How to See What Isn’t There

Good morning, good morning, good morning. I thought we’d make an early start today as it is going to be another scorcher and the temperatures are likely to reach thirty Celsius by mid morning. Time? About ten to five. Come on, don’t just lay there yawning, there’s a whole new day waiting to be explored. Get dressed, come downstairs where tea and toast await, I’ve a photograph to show you.

Force 9 Wind Damage

Ah, there you are. As you know, last time we met up we were confined to barracks by the Meltemi wind running at a Beaufort Force 8 and we spent our time discussing Elemental Forces in general and the effects of wind on wildlife in particular.  This wind, which has been tormenting us on and off for the past fortnight, eventually reached a Force 9 with speeds of 75–88 km/h which is enough to break branches from trees, and here’s the proof. As you can see this was quite a sizeable bough which I found ripped away and dangling in the herb bed the other morning.

 

Yellow-legged Gull colony at Bramiana

So, what with the wind, the heat (and even an unseasonable drop of tropical rain last week) getting out and about hasn’t been easy. Hence the early start this morning. I thought we’d take a trip out to Bramiana and take our quarterly look at the reservoir and see what goes on there at dawn. Look at that magnificent sheet of still water under a forget-me-not sky just dotted here and there with a couple of fluffy pillows of clouds. Sorry, shouldn’t have mentioned sheets and fluffy pillows, some of you don’t seem to be fully awake yet. The water level is extremely low and the curious thing is, apart from the Yellow-legged Gull colony on the spit, there isn’t a bird to be seen. I wouldn’t expect to see Mallard, Teal or Pochard at this time of year but I can’t recall ever being out here and not seeing a coot and there should surely be the odd Grey Heron or a Sandpiper or two foraging along the water’s edge? This shows the importance of keeping monthly observation records because it is only by recording what you see and where and when you see it that you can “see what isn’t there” so to speak and noting disappearances is as vital a piece of phenology as noting first appearances.

Caper flower

Let’s turn our attention to the hinterland and see what flowers and insects we can find. You never know we might even come across the odd reptile or two. As you can see there isn’t much in flower at the moment; a few patches of Thyme and some Yellow Henbane but here’s one I wanted to show you over here. This stunning flower, being lovingly tended by black ants, is more familiar than you may think. If you like pizza then you’ve probably eaten a few of these in your time because this is the caper flower; traditionally picked and pickled before the flower develops. Incidentally it is not just the flower buds that can be treated in this way, the Italians pickle the leaves in the same way and the fruits (inaccurately known as caperberries) can also be treated thus. They should be out soon. Do chew on a leaf if you have any irritating insect bites – they contain a natural antihistamine.

Black and Yellow Mud-dauber Wasp

With so few plants in flower it is not surprising that there aren’t as many insects about as there were in the Spring when we were out here last. It is early in the day as yet of course, even the cicadas have only just woken up, but here is an insect that I haven’t come across before in the flesh although I have seen plenty of evidence of their existence. This is a Black and Yellow Mud-dauber Wasp. Difficult to see it properly as it’s darting in and out of this Lentisc bush. They are called Mud-daubers because they build their nests from mud, laying a single egg in each cylindrical chamber. These they provision primarily with a small spider which they first paralyse with their venom and then leave in suspended animation as a sort of living ready-meal for when the egg hatches. Gruesome isn’t it?

Goldfinch

I have to admit that I was hoping to see a little more than we have this morning but we are approaching the height of summer which, at these latitudes, is akin to the depths of winter in more northerly regions. Nature avoids extremes and when the winters get too cold up north things either hibernate or migrate and so it is down south: when the summer gets too hot things either aestivate or migrate. I suggest that we follow their lead and meet up again in September. I’ll continue to publish the occasional blog throughout the summer and if you click on the little red G+ sign at the top of the page then you’ll be notified when I do or alternatively join my Naturalists Group on facebook. Until then enjoy your summer wherever you may be and good hunting. Meanwhile I’ll leave you with one of my favourite summertime birds, a small flock of which has just landed in that bush over there, the colourful, ever chattering Goldfinch.

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LINKS:

Naturalists (the facebook page that accompanies this blog)

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Crete Birding

Greek Butterflies and Moths

AquaworldAquarium

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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