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 Dew Ponds of Katharo

We’re taking a break from our trek up the Eden valley this week as I want to take you up to the Katharo Plateau in the Dhikti mountains. Yes, I know we’ve been there before (Cathartic Katharo) but I need your help to examine some summer ponds.

Cirl Bunting, Emberiza cirlus at one of the dew ponds

Here we are, all dressed up in muted colours for the occasion, and our first job is to lie very quietly in the mud and see what’s happening. These ponds retain water all through the long, dry summer and I believe that they work on the same principle as the Hampshire dew ponds that the eighteenth century English naturalist Gilbert White described in his book, The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne. That is “more than double the quantity of dew falls on a surface of water than there does on an equal surface of [moist] earth”. The clayey soil in which we’re lying prevents the water from seeping through the limestone rocks. As you can see it’s a great place for dragonflies and we have birds popping in for a drink. There’s a Cirl Bunting, look. Many buntings have declined in North West Europe due to a lack of weed seeds and insects but they’re obviously alive and well here on Katharo where traditional farming practices are still employed and herbicides and pesticides are not.

Water Strider, Damselfly larva, Water Scavenger Beetle

Let’s take a look under the water and see what’s lurking there. What do you mean you didn’t bring your bog snorkelling gear? Ok, you sit and watch the Water Striders skimming about the surface and I’ll go down and interview the wildlife. A small Water Scavenger Beetle, though that is a bit of a misnomer as they can be just as predatory as the Predacious Water Beetles. You can tell them apart by the way they swim: these move their hind legs alternately but the Predacious Water Beetles kick theirs out together – sort of doggy paddle versus the breast stroke. We also have a Damselfly larva. These larvae are also known as naiads or nymphs after the female spirits that dwelt in wells and streams in Greek mythology. You can tell that it’s a damselfly and not a dragonfly by those three tail filaments containing the gills through which they breathe. Dragonflies don’t have these and breathe through their rectums (which is not something you should try at home).

Apart from each other I wonder what else these little creatures are eating? For the omnivores and vegetarians down there we have plenty of this stuff. It’s called Chara and though it looks very much like a plant, it isn’t. It’s a green alga and, as such, is more closely related to green seaweed than flowers. The little red buds that you can see contain reproductive spores and, as you can tell by the amount of Chara in the pond, they are remarkably efficient. This is just the top level of the ecosystem that we can see with the naked eye; there’s far more going on that we can’t see so grab a pipette out of my bag there and we’ll put a drop of water under the microscope.

Desmids and Diatoms

Ah now, these top two, Closterium and Euastrum are desmids which are green algae, the same as the Chara but they are unicellular. The Euastrum looks as if it has two cells but they are in fact symmetrical compartments of the same cell separated by a narrow bridge. The bottom two, Epithemia and Rhopalodia are diatoms which are more closely related to the red algae. Forensic scientists love these things because if they find them in a murder victim it shows that they were drowned rather than killed and then dumped in the water. If they can correlate the species mix in the corpse with the species mix in a certain pond for instance they can even tell where the person was drowned. Gruesome perhaps but just one of the obscure ways that a knowledge of nature impacts upon our lives.

The Naturalists' Taverna, Katharo

What a fascinating little pond; water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink. I think that we’d better rectify that and a visit to Yanni’s taverna is a must when visiting Katharo. Yanni is a naturalist himself and you can spend a pleasant hour or two reading the walls of his taverna over a convivial libation. There are pictures and descriptions of birds; books and posters of flowers (provided by our friend Steve Lenton at Cretan Flora) and a section on the fossil mammals of Crete, some of which Yanni himself discovered. It’s surely the best naturalists’ taverna on Crete. Who’s round is it?

News Update

Remember that little diatom called Rhopalodia that we found? It turned out to be Rhopalodia gibba, a species never before recorded on Crete. As such it has now been documented on the world wide Algae Base. Better not drown anybody in that pond then.

I see that my email address is at the bottom so feel to drop me a line, contact me on twitter @cretenaturalist

or via

Naturalists (the facebook page that accompanies this blog)

See you next week.

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LINKS:

Cretan Flora

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Crete Birding

Greek Butterflies and Moths

Aquaworld Aquarium

Visit Greece (National Government Tourist Office)