Long Meg and her daughters

 

A few miles to the east of Penrith in Cumbria, lies England's third widest stone circle. Constructed in Neolithic times, it consists of 69 rhyolite glacial erratics (the daughters) and a huge block of local red sandstone, Long Meg, who stands to one side watching over them. This was to be our destination for a night of wild campervanning. Elvis had had his leisure battery replaced and the electrics were now working, and so we set off, without a care in the world. It was a beautiful sunny day, Long Meg was looking her best, and a buzzard wheeled overhead. Perfect.

We parked up, less than half a mile away, and there were plenty of hedgerows to explore en route. Apart from the daffodils, which were attracting a host of Muscoid flies, the Red Deadnettles were providing a splash of pink in the undergrowth. Elvis did his bit by attracting a Green Lacewing as well. In the meadow, a rabbit came out for his evening meal, but refused to be photographed. Dusk decended, we turned on the lights... and the electrics failed again. We'd packed emergency lights, so we could at least see what we were doing, but it was a bit chilly when we got up in the morning.

We decided to go into Penrith for breakfast, and this is when the fun began. In the middle lane of Penrith's busiest roundabout, just at the onset of rush hour, Elvis decided to blow his head gasket. The police had to be summoned to prevent a pile up, recovery vehicles had to be organised, and seven hours of alternate waiting around and hectic activity later, we finally collapsed onto the settee at home, surrounded by bin liners full of campervanning paraphenalia.

Two days later, after we had recovered somewhat, it was Ishbel's birthday, so we went out to the courtyard brasserie at Armathwaite Hall for lunch. A lovely stately old pile that stands on the north shore of Bassenthwaite lake. We took Mattie for a walk in the grounds beforehand and I found a more photogenic rabbit. It's my birthday on Monday, and I'm looking forward to a quiet walk along the shoreline looking for mermaid's purses.

All the best,

Steve

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Steve Daniels Cumbria

The Oldest Saint

As I dropped down onto the Lasithi Plateau a Buzzard launched itself from a telegraph pole, narrowly missed my windshield and crashed into the undergrowth to my left where it had obviously spotted its unwary breakfast. That was a good omen as I was taking my little group of intrepid strollers to the heights above Agios Charalampos to look for Grifon Vultures. The saint, after whom the village is named, was reputedly 114 years old when he was martyred for his Christian preaching in the 3^rd century, thus making him the oldest saint and his claim to fame was that, whilst being tortured, one of his torturers arms miraculously fell off and another had his head put on backwards. I think that I am more inclined to believe in Betty's black snake but more of that later.

As our little band negotiated the steep, narrow alleyways through the village and emerged on the hillside above the plateau we did indeed see Grifon Vultures and other high flying birds but it was the smaller passerines that really brought the day alive, particularly the flocks of Goldfinch. These birds are resident here in Crete but in the autumn they gather in flocks, their numbers swollen by birds migrating south from eastern Europe. As we exited the top of the village however, it was domestic fowl that caught the ever observant Betty's eye.

“Oh, look,” she said, looking up to where a group of birds were admonishing us from their pen on top of a house “turkeys!”

“Actually,' I said, not wishing to dampen her enthusiasm, “I think you'll find that they are guinea fowl.”

“They're too tall for guinea fowl,” Betty challenged.

“They're standing on the roof,” I pointed out.

Meanwhile, back to the chaffinch. The tall plant upon which she is perched is a Wavyleaf Mullein and the landscape was littered with them in various stages of life. Apart from providing staging posts for the goldfinches, leaf warblers, stonechats and sparrows, all of which were gaily flitting about on this fine autumn morning, I noticed that one had also attracted a tachinid fly. Not the nicest of flies; their maggots chew their way into unsuspecting caterpillars and eat them slowly from the inside, making sure to keep them alive as they do so, until they are almost ready to leave their host. At this point they feed indiscriminately, the caterpillar dies and the maggot wanders off to pupate in the ground without so much as a by-your-leave.

Caterpillars that are not devoured from within eventually become butterflies, of course, and these were dancing around at our feet, enjoying the nectar rich Sweet Scabious that grew by the side of the track. The name of the plant derives from the fact that it was used to treat scabies (an itchy rash caused by a mite infestation under the skin) in the middle ages. The Small White butterfly is a male which has only one spot on each forewing whereas the female has two. The other butterfly is the amazing Painted Lady which, although resident here, occurs in larger numbers in autumn and winter like the Goldfinches and the reason is the same: they migrate. Over six generations they make an incredible 9,000 mile round trip from Africa to the Arctic and back (see Secrets of Painted Lady migration revealed ).

Noticing a sign at the side of the road pointing the way to the Cave of Charalampos, Bert decided to go and investigate. Seeing her loving husband peering into what appeared to be a very large hole in the ground Betty thought that she had better go and join him to 'make sure he doesn't fall in' (at least, I think that she said doesn't). I trailed on behind, pausing to take a photograph of an old friend, Chorthippus bornhalmi. The 'cave' turned out to be a rather unimpressive hole in the ground. Presumably the roof had caved in since the 18^th century BC when it was a seven chambered ossuary. Besides the bones, archaeologists also found clay figurines and musical rattles called sistra about which, I expect, they got very excited.

Having quickly exhausted the thrill of the cave I took to my favourite hobby; rock flipping (there used to be an annual rock flipping day but it seems to have died a death in 2009) and discovered a lovely little Green Toad.

“Amphibians and reptiles are often put together,” said Bert, getting down to take a closer look, “is that because they are closely related?”

The toad and Bert looked at each other with mutual interest whist I wracked my brains to remember who evolved when.

“Yes,” I replied, “Amphibians evolved from the early fish and have both lungs and gills. Reptiles are an offshoot of Amphibians and have only lungs. Mammals, such as ourselves, and later, Birds, are offshoots of reptiles.”

“Talking of reptiles,” interjected Betty, “I saw a huge black snake here on Crete once and I was told that it must have escaped from a private collection. What do you think?”

“How big is huge?” I asked.

“About two inches in diameter,” she indicated, joining thumb and forefinger together, “and it stretched all across the road with its head disappearing into the undergrowth on one side of the road and its tail out of sight on the other side.”

“Not one of the four Cretan snakes,” I ventured “but I know what it sounds like.”

“What?” asked Bert, carefully replacing the stone over the now disgruntled toad.

“A black plastic water pipe.”

“It wasn't a water pipe,” said Betty, indignantly, “it moved”.

“They can be quite lively,” I explained, “if they get an air lock.”

Betty was not convinced and I had to confess that, not being familiar with all the snakes in the world, an escapee remained a plausible alternative.

The Taverna Bit

Thanks to all at Spani's Taverna in Charalampos who hastily rearranged their restaurant furniture when we descended upon them en masse and they also provided an excellent menu. The barbecued chicken and roast potatoes were beautiful.

Diary Dates

Stroll #3

Sunday 7^th October

11 am

Kroustas Forest

A mushrooming we will go (and hopefully find many more interesting things besides). Here and above are the maps. Take the Kroustas - Prina road and look for the only yellow litter bin on that road. See you on Sunday

Stroll #4

Sunday 14^th October

11 am

Almyros Wetlands

(Details next week)

Not Just For Twisted Women by Steve Daniels  A light-hearted look at life through the eyes of the fairer sex.  Kindle Edition 1.99 pounds sterling (or equivalent). Paperback edition will be available in time for Christmas. Read snippets, samples and stuff at Steve's Books

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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

Voila – Turkish Delight

What a beautiful late Autumn day. Just the sort of day for strolling around an uninhabited historic village and looking for wildlife. This one, called Voila (pronounced Vo-i-la as opposed to the French voilà) is Venetian in origin under the fiefdom of the Salomon family but when Crete was taken over by the Ottoman Empire^[1] in the mid seventeenth century it became the headquarters of one Jen Ali, a famous commander in his day. Nowadays the tower, on which Turkish motifs can be readily discerned, are guarded by a small Cretan frog where armed janissaries once stood. I wonder if there are any bat roosts hidden within?

Unfortunately not, nor anything more remarkable than an old pigeon's nest. It was also rather chilly in there and as the sun is shining down magnificently on the south east side of the village I suggest we make our way over there, nosing through the ruins as we go, and see if we can find some more wildlife. That's better, the ground is covered in lichen covered stones and a host of tiny flowers. These lovely little crocuses, Crocus laevigatus, are particularly attractive I think before they are fully open. Those deep lilac streaks on the underside contrasting strikingly with the snow white petals and then, gradually, the divided orange stigma are revealed. Like a firework in slow motion.

And where we have flowers then of course we have insects and it really is a thriving metropolis down here. Let us repose upon the carpet of Wood Sorrel leaves and observe the action at eye level. There's a small black wasp doing a complicated waggle dance amid an audience of harvester ants here and on one of the crocuses a red and black Soldier Bug nymph is exploring his new world. A few minute black fly-like insects on that Colchicum over there, no bigger than its stamens, require closer inspection and a Marmalade Hoverfly has been attracted to the bright yellow composites that are also dotting the scene like Belisha Beacons along the highways. Sunbathing on the stones a Short-horned grasshopper is looking forward to a light salad lunch whilst nearby an Ameles mantis waits in motionless ambush for a somewhat meatier meal. I could lie here all morning fascinated by this miniature world but there is something I have yet to see this autumn and I wonder if we'll find any examples up by that church up yonder?

This is the church of Agios Giorgos and the last resting place of the Salomon family (they're in the extension apparently if you'd like to go in and say hello). Personally I'm going to do a bit of bird watching. There's a great view of the village, the valley and the windmill dominated hills behind and the first thing I see is a pair of large birds of prey rapidly approaching the spinning blades. A bit distant but I think that the lead bird, at least, may be a Griffon Vulture. There's also a Buzzard on the corner of that building down there. He's spotted something... and he's off. And scanning around to that stand of Weaver's Broom down to our right a Stonechat has just landed. I saw a Black Redstart as we passed through the village of Chandras as well. They started arriving in the second week of November and my own personal lodger has occasionally roosted above my bedroom window when the weather has been less than conducive to spending the night in the open.

Meanwhile I do believe that the items for which I've been looking are lurking alonside the roots of this tree. Our first fungi of the autumn and edible ones at that. These are Mica Caps and if you look closely at the cap you can see the tiny glistening specks that give it the name. A couple of words of warning before you squirrel them away into your bag. Firstly, they must be cooked within the hour or they dissolve into a horrible squidgy inedible mess. Secondly, some related species react with any alcohol in your stomach so it is inadvisable to drink about three hours either side of eating them. Thirdly, they're rather good at picking up heavy metals from the soil so avoid collecting them from roadsides or polluted sites. And finally... I think I see the local priest arriving and he may have something to say about you pinching his breakfast. In all honesty, once you've covered points one to four and checked that there are no fly larvae lurking within, their flavour is so very delicate that you wonder if they were worth the trouble.

The Extra Bit

^[1] If you would like a good read about this period of Cretan history in the east of the island then Yvonne Payne's dramatic account of the Kritsa heroine, Rodanthe is well worth adding to your library. Details here.

Now, cast your mind back two years ago to the day we explored the grounds of the Porto Belissario Hotel. There we found a Western Conifer Seed Bug and I opined that it was the first time that it had been recorded on Crete. It turns out that I was correct and I am most grateful to Torsten van der Heyden for crediting me with its discovery on the island in his paper published on November 20^th in the entomological journal Arquivos Entomoloxicos Galegos

Photographic Bit

Many of you have asked me what photographic equipment I use so here's a quick rundown on the cameras used for each picture. 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.

Picture 1 Nikon COOLPIX S33

Insets 1 Canon EOS 1300D 2,3 Nikon COOLPIX S33

Picture 2 Canon EOS 1300D

Insets Canon EOS 1300D

Picture 3 Nikon COOLPIX S33

Insets Canon EOS 1300D

Picture 4 Nikon COOLPIX S33

Insets 1 Canon EOS 1300D 2,3 Nikon COOLPIX S33

Picture 5 Nikon COOLPIX S33

Insets Canon EOS 1300D

Extra Bit Konica Minolta

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)

See detailed pictures on Flickr

Read more about the flora and flora of the island in The Nature of Crete (Flipboard Magazine)

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)

Into A Dark, Dark Place

The next obstacle on our route to the Milonas Waterfall would appear to be a densely wooded slope but before we venture down into the sylvan gloom just listen to the birds this morning. The descending trill of the chaffinch; the harsh dzeee of the greenfinch; the machine gun rattle of the Sardinian Warbler all coming from the trees and bushes around us whilst up above the ravens are cronking and a buzzard is mewing. What a lovely start to the day.

Sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees as the saying goes but all too often we fail to see the trees for the wood so let’s take a closer look at the woodland make up. The majority of trees are the familiar needle leaved, cone bearing pines but we also some with thin branching, rather scaly leaves and cones that look a bit like footballs. These are cypress trees, named after Cyparissus, Apollo’s young boyfriend who’s grief was so strong after he accidentally killed his pet stag that he turned into a tree. These are both coniferous trees but we also have some Kermes Oaks in here which are deciduous and bear acorns rather than cones. All three are going to be invaluable in stopping us tumbling down this precipitous slope faster than we intend.

The majority of what we are walking on is pine litter and you can see great clumps of it wedged into crevices in the rocks. The good thing about these clumps is that you can wedge a stick underneath and lift them up in one go. Let’s see what’s underneath this one. A couple of mushrooms growing in total darkness and a julid millipede. The mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of the organism of course but by far the greatest mass of the fungus is the mycelium made up of white threads called hyphae which you can see working its way through the dead pine needles. These hyphae secrete enzymes which break down the litter and convert it into fungus food. They are also the reason that we could pull the clump off in one go.

This bank will give us a chance to have a look at the soil profile if I just scrape it back with my trowel. There are three distinct layers and we’ll take a sample and see what we can find. The top layer of recently fallen needles is home to this tiny Goblin Spider on the hunt for even smaller prey such as this Snout Mite that I’ve just liberated from the second partly decomposed layer called the acid mor, a slowly decaying  type of humus particular to coniferous woodlands and moorland. Snout mites are also predatory on things like springtails and nematode worms. The third, paler layer is called the leached horizon where most of the nutrients have been washed out. We’ll take some back to the lab and look at it more closely later.

We seem to have come into a clearing and it’s nice to see the sun again. You don’t see so many flowers in the depths of the conifer wood but up here we have a nice little Romulea, a flower that looks like a crocus but isn’t – they just evolved along similar lines. Have you noticed that many flowers have different coloured centres? This is thought to help guide the pollinating insects in to the food source. The same with those buttercups that we found in the gorge a couple of weeks back. Yes, I know that they look all yellow but that’s because you’re not an insect (not the last time I counted your legs anyway). Being human your colour spectrum only ranges from red to violet (see Inside The Rainbow) but if you were an insect you could see down into the ultraviolet and the buttercup would look something like this – give or take my lousy artwork. Our senses are rather dull compared with most animals and in nature you can’t always believe what you see.

I can hear the roar of the waterfall quite strongly now and I’m pretty sure that will be our destination next week. Unless we find something else to divert our attention on the way.

The Extra Bit

I’ve finally managed to get around to a project that I’ve been meaning to undertake for some time and that is to put all of our little walks onto an interactive map. By clicking on to any of the green hiker icons you can view the blog post for that particular location. Don’t forget that you can also use the search engine on the right hand side of each blog to search for anything in particular. For instance if orchids are your particular thing then just type ‘orchid’ into the search box and your browser will display all the blog posts that feature orchids. You can then use the map to find the exact location of that post. Neat huh? Interactive Hiking and Nature Map

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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)

The Nature of Crete  (Flipboard Magazine)

Cretan Flora

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Crete Birding

Greek Butterflies and Moths

Aquaworld Aquarium

Visit Greece (National Government Tourist Office)

Nature Is Winning

On the way back from our expedition into The Arms of Giants last week my attention was drawn to a piece of ground that we last visited together in January of last year. This was part of a hillside that had been levelled for development back in 2005 and then, for some reason best known to the Cretan mind but totally unfathomable to the English, the project was abandoned. The subsequent development of a whole new ecosystem we documented in Nature Fights Back. 

Lizards scurry through the Oat Grass

In the past fifteen months the only human intervention has been from my neighbour, who occasionally tethers a few goats up there, so I think it’s time to take another look. The foreground is now covered with a lush, green covering of Wild Oats on the dry side to our left whilst to our right the reed bed around the little spring is tall and vibrant. Plenty of insects buzzing around today and whoops! I nearly trod on a small lizard right under my feet. Unfortunately he’s plunged into deep cover but it’s good to see that we now have reptiles in our new ecosystem. 

A Hooded Crow harries a Buzzarrd over the Tamarisk trees

In the centre the tamarisk trees haven’t grown much taller but they have certainly grown thicker and there are various finches and a blackbird regaling us with song. But look up to the skies: the Hooded Crows are mobbing our poor local Buzzard again. They do this with monotonous regularity and I’m surprised that the beleaguered bird puts up with it. It has nothing to do with protecting the nest or the young as it happens at all times of the year. It could be territorial but I think that the crows, who certainly have an air of devilment in their make-up, just do it for fun. Just showing off to their mates as it were.

Arthropods abound in the dry areas

Now, if we can just force a passage through these Tamarisks (says he, trying to disentangle the sweep net from a host of flowering branches and getting covered in fluffy seeds in the process) we’ll see what arthropods we can find. Arthropods? – mostly little animals with their skeletons on the outside containing the soft squishy bits -as opposed to Chordates like ourselves who hang our squishy bits from an internal skeleton and keep the lot together in a bag of skin. We seem to have quite a haul so  let’s see what we have here. Firstly, a Great Green Bush-cricket (notice the long whip-like antennae); then the nymph of one of the short-horned grasshoppers (you can tell it’s a nymph as the wings have not developed). They usually come in green or brown but pink forms like this, although not common, are far from rare. Over on the far wall we have a lovely powder blue Southern Skimmer dragonfly taking in the sun and finally a beautifully marked little Orb Web Weaver spider. A delightful little crew.

A pool full of microscopic life

Listen. Did you hear that soft croaking? Not only do we have reptiles in residence up here now, we also have amphibians. Let’s plunge into the pools and see if we can find the owner of the croak. There he goes! Coming your way. My but he moved quickly. No, don’t chase him any further, just let him be. Come and have a look at these black, squiggly things in this puddle instead. Remember last week we were discussing complete and incomplete metamorphosis in the insect world? All the two winged insects in the world (flies, midges, gnats, mosquitoes and so forth) belong to the insect order Diptera – from the Greek meaning (unsurprisingly) two winged. The Diptera is one of those orders that undergo complete metamorphosis (egg-larva-pupa-adult) and here you can see both larvae and pupae. Here in the puddle it’s difficult to tell what they are exactly but if we take some home with us, let a couple hatch and then put them under the microscope we should be able to find out what they are. 

A mosquito wing under the microscope

You can tell a lot about an insect from its wing venation (the pattern formed by the veins on the wing) and this particular pattern is that of a mosquito. “What use are mosquitoes?” you ask. Well, they’re very good at producing more mosquitoes which is the whole point of life surely? Oh, I see, what use are they to us? Do they have to be? As it happens, without them and their other dipteran relatives we’d probably starve to death. Not all of those squiggly blobs will make it to adulthood. The greater majority will finish up on the dinner plate of other insects or higher animals such as that frog that skipped off nimbly into the reeds. Those that do survive, and many of the insects for which they provide essential nutrition, will go on to pollinate the plants that we and our livestock eat. Life on Earth is a series of large interconnected processes of which we are but a small, if somewhat destructive, part. Unfortunately that may be our legacy in the great panoply of existence. Evolution thrives on periodic mass extinctions and there have been five already in the planet’s history. We are currently engineering the sixth. That’s a rather sobering thought. Come on, let’s go down to the Carrot Club. There’s an orgy going on and we’re invited. 

Welcome to The Carrot Club

Welcome to the Carrot Club. The beautiful purple flower centrepiece is one of the ways in which you can distinguish a wild carrot from similar looking plants such as the deadly poisonous Hemlock (for total security look for three-forked or pinnate lower bracts). We’ll grab ourselves a carrot juice and have a look to see who’s in today. Over in the top left corner I see we have a wasp, finely turned out in glossy black with a white shoulder wrap (one of the Scoliid wasps I think). Moving round we have a Flower Chafer Beetle, also decked out in shiny black with fetching white blotches. The tall, thin guy in black (seems to be the ‘in’ colour this week) and the iridescent, silvery wing cloak is one of the sawflies – a close relative of the wasps and the couple in reds and browns over there in the corner, defying the dress code and exhibiting the sort of behaviour that certainly wouldn’t be tolerated in the better London clubs, are Soldier Beetles. In fact, looking around, there seem to be a lot of soldiers in today. Well, it IS the Carrot Club; nature’s own and totally uninhibited. Cheers everyone!

Until next week – happy hunting.

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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)