Sklavoi – Village of the Slaves

When you look at a map of an area there are often a number of exciting looking places to investigate but at first glance Sklavoi does not appear to be one of them. Which is why I want to go there for I often find the most interesting things where they are least expected. For instance the connection between this little church down here, grasshoppers and the bomb disposal squad. The church is dedicated to St. Barbara, a young lady of Christian persuasion who's father was an out and out pagan. When he learnt of her conversion he went at her with a sword whereupon the wall of the tower (in which he kept her) exploded. Babs finished up, unharmed, in a mountain gorge alongside two very surprised shepherds. Her father pursued her, one of the shepherds betrayed her and he was turned to stone for his treachery. Not only that, his entire flock was turned into grasshoppers (which seems to have been quite popular in the past – see Chrysopigi - Source of Gold). She was caught and tortured and about to be beheaded by her father as a final punishment when he too was detonated by a bolt of lightning and Barbara escaped. In honour of her going out with a bang as it were, she is now the patron saint of all those who work with explosives.

I am also intrigued by the village name for Sklavoi is Greek for slaves and Crete was never big on slavery. What slaves there were seem to have been reasonably well treated and it was here in Crete that the tradition of the 'servants-day-off' where the slaves were waited upon by their masters probably first originated ^[1]. We are not the only animals to indulge in a bit of slavery. These ants down here are workers busy dismembering a dead gecko. These particular ants were born in the colony but the Blood Red Ant of Northern Europe, the U.S. And Asia will raid the nests of other ants and kidnap the pupae and larvae and enslave them. I sometimes wonder if we humans were ever the first to do anything.

Let's wander down out of the village and see if we can find any autumn flowers. Quite a variety in the environs of this magnificently twisted old olive tree. Quick quiz: look closely and see if you can spot the odd one out. Did you spot the little Mirid Bug peering over the edge of the right hand petal of the yellow Squirting Cucumber? How about the Southern Green Shieldbug nymph nestling between its fruits below? Or the pair of beetles investigating the centre of the Autumn Crocus to the left? A little Autumn rain, the flowers come out, the insects appear and nature's larder is re-stocked once more. The only one without an entomological attendant appears to be the budding Autumn Squill.

This really is a delightful little stroll and beautifully warm for the time of year and I see that we have caper bushes in great abundance. I still haven't tried pickling the leaves as they do in Italy but the little flower buds are delicious on a bit of fish or a pizza. Seems like I'm not the only one who likes capers. A brood of caterpillars. These are Large Whites. Traditionally they are associated with cabbages or other brassicas but although their preferred food plants do indeed tend to be members of the Brassicacae family they have quite a range of host plants from different families.

What a wealth of life we have along the roadside here. I told you that Sklavoi would be interesting. Down on the road we have another of those Huntsman Spiders that we found up in Praesos and sitting on a leaf a little Crab Spider that's recently migrated from a yellow flower and hasn't got round to changing colour yet. Plenty of wasps around the ivy flowers, mainly the common European Wasps which the Americans call Yellowjackets, but also this red and black one which is a Spider Wasp. The adults feed on nectar but their young dine on live spiders. When the female lays an egg she'll seal a spider in with it that she's previously paralysed with her venom. The spider has to be large enough to feed the youngster until he's large enough to fend for himself so the little Crab Spider is probably safe but I'd advise the Huntsman to keep at least one of his eight eyes on the sky above him. And finally... one of those tall plants with small flowers that may be overlooked. Pity really because their flowers are quite charming and the plant, which is a Verbascum or Mullein, contains high levels of Rotenone which we use to treat head lice and scabies. Apparently the US government also uses it to kill fish in rivers but why they should wish to do this is beyond me.

This little track seems to lead back up into the village so that will make a nice circular walk. 

The Extra Bit

^[1] http://culture-of-peace.info/books/history/crete.html

So far on the bird table we've had birds, cats and a black rat but this is one animal that I was rather surprised to see, especially as the bird table is only four feet from my bedroom window. It's an endemic Cretan Stone Marten which lives only here and on a few islands in the eastern Mediterranean. It is slightly smaller than the European Stone (or Beech) Marten of which it is a subspecies. It's not totally unusual to find them around human habitation at night but even so, four feet is quite close. I'm taking it as the ultimate proof that I do not snore like a chainsaw (whatever Christina might say).

Photographic Bit

Many of you have asked me what photographic equipment I use so here's a quick rundown on the cameras used for each picture. 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.

Picture 1 Nikon Coolpix S33

Insets Konica Minolta

Picture 2 Nikon Coolpix S33

Insets Konica Minolta

Picture 3 Nikon Coolpix S33

Insets Canon EOS 1300D

Picture 4 Nikon Coolpix S33

Insets Canon EOS 1300D

Picture 5 Nikon Coolpix S33

Insets Canon EOS 1300D

Extra Bit Trail Camera RD1000

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)

See detailed pictures on Flickr

Read more about the flora and flora of the island in The Nature of Crete (Flipboard Magazine)

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)

Gallivanting in the Grasslands

To read in other languages use: Google Translate

Grab the sweep nets and we’ll take advantage of this rare sunny afternoon and go somewhere we haven’t been yet. The weather has thrown everything at us this week: hail, sleet, storm force winds and we’ve had the lowest January temperatures for ten years or more. There is even a tattering of snow on the Thriptis Mountains – something we don’t usually see until February which is when we generally have our two weeks of wintery weather down here in the south east of the island.

This is a lovely area of grassland just a kilometre or so up the hill and we’re particularly looking for grasshoppers today but I’m sure we’ll find many other interesting things besides so, select your patch of grassland and get sweeping.

Slant-faced Grasshopper

Many grasshoppers, as their name suggests, spend their lives hopping through grass in great, prodigious leaps often augmenting this with short, whirring flights. This makes them relatively easy to catch with a net; you just have to disturb one, watch where he lands and which direction he’s facing then make a low sweep towards his head. Invariably he’ll jump straight into your net. By their very nature it’s difficult to get the close-up shots you need for identification while they’re hopping about like Tiggers on springs so I always carry a small plastic box with me to temporarily contain them while I photograph them from a variety of angles. When you let them go they often sit for a moment to get their bearings so you can photograph them in their natural habitat. That’s a nice one you have there, one of the Slant-faced grasshoppers. From the markings on the pronotum (between the head and the main body) I should say either Chorthippus biroi or Chorthippus bornhalmi.

Bermuda Buttercup and Broomrape

While we’re sitting here on these sun warmed rocks admiring our captures have you noticed that we are surrounded by a sea of green leaves with purple blotches? As the leaves are grouped in threes you may be forgiven for thinking that it is a type of clover but it is in fact the leaves of what is commonly known as the Bermuda Buttercup. A strange name as it is neither from Bermuda (it is originally from South Africa) nor a Buttercup (it is a type of Wood Sorrel). Very soon this area will be covered with its bright yellow flowers attracting insects by the score. And dotted between them will be some different, leafless plants with purple and white flowers. These are Broomrapes and the reason they are leafless is that they don’t photosynthesise like most plants but are parasites on the Wood Sorrell. They drain nutrients from their root systems proving that even in the plant world there is more than one way of making a living.

Gill Mushroom

And if we probe down here between the stems I think I see… yes I do… the first mushroom of the season. Small but beautifully formed it’s one of the gill mushrooms. Edible? Quite possibly, many of them are but I wouldn’t want to risk it without checking it out thoroughly. We’ll have to go fungus foraging sometime in the next few weeks and do a bit of identification work on the fungi we find. Meanwhile it is starting to cloud over as evening begins to draw in and that mushroom has whetted my appetite so we’ll wander back down the hill, have a nice hot cup of tea and some crumpets then have a look at some of our home based projects.

Mould growing on Moss

Now that we’re all suitably refreshed you may recall that last week we constructed a desk top mossary and found a couple of insect eggs amongst our moss samples. Well the moss is thriving even though the eggs haven’t hatched yet but we do have a development. In one corner a few silvery threads of mould have appeared. Moulds are part of the Fungi kingdom of course, the same as the mushroom, and incidentally, led to the development of antibiotics. We’ll let it mature a bit and then have a look at it under the microscope because they’re quite fascinating forms of life and really quite pretty when you get to know them.

"Alice"

You may have noticed that just outside the lab we passed a bird table on the way in. we used to get warblers, tits and all sorts coming to the table but the most I’ve seen this winter is four sparrows. A sad reflection on the state of the small bird populations in Europe but with such limited numbers it gives us the chance to study them as individuals rather than just counting their numbers. I was listening to a radio programme the other day about animal personality and was delighted to hear that someone had actually detected personality traits in Sea Anemones. So I thought that this year we’d take a closer look at the personalities of some of the animals that we see every day starting with Alice and Beatrice. The dumpy little lady on the right is Alice and she is first to the table in the mornings. She’ll sit down to a full breakfast with scarcely a glance up. Beatrice on the other hand is far more wary, only coming down to the table when she is sure that it’s safe, grabbing a few mouthfuls and flying off again, only to return a few minutes later to repeat the process.

"Beatrice"

So who has the greatest chance of surviving to pass on her genes? Is it slow and steady Alice who ensures she gets her fill but could fall prey to any passing cat or sparrowhawk - or fast and flighty Beatrice who may find that Alice has had all the food? It will all depend upon the balance between food availability and predator activity. In all walks of life there are times when fortune favours the bold and times when discretion is the better part of valour which makes the study of individual animals (including the human animal) such a rewarding pastime. 

Until next week – happy hunting.

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LINKS:

To read in other languages use: Google Translate

Naturalists (the facebook page that accompanies this blog)

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Crete Birding

Greek Butterflies and Moths

Aquaworld Aquarium

Visit Greece (National Government Tourist Office)