As I stated in the last entry, spring is the best time to be in Greece. The agricultural countryside around us is a picture of bright green wheat fields, dusky green olive groves, in contrast with newly ploughed red soil and a scattering of red-tiled roofs. The spaces in between abound with wild flowers on waste ground and reedy wetlands.
We had a trip out to one of our favourite places this week. Chalkidiki consists of three legs of land, our home is on the first, but our favourite trip is to the second leg known as Sithonia. There is a bay that we visit which has strange conglomerations of weathered rocks and some small islands near to the shore. It is a favourite with visitors in the summer, and a great place to swim, but at this time of year it is possible to walk around the bay and along a headland among a blaze of flowers. I was a bad citizen of the world, as I collected a number of wildflowers on our walk for purposes of identification. But I only collected one sample from where there were many.
Returning home I consulted my field guide, but as I soon discovered, identification is not quick or easy. A degree in botany might be a good start! First you have to answer a number of questions such as, does the plant have a green pigment, does it grow in water or on land, are flowers inconspicuous or obvious, how many petals do they have, how are these arranged, etc etc. Eventually you are directed to the appropriate part of the book, where, if you have answered the questions correctly (understanding the terminology helps!) you might find out what you are looking at. Not being the most patient of people, I found this quite difficult. However, I was able to identify a bright yellow daisy which was a corn marigold; some chamomile and mustard; a lovely little pale mauve flower that I found growing in a cluster close to the ground which to my surprise was a kind of willowherb, marsh willowherb probably; some common storksbill (blue), another pale pink delicate flower on a spindly stalk, I reckon this was pale flax; a tassel hyacinth (blue – like grape hyacinths, but a different shape) and a blue pea-like flower which grows in abundance called a hedysarum. There were also huge numbers of poppies, both the scarlet common variety and a red horned poppy. Greece does a nice line in thistles too. There are 5 pages of my field guide devoted to thistles, and I estimate that our part of Greece has a fair number of them, from tiny, delicate little varieties, to 1.5 metre giants. If any of my readers are botanists, they might like to tell me whether any of the above flowers are unusual.
I didn’t have much to say about birds in my previous entry. The swallows always arrive in numbers, usually at the end of March. I was lucky the other day to encounter a group of three just sitting on a low telephone wire. They were preening themselves and quite unpeturbed as I walked past. It was good to see them close up as my eyesight is not what it used to be and I don’t like using binoculars. The reddish-brown markings on these birds are very striking. There are also lots of martins and collared doves. We had one trying to make a nest last year on top of the air conditioning unit. I saw the dove’s head poking out and its little beady eye looking at me. I was thrilled as I envisaged a family of collared doves. But I returned to UK before my beloved, and as soon as I had departed he set to with a broom and dismantled the nest. Rotten spoilsport!
Another aspect of wildlife which flourishes in Greece is the frog population. At this time of year there is a cacophony of chattering from drainage ditches and the reed beds. In any pond it is possible to see lots of the little critters leaping about. They stop their noise as you approach, but if you stand quietly, they start up again fairly quickly.
Our time here is nearly up. We return to the UK and I will find out what my colleagues at the Countryside Service have been up to in my absence.
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