Happy Yuletide

 

At 9.47 GMT this evening it will have been dark, here in Cockermouth, for about six hours. All across the northern hemisphere, it is the longest night of the year, as the sun reaches its lowest point, directly over The tropic of Capricorn. It also marks the beginning of Yuletide, twelve days of convivial merriment and good natured mischief, to acknowledge the onset of winter and look forward to the coming of longer days and shorter nights.

It is also the day when I traditionally decorate my abode with lights and herbage from the hedgerows. The holly and the ivy have been used since pagan times to ward off evil spirits, which is why we put a wreath containing these plants upon the front door.

Ivy, in long strands, when wrapped around a string of lights, makes a highly effective decoration. It is also cheaper, and more environmentally friendly, than shop bought chains imported from the far east.

Similarly, small conifer sprigs and cones can be used for simple, yet effective, centrepieces.

And finally, where would we be without the mistletoe? Mistletoe features in many winter mythologies, but the practice of kissing under it probably only dates from the 18^th century. Below stairs, servants were permitted one kiss for each berry plucked from the plant.

Happy Yuletide,

Steve

The Art of Slowing Down

 

Autumn is the season when nature slows down. Flowers set seed and leaves turn brown. Our bodies also react to the seasonal rhythms of shorter days and longer nights (even if our minds often don't). So, slow down with Ishbel, Jack the Navigator Hound, and I, as we take a leisurely trip along the Lancaster Canal. Drifting along at a sedate four miles per hour, a family of Mute Swans, like the Moorhens, Mallards and a young Grey Heron, are totally undisturbed by our presence. Peter and Ian take it in turns to pilot The Waterwitch and tell us the story of the canal which, at one time, was used to transport gunpowder from the nearby mills.

After an hour's pleasant meanderings, we disembark and a local guide, David, takes us on a walk along the next part of the canal to be restored. As David details the massive obstacles to be overcome, I get sidetracked by the plethora of insect life in the rampant undergrowth. A Noon Fly sunbathing on a leaf, a pair of Nettle-tap moths (their caterpillars feed on nettles) pollinating an Ox-eye Daisy and a Common Darter Dragonfly patrolling one of the larger pools.

Minibeasts tend to get scarcer as the season wears on but you don't have to look very far for them. I have quite a collection of aphids and midges in odd corners of the mill, which are kept in check by spiders such as this Lace-web. The only trouble is, as their name suggests, they make lacy webs, which are pretty unsightly, especially when dotted with odd bits of insect such as wings, legs and other items of exoskeleton. Not wishing to rename the Old Corn Mill 'Cobweb Cottage' I gave them all the old heave-ho a few days ago and removed the webs and spiders. I now have more happy midges than I can shake a stick at. Come back spiders, all is forgiven!

The Good, The Bad and the Edible

Walking back along the towpath for the return journey, the ivy is coming into flower. This is a plant of immense importance to our declining insect population (so please don't cut it back while it's flowering). Because it flowers so late in the year, it provides a lifeline of nectar.  It is, however, mildly poisonous and comes under the inedible category. That having been said, our ancestors used to chew the leaves as an expectorant.  They obviously knew a thing or two as nowadays extracts of Ivy are incorporated into modern cough medicines. 

On a definitely consumable note, Elderberries are now in season and, here at the Old Corn Mill, I shall be spending a pleasant afternoon in the kitchen making elderberry wine.

Until next week

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). Too new for reviews yet!
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.

Cockermouth Circle Line

I've always liked the London Underground, from the woosh of the trains to the unique aroma of the platforms, and especially the schematic map. When I worked in a microbiology lab in London in the 1970s, I always got a seat on the tube by the simple expedient of donning a lab coat and carrying a sandwich box covered in biohazard stickers. We don't have an underground here in Cockermouth (nor an overground any longer thanks to Dr Beeching), but I've adopted the schematic map to plan my local walks. Welcome to the Circle Line, starting at my local station: The Old Cornmill. 

I haven't mentioned the height of the River Derwent recently, mainly because it has been behaving itself and not causing me to deploy the flood defences. After a weekend of steady rain (which, for the first time in five months, prevented me getting out and about) it rose to its typical high level which is not enough to worry the mallards. So, let us proceed eastbound, stopping first at Back Lane.

Here we find a wall covered in dying ivy, which gives us a chance to have a good look at how it manages to grow up a wall without falling off. Firstly, it sends out small roots from the stem to get an initial purchase. These then send out even smaller rootlets that get into the tiniest of crevices and produce an adhesive (with separate hardener, would you believe). Finally, they change shape, screwing themselves into position, then lignify (turn to wood). So, if you want to affix something permanently to a wall, copy ivy – glue it, then screw it.

The scientific name, Hedera helix, means grasping and spiralling. They didn't know about the glueing back then.

Turning our back on the ivy and peering over the opposite wall we have an uninteresting factory (from a naturalist's point of view) fronted by a pair of interesting reservoirs. There's usually something to see here, and today is no exception. Over there on the far bank (where else?) we have an Oystercatcher. I usually see these running along the sea shore, at the water's edge (see A Fjord By Any Other name - Solway Firth) and most Oystercatchers around the world are, indeed, coastal birds. The European Oystercatcher however, along with a couple of other species, also breed inland.

Our next stop along the line is North Fields (change here for the Northern Line to Woodhall farm) with a view of Cockermouth Castle in the distance and the landmark King's Church spire. We also have a flock of Herdwicks, and where we have sheep we have dung. Time for a prod! I see that the Yellow Dung Flies have hatched and are busy making the next generation. And if we turn it over... that looks to be a little dung beetle burrowing its way into the warm goo. Quite possibly an Aphodius species such as we saw at Watendlath Tarn. We're going to continue our journey to the bottom left corner of the field. Next stop, Gote Mills race.

I explained all about Gote Mills Race last year in Down By The Derwent, so I won't go over it again. The sluice gate is closed so let's delve beneath the logs lying amid the Snowdrops and see who's home. There are a couple of small snails, very delicate and shiny, so I expect that they are Glass Snails of the Gastrodontinae family; a Shiny Woodlouse, Oniscus asellus, and a pretty little Arion slug. I must admit, I was hoping for the odd reptile or amphibian down here but no matter, every living thing has an interesting tale to tell. No room to tell them here, but if you subscribe to Steve's Nature Plus I often go into more detail about the lifestyles of our native creatures.

Last stop, Memorial Gardens. We're back in civilisation now with plenty of garden feeders in the area so we have a good number of birds, such as this Blue Tit, singing in the trees. I do believe that was a Red Admiral butterfly we just disturbed, and over there – our first Bumblebee of the year. The insects are starting to appear, birds are singing for mates and it's the Equinox at 9.37am on Saturday. Spring begins this week-end. Yippee!

With all these insects and other invertebrates beginning to appear, why not treat yourself to a copy of The Quick Guide To Creepy-Crawlies and find out more about the amazing world of the minibeasts.

Happy Springtime

Steve

LINKS:

Steve's Nature Plus Join me at The Old Cornmill and follow me throughout the week for all the news that doesn't fit into the blog.

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

Steve's Nature Quiz #23

In last week's #CreteNature blog we found a beautiful ivy hedgerow buzzing with life. Ivy has been associated with the Winter solstice since pagan times but in Germany they traditionally tie it to the outside of a church. Is this to protect it against

a) the devil

b) lightning

c) witches

Somewhat surprisingly the answer is lightning. Why this should be is a matter of speculation; perhaps someone observed that ivy covered trees did not get struck by lightning so often as bare trees? A similar thought was held by the druids who believed that Ivy's Christmas counterpart, Holly, if self seeded near a dwelling, would protect the inhabitants from fire, nightmares and, once again, lightning.

More seasonal nature notes and other trivia in this week's #CreteNature blog: The Springs of Paraspori

Where Mary Sleeps

Following last week’s debacle at navigating by churches and chapels I thought we’d give it another go this week and, starting where we emerged onto the road, attempt to find another church further up the valley. 

Ivy (Hedera helix) on Oriental Plane (Platanus orientalis)

It’s a lovely mountain road to walk, alongside the plane trees which are absolutely festooned with ivy. Evidence suggests that this does little or no harm to the tree at all in most cases but is, in fact, an incredibly useful plant. Its greenish yellow flowers which should be showing soon are very rich in nectar, so much so that the Ivy Bee runs its entire life around it, and the berries which come in the spring are an important food source for birds. Not content with that, the leaves are eaten by many caterpillar species including that of the Small Dusty Wave Moth which eats nothing else and one of the chemical compounds in the leaves, called Falcarinol, has been shown to kill breast cancer cells. Not bad for a plant so common that we usually walk past it without a second glance.

Seeds buried in leaf litter

Now, before you revert to childhood and start kicking through the autumn leaves, let’s get down on our hands and knees and see who we’d be disturbing. A few small beetles and the odd spider… but this is interesting, look what I’ve found under this stone. It appears to be a small cache or hoard of seeds. Many animals store up food for the winter; traditionally birds are said to cache and rodents to hoard. By the way that this has been placed quite deep and under a stone I would guess that it’s a rodent hoard. There are two types of hoarding behaviour, larder hoarding where a large amount of food is taken back and stored at home as it were – hamsters are well known for this but the wood mouse will do it too. The other type is scatter hoarding, as this appears to be, where small amounts of food are distributed at various locations. Squirrels, chipmunks and wood mice are famous for this and, given the habitat and the fact that we have no chipmunks or squirrels on Crete I shouldn’t be surprised if this was the work of a wood mouse.

Nymphalidae: Hipparchia cretica, Vanessa cardui, Pararge aegerea

That strange creaking and cracking sound? Nothing of great interest I’m afraid – just my knees complaining as I got up. Ah, this would seem to be a far better way to find a church, signposted steps. What a wonderful array of butterflies we have here. There’s the Cretan Grayling that we met last week (see The Journey Continues) as well as Painted Ladies and Speckled Wood bringing the morning alive. These are all members of the same family of butterflies, the Nymphalidae, also known as the four footed or brush footed butterflies. The reason for this being that when they’re standing they appear to have only four legs, the front pair are held curled up under the chin so to speak. These fore-legs, in many species, have a brush like set of hairs upon them. The purpose of these short, fat, hairy legs hasn’t been fully investigated as yet but the two most popular theories are that they enhance the butterfly’s sense of smell or that they’re an aid to communication. So much still to be found out about nature, even amongst our commonest friends.

Kermes Oak, Quercus coccifera with Cynipid wasp gall

Down here a bit further we have some Kermes Oaks. These are very hardy little oaks of the Mediterranean and their name derives from the Persian or Arabic for crimson. You remember that curious looking little scale insect that we found on the plane trees last week? Well, the Kermes oak has its own particular scale insect which was used in the manufacture of an exquisite crimson dye by the ancient Greeks and Romans. I can’t see any on this particular oak but I have found an interesting little gall. This would have been made by a tiny wasp (exactly how is another thing that we still don’t know) and inside is a minute larva thinking itself all safe and snug. It isn’t. That hole on the side could have been made by the larva emerging or by another type of wasp injecting one of her eggs into the larva as it develops. It’s a wasp eats wasp world in there.

Mediterranean House Gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus

Finally, we have reached our little church. This one isn’t dedicated to a particular saint but to an event: The Dormition of the Theotikros, which, in simple terms means the going to sleep (a euphemism for dying) of the Virgin Mary which is commemorated annually by the Greek Orthodox Church on August 15^th. I expect that it’s prettier inside, let’s take a peek. Oh look, there’s a little Mediterranean House Gecko under the eaves. We must have disturbed him as he’s a truly nocturnal animal. I don’t suppose he gives a fig about whether Mary is sleeping or not, he’s just found a good place to lurk and catch insects. Did you know that they chirp like a bird? I’ve never heard it myself but apparently they can also imitate a male cricket and when the female turns up to investigate they pounce and gobble her up. Rather caddish behaviour in my view, after all, it’s just not cricket is it?

 

News Update

I said last week that one of the reasons for my sudden disappearance at the end of the last series was the crash of my database and the need to relocate it. The other reason is that I have been writing a book which is now about three quarters finished. It takes us on a journey from the top of the Thriptis Mountains here in Crete to beneath the waves of the Libyan Sea – but there’s a twist in the form of a nineteenth century naturalist who seems to be accompanying us on our journey. The result, I hope, is literally quite magical and I’ll keep you posted on developments. 

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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)