Ferma's Covert Coves

I thought I'd save the best until last. For the past weeks we've been ambling around the village of Ferma from the hills above to the underwater world of Livadi bay but at the eastern end of the village there are a series of tiny coves that few know about. From up here on the eastern cliff you can see the curvature of the horizon which means that we have a fair few steps to negotiate to get down there. 

It's over forty degrees today and I pity this poor spider with a mass of egg cases on her back. That's one hot mamma. Spiders of course are arachnids, named after a Greek peasant girl called Arachne and I'll tell you her story as we make our descent. Arachne had a talent for weaving, quite a prodigious talent in fact. So much so that she came to the notice of Athena (the goddess after whom Athens is named) who also considered herself a dab hand at the loom. Now gods and goddesses tend to get a bit sulky when us mere mortals approach their standards of excellence and Arachne was in danger of not just approaching but surpassing Athena's talent so Athena decided that a competition should be held to prove who was best. In most versions of the story Arachne won (although it was a close run thing). Whichever, Athena still claimed the ultimate victory on the grounds that Arachne's talent could only have been given to her from the gods and therefore she was only a mere instrument of Athena's own talent. “Nice try,” says Arachne, (somewhat unwisely) “but how about just admitting you've been beaten and being magnanimous in defeat?” Not being particularly fond of eating humble pie Athena promptly turned Arachne into a spider and cursed her and her descendants to weave nothing but webs forever more. 

Here we are at last and a nice little overhang to keep the sun off our heads. Do you see that little fish down there? Look at the way he's probing the sand with those two feelers. He's a goatfish (often called a red mullet although he's not closely related to the grey mullets in the way that red and grey squirrels are which is rather confusing). Those feelers are called barbels and he's using them to probe for food. This one is probably a youngster judging by his size and the fact that he's so close to shore. When he gets bigger and bolder he'll brave the deeper waters. 

There's a little channel here leading to another cove, what say we crawl through and investigate? There's another little fish here, superbly camouflaged against the sandy bottom. This one is a Goby, scientifically Gobius incognitus and I mention this only because the incognitus refers to the fact that, despite being common and widespread, it was only discovered to be a separate species from other gobies a couple of years ago.

Well, well, well, another private little cove, not only with built-in sun shade but a sandy beach as well. The little fish that we saw with the black and white markings near the tail as we swam in were Saddled Bream. It is one of a number of different sea breams that are important food fish in the Mediterranean. As a group, sea breams have been around for about 55 million years with the Saddled Bream making its first appearance about 48 million years ago so we've been eating them for as long as we've been in existence. All this lazing about in the shallows is very nice but I think we'd better start the long climb back.

Anyone for Turkey Tangle Frogfruit? A lovely little plant of the Verbena family but what a weird name. It makes one think that frogs like to eat it whilst turkeys trip over it but honestly, I've no idea how it came to be called that. I know that two or three species of caterpillar like to dine on it and it is supposed to cure everything from suppurating sores to stones to the common cold (or leastways to aid in recovery from same). Meanwhile we don't have any caterpillars but we do have a nice little bee fly come in for lunch. I think that this one is of the Exoprosopa genus, a useful little fly as it parasitises, among other insects, the larvae of locusts and wasps. I've seen neither the plant nor the fly around here before so that's a lovely way to finish our tour of the village of Ferma. And now I think... a cool beer in one of our tavernas is in order.

The Extra Bit

It really is getting stupidly hot now so I suggest that we take a little break for a few weeks and get together when the weather cools down a bit towards the end of next month. Until then, enjoy the rest of the summer (or winter if you're in the southern hemisphere) and follow me on Google+, Facebook Naturalists  or Twitter @cretenaturalist for details of Series 6 of the #Cretenature Blog.

Having just published this and checked it I noticed an advert in the side panel for Life Science Toolbox that looked interesting. I generally ignore adverts (like you do I expect) but the ads are starting to come in that are relevant to our interests so keep an eye on them, you never know what you may find. 

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

Picture 2 Nikon Coolpix S33

Inset Canon EOS 1300D

Picture 3 Nikon Coolpix S33

Inset Nikon Coolpix S33

Picture 4 Nikon Coolpix S33

Inset Nikon Coolpix S33

Picture 5 Nikon Coolpix S33

Inset Nikon Coolpix S33

Picture 6 Canon EOS 1300D

Inset Canon EOS 1300D

Pictures were edited with FastStone Image Viewer and combined with Microsoft Paint.

Snorkeling The Sea Caves of Ferma

As we have our costumes on I thought we'd continue our journey by swimming back across the bay to those caves over there and I'll fill you in a bit more about the island. When we were looking at fossils a couple of weeks back I mentioned that Ferma was raised from the sea bed by a huge tectonic upheaval about twenty odd million years ago. This is true as far as it goes but Ferma wasn't where it is now. Along with the rest of Crete it formed part of The Aegean landmass and was locked in with Europe and Asia and you could swim from here to the Indian Ocean without the need for the Suez Canal. Another bit of tectonic movement fifteen million years ago nipped off the top end of this large ocean (known as The Tethys Ocean) and the Mediterranean Sea was formed. It wasn't until eight million years ago that Crete began to separate from the Aegean landmass. The final land bridges to the Peloponnese broke about five million years ago and Crete became an archipelago of low islands. The Mediterranean went up and down for reasons of its own and Crete finally settled down to become the island we know today about two million years ago. [1] Which is how the bit of land that was to become Ferma can have 20 million year old fossils even though it has only been there for 2 million years. Makes your head spin doesn't it – or is that just talking and swimming at the same time?

Anyhow, we've reached the caves now and we have a few small fish darting about among the Peacock's Tails. There aren't so many Mermaid's Wine Glasses over this side of the bay I notice. But back to the fish; that little white one with the two black bands is a Two-banded Sea Bream, one of ten species of bream that abound along this coast. With the exception of the Dreamfish that we met in Gully Cove they are all good to eat and form a part of our own food web. It looks as though the cave goes all the way through to the other side so let's climb out of the water and continue on foot.

Have you noticed that all the rocks around the water line appear to have been daubed with Burgundy? That is Red Coralline Algae. It is easy to overlook but it's an important food source for Chitons, Limpets and Sea Urchins. Hello, it looks as if something has made a nest up in this corner. I say nest but that loose bundle of twigs can hardly be dignified with the term. Most birds tend to be a bit more creative than this and I rather suspect that this is the handiwork of a feral pigeon although it does seem a bit close to the water line. Anyone else have any ideas? The cave does indeed seem to go through to the other side but I'm not going to risk getting wedged in that narrow defile. It's also getting rather chilly in here so let's go back out to the rocks and warm ourselves up a bit.

Just at the entrance to the cave here I see that we have some limpets clinging to the wall. These are rather pretty examples, of the Cellana genus I think. We use the simile “clinging like a limpet” for someone who can't be moved - as in “He clung like a limpet to the idea that the Earth was flat.” But their immovability isn't their greatest claim to fame. We often think of spider silk as being one of the strongest materials in nature as it is as strong as high-grade alloy steel. Limpets however have something even stronger: iron teeth. More accurately their teeth are composed of an iron based mineral called goethite and they are five times stronger than spider silk, the strongest teeth of any animal on Earth.

Now, as we stretch out and luxuriate in the warmth of the sun, you can occupy your minds with three little puzzles:

1. 1. Exactly what is this rock that we're relaxing upon (it's softer than ordinary limestone)?
2. 2. Why is there a line of very black, rounded pebbles embedded in it?
3. 3. What are those strange little brown tubes protruding from it?

I have some theories of my own but I'd appreciate your thoughts. Incidentally if there are any geologists or palaeontologists coming over to Crete on holiday this year and would like to spend a morning pottering about with me then please feel free to get in touch.

The Extra Bit

Seventeen days after beginning to pupate Jeremy has emerged as a fully-fledged Vine Hawk Moth – although by the looks of the antennae I think we'll have to rename him Jemima. And isn't she a beautiful insect?

[1] http://www.cretanbeaches.com/en/facts/geology-of-crete

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LINKS:

Share your nature thoughts, nature photography and comments on Naturalists (the facebook page that accompanies this blog)

See detailed wildlife pictures on Flickr

Read more about the flowers, birds, animals, insects and fish of the island in The Nature of Crete (Flipboard Magazine)

Explore the nature tourism of Ferma and plan your walking holiday 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)