Steve's Nature Blog: horned poppy

Wednesday, 10 May 2017

Welcome to the Wildlife Hotel

This is it, the Wildlife Hotel. It wasn't designed as such but is an abandoned project that has been this way since before I arrived in 2004. Gradually the native plants have taken over the gardens and the wildlife has moved in. Before we nose around though I'd just like to draw your attention to these poppies down here. To me, poppies used to be those red things that you wore on Remembrance Day or the mauve things in the middle east that provided the world, for better or for worse, with opium. I was quite surprised to learn that there were nearly eight hundred species dotted around the world with nine here on Crete alone including the familiar red and mauve ones. This particular one is widespread but not very common on the island and is called the Red horned-poppy. Presumably on account of that massive, rampant seed pod.

The other flower that is prevalent in this region is the endemic Cretan ebony. This is acting like a magnet to the honey bees and I see that some enterprising individual has placed a couple of hives on the approach way. Don't worry, they won't bother you. You may think that you look and smell pretty but you can't hold a candle to the Cretan ebony. Just look at the air traffic control that's going on down there at the hive – the bees take off and fly out bottom right and approach and land from the top left.

The air may be a-buzz with bees but there's not much in the way of bird life up here today. I can hear Blackbird, Sardinian Warbler, Chaffinch and Sparrow but ten years ago I used to see Buntings, Flycatchers and Linnets up here quite regularly. A sad illustration of the decline in European songbirds unfortunately. Populations of the Spotted Flycatcher that I photographed on the balcony back in 2006, for instance, have dropped by a staggering 89% in recent decades.

Let's rest in the sun and admire the view for a while. There's some nice grass to sit on or a flat rock if you'd prefer. As you can see, I've bagged the one surviving sun lounger. Looks like I'm going to have to share it though. This curious little insect is one of the hoppers. There are four main groups: plant, leaf, frog and tree hoppers. I think that this one is a leafhopper but they're all very similar until you study them in detail. They all belong to the same order, the hemiptera or true bugs, and are most closely related to the cicadas which keep us entertained throughout the summer. Unlike the cicadas however they do not announce themselves to the world in the same deafening manner.

The little hoppers are lovely but I like an insect that you can pick up and make friends with; like this magnificent grasshopper. Isn't he a beauty? I've just picked him up from among those wild oats down there and he's taking being handled gently with equanimity. That's right, you sit up there on my shoulder – pirates have parrots, why shouldn't I have a grasshopper?

That just about wraps it up for this week so it just leaves my new friend and I to lead you back to where we started and next week we'll investigate the top track above the village.

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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

Greek Butterflies and Moths

Aquaworld Aquarium

Visit Greece (National Government Tourist Office)

Wednesday, 4 February 2015

Rodin, The Scallop and The Crab

Rodinesque Point

Do you realize it is over a year since we’ve been rock pooling together? Last January we went down to Ferma Harbour and had a lovely haul of Hermit Crabs, Spiny Starfish and Rock Pool Prawns amongst other things so let us go down to the sea and see what we can see, so to speak. I thought we’d try a couple of hundred yards along the coast today at a place I’ve come to know as Rodinesque Point. The reason for this appellation is a curious rock formation on the cliffs there which reminds me of Rodin’s “The Thinker” – before he got his mallet and chisel to it of course.

Horned Poppy

It also gives us a chance to have a first crack at our February phenology observations and look for items that we haven’t seen in February for the past four years. These include twenty two flower species, seven insects, five birds and three marine specimens. One of the flowers being the beautiful Horned Poppy, (Glaucium corniculatum) which I haven’t seen since 2007. However, that was at the end of the month so I expect we’ll be a little early.

Fireworm and Chiton

Careful as you descend the cliff path, it’s one of those that is generally only suitable for goats of a non-nervous disposition.

Good, we've all made it safely down so I suggest that we spread out and get fishing and do let me know if you find either a chiton or a fireworm – they’re on the February to find list.

Bristly or hairy crab

What have you got there? What an adorable little crab. What is he? As you can see, his legs and carapace are covered in tiny bristly, hairs and for that reason he is known as either the Bristly Crab or the Hairy Crab. The claws are brown and the right one is slightly larger than the left. They are generally carrion feeders and prefer shallow waters although they can be found at depths of up to eighty metres I believe.

Fossilised Scallop

Well, I think that trumps my find. I haven’t had much success I’m afraid, just a scattering of Top Shells and a small fish of unknown provenance that disappeared as soon as my shadow loomed into view. I did, however come across this.. it’s a fossilised Scallop. Scallops are bivalve molluscs, the same as mussels and clams and they’ve been with us since the middle of the Triassic period over 200 million years ago. Crete wasn’t about then of course as all the land masses were still joined together in one supercontinent called Pangea (from the Greek meaning ‘all land’). I wouldn’t like to hazard a guess at how old this fellow is but I did find some fossilised cockles nearby a few years back which I donated to the Palaeontology Museum of Rethymno and they were from between two and a half and five million years old, a time when Crete was still trying to decide what shape it was going to be.

Yellow Asphodels

Marvelous eating, scallops. Make a wonderful lunch. Funny how our little expeditions always seem to work up an appetite. Let’s wander back to base and I’ll update you on the sparrows and snails. I think Alice may have a boyfriend, just as well as they usually start nest building at the end of this month. On the snail front Vivian has gone walkabout and we’ve got more babies but more of that next week. Oh look, Yellow Asphodels. That’s one flower ticked off the phenology list. Only another twenty one to find.

Until next week – happy hunting.

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