Here's some more from that Greek trip, a mixed bad of inverts:
These first couple are from the car park area at the hotel just outside of
Athens before heading home, where lots of stuff was just a lot bigger than I'm
used to. These ants were (relatively) massive with huge jaws. Believe they are
some type of 'Carpenter Ant' Camponotus sp.
And on the same big theme, this Psychid case was attached to a kerbside next
to a group of conifers. No idea on species.
All of the following were just around the same two areas near Kamina as in the
last post.
Think I've only seen one Snakefly in the UK, before I was bothered and it was
not identified. This one - I think - looks a good match to
Raphidia mediterranea.
This darter was in the car park of the hotel at Kaminia. I mulled over it for
a while before realising it is a female Broad Scarlet (Crocothemis
erythraea).
I think this funky-looking shieldbug is Carpocoris mediterraneus.
Today dawned bright and early. For some I'm sure at least; for me there was no
intention of getting up at the crack of dawn as an evening on large whiskies
and the constraint of a bi-daily visit from the District Nurse meant I was
going nowhere early anyway. By the time I looked out into the garden, it was
evident that the clear cold skies that prevailed into the night at the end of
2020 had been replaced by dank grey clag. I whiled away some time watching the
garden feeders, and after the nurse had been I got ready to head out for a
walk down the lane. I was not intending too go all out crawling through the
undergrowth - I can't anyway as I'm still a physically restricted with regards
to bending over (getting my boots on and laced up without help was a milestone!). I had my bins, P900, phone and
dictaphone.
It remained steadfastly grey, in fact the conditions only worsened whilst
I was out for a couple of hours. Before hitting the lane, I'd already picked up
a fair number of plants heading out of the estate including some obvious escapes: Mahonia, Lesser Periwinkle, Sowbread, Buddleija, Spotted Medick and
these ....
Purple Toadflax
Spotted Dead-nettle
Italian Lords-and-Ladies
In total I managed to record a modest 46 vascular plants. This includes trees,
plants identifiable from their leaves or fruit and a handful of flowering
plants. I clearly saw a lot more than 46 species; there are plenty to come as
they develop and I can spend more time focussing on them.
I completely ignored any invertebrate life. Between
the garden and walking about I saw 25 bird species and 1 mammal (the resident
garden Squirrels). There were no avian surprises, and the light was shocking
but that didn't stop me pointing the camera at a few to garner some rubbish
photos.
Common Buzzard
Fieldfare - at least 60 feeding across a couple of fields
Redwing - only around 10 of these with Fieldfare
Common Gull - with camera pointing through a hedge giving the weird
vignetting effect
With 4 fungi, 2 lichens and a moss noted, I've ended up on 79sp. - not bad for
a couple of hours in dull and uninspiring conditions. By the time I was
heading back up the lane to home a steady drizzle had set in.
