No Place Like Home

Out & About

Spring is here at last. I don't know about you but it seems a lot longer than thirteen weeks since the winter solstice. One thing about spring is that life is so abundant that you don't have to go far to look for it. Come with me into the olive grove next door and I'll show you. Absolutely bursting with blooms: Poppies, Pimpernels, Mallow and Medicago, Shepherd's Needles and Vetch. I can see at least fourteen different flowers from here but the one I'm particularly interested in today is the ubiquitous Garland Daisy as they really attract the insects. Look, we've got a Mirid Bug, a little black Crabronid wasp, a hoverfly and three different beetles. Not a bad little haul.

Now, I need your help. As I was coming back from Ierapetra on Saturday (March 23^rd) I stopped off at the beach to have a look at the pink carpet of Catchfly that adorned the upper levels and I found myself surrounded by hundreds of Painted Ladies. These amazing little butterflies migrate from Africa to northern Europe but not usually in such quantity. I have had reports in of 'huge numbers counted over Israel and Cyprus' and also Rhodes and Nisyros. Locally they have been spotted from Ierapetra to Agios Fotia but not as far as Makry Gialos. So, keep your eyes peeled and please let me know of any sightings of large numbers either here on Crete or elsewhere in Europe as I am part of a project that has been monitoring their migration. * Also, in the weeks to come, look out for large numbers of their caterpillars. They are not fussy eaters and have been recorded on over 300 different plants so they may turn up anywhere. (Please use the comments box below – thanks).

Next, a bit of amazing nature. Come into the garden. About three years ago my Loquat tree gave up the ghost, it had rotted away at the base and I found it lying forlornly on the ground. I decided to leave it there as a natural part of the ecosystem. This year, however, I moved the bird table and needed a prop so the Loquat stump was pressed into service. As you can see, I didn't dig it into the earth, I just sort of wedged it in place. So, you can imagine my surprise when I found it sprouting new leaves. That is one incredible recovery.

Fieldcraft & Foraging

Meanwhile, I have a rocket in my pocket. Or to be more precise a few salad Rocket leaves (or Arugula in American English); Eruca sativa for the botanically minded. It has a lovely, peppery taste and I tend to pick leaves from the centre of the stem. They'll need a good wash as the Heath Snails also seem to have a liking for it and rocket can be added to almost any savoury dish that wants pepping up but mostly it is added to salads. Being English, for many years I thought that salad was chopped lettuce, tomato and cucumber and spring onion if you were feeling adventurous (in much the same way as the complete book of English meat sauces was to be found on the back of a packet of Bisto gravy). I also thought that salads had to be eaten cold by law. If you pop over to Steve's Wild Kitchen you can join me in a barbecued pork chop, baked potato with a rather tasty warm mushroom, orange and rocket salad. 

In The Lab

I've been spending a little time with grasshoppers recently and, although I'm not a great proponent of pinning insects merely to decorate the walls, occasionally one does need to get up close and personal which can be a bit difficult when the object of interest jumps ten feet as soon as you get within spitting distance. Finding that setting boards cost anything between five and twenty five quid (plus VAT and delivery) I decided to make my own. All you need is a bit of polystyrene packaging at least 5mm thick and a Stanley knife. Cut a V shaped groove about 4mm wide by 4mm deep and there you have it. It may not look very professional (but there again, neither does my pinning) but it's perfectly adequate. This, incidentally, is a Red-winged Grasshopper, Oedipoda germanica.

• Latest Painted Lady Update

Thanks to Ian Burry who informs me that he saw a considerable number of Painted Ladies In Neapoli yesterday (26^th March) heading up the valley towards Selinari.

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)

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)