Pefki - Top of the Gorge

Last week we were walking down by the White River at Makry Gialos. If we had continued up the gorge this is the village at which we would have arrived. It is called Pefki (or Pefkoi) which means Pine Trees in Greek. The Pines to which the name relates are these, the Turkish Pine, Pinus brutia. Although native to the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly Turkey, you will also find them in Australia and New Zealand and the reason for this goes back a little over 100 years to the 25^th April 1915. Aussies and Kiwis will recognise this immediately as Anzac day which commemorates the Gallipoli campaign where many Australian and New Zealand lives were lost. 

One of the major landmarks of the Gallipoli landings was a lone pine tree and in the aftermath of the campaign soldiers took cones from the battlefield and planted the seeds back home as living memorials to the fallen. Which is why you have Turkish Pines half a world away in Australia and New Zealand.

But to pleasanter thoughts – this is the track down into the gorge and immediately we have an old friend waiting for us on the path. This is the Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta and it is one of two Vanessid butterflies that often accompany us on our walks in the winter. The other is the Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui and if you remember back to last year when we were coming down the Milonas Valley both species were flitting about all over the place. This winter I haven't seen a single Painted Lady. They are a migratory species that come over on the African winds but this year, not a sign of one as yet. Keep your eyes peeled.

I mentioned the Mandrake in passing last week and here, under this Carob tree is one of the most magnificent I've ever seen. Mandrakes are part of the Nightshade family, a somewhat diverse group of plants containing such poisonous personalities as Deadly Nightshade, Henbane and Thorn Apple as well as the table friendly Potato, Tomato, Aubergine (Eggplant) and Bell Pepper. Which begs the question; how can such diverse plants be grouped together in one family? Nowadays we are using genome sequencing to see who is related to whom but since the 19^th century we have been using floral formulae and the formula for the Solanaceae family is this:

This tells us that they have bracts, are actinomorphic, hermaphrodite and more than anyone other than a dedicated botanist would want to know about the number and position of their sexual organs. Fundamentally, plants are grouped together on the basis of similarities in their anatomies which have evolved over time rather than on the basis of how they affect us. In practical terms it means that you can take any flower, determine its floral formula and work out to which family it belongs.

Whilst we're on the subject of flowers come and take a look at this Mediterranean Spurge a moment. Not the most pleasant smelling plant to us but irresistible to flies as you can see. We've long known that colour and smell attracts insects to plants and when the insect goes in for the nectar it gets coated in pollen grains. These are then transferred to the next plant it visits and thus it becomes pollinated. But not all plants are pollinated by insects, some are pollinated by birds, so how do you attract a bird and repel an insect (or vice versa)? Here's the trick. Plants have a gene that controls a protein which determines the shape of the cells on the petal surface. Turned on it produces conical cells which an insect can get a grip on, even in windy conditions; turned off and it produces flat cells that insects just slide off. This Spurge has gone one better. See how the surface is covered in tiny hairs which the flies are using to anchor themselves into position? Perfect target audience marketing – attract them in with the correct fragrance and make it simple to obtain the product. We could learn a thing or two here. After all, flowers have been in the selling game a lot longer than we have.

That's enough science for one day I think, let's just mosey on down the track awhile and enjoy the rural landscape. Most people, I suspect, miss this part of the gorge. They're either hurrying down to get to the spectacular rock walls below or thankful to have nearly reached the top if they're coming the other way. But this is really quite an idyllic rural stroll in itself with the gourds out drying in the sun and the chickens ambling about in the winter warmth. Crete, there's nowhere quite like it really.

The Extra Bit

Solanaceae: Characters, Distribution and Types

We had rather a lot of plants this week but I've just one more to share with you as it's a type of Stonecrop (Sedum sediforme) which hasn't been recorded in this location before. 

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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

A Recipe For Life

We seem to have taken quite a detour last week to get down to this level and the waterfall should be over there somewhere. We’ll follow our ears and get there somehow but first, that looks interesting. There’s probably a correct technical term for these shallow erosions but I just call them cavelets. Let’s climb up and take a look. As you can see from the staining of the rock face, water is leaching minerals from the rocks and if you look up there you can see small stalactites forming. There are also white deposits blooming on the walls which my geologist friends tell me is probably gypsum/selenite.  They contain calcium and sulphur so, along with the limestone rocks which contain calcium and carbon, and the water, we have carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen (the basic elements of life) plus at least a couple of others to add to the recipe. We’ll push our way up through these bushes using this tumbling water course as our stairs and see what’s going on.

And up here, below the dripping stalactite, if you look carefully you can just see some threads of green algae forming. There’s a whole world of wonder in this little splash pool which began when large molecules of dissolved organic substances from the stalactite attached themselves to the wet rock. These neutralised the electrical charge of the water surface and allowed bacteria to colonise and they, in turn, secreted sticky strands that formed a nutrient trapping matrix. This matrix, known as the biofilm to periphytologists (people who study slimy rocks – yes, there really are such people), then served as a base for more bacteria to expand and diversify the biofilm and then for our green algae to grow. The algae, in its turn, will provide a home for microscopic life forms such as the ciliate we found in Life In The Olive Grove .

Algae are very basic life forms but we also have some higher forms of plant life up here. These fig branches, tenaciously clinging to the underside of this crack are just coming into bud and down in the damp crevices we have some lip ferns whilst out on the dry, stony ground, the beautiful but dangerous mandrakes are coming into flower. Their relative simplicity or complexity is reflected in their evolution: the flowering plants which include the fig and mandrake have been with us for about 120 million years, the ferns about 320 million years and the green algae maybe as long as 500 million years. Us? Well, as primates about 55 million years but as Homo sapiens only a couple of hundred thousand years.

Have you noticed these cottony threads in amongst the berries of this lentisc bush here? Alongside the evolution of plants came the evolution of insects and these threads look like the work of woolly aphids. Pass me the field microscope and I’ll see if I can find one for you. There’s one look, if you study him closely you can see him sucking up the sap from the plant. And where there are insects there are predators; there’s a minute spider that has his eye on stuffed aphid for lunch. Talking of which, let’s see if we can find some cave spiders lurking in the deeper recesses.

Do you think that you can wedge yourself up into that crack and see if there’s anyone about? Plenty of webs? That’s a good sign. You’ve found one? Good, I’ll squeeze in beside you and take a look. Hmm. It’s not a cave spider but he is rather interesting. Do you remember me telling you that you don’t have to worry about spiders in Crete because we only have one venomous one and you’re unlikely to come across it? Guess what? You’ve found one. Sorry, probably not the best time to impart that information when you’re perched precariously thirty metres up a cliff face, but don’t worry they’re pretty shy creatures and he won’t bother you unless you threaten him. All the same I think we’ll climb down. That was a Mediterranean Recluse Spider and although his bite can cause nasty skin lesions, a condition known as loxoscelism for which there’s no known treatment, it is rarely fatal. Having said that, there was a fatality last year in Italy but I believe that the unfortunate victim was already suffering from some sort of immune deficiency, which would have been a contributing factor.

Still, venomous spiders aside, a pleasant little diversion and a different angle from which to look at this wonderful thing called life. Now how are we going to get down from here?

The Extra Bit

Last week I glibly said that there is “only one authentic palm lined beach on the whole continent [of Europe]” and that was at Vai on the east coast of Crete. I am indebted to Jackie Strasis for reminding me that Phoenix theophrasti also lines Preveli Beach in southern Crete and I have also learnt that there are yet more at Ayios Nikitas in Heraklion Prefecture. Further research has turned up one other native European palm, The Mediterranean Dwarf palm, Chamaerops humilis, which lives in south west Europe. Just goes to show – you can’t believe a word that I say. Thanks for correcting me Jackie.

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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)

Bramiana in Winter

Bramiana

Although Crete is not known for its wetland habitats, like everyone else we need water and as such we have quite a number of reservoirs dotted around the island. One of the largest of these is nearby at Bramiana, just to the west of Ierapetra and I thought that’s where I’d take you today for a spot of birding. Bring some sandwiches; that isthmus in the middle of the lake is perfect for a picnic.

Winter Birds of Bramiana

Before we go down to the water’s edge here’s a little picture guide to some of the birds you can see out on the water.  The Pochard, Coot and Teal in particular tend to overwinter here in quite large flocks as do Yellow-legged Gulls. Most of these can be seen at other times of the year too but now their numbers really fly.

Pine Processionary Moth Caterpillars (Thaumetopoea pityocampa)

Birds aren’t the only reason for coming out here of course, take a look at this Calabrian Pine for instance. These balls of what looks like white candy floss really puzzled me when I first came to live here. On closer inspection they turned out to be full of caterpillars. These are the larvae of the Pine Processionary Moth, so called because when they are ready to pupate they march down the tree in single file, nose to tail and then disperse to bury themselves in the ground.  Be careful of those orange hairs by the way, they are very similar to stinging nettle hairs and older caterpillars will fire them at you if you get too close. 

We’ll leave them to go about their business and see if we can get nearer to the birds.

White Stork (Ciconia ciconia)

Now there’s something I didn’t expect to see here in the middle of winter, over there on that bank, foraging along the water’s edge. I do believe it’s a White Stork.  They rarely pass through Crete as they prefer not to cross large bodies of water on their way to their overwintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa. On the rare occasions that they do it’s generally in the Autumn. Let’s see if we can get closer, there’s not a lot of cover so it will be a bit like playing Grandmother’s Footsteps. Down to the dead tree, across to that rock, now if we can just tuck ourselves in behind that bush over there… Blast! That cormorant, standing sentinel, has alerted everyone to our presence. There they go – point the camera, click and hope.

Mandrake (Mandragora autumnalis)

All that creeping about has made me peckish. We’ll just have a quick poke about to see if we can find anything in flower on our way over to the isthmus and then we’ll have lunch. Ah, here’s a fascinating winter flower. It’s a mandrake and despite what you’ve seen in the Harry Potter films it doesn’t scream when it’s pulled from the ground although the belief that it does goes back centuries. It does however contain a nasty trio of alkaloid chemicals which can seriously poison you. It belongs to the Nightshade family of plants (Solanaceae) which contains other “deadlies’ such as Henbane and Belladonna as well as more friendly plants like Potatoes and Tomatoes.

Hooded Crows (Corvus cornix)

Here we are at the isthmus and a lovely view over the north end of the reservoir. This is where the Hooded Crows like to congregate in the winter, seventy or more at a time so let’s sit and enjoy the winter sun and watch their antics as we enjoy our lunch. It really is quite warm today. 

Pistachio Red Bug Lygaeus pandurus (Spilostethus pandurus)

Was that a little red bug that just flew over my sandwich? That’s my first bug sighting of the year, a Pistachio Red Bug. I don’t usually see these until the latter part of February at the earliest. There are quite a lot of different little black and red bugs, you can tell this one by his black bow ties tinged with buff on his shoulders  (strictly speaking, this plate behind the head is called the pronotum).  Although people tend to use the word “bug” to refer to any small creepy-crawly animal the true bugs, or Hemiptera,  are an order of insects in their own right just as much as butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) or beetles (Coleoptera).  This particular one is a type of Seed Bug of the family Lygaeidae so called because most of them feed on mature seeds.  Presumably this one has a penchant for pistachios or maybe it was first observed on a pistachio.

Now where did I put that sandwich?

I'll leave you with a panorama of the reservoir and as usual you can find more on birds, bugs and many other things we've seen today as well as adding your own thoughts and pictures from your part of the world by visiting our facebook page: Steve's Naturalists Group 

Until next week – good hunting.

Bramiana (Panorama)

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LINKS:

Flowers of Crete;

Birds of Crete 

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