Crete Revisited

 

It is now sixteen months since I left Crete to move to the north west of England. An exciting chapter in my life has begun which includes a new home in a converted corn mill, new hobbies such as kayaking and a new partner in Ishbel. Despite being well travelled, Ishbel had never been to Crete before and so, last month, the pair of us flew into Heraklion for a week of discovery and rediscovery.

Staying in out-of-season Malia, we were welcomed with a furniture rattling earthquake in the early hours. It was good to be back! A quick historical introduction at the Minoan Palace turned into a natural history lesson when a few millennia were put aside by a profusion of colourful butterflies and the sudden appearance of a Dwarf Mantis.

It was also an occasion to catch up with old friends such as Steve Lenton, with whom we spent a beautiful morning on Katharo plateau searching out the unique Cretan Flora including the rare and endangered Crocus oreocreticus which can only be found in the mountains of east Crete. Above us, buzzards and a Eurasian Griffon wheeled in the cool mountain air.

Mixing business with pleasure, we went down to the old homestead in Ferma, which I am pleased to say, seems to have suffered little from a year of neglect. Nothing that a good spring clean couldn't fix. It was a happy home for Christina and I, and I hope that it will be an equally happy home for the next owners, whoever they may be. It is now on the market through Real Professionals at 89,000 euros. A bargain for someone.

All too soon it was time to say a fond farewell to the island that was my home for sixteen years and to say goodbye to the Crete Nature Blog. I shall continue the Cumbria Nature Blog until the end of the year, but next year I'll have something new for you: a monthly European Nature Almanack which will compare the things to look out for whether you're in the north or south of the continent.

All the best

Steve

Steve's Books

Chubby's Crematorium & Burger Bar A book of humorous poems to cheer, amuse and entertain your friends with.
The Quick Guide to Creepy-Crawlies All you need to know to identify any type of insect, spider, worm or snail very simply and find out more about it. Yvonne: This was a gift for a family so that the children can understand what they see on days out. The second was for me. Logical and easy to use. If you know anyone who likes nature you can be confident that gifting this book will give years of pleasure.
The Eggs of Saramova A science fiction novella for those who don't like science fiction. A fast-paced thriller that is, literally, out of this world (and it starts right here in Crete).
Not Just For Twisted Women by Steve Daniels  A light-hearted look at life through the eyes of the fairer sex. Janet: If you are short on time but enjoy reading and are maybe not into long extended novels then Not Just For... Twisted Women provides readers with concise stories that stand alone and most certainly entertain with their ultimate twists. Loved it. Helen: A very good read! Well written and entertaining! Margaret: Each quick tale gives a glimpse into a character's life and has an often humorous twist at the end. I would love to read more. Yvonne: These days many people find it hard to find the time to read a novel, so this book of short stories is ideal to dip into. It is also makes a good gift.

See sample pages of all my books and latest blogs, and keep abreast of latest publications here: http://author.to/SteveDaniels

Crete Nature Catch-up
Series 1 - Welcome to Lasithi	Series 2 - The Rhythm Of Life	Series 3 - A Journey Begins
Series 4 - The Milonas Valley	Series 5 - This Is Ferma	Series 6 - Upland Villages
Series 7 - The Forty saints	Series 8 - Sunday Strolls	Series 9 -Stormy Weather

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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 Reasons Behind The Excessive Rainfall

Out & About

Do you remember that old stone bridge that we crossed at Mirtos last month? The one where I suggested that whheelchair users would probably find it more practical to use the adjoining concreted ford? No longer; the ford was washed away last week in the fifth major deluge to hit our island this year. We have had more rain so far this year than the total rainfall for any of the preceding ten years.

I thought that we'd take a walk down to the cliffs today to see how Ferma, which lies between Myrtos and Makry Gialos, has fared. But as we wend our way down through the olive groves I'll try to explain what is happening and it is down to our old friend (or new enemy) climate change. Simply put, the temperature of the Earth is slowly rising but it is not constant around the globe. Here in south east Crete we are just under a degree celcius warmer than we were ten years ago which is much greater than the global average. Warmer air holds more moisture and it has a tendancy to drop this in torrential downpours.

Flood pictures from news 24 7 and Kreta MakryGialos

Somehow we seem to have missed the worst of it. Just a bit of extra water flowing down the gully which the birds are enjoying. There's a Corn Bunting down there look which I don't often see in these parts and, rarer still, a pair of Purple Heron flying over the sea. With all this fresh water laying around it seems strange that they should choose to come to the coast. Maybe they're spoiled for choice. And... I've just seen the first swallows of the year. They seem to be getting later, they used to turn up in the middle of March ten years or so back.

“They seek him here, they seek him there,

Those Frenchies seek him everywhere
Is he in heaven or is he in hell?
That demned elusive Pimpernel”

Thus rhymed Baroness Orczy in her novel, The Scarlet Pimpernel. Well, here it is, the diminutive flower after which her hero is named. A toxic little weed (the flower, not the hero), particularly to livestock. Humans fed with experimental doses of the essential oil suffered intense nausea, headaches and bodily pain. The ancient Greeks used it as an antidepressant, presumably on the grounds that all that suffering takes your mind off your less tangible woes.

Fieldcraft & Foraging

There are quite a lot of insects about this morning including these three which turn up regularly in the last week of March or the first week of April. The exact date is linked to conditions such as light levels and temperature, which determine when the flowers start to bloom and thus, directly or indirectly, when food is available. As such, you can use insects as a rough temperature guide. An American chap took this to extremes apparently and calculated that 40 + (the number of chirps made by the Snowy Tree Cricket in 14 seconds) = the temperature in degrees Farenheit. He obviously had a lot of time on his hands to come up with that particular piece of fieldcraft.

In The Lab

The Painted Ladies are still about but in lesser numbers and last week I sent a batch of specimens off to the Vanessa cardui migration project for DNA testing. The point of this, as with all studies of plant, insect and other bird and animal migrations is to spot changes in migratory behaviour. For eventually, where the wildlife goes so too will our own species. 'Climate Refugees' is a term that we will hear more and more in the years to come and if we can use our observations of nature to predict where and when human migration will occur then maybe, just maybe, the governments of the world can prepare.

Crete Nature Catch-up
Series 1 - Welcome to Lasithi	Series 2 - The Rhythm Of Life	Series 3 - A Journey Begins
Series 4 - The Milonas Valley	Series 5 - This Is Ferma	Series 6 - Upland Villages
Series 7 - The Forty saints	Series 8 - Sunday Strolls	Series 9 - (Current series start)

Steve's Books (well, just the one at the moment)

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 4.99 pounds sterling (or equivalent).. 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 Flowers of Crete BIRDS OF CRETE Crete Birding

Greek Butterflies and Moths Aquaworld Aquarium

Visit Greece (National Government Tourist Office)

Steve's Nature Quiz #17

Is Turkey Tangle Frogfruit effective against

a)  suppurating sores

b) stones

c) the common cold

According to Sanskrit literature Turkey Tangle Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora) is/was considered by the Hindus to be efficacious against all three. Phytochemical analysis by  the Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology at Loyola College in Chennai, India in 2015 showed that "All the extracts from Phyla nodiflora had inhibitory effects in both bacteria and fungi. The results of this study clearly proved that (the) plant is a potential source of natural antimicrobial agents." Good for suppurating sores then and possibly against the common cold if it is bacterial and not viral in origin but not necessarily against stones.

More fascinating facts and photos in this week's #CreteNature blog Ferma's Covert Coves

Ferma's Covert Coves

I thought I'd save the best until last. For the past weeks we've been ambling around the village of Ferma from the hills above to the underwater world of Livadi bay but at the eastern end of the village there are a series of tiny coves that few know about. From up here on the eastern cliff you can see the curvature of the horizon which means that we have a fair few steps to negotiate to get down there. 

It's over forty degrees today and I pity this poor spider with a mass of egg cases on her back. That's one hot mamma. Spiders of course are arachnids, named after a Greek peasant girl called Arachne and I'll tell you her story as we make our descent. Arachne had a talent for weaving, quite a prodigious talent in fact. So much so that she came to the notice of Athena (the goddess after whom Athens is named) who also considered herself a dab hand at the loom. Now gods and goddesses tend to get a bit sulky when us mere mortals approach their standards of excellence and Arachne was in danger of not just approaching but surpassing Athena's talent so Athena decided that a competition should be held to prove who was best. In most versions of the story Arachne won (although it was a close run thing). Whichever, Athena still claimed the ultimate victory on the grounds that Arachne's talent could only have been given to her from the gods and therefore she was only a mere instrument of Athena's own talent. “Nice try,” says Arachne, (somewhat unwisely) “but how about just admitting you've been beaten and being magnanimous in defeat?” Not being particularly fond of eating humble pie Athena promptly turned Arachne into a spider and cursed her and her descendants to weave nothing but webs forever more. 

Here we are at last and a nice little overhang to keep the sun off our heads. Do you see that little fish down there? Look at the way he's probing the sand with those two feelers. He's a goatfish (often called a red mullet although he's not closely related to the grey mullets in the way that red and grey squirrels are which is rather confusing). Those feelers are called barbels and he's using them to probe for food. This one is probably a youngster judging by his size and the fact that he's so close to shore. When he gets bigger and bolder he'll brave the deeper waters. 

There's a little channel here leading to another cove, what say we crawl through and investigate? There's another little fish here, superbly camouflaged against the sandy bottom. This one is a Goby, scientifically Gobius incognitus and I mention this only because the incognitus refers to the fact that, despite being common and widespread, it was only discovered to be a separate species from other gobies a couple of years ago.

Well, well, well, another private little cove, not only with built-in sun shade but a sandy beach as well. The little fish that we saw with the black and white markings near the tail as we swam in were Saddled Bream. It is one of a number of different sea breams that are important food fish in the Mediterranean. As a group, sea breams have been around for about 55 million years with the Saddled Bream making its first appearance about 48 million years ago so we've been eating them for as long as we've been in existence. All this lazing about in the shallows is very nice but I think we'd better start the long climb back.

Anyone for Turkey Tangle Frogfruit? A lovely little plant of the Verbena family but what a weird name. It makes one think that frogs like to eat it whilst turkeys trip over it but honestly, I've no idea how it came to be called that. I know that two or three species of caterpillar like to dine on it and it is supposed to cure everything from suppurating sores to stones to the common cold (or leastways to aid in recovery from same). Meanwhile we don't have any caterpillars but we do have a nice little bee fly come in for lunch. I think that this one is of the Exoprosopa genus, a useful little fly as it parasitises, among other insects, the larvae of locusts and wasps. I've seen neither the plant nor the fly around here before so that's a lovely way to finish our tour of the village of Ferma. And now I think... a cool beer in one of our tavernas is in order.

The Extra Bit

It really is getting stupidly hot now so I suggest that we take a little break for a few weeks and get together when the weather cools down a bit towards the end of next month. Until then, enjoy the rest of the summer (or winter if you're in the southern hemisphere) and follow me on Google+, Facebook Naturalists  or Twitter @cretenaturalist for details of Series 6 of the #Cretenature Blog.

Having just published this and checked it I noticed an advert in the side panel for Life Science Toolbox that looked interesting. I generally ignore adverts (like you do I expect) but the ads are starting to come in that are relevant to our interests so keep an eye on them, you never know what you may find. 

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

Picture 2 Nikon Coolpix S33

Inset Canon EOS 1300D

Picture 3 Nikon Coolpix S33

Inset Nikon Coolpix S33

Picture 4 Nikon Coolpix S33

Inset Nikon Coolpix S33

Picture 5 Nikon Coolpix S33

Inset Nikon Coolpix S33

Picture 6 Canon EOS 1300D

Inset Canon EOS 1300D

Pictures were edited with FastStone Image Viewer and combined with Microsoft Paint.

Steve's Nature Quiz #16

Dragonflies have been the theme for the week so was the wingspan of the biggest ever dragonfly nearest to that of

a) a sparrow

b) a kestrel

c) an albatross

The biggest dragonfly ancestor from the fossil record is the Meganeura which flew around 300 million years ago towards the end of the carboniferous period. It had a wingspan of about 70 cm (which is over two feet in old money), just a little under that of a modern kestrel. By contrast the largest living member of the Odonata today is the Forest Giant Damselfly (Megaloprepus caerulatus) of  Central and South America which has a wingspan of 19cm (7.5") which is about the same as a Blue Tit or American Redstart.

For more on dragonflies and more besides see this week's #CreteNature Blog: Dragonfly Summer

Dragonfly Summer

One of the loveliest sights of the summer has to be the dragonflies like this beautiful Scarlet Darter sitting on a fennel stalk. They are quite distinguishable from other red dragonflies by the orange flash at the base of the wing but have you ever wondered why we associate dragonflies with summer? Well, there isn't quite so much flying about for one thing but mainly it is because the majority of dragonflies are busy in the other seasons developing from an egg into a nymph, a process that takes place in freshwater where they look very different as you can see.

Ants are still about of course and the grasshoppers are skittering around our feet but generally anything with any sense goes into aestivation round here in the summer and with temperatures hovering around the 40C mark it's only mad dogs and Englishmen (like me) that go out in the midday sun. Thankfully our journey is all downhill from now on.

Many insects of course draw a substantial part of their diet from flowers and they are few and far between in the summer in Crete because there is such a scarcity of water in the summer months.

However, I see a few reeds off to our right which means there's a little dampness about so we may find the odd wild flower about if we get down on our hands and knees. This little beauty is Lesser Centaury named after the centaur Chiron of Greek myth. Chiron was known for his skill with medicinal plants which is strange for, as far as I know, Centauries have no medicinal properties whatsoever. The grimoires suggest that burning it will ward off snakes but there again I should think that setting fire to anything would have much the same effect.

What else can we find down this hill? Aha, I said that there were plenty of grasshoppers about. Just look how well camouflaged this one is against this grey stick. He's hiding his true colours, his hind wings are bright blue as you can see if we just persuade him to fly off. Incidentally, this set of apartments is called La Luna Blu and it is Italian run so if you're Italian, fancy a holiday in Ferma but are worried about not being able to speak Greek this is probably just the place for you.

Ok, so you think you know what an insect looks like? What do you make of this little lady? Yes, she is an insect, a female wax scale insect to be precise. So, where are the six legs? Scale insects are really weird. When they first hatch from the egg they have six legs and are known as crawlers but both species quickly metamorphose into something resembling a white fish scale (hence their common name). The females then grow in a series of moults until they look like this. Males on the other hand undergo complete metamorphosis and after pupating emerge as a six legged winged insect which we would all recognise as such. The males only live a day or two in the adult form, just long enough to mate with a female scale insect (and I can't help feeling that most of that time must be spent in working out how to mate with a female scale insect). As I say, scale insects are seriously weird insects.

Now, if we just trundle on down this hill and turn right at the bottom we'll come to the oasis that is known as Katerina's, a lovely little taverna where something cool and refreshing awaits.

The Extra Bit

In How to be a Naturalist – Anywhere the last item was about the bats at Ierapetra hospital. I have now processed a short video of them flying at dusk which you can view here:https://youtu.be/U6BvgfUdCdo

Talking of Scale insects, I found some new ones at Ierapetra Hospital. As far as I can make out these are Red Gum Lerp Psyllids (Glycaspis brimblecombe) which infest Crete's only (naturalised) Gum Tree, the River Redgum, Eucalyptus camaldulensis.

This is the link for La Luna Blu

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

Inset Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3

Picture 2 Nikon Coolpix S33

Inset Canon EOS 1300D

Picture 3 Nikon Coolpix S33

Inset Canon EOS 1300D

Picture 4 Nikon Coolpix S33

Inset Canon EOS 1300D

Picture 5 Nikon Coolpix S33

Inset Canon EOS 1300D

Extra Bit picture  Canon EOS 1300D

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)