The Splendours of Greece - Part 2

Having enjoyed the olive groves and hot slopes around and below Delphi, our Greece adventure continued with trips onto higher ground. Here we were into a wonderful patchwork of open, grassy meadows and extensive, dark stands of prickly Grecian Fir. Dirt tracks crisscross this wonderful zone, allowing access to areas further from the main roads. The sound of insects is everywhere, Hoopoes skip across the grasslands in search of mole crickets for lunch and a wonderful flora abounds.

A light shower passed us by, but allowed us to take some lovely shots of a dramatic sky behind this spectacular and very old Juniperus foetidissima.

Changes to the taxonomy of the lizard orchids has made my brain hurt - this used to be called Himantoglossum jankae, but I think it's now Himantoglossum calcaratum. Either way it's a spectacular plant to find above Delphi.

We usually think of stork's-bills as having pink flowers, so the lemon yellow of Erodium chrysanthum comes as a surprise. We found a fairly extensive colony of this Greek endemic, which is confined to just nine areas in the whole country.

The spectacular flower spikes of mulleins have long been a favourite of mine and the Delphi areas has an abundance of these wonderful plants. This one is Verbascum speciosum ssp megaphlomos which is a particularly showy species.

Insects are still plentiful in the Greek hills and we were never short of things to look at. The chunky Parnassos Stone Grasshopper Glyphanus obtusus is something of a brute and an exciting species to find, since it's current known, world population is confined to just three small locations in Greece.

We found Glanville Fritillaries skipping across grassy glades with the Grecian Fir zone on the mid-slopes of Mount Parnassos.

The pinks can be a difficult group to identify, with many of the species being very variable in appearance, but they are always eye-catching - the large, salmon-coloured flowers of Dianthus biflorus are especially striking on Parnassos.

I shall mention no names, but one member of our group was particularly hoping to see the endemic Parnassos Peony; thinking we were almost certainly too late and that the flowers would be well past their best, David did an amazing job in weaving a path through the glades and trees until we eventually found this deep, blood-red beauty. Don't tell anyone, but there was a little tear of joy from a certain person!

The ascalaphids or owlflies always draw attention to themselves as they wing through the grassy clearings. They have something of the look of stocky dragonflies, but have prominent antennae and are most closely related to the lacewings. This one is Libelloides ottomanus, one of the eastern species in Europe.

 

Don't panic Mr Mainwaring! We checked under a few pieces of wood from an old, tumbledown shed and found this fabulous Nose-horned Viper. They're fine so long as you use your biggest lens to photograph them! 

David's local knowledge was repeatedly invaluable in turning up local specialities in the insect line. A soft buzzing from the bracken stems soon led us to a sizeable population of the endemic cicada, Cicadetta hannekeae which was described for science as recently as 2008.

The subtle, bell-shaped flowers of Deadly Nightshade hang discreetly below the large leaves, their gentle nature belying their poisonous potential. Deadly Nightshade is a glorious plants, but every one that I've found in the UK ends up battered down by those who would rather spread fear to children than teach them about the natural world.