Sikia Beach – Frozen in Time

In previous weeks we've been back in time 800 years and joined the Venetians in their hill fort at Monte Forte and 2,000 years with the last of the Minoans at their place in Praesos. This week we're going back over 20 million years into the geological past to a beach that you will no longer find in any good beach guide to Crete. Lift a little patch of this massive slab of rock with your fingers (which is surprisingly easy to do) and you can rub the sand away from the underside with your thumb. It's covered with various lichens on the surface but let's go up and see what plants have colonised the edges. Plenty of Heather, as you'd expect on a sandy soil, and down among the roots some beautiful little autumn flowering Narcissi. We also have some spherical heads of Alliums. Garlic, onion, chive and shallot are all Alliums and we have about fifteen different species growing wild here on Crete. As to which these are I'd have to check with our botanist friend, Steve Lenton who is a man who really knows his onions. I never could get the hang of them: when I was a young man I disappointed my future father-in-law by confusing his onions with his gladioli but in fairness his vegetable plot did abut his flower border.

We also have plenty of stones and rocks for flipping which, as you know, can keep me amused for hours. Oh look, our first beetle of the autumn. In fact, this is quite a rare one called Pimelia minos, which is endemic to this end of the island and fairly easy to recognise as his back has the appearance of avocado pear skin. I've only come across this species twice before; on Koutsounari beach and at Bramiana resevoir. Pimelia may be a rare species but he is one of a group of 20,000 or more Darkling Beetles that can be found worldwide very often in dark places such as under stones which gives them their common name. 

Now who do we have here pollinating our heather? This is one of the Tachinids, a rather bristly bunch of flies as you can see. They have a tendency to lay their eggs in the larvae of other insects, particularly the caterpillars of butterflies and moths, but some prefer adult beetles or their larvae so it's no wonder our Pimelia friend likes to spend his time hiding under rocks. So would I.

I've found some old bricks over here. Let's rummage. You've got some little orange dots moving about on the bottom of that one. Here, take the hand lens and tell me what you see. They're sort of peachy? Nice. How many legs have they got? A very small, eight legged creature with peachy skin. May I take a look? What you have there is a Red Velvet Mite, quite pretty in their own way but rather predatory when they are adults. In their earlier life stages however they are parasitic on other insects. I've just found another Pimelia over here and look what's nestling in the crook of his front leg, a little velvety orange dot. Poor old Pimelia, he's not safe anywhere.

Well, what do you think? Quite a lot of life for a bare stone slab isn't there? But there's another strange creature that I want to introduce you to and you'll be pleased to hear that it is best observed from a small taverna in the nearby village of Sikia. You'd have thought that with so many wonderful creatures in the world there would be no need to make them up but mythology is full of them such as that lovely mermaid over there. If you are crossing the Aegean in a boat you may meet up with Alexander the Great's sister, Thessalonike, who was turned into a mermaid after her death. If she asks after her brother tell her that he's alive and doing well. This seems to pacify her. If you tell her he's been dead for centuries she gets all upset and starts churning up the waters.

The Extra Bit

The trailcam has been busy photographing Great Tits and Italian Sparrows galore during the day but this little fellow appeared overnight. He's a Black Rat, Rattus rattus. I'm not too worried about the occasional Brown rat around the garden but I'm not so keen on having the black ones about. However, as the trailcam also picked up three different cats investigating the bird table at night it is hoped that he won't stick around too long.

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 Canon EOS 1300D

Insets Canon EOS 1300D

Picture 2 Canon EOS 1300D

Insets Canon EOS 1300D

Picture 3 Canon EOS 1300D

Insets

Picture 4 Canon EOS 1300D

Insets Canon EOS 1300D

Picture 5 Canon EOS 1300D

Insets

Extra Bit Trail Camera RD1000

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)

Descent Into The Milonas Valley

Now that we’ve made it all the way up here we’ve got to get all the way back again but this time we’ll come down the Milonas (or Miller’s) Valley. So first we must descend that evil looking slope .

Autumn Crocus, Colchicum pusillum

A quick look at the flowers before we start our descent, most of which we met on the way up, such as the little yellow Sternbergia but there are also these delicate little Autumn Crocuses. Pretty little things that those of you with long memories may remember we met once before when we visited The Waterfall of Milonas a couple of years back and I told you the story of a famous murderer. On the plus side though, it was the original source of the drug colchicine which has a number of uses including treatment of Familial Mediterranean Fever. This is a rather nasty human disease caused by a genetic mutation specific to people of Eastern Mediterranean origin.  Like nettles and dock leaves the problem and solution are to be found in the same place. 

Raven, Corvus corax

I see that our friends the ravens are keeping an eye on us from above. One of these days I’ll get a decent photograph but it’s difficult to hold the camera steady whilst spinning on a scree slope as you may have noticed. You may be forgiven for thinking that a raven is a raven is a raven but apparently not so. According to an analysis of  DNA taken from 72 birds across the northern hemisphere they are all the same apart from those in California which are genetically different.^[1]  (I can’t help feeling that this may explain a lot about Californians in general). Incidentally I’ve seen a lot more ravens about this year and at lower altitudes. I wonder why?

Seed Bug, Lygaeus pandurus

Watch your step coming down here, it really is quite treacherous underfoot. I usually find that using the plants as stepping stones rather than trying to step between them gives you a better purchase. I see we have a couple of seed bugs down here, one adult and one nymph. Both the same species as far as I can see; Pistachio Red Bugs. A bit of a misnomer really as they’ll sup sap from a multitude of plants. They’re very hardy little bugs, as happy up in the mountains as they are down on the coast, so you can’t help admiring them.  Talking of the coast, you can just about see it from here (the sea at any rate). 

Darkling Beetle, Raiboscelis coelestinus

We’re aiming for that track below us but first, a fallen pine tree to investigate. Let’s sit down here a while and poke about among the decaying branches and see who’s home. What have you got there? A smashing little Darkling Beetle, no bigger than my thumbnail.  These are cosmopolitan beetles that you can find from the driest deserts to the wettest rainforests and are omnivores, like ourselves. If you want to live all over the world then it pays not to be too fussy. If you look closely you can see that this one has a blueish sheen and that, along with the pattern of dimples on his back helps us to identify him. He goes under the name of Raiboscelis coelestinus if you’re taking notes.

And here we are back on the track that leads to the church. Next week we’ll see what’s lurking in that gully but first – let’s rock. A couple of weeks ago we were looking at minerals and now I’d like to draw your attention to some of the rocks that are lying around, of which I’ve collected a few on the way down. So what’s the difference between a rock and a mineral? To illustrate: the church is sat upon a limestone outcrop. Limestone is a rock which consists primarily of two minerals: calcite and aragonite. Both of these minerals contain the same elements: calcium, carbon and oxygen but they’re put together in a different way. Simply, elements make minerals make rocks. We too are a collection of elements put together in different ways which we get, via plants and other animals, from rocks. So on our way down the Milonas valley we’ll have a little look at the chemistry of life as we go and see how we’re all bound together with the planet on which we live.

The Extra Bit

Black Redstart, Phoenicurus ochruros

The first Black Redstarts of the autumn have arrived on the south east coast. I spotted this female on the way up and there was a male on my gate post as I left home this morning. These birds usually appear in November and overwinter here. They form a part of our ongoing phenological study (see Phenomenal Phenology).

^[1] California Ravens are a Breed Apart

LINKS:

Naturalists (the facebook page that accompanies this blog)

See detailed pictures at http://www.inaturalist.org/login  (search - people-stevedaniels-observations)

Cretan Flora

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Crete Birding

Greek Butterflies and Moths

Aquaworld Aquarium

Visit Greece (National Government Tourist Office)

The End of Civilisation

Blue-winged Grasshopper, Oedipoda caerulescens

Here we are, back at the point where we regained the trail last week, and it looks as though we have a fairly easy stroll ahead of us today. I see that we have some grasshoppers for company. These are blue winged grasshoppers as you can see by the flash of their hind wings as they fly but watch as they land. Notice the way that they immediately turn to face the way they came? Both the red and blue winged grasshoppers do this and I think that the reason may be a classic case of misdirection as used by stage magicians throughout the centuries. The magician stands before you with an object in hand, closes and opens his fist and Hey Presto! The object has disappeared. He has, of course, thrown it over your head but as your attention is drawn towards him by his patter you fail to notice. Now the bright flash of the grasshopper wing is very followable with the eye and even though the camouflage of the grasshopper at rest makes it difficult to spot when it lands, a succession of jumps in roughly the same direction would make it easy for a predator to follow, predict and finally capture the insect. If, on the other hand, the grasshopper turns on landing and then jumps back over the predators head then there would be a flash of wing and Hey presto! No grasshopper. I’ve always thought they were rather magical creatures.

Sticky Fleabane, Dittrichia

Those of you with keen nostrils may have noticed a somewhat unpleasant smell pervading the locality. The culprit is this yellow flowered plant here called Sticky Fleabane amongst other names. The smell is due to a volatile oil that it produces and in North Africa they boil the branches in cooking oil and use it to treat sun stroke. Elsewhere various concoctions have been produced to counter everything from hangovers to malaria. 

Despite the smell, or possibly because of it, the Small White and Painted Lady butterflies seem to love it as do the Honey Bees and Hover Flies. The Hornets and the Blue Butterflies seem to prefer the Ivy just coming into flower over there.

Pomegranate with Orange, Tangerine and Lemon inset

Choices, choices. It seems that the main track crosses the stream bed at this point and leads up out of the valley but there appears to be an alternative path through this citrus grove. The reason we’ve been confined to either the track or the stream bed thus far on our travels is that this lower part of the valley is quite intensively farmed and most of the small plots have been fenced off which is unusual in these parts. This one however seems to allow us access (keep your paws off the fruit – I saw you) and what a beautiful display of oranges, tangerines, lemons and a magnificent pomegranate (not a citrus fruit incidentally but more closely related to the Myrtle which we were looking at last week). Even to my nose it smells a lot pleasanter here than by that sticky fleabane and those ripening citrus fruits means that marmalade making time is nearly upon us once again. I preserve mine with Metaxa brandy – delicious on crisply buttered toast with a cup of Lapsang Souchong on a cold winter’s day.

Darkling Beetle, Tenebrionidae

Interesting though orchards are I feel sure that more excitement awaits us further up the valley and it would appear that we have now reached the end of civilisation. The valley is narrowing into a ravine and the pomegranate was the last of the fruit trees. There is a face in the rocks up there that doesn’t look at all welcoming and the rocks are guarded by sinister Darkling Beetles. I think that we’re about to enter Indiana Jones territory – keep your bullwhip handy. Darkling Beetles, by the way, are one of the largest of the beetle families with an estimated twenty thousand species. They don’t look very friendly but they’re perfectly harmless and won’t nip you if you handle them gently.

Cup Fungi, Resupinatus

I’ve found a little stone aqueduct that will serve as a crossing to the other bank where I believe we’ll make more progress. Watch your step as there’s a cunningly placed rock in the centre ready to hurtle you to your doom below. Safely over? Good. Give me a hand with this rotting log and let’s see what we can find underneath. What  a beautiful expanse of cup fungi. These are saprotrophic (meaning that they feed upon dead matter) and they secrete digestive enzymes directly into the wood in order to do so. Their spores are formed on the surface of the cups so they feed from the bottom and reproduce from the top as it were. I think that they’re rather attractive although other members of the family are more colourful. We’ll cover them up again as I daresay that they’re somebody’s larder.

There isn’t an obvious path from here on in so we’ll leave it for this week and come back with stout walking gear next week. Until then – happy hunting.

See all the pictures including insets in detail on Flickr

 

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LINKS:

Naturalists (the facebook page that accompanies this blog)

Cretan Flora

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Crete Birding

Greek Butterflies and Moths

Aquaworld Aquarium

Visit Greece (National Government Tourist Office)