The Orchid Hills

The rain has been; the sun is shining and orchids are appearing all over the Kritiweb. I have a confession to make: I am not a great fan of orchids (but I'm sure we'll find some later on for those of you who are). Meanwhile, we have some serious climbing to do today to get onto that rocky ridge up there so let's have a look at some of the other flowers that are dotted around the hills. The tall white ones that our friend the Tropinota beetle is pollinating are Asphodels and the exquisite little purple and gold blooms are a subspecies of dwarf Algerian Iris that is endemic to Crete and Karpathos. Not everything is in flower yet but this rock lettuce (another Cretan endemic which will have spectacular 80cm blooms in April) is just ripe for picking a few salad leaves. Finally, these little clusters of golden sunshine are Gageas, one of seven species that we have here on Crete.

We also have the usual array of 'damned yellow composites' as botanists fondly call them and this one is being pollinated by a Mining Bee. When she's finished collecting the pollen she'll go and find a patch of sandy soil and start to excavate a mine. Down in the mine she'll construct a series of cells, lay in a pollen food store, lay a single egg on each heap of pollen and seal them up. There they will hatch, feed and grow and pupate to emerge about this time next year. Mining bees can be found all over the world except South America and Oceania (Australia, NZ, New Guinea area) particularly where the soil is sandy as it is around here.

Now we have a bit of serious rock scrambling to do. Ah, there's the pumping station where we were ferreting about last time. Nice to get a reference point as we've zigged and zagged a bit to get up here. This rock is what is known as a composite rock, that is, it is composed of many different types of rock (most of which appear to be unnecessarily sharp) and my eye is drawn to that green one sitting alone on the edge. Let's take a closer look. How strange, it is entirely coated with a crustose lichen. I wonder why that should be? I think I'll take a scraping to look at under the microscope later¹.

Here we are at the summit which looks to be an ideal place to sit and look at the orchid photographs that we've taken on the way up. The first two are Bee Orchids which mimic insects, very often bees, in order to entice them to come and mate and thus get covered in pollen. Sneaky little things but all's fair in love and war. They are also highly promiscuous and hybridize quite readily so it's rather difficult to identify them to species level with any accuracy. Still, it keeps the botanists amused almost indefinitely. We're on safer ground with the purple one which is a Butterfly Orchid. Not because it is pollinated by butterflies specifically (which would be far too logical) but because it resembles a pea flower. It's scientific name is Anacamptis papilionaceae which means 'like a pea flower with a bent back spur' but as papilio is Latin for butterfly it's finished up being named as a flower that looks like another flower which looks like a butterfly (if you squint at it in a certain light). Finally we have quite a few Robert's Giant Orchids around. It's a fairly robust orchid but by no means the biggest of the Cretan orchids and who Robert was seems to have been lost in the mists of time but there you go, that's orchids for you. Give me a Broomrape any day of the week.

We'll make our way back down now and see what else we can find on the way.

Huginn and Muninn are having a laugh at our expense again. Having neither heard nor seen a feather of them this morning they decide on a fly past with a third Raven in tow just as we're negotiating this tricky bit of rockery. Never mind, there's something even more interesting here: a spring -  and some of the water has collected right here, just as it emerges from the rock.

Here's a little puzzle for you to ponder while I set up the field microscope on this ledge. What photosynthesises like a plant, is made of glass and gets smaller as it grows? In the words of Dr Spock in Star Trek - “It's life Jim, but not as we know it.” These are diatoms. Microscopic life forms who's cell walls are made of silica and because of the unique way in which they divide and reproduce the offspring are smaller (and often a different shape) than the original. Curious little critters all round really but they are responsible for fixing more of the Earth's carbon than all of the world's rainforests put together. Even so, the trees and diatoms combined can't cope with the amount of carbon which we are still releasing into the atmosphere.

The Extra Bit

1 I hadn't noticed quite how precariously I was perched when collecting the lichen sample and you may be wondering how I managed to take the photo whilst both my hands were otherwise occupied. Truth to tell, I was accompanied on this hike by my friend and neighbour Nico and two of his teenage girls and it was great having some young, enthusiastic company. It was Nico who took the photograph.

Photographic Bit

Many of you have asked me what photographic equipment I use so for details of aperture settings, shutter speeds etc. my pictures will be on Flickr within a few days and that has all the geeky stuff.Pictures were edited with FastStone Image Viewer and combined with Microsoft Paint.

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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 Asphodel Meadows (Welcome to the Underworld)

Common Grazing Land  near Ierapetra

"Erebus this is Erebus, gathering point for the recently deceased. Please take your tickets and form an orderly queue at piers one to infinity. Charon Ferries hope that you enjoy your brief trip across the river Styx and the onward journey to your final destination."

If you are related to a Greek god, or a mere mortal chosen by the gods because of your exceptional heroism or righteousness you can expect to have a blessed and happy afterlife lazing around in the Elysian Fields.  Murderers and people of an otherwise evil disposition have a nine day trip in a downward direction to the depths of Tartarus where novel forms of punishment, specifically tailored to their particular crime, await their displeasure.

Asphodel (Family: Xanthorrhoeaceae)

Ordinary folk like us can look forward to eternity in the Asphodel  Meadows which are neither heavenly nor hellish but pleasantly peaceful so if you’re curious about what awaits you on the other side come with me today for a sneak preview.

Here between Ferma and Ierapetra is a large area of grassland leading down to the sea and at this time of the year it is liberally punctuated with asphodels, if not with the souls of the dearly departed. Often connected with the pleasanter aspects of the beyond this flower has also been used at various times as a snake-bite remedy, a mouse poison, a preventative medicine for pigs and a cheese wrap with built in use-by-date (when the leaves wither, throw the cheese away).

Field Grasshoppers (Family: Acrididae)

As we stand here listening to the crash of the sea upon the shore, being buffeted by the breeze and generally admiring ‘ten thousand acres of sky’ I can hear a bird making a rather loud 'wheeping, call somewhere behind us so let us wander northwards and see if we can find out who it is. Notice how the grass seems alive as we walk across it with small insects bouncing out of our way. These are Field Grasshoppers, interesting little animals that can smell with their antennae and hear with their legs thus showing the infinite variety of design in the animal world. Together with crickets they make up the order Orthoptera who have been with us since the Carboniferous period some 300-360 million years ago.

European Green Toad (Family: Bufonidae)

I see we have a little winter water flowing through a slight depression here and a number of large-ish stones lying around.  Stone flipping comes second to log turning on my list of simple pleasures so let’s have a flip and see what we can find. The usual centipedes, millipedes and snails and here’s someone we were hearing but not seeing a few weeks back on The Road to Nowhere, it’s a Green Toad. The green markings are quite visible but the red has yet to fully develop. Wait until you see them in full mating livery, they really are most beautiful toads. He looks a little discomfited at being disturbed so we’ll gently replace the stone and leave him be.

Isabelline Wheatear (Family: Muscicapidae)

That 'wheeping' is getting closer so softly, softly now and we’ll see if we can find who’s calling. There, on those thistles over by the bushes, standing proud on little black legs. A female flycatcher? No, I think there’s a line of white above the eye (supercilium in ornithologist-speak). I do believe that it’s an Isabelline Wheatear. I’ve seen them up here before at this time of year. Wheatears are rather drab little birds in my opinion, best told apart by the patterns on the underside of their tails, but their name is more fascinating. It has nothing to do with ears of wheat at all but is a corruption of ‘white arse’ from a few centuries back. These misnomers occur quite regularly in the animal world which is why the white rhino can be slightly darker than the black rhino. “White” is thought to be a corruption of the Dutch “wijd” or wide in English referring to the width of its mouth although I understand that this is now disputed by linguists. Shame really, I rather like that story.

The wind is getting up a bit now and we’re rather exposed to it out here so I think it’s time to head for home and a nice hot cup of tea. You’re welcome to come back for a chat on my Naturalists Group page but if I don’t see you there; then until next week – happy hunting.

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LINKS:

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Crete Birding 

Add Blog at OnToplist.com

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Add Blog at OnToplist.com

- See more at: http://cretenature.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-road-to-nowhere.html#sthash.rLCW4iZQ.dpuf

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Thanks this week to: Cosmin Manci and Alexandru Pintilioaie at Coleoptera on Facebook

for their help with the identification of the Ground Beetle Licinus sp. and

Matt Wilson at Manchester Metropolitan Universtiy for his perennial help in all matters herpetological.

LINKS:

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Add Blog at OnToplist.com

- See more at: http://cretenature.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-road-to-nowhere.html#sthash.rLCW4iZQ.dpuf