As
I dropped down onto the Lasithi Plateau a Buzzard launched itself
from a telegraph pole, narrowly missed my windshield and crashed into
the undergrowth to my left where it had obviously spotted its unwary
breakfast. That was a good omen as I was taking my little group of
intrepid strollers to the heights above Agios Charalampos to look for
Grifon Vultures. The saint, after whom the village is named, was
reputedly 114 years old when he was martyred for his Christian
preaching in the 3rd century, thus making him the oldest
saint and his claim to fame was that, whilst being tortured, one of
his torturers arms miraculously fell off and another had his head put
on backwards. I think that I am more inclined to believe in Betty's
black snake but more of that later.
As
our little band negotiated the steep, narrow alleyways through the
village and emerged on the hillside above the plateau we did indeed
see Grifon Vultures and other high flying birds but it was the
smaller passerines that really brought the day alive, particularly
the flocks of Goldfinch. These birds are resident here in Crete but
in the autumn they gather in flocks, their numbers swollen by birds
migrating south from eastern Europe. As we exited the top of the
village however, it was domestic fowl that caught the ever observant
Betty's eye.
“Oh,
look,” she said, looking up to where a group of birds were
admonishing us from their pen on top of a house “turkeys!”
“Actually,'
I said, not wishing to dampen her enthusiasm, “I think you'll find
that they are guinea fowl.”
“They're
too tall for guinea fowl,” Betty challenged.
“They're
standing on the roof,” I pointed out.
Meanwhile,
back to the chaffinch. The tall plant upon which she is perched is a
Wavyleaf Mullein and the landscape was littered with them in various
stages of life. Apart from providing staging posts for the
goldfinches, leaf warblers, stonechats and sparrows, all of which
were gaily flitting about on this fine autumn morning, I noticed that
one had also attracted a tachinid fly. Not the nicest of flies; their
maggots chew their way into unsuspecting caterpillars and eat them
slowly from the inside, making sure to keep them alive as they do so,
until they are almost ready to leave their host. At this point they
feed indiscriminately, the caterpillar dies and the maggot wanders
off to pupate in the ground without so much as a by-your-leave.
Caterpillars
that are not devoured from within eventually become butterflies, of
course, and these were dancing around at our feet, enjoying the
nectar rich Sweet Scabious that grew by the side of the track. The
name of the plant derives from the fact that it was used to treat
scabies (an itchy rash caused by a mite infestation under the skin)
in the middle ages. The Small White butterfly is a male which has
only one spot on each forewing whereas the female has two. The other
butterfly is the amazing Painted Lady which, although resident here,
occurs in larger numbers in autumn and winter like the Goldfinches
and the reason is the same: they migrate. Over six generations they
make an incredible 9,000 mile round trip from Africa to the Arctic
and back (see Secrets
of Painted Lady migration revealed ).
Noticing
a sign at the side of the road pointing the way to the Cave of
Charalampos, Bert decided to go and investigate. Seeing her loving
husband peering into what appeared to be a very large hole in the
ground Betty thought that she had better go and join him to 'make
sure he doesn't fall in' (at least, I think that she said doesn't). I
trailed on behind, pausing to take a photograph of an old friend,
Chorthippus
bornhalmi.
The 'cave' turned out to be a rather unimpressive hole in the ground.
Presumably the roof had caved in since the 18th
century BC when it was a seven chambered ossuary. Besides the bones,
archaeologists also found clay figurines and musical rattles called
sistra about which, I expect, they got very excited.
Having
quickly exhausted the thrill of the cave I took to my favourite
hobby; rock flipping (there used to be an annual rock flipping day
but it seems to have died a death in 2009) and discovered a lovely
little Green Toad.
“Amphibians
and reptiles are often put together,” said Bert, getting down to
take a closer look, “is that because they are closely related?”
The
toad and Bert looked at each other with mutual interest whist I
wracked my brains to remember who evolved when.
“Yes,”
I replied, “Amphibians evolved from the early fish and have both
lungs and gills. Reptiles are an offshoot of Amphibians and have only
lungs. Mammals, such as ourselves, and later, Birds, are offshoots of
reptiles.”
“Talking
of reptiles,” interjected Betty, “I saw a huge black snake here
on Crete once and I was told that it must have escaped from a private
collection. What do you think?”
“How
big is huge?” I asked.
“About
two inches in diameter,” she indicated, joining thumb and
forefinger together, “and it stretched all across the road with its
head disappearing into the undergrowth on one side of the road and
its tail out of sight on the other side.”
“Not
one of the four Cretan snakes,” I ventured “but I know what it
sounds like.”
“What?”
asked Bert, carefully replacing the stone over the now disgruntled
toad.
“A
black plastic water pipe.”
“It
wasn't a water pipe,” said Betty, indignantly, “it moved”.
“They
can be quite lively,” I explained, “if they get an air lock.”
Betty
was not convinced and I had to confess that, not being familiar with
all the snakes in the world, an escapee remained a plausible
alternative.
The
Taverna Bit
Thanks
to all at Spani's Taverna in Charalampos who hastily rearranged their
restaurant furniture when we descended upon them en masse and they also provided an excellent menu. The barbecued chicken and roast potatoes
were beautiful.
Diary
Dates
Stroll
#3
Sunday
7th October
11
am
Kroustas
Forest
A
mushrooming we will go (and hopefully find many more interesting
things besides). Here and above are the maps. Take the Kroustas - Prina road and look for the only yellow litter bin on that road. See you on Sunday
Sunday
14th October
11
am
Almyros
Wetlands
(Details
next week)
*********************************************************************
LINKS:
Share
your nature thoughts, photos and comments on Naturalists
(the
facebook page that accompanies this blog)
