Journal archives for November 2016

November 3, 2016

Crete Nature Blog: The Only Way Is Up

Here we are back at the Church of the Holy Cross, a couple of thousand feet up in the Thripti mountains.

Just before we begin our final ascent I’d like to bring your attention back to these hornets that are still busy buzzing around the ivy, as they are rather special. They are Oriental Hornets and you generally find them anywhere from Southwest Asia to North Africa and also here in the southernmost parts of Europe. You see those two yellow bands around the abdomen? When the sun hits them they react differently to the brown parts and a small amount of electricity is generated. They are, in fact, solar panels. Not content with being solar powered they are also astronauts. They were on board the 1992 Space Shuttle Endeavour mission but unfortunately nearly eighty percent of them died when their water supply failed. Probably make a good space thriller if we could persuade Matt Damon into a hornet suit. Now that’s what I call an interesting insect.

Read on at http://cretenature.blogspot.gr/2016/11/the-only-way-is-up.html

Posted on November 3, 2016 06:42 AM by stevedaniels stevedaniels | 3 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

November 10, 2016

Crete Nature Blog: The Final Ascent

Just before we begin our push for the summit there are a couple of other little things in this cave that I’d like to draw to your attention. This apparently dead spider up here for instance. As a spider grows it gets too big for its skin but unlike us its skin is its skeleton and although it is flexible enough to allow the spider to move it doesn’t grow like our bones do. Periodically then a spider needs a new skeleton. How it does this is to start absorbing the inner layers of its existing skeleton and use that to start growing a new skeleton inside. It also produces a fluid to keep the old and new skeletons apart. There is an obvious flaw in this arrangement in that the new skeleton must necessarily be smaller than the old one (like Russian dolls) which obviously defeats the object. Undeterred by this drawback, the spider reabsorbs the separating fluid so that the new skeleton is loose within the old one, pumps itself up until the old skeleton cracks and then bursts out. This new skeleton however is extremely soft and flexible and also folded to some extent. The spider then undergoes a growth spurt to inflate the new skeleton to its maximum before it hardens. Result; one new, bigger spider and one discarded skeleton like this one here.

Read on at http://bit.ly/2fCHMkh

Posted on November 10, 2016 08:50 AM by stevedaniels stevedaniels | 4 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

November 20, 2016

Descent Into The Milonas Valley

Now that we’ve made it all the way up here we’ve got to get all the way back again but this time we’ll come down the Milonas (or Miller’s) Valley. So first we must descend that evil looking slope .

A quick look at the flowers before we start our descent, most of which we met on the way up, such as the little yellow Sternbergia but there are also these delicate little Autumn Crocuses. Pretty little things that those of you with long memories may remember we met once before when we visited The Waterfall of Milonas a couple of years back and I told you the story of a famous murderer. On the plus side though, it was the original source of the drug colchicine which has a number of uses including treatment of Familial Mediterranean Fever. This is a rather nasty human disease caused by a genetic mutation specific to people of Eastern Mediterranean origin. Like nettles and dock leaves the problem and solution are to be found in the same place.

Read on at http://bit.ly/2fEmDXL

Posted on November 20, 2016 07:50 AM by stevedaniels stevedaniels | 5 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

November 27, 2016

How To Get Blood Out Of A Stone

Ok folks, our mission for today is to clamber down through these rocks and explore that gully down there. To make things more interesting our route is lined with plenty of spiky plants so our chances of getting to the bottom without being bloodied and bruised are remote to say the least. This lethal looking bush here for instance, which I can’t quite place, looks capable of causing serious injury. I see that it’s producing tiny red fruits and as we have our botanist friend Steve Lenton with us today (although he’s opted to take a more sedate route) we’ll collect a couple and pass them on to him for identification. After all, there’s no point in having a dog and barking yourself. Talking of which, you wouldn’t just like to put your hand in and grab a couple of berries would you? Thought not. Here goes then. Ouch, first blood to the flora.

Read on at http://bit.ly/2fPWuIg

Posted on November 27, 2016 07:18 AM by stevedaniels stevedaniels | 2 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment