls. We were just leaving home when I saw a message saying Steve was indisposed and unable to lead our planned Sunday Stroll. Undaunted, my Bert said, ‘Let’s go anyway, perhaps some of the others will miss the message and turn up.’

One of the reasons my Bert was so keen to continue with the stroll was to see just how low the water level in Bramiana Reservoir, near Ierapetra had fallen. This first photo was taken on our visit in January 2008, just before the winter rains set in.

As you can see from the second photo, the drought this year was, and still is causing concern. Last winter in East Crete only delivered 25% of the usual rainfall.

At the appointed meeting time another Bert and two Betties arrived, and like us said they still wanted to stroll. The first part of the track had that lovely sticky herb called Dittrichia  that to me is one of the scents of Crete. Tatty remains of caper plants edged the path interspersed with dried grasses waving in the breeze.

Bert (not mine) seemed quite impressed when I pointed out the very intact remains of a watermill. The water used to run along a channel in the top then drop down to turn a wheel. When we walked closer we paused and pondered over the other ruined buildings guessing they may have been grain/flour stores and miller’s homes.

Just after this, the three other strollers returned to their car while my Bert and I set off to walk right around the puddle that used to be a reservoir. 

"What are those birds on the water?" I asked my Bert.

Oh, now we missed Steve with his long focus camera and expertise. Our answer, unless anyone knows different, is a flock of black blobs. (I think that they are probably Coots - Steve) I can just imagine flocks of migrating wildfowl coming in to land where the water should be and circling around squawking at each other to check if they’d come to the right place. 

A bit further on and Bert whipped his binoculars out to see what bird had just landed – he said it was a heron. Looking at my photos when back home I got very excited to see the turtle – it is isn’t it?? On previous visits we have certainly seen turtles on exposed rocks basking in the sun. (Yes; two mallards, a turtle and a heron - Steve) Other birds spotted on our walk included a tuneful blue rock thrush, goldfinches, grey herons, mallards, a white goose, various gulls and falcons.

All being well, normal service will resume with Steve next week and by then I shall be back in the UK for a few months eager to get my fix of the Crete nature via this great blog.

Me? Oh, I’m a blogger too and you can find me at www.kritsayvonne.com

My greatest thank to Yvonne and Alan Payne for taking over and leading this Sunday Stroll and particularly to Yvonne for writing this week's blog. It is at this point that I usually bang on about my book, Not Just For... Twisted Women, but this week I think it only fair to highlight Yvonne's excellent historical novels Kritsotopoula and the recently released follow up Rodanthe's Gift...

Throughout her childhood exploits, the feisty daughter, Rodanthe, of Kritsa’s pappas (priest), yearns for her father’s approval without appreciating his efforts to keep her safe under Ottoman oppression.

Years later, the ruling Pasha orders Rodanthe’s kidnap intent on making her his wife. Determined not to yield, Rodanthe tricks the Pasha, and then flees to the mountains dressed as a young man. After joining rebels as Spanomanolis (Beardless Manolis), she draws on her unusual experiences and rare education to maintain her disguise throughout daring raids.

Now, honored as Kritsotopoula (Girl of Kritsa), villagers celebrate Rodanthe’s exploits annually in front of a poignant stone carving. This monument portrays the moment in 1823 when brave Rodanthe's secret was exposed – a point mirrored as this story culminates with a twist.

Kritsotopoula, Girl of Kritsa - Yvonne Payne

In January 1823, four mourners stand over the shrouded body of the exceptional female rebel, Rodanthe. Each suffers the loss of a daughter, friend, lost love or valued ally.Her injured papa, Mathaios, kneels at her graveside, begging forgiveness for his sinful decision to keep her baptismal gold a secret. He later bequests the remaining coins to her young friend Petros. A gift with consequences beyond imagination.Kostas loved Rodanthe, but only realised this truth moments before her death. Now dependent on others for his mobility, he resolves to play a significant role in the continuing conflict.When rebel leader Captain Kazanis leaves the graveyard, his focus is on leading the local fight for freedom. However, betrayal and grief take him far beyond his beloved Crete.Such is the importance of Rodanthe and Kazanis, their home villages in Crete hold annual remembrance services for them, and on the Greek mainland, the place renamed The Sacred City of Missolonghi holds an annual re-enactment of the exodos in The Garden of Heroes. 'Yvonne Payne’s no-holds-barred historical adventure rips along at a breathless pace. I loved it.' - Richard Clark, acclaimed author of Eastern Crete – A Notebook and other Greek travel guides. Rodanthe's Gift - Yvonne Payne

Diary Dates

Stroll #6

Sunday 28th October

11 am

Ha Canyon (lower part)

Stroll #7

Sunday 4th November

11 am
Tholos

(Details next week)

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

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)

Bramiana Reservoir in Autumn

Last week I ended by saying that I was waiting for something rather special to share with you and that it hadn’t happened yet. Well, it still hasn’t so I thought we’d take our final seasonal trip out to the reservoir at Bramiana and see if there are any migratory birds passing through and have a general prod about in the undergrowth to see what else we can find.

Castor Oil Plant

Before we get there, we’ll just stop on the roadside here, a few kilometers away, to admire this gorgeous shrub with its showy red flowers. This is the castor oil plant; beautiful, useful and very, very deadly. Medicinally it has long been used as a laxative but it also plays a part in chemotherapy cancer treatments and antiretroviral HIV treatments. It is also highly poisonous and a handful of raw seeds could kill you quite horribly after a few days. Before you go off to dispose of your rich uncle Mortimer I should warn you that it is treatable and deaths are rare. For those of you with long memories you may well recall the assassination of the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov who was ‘shot’ in a London street with a modified umbrella back in 1978. The pellet that killed him contained ricin, the active ingredient from this plant. More recently, July of this year in fact, an American bit-part actress, Shannon Richardson, received an 18 year jail sentence for sending mail laced with ricin to U.S. President Barrack Obama. Indirectly, castor oil was responsible for a number of deaths of German pilots in the first world war: the allies used it as a superior engine oil making their planes more reliable than their German counterparts.

Low water at Bramiana reservoir

Enough of this digression lets motor on up to the reservoir and see how it’s doing. As you can see it is pretty low at the moment (we still haven’t had much rain). That little dot in the centre is an old church and it makes a pretty good yardstick. Today the water is about half way up the walls. The inset picture is from October 2007 when the water level was right down to its foundations. By the end of March the water should cover that spit of land and half submerge the trees on the bank as the second inset picture shows.

Great White and Little Egret

Moving on, let’s go and find some birds. Surprisingly few today, I was expecting more. Some Yellow-legged Gulls, a few Cormorants, a couple of Coots and a pair of white blobs wading in the far distant shallows. Pass me the binoculars will you? Aha, Egrets! Interestingly I’ve never seen these two species together before, maybe others have. The larger one in front is a Great White Egret and the smaller one behind with the yellow feet is a Little Egret. Back in the 1870s, particularly in Europe and America, there was a great fashion craze for hats festooned with egret plumes (called aigrettes after the French for egret) and by the early twentieth century they were worth more than gold. With such a commercial incentive plume hunting became an adventurers’ charter and the birds were slaughtered wholesale. Thankfully people like George Grinnell in America and Emily Wiliamson in England decided that enough was enough and the plumes looked better on their original owners. Through their tireless efforts and campaigns against the trade both the Audubon Society in the U.S. and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the U.K. (originally called the Plumage League) came about. Which is why we can see egrets here today – albeit at a distance.

Harvester Ants with Woodlice and Silverfish

Time for a bit of stone-flipping I think. We’ll mosey on to the western bank and see who’s about. Centipedes, snails, a couple of disgruntled geckos and the inevitable ant nest. Hang on though, that’s interesting, the ants are not alone. These are harvester ants and they are sharing their nest with woodlice and some curious little ivory creatures. The ivory fellows are silverfish and you may see their relatives flashing across your carpet in the evenings like a drop of quicksilver. They are from a pretty ancient order of insects called the Thysanaura. The woodlice are not insects (too many legs) but crustaceans; terrestrial relatives of crabs, prawns and lobsters. The ants are quite happy to share their nest with both animals as they feed on the debris in the nest and help to keep it clean. In return the silverfish and the woodlice get food and a stable environment – a bit like having a house full of servants. If the ant nest gets disturbed and the ants decide to relocate, the silverfish and woodlice pack up their bags as it were and go with them. Both animals being virtually blind they might not always make it to the right nest but the thought is there. Quite loyal staff really.

Vestal Moth

There’s still not much bird life out on the water and the sun is getting a bit high in the sky now. The average daytime October temperature has risen by about three and a half degrees in the past nine years and at 33 degrees today 2014 looks like being another record breaker so I suggest we trundle on back and find a cool drink and some shade. You know, there’s one place I haven’t taken you on our travels this year and that’s my bedroom. No, you’re not coming in today either but I have got a photograph to show you that I took this morning. Every evening when I go up to bed at this time of year a cluster of moths await me around the terrace light. This can delay my retirement for anything up to half an hour as I potter about with tins to offer some of the less frequent visitors overnight accommodation. I usually manage to pick up a couple of stowaways on my clothing as well and such was the case with this pretty little specimen. This is a Vestal Moth (Rhodometra sacraria) who’s food plants include knotweed, dandelion and sorrel (none of which can be found in my bedroom) and can usually be seen on steppes and scrubland throughout Europe from the Mediterranean to the Baltic. 

Now, did someone mention a cold beer straight from the fridge? Until next week – happy hunting.

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

LINKS:

Naturalists (the facebook page that accompanies this blog)

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Crete Birding

Greek Butterflies and Moths

Aquaworld Aquarium

Visit Greece (National Government Tourist Office)