postcard from Corfu

 Misumena vatia

Finally got round to posting a few photographs from my Corfu trip last month!

 Southern festoon (Zerynthia polyxena) larvae were everywhere on Aristolochia, must have missed the adults?

 Number 2 found this assassin bug (Rhynocoris iracundus) on a walk along the coast.

Fireflies were everywhere at night around our riverside accommodation.

Orchids were reasonably abundant but confusing...

Calopteryx virgo

Seeing blue chaser (Libellulla fulva) is always a highlight.

The primary reason we went to Corfu was to track down some critically endangered Greek red damsels (Pyrrhosoma elisabethae), which we managed to do. Only one site seems to remain on Corfu sadly.

I was very pleased to finally catch up with Grecian copper (Lycaena ottomana) at the damsel site.

Birds were spotted during the week, invariably common migrants like this great reed warbler.

We only recorded ten species of Odonates, with most being recorded away from water like this immature Crocothemis.

Egyptian grasshoppers (Anacridium aegyptium) were egg-laying on all the sandy tracks we walked.

 The kids enjoyed finding tortoises on the trip, all were the expected Hermann's tortoise (Testudo hermanni) until we found this big marginated tortoise (Testudo marginata) on the walk up Mt Pantokrator. Perhaps a released pet? This species does occur on the nearby mainland though.

Another surprise on Corfu is the presence (again on Pantokrator) of chukar. Not present according to BWP but presumably must have been introduced for hunting?

my day off in Crete

A day spent ferrying various clients not coming on the Crete extension to their respective destinations gave me five hours in the field on my own yesterday and I made the most of it! First stop was Georgiopolis lake which produced some great birds in a short session. I was excited about the great views of spotted crake (1) and pygmy cormorant (1 - vagrant in Crete I think?) but then this great snipe wandered out of the Juncus briefly. I have never seen a great snipe wading about before but this might reflect the lack of suitable habitat in Crete I suspect.

Nearby Kournas Lake gave me a chance to photograph black-winged stilt.

Other birds at Kournas Lake included this greenshank and also a lone whiskered tern.

Next stop was Petres, where the sun finally came out after nearly a week of very poor weather and a wander along the river was great for invertebrates.

Petres finally produced a single Sympecma fusca for the dragonfly triplist. 

 Ischnura elegans was abundant at Petres but I am still looking for a pumilio for my Crete list.

The first of two reptile lifers at Petres came in the form of great views of Cretan wall lizard (at last!).

Thistles accommodated the splendid Cretan endemic sub-species of Agapanthia cyanarae - longhorns rock!

Been busy photographing Orthoptera in Crete and will do a separate post once I have them sorted out. Not sure on the id on this one yet...

Finally whilst enjoying watching the Cory's shearwaters and a flyby male red-footed falcon offshore I came across another new reptile on the beach - Balkan whip snake. Sweet! The day was rounded off nicely by a flyby Eleonora's falcon as I drove to my last pick-up of the day. Driving through Crete at night to get to the next hotel was excellent too with three beech martens on the road as well as nightjar and Scops owl. Great 'day off'.

Crete - reptiles & amphibians

 Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) - never easy to photograph...

After a great deal of effort today we finally got some rewards on the amphibian and reptile front. Balkan green lizards have been no problem to find since we started looking but the other reptiles have been trickier (although some of the group have had fleeting glimpses of Balkan whip snake over the last three days). Today though I managed my first ocellated skink and a nearby small reservoir contained my first Cretan water frogs.

 An endemic! Cretan water frog (Pelophylax cretensis).

Ocellated skink (Chalcides ocellatus)

Crete!

Eastern dappled white (Euchloe ausonia) one of the highlights of my first full day in Crete.

Spent yesterday looking at orchids at the famous Spili mound on Crete - the focus of this particular tour. Great flora and a few birds, butterflies and reptiles to keep me happy too.  We are way too early for the exciting invertebrate endemics unfortunately but it promises to be a pleasant trip nevertheless.

The cretica sub-species of Eastern festoon (Zerynthia cerisyi) - a potential split down the line with any luck.