The Reasons Behind The Excessive Rainfall

Out & About

Do you remember that old stone bridge that we crossed at Mirtos last month? The one where I suggested that whheelchair users would probably find it more practical to use the adjoining concreted ford? No longer; the ford was washed away last week in the fifth major deluge to hit our island this year. We have had more rain so far this year than the total rainfall for any of the preceding ten years.

I thought that we'd take a walk down to the cliffs today to see how Ferma, which lies between Myrtos and Makry Gialos, has fared. But as we wend our way down through the olive groves I'll try to explain what is happening and it is down to our old friend (or new enemy) climate change. Simply put, the temperature of the Earth is slowly rising but it is not constant around the globe. Here in south east Crete we are just under a degree celcius warmer than we were ten years ago which is much greater than the global average. Warmer air holds more moisture and it has a tendancy to drop this in torrential downpours.

Flood pictures from news 24 7 and Kreta MakryGialos

Somehow we seem to have missed the worst of it. Just a bit of extra water flowing down the gully which the birds are enjoying. There's a Corn Bunting down there look which I don't often see in these parts and, rarer still, a pair of Purple Heron flying over the sea. With all this fresh water laying around it seems strange that they should choose to come to the coast. Maybe they're spoiled for choice. And... I've just seen the first swallows of the year. They seem to be getting later, they used to turn up in the middle of March ten years or so back.

“They seek him here, they seek him there,

Those Frenchies seek him everywhere
Is he in heaven or is he in hell?
That demned elusive Pimpernel”

Thus rhymed Baroness Orczy in her novel, The Scarlet Pimpernel. Well, here it is, the diminutive flower after which her hero is named. A toxic little weed (the flower, not the hero), particularly to livestock. Humans fed with experimental doses of the essential oil suffered intense nausea, headaches and bodily pain. The ancient Greeks used it as an antidepressant, presumably on the grounds that all that suffering takes your mind off your less tangible woes.

Fieldcraft & Foraging

There are quite a lot of insects about this morning including these three which turn up regularly in the last week of March or the first week of April. The exact date is linked to conditions such as light levels and temperature, which determine when the flowers start to bloom and thus, directly or indirectly, when food is available. As such, you can use insects as a rough temperature guide. An American chap took this to extremes apparently and calculated that 40 + (the number of chirps made by the Snowy Tree Cricket in 14 seconds) = the temperature in degrees Farenheit. He obviously had a lot of time on his hands to come up with that particular piece of fieldcraft.

In The Lab

The Painted Ladies are still about but in lesser numbers and last week I sent a batch of specimens off to the Vanessa cardui migration project for DNA testing. The point of this, as with all studies of plant, insect and other bird and animal migrations is to spot changes in migratory behaviour. For eventually, where the wildlife goes so too will our own species. 'Climate Refugees' is a term that we will hear more and more in the years to come and if we can use our observations of nature to predict where and when human migration will occur then maybe, just maybe, the governments of the world can prepare.

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)

The Secret Hollow

Butterfly Orchid in the Pine Woods

Have I told you that Crete is a magical island? Well, today I shall attempt to prove it to you. I am going to take you to a hidden basin that can only be reached by a steep and unmarked climb through the hills. It starts right here at this track and we have to make our way up into those pine woods high above us. So gird your loins and look out for the prickly bushes on the way up (lastweek I slid backwards into one and suffered the consequences. Believe me, falling forwards into one brings tears to your eyes a whole lot quicker). Not that all the plants up here have murderous intentions; look, the first Butterfly Orchid of the season. 

"The castle" and patrolling Buzzard

Up through the pines and we emerge onto a small plateau of rocks and small shrubs. A bit of a respite after our strenuous ascent so take a breather then go and look over the far edge. It’s eerily quiet up here isn’t it? Just the eldritch cries of a pair of buzzards wheeling high above us. This is one of the three hunting techniques that buzzards use in their search for small rodents, lizards and large insects. Sometimes they perch in a tree and swoop when something moves and sometimes they simply stand on the ground or walk around looking for small invertebrates. Have you noticed that rock formation down there? It almost looks like a castle. It’s obviously magical, let’s see if we can get into it.

 

Yelow Lichen points the way

How does one find one’s way into a magic castle ? We follow the yellow brick road of course. Or, in our case, this trail of yellow lichen that is clearly marking our path.  Why is it so yellow you ask? It’s all down to a chemical called usnic acid which, we think, protects it from harsh sunlight. It is also very bitter which deters grazing animals. A German scientist with the delightful name of Knop first isolated usnic acid from yellow lichen in 1844 and it’s a powerful antibiotic against streps, staphs and pneumococcus bacteria.  I see the trail is leading us around the back of the castle. Perhaps there’s a way in.

African Match Grasshoppers guard "The Fortress"

And here it is. Let’s climb up inside to the ramparts. A pine tree growing out of the very rock itself. That’s convenient. The clouds have been closing in and it’s starting to rain. We’ll shelter here and take a look around. If this is a castle then those rocks up there look like a fortress guarding our secret hollow. The rain is easing a bit so let us go and investigate. Aha! There is animal life up here, grasshoppers. Quite a few Red-winged Grasshoppers about but this one’s a bit special. It’s an African Match Grasshopper of the genus Ochrilidia. I mention this because it is a genus that has taxonomists in a bit of a spin at the moment. There is some confusion as to which species are actually present in Europe so if any orthopterists want to come over and take a look for themselves then feel free to drop me a line.

Cumulus Clouds threaten a squall of rain

So here we are at the fortress and just look at those cumulus clouds building up over the sea. I don’t think we should spend too long up here. The route down is difficult enough as it is, if it becomes wet and slippery it could be treacherous. From my own meteorological observations I can see that south east Crete is getting wetter in the winter year on year (as this handy little graph which I happen to have in my pack shows).  That helps to counteract the fact that this part of the island is also getting hotter. If you remember the mean annual temperature graph that I showed you when we were discussing phenology you’ll have noticed that the upward trend is loosely divided into three year steps and the two graphs mirror each other quite closely. Sorry, that Englishman’s preoccupation with weather again but there’s no getting away from it; weather, climate, plant life, animal life (which obviously includes our life) are all inextricably linked. An increase in rainfall here, an increase in temperature there is like knocking over the first in a long line of dominoes and we’re sitting under the last domino. What a happy thought! Let’s get down before we get drenched. Look, there are some caves over there. Let’s hope for some sunshine next week and we’ll come up this way again.

Until next week – happy hunting.

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With special thanks this week to Axel Hochkirch of The Orthopterists' Society for information about Ochrilidia grasshoppers.

LINKS:

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)