Easter is the best time to be in Greece. (Unless you happen to be a lamb, in which case it is best to leave the country at an early opportunity). The weather can be variable – quite cool, to very warm – but this is not the reason for it being the best time. It is best because of the wonderful spring awakening of its wildlife. People who come only in the summer miss a treat. Everywhere is a mosaic of flowers, which attract a multitude of insects, and they in turn bring the birds to life. The countryside is a riot of colour: arable fields are rich with an abundance of scarlet poppies, blue bugloss, white and yellow daisies, wild peas, gladioli and grape hyacinths. According to The Rough Guide, Greece has about four times as many native flowering plants as Britain. In isolated areas, such as Mount Olympus, species have developed which are found nowhere else. It also has many species of orchid, but the slopes of Olympus are the only place I have seen any.
One’s first impressions of the Greeks’ attitude to wildlife tend to be negative. Anywhere that is not farmed land is left as wasteland. Littering and fly tipping appear to be endemic, although to be fair, the natives do use a bin if one is provided. However at the end of a public holiday, these bins are overflowing and big piles of rubbish rise up. Farming is still carried out on a small scale in many areas, and plants growing in the wild, such as greens, herbs, figs, plums and cherries are still harvested by many Greeks. Only those species that have a practical use are regarded as having a value.
But this view is in contrast to efforts devoted to conserving wild areas. Greek TV programmes regularly highlight the beauty of some of these places. There are some spectacular parts of the country, such as the mountainous regions in the north-west, where national parks have been created. These parks don’t appear to have the same status as British national parks, but nevertheless are protected, in theory at least, and respected by most Greeks.
Greeks are amazingly good at setting things up. Money for projects comes from the Ministry of Culture, the local municipality, and mostly from the European Union. An example is an amenity near a village in the mountains that we visited over Easter. It is on the edge of a gorge leading to the higher peaks of Mt Pieria, (some of the highest in Greece, in the same range as Olympus) and boasts some spectacular views. A 2km footpath has been created up one of the walls of the gorge. It leads eventually to the top of a small peak, where there are the remains of a Byzantine castle. Safety railings have been erected along the gorge path, then for the last 700m a paved path takes you to the castle. In the grounds there is a recently erected pavilion with seats, housing information boards in Greek and English giving some of the history and background to the site. But there are a few destructive individuals (teenagers on trail bikes? Is there a thread of similarity with Britain emerging?) who spoil it for everyone by damaging the notices, breaking the timber in the seats and who spray graffiti on any available surface. This has not yet happened at this particular site, but there are three information boards around the site that no longer contain any information. The difference between Greece and the UK is that there appears to be no money for ongoing maintenance, so that once something is damaged, it stays that way. A visit to some of the lesser known archaeological sites, in which an effort is made to protect the wildlife habitat, often reveals a forlorn and neglected visitor facility.
The walk up the Gorge was lovely. It is limestone and has some craggy outcrops. In these rocks it was possible to spot birds nesting, but other than rock pigeons and a lone buzzard, I was not able to identify any others. The wildflowers were in abundance here too, though more of the alpine variety. As well as the poppies and bugloss, which grow everywhere, I noted some aubretia growing in clefts and blue anemones in the grassy patches. There was a preponderance of small yellow flowers, which I think were probably some kind of ragwort. The lower slopes of the mountains, which are difficult to farm, are left to regenerate. Here you see a mass of bright lilac-purple blossom, which at first I thought were a variety of wild cherry. I eventually identified these as the Judas Tree. It grows everywhere in this region. The purple is interspersed with yellow, a combination of broom and gorse.
I haven’t noticed any particular fauna in Greece, though I know there are bears in the mountains, and boars which are hunted. There are also small creatures that the locals call squirrels, but they are more like chipmunks. In great numbers on the beach of our seaside village we see crested larks. It is also surprisingly easy to see tortoises trundling about. You might be sitting at a quiet place looking at the view when suddenly there is crashing about in the undergrowth. You sit and wait and eventually you will be rewarded with the emergence of a tortoise in search of good forage. The Greeks appear to like tortoises and will drive round one if it happens to be crossing the road. This is not the case for cats, dogs and hedgehogs, carcases of which it is easy to see at the side of any road. I am frustrated by my ignorance of local fauna. It would be helpful to have one of my colleagues from the Countryside Service to help me out with their superior knowledge of what to look for, as I am sure that there are many more things here, if only I could see them. But I have my reference books, so some more study is in order, I think.
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