Autumn update from Dol, 2016

Steve Jones has kept up his Nature watching through Hvar's mild autumn weather. More dragonflies, but less birds than expected.

Broad-bodied chaser dragonfly Broad-bodied chaser dragonfly Photo: Steve Jones

SJ, 23 9 2016. Do you know much about dragonflies on the Island? Over the Summer I have seen several and I know Norman nearby has also seen similar numbers.

Common Darter dragonfly. Photo: Steve Jones

While I know a few of the more obvious ones, I am puzzled: one thing I do know is that they like water in which to lay. The dragonfly life cycle is for the most part spent underwater and they only emerge as what we see towards the end of their life and to mate. So I am puzzled as to where they can possibly lay eggs, I only know one source of water down near the airfield and I don’t believe from there they would travel up to Dol. I often think they could be laying in the numerous wells/water storage places in the fields but most are covered and I don’t know how they would emerge. One species described to me was the Golden Ringed Dragonfly and I've read that this likes fast flowing water so I am even more at a loss.

Red Veined Darter dragonfly. Photo: Steve Jones

I was down near the airfield yesterday and several of just two species that I could recognize were flying, including the Common Darter. One of the species tended to be flying joined to their mate, there were several of these.

Red Veined Darter dragonfly. Photo Steve Jones

Norman and I are both seeing more Dragonflies than either of us expected here in Dol – more investigation needed.

Apart from the dragonflies, I was in Jelsa on Wednesday (September 21st) and saw that there were still Swifts around, with a few House Martins scasttered amongst them. And the odd Swallow was still around yesterday. A friend in the UK told me that the Swifts departed from our street pretty well in the first ten days of August.

VG, 23 9 2016. Yes, actually there are many more sources of water than you'd think, off the beaten tracks, but also in the fields. A lot of the enclosed wells have an open basin on top, which can be home to all sorts of insects, including water snakes - one of those regularly basks in the cistern beside my land, heading off reluctantly into the undergrowth after the water has completely evaporated.

Water cistern near Ivan Dolac. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Of course the wildlife population is adversely affected if the fields have been doused in herbicide. Talking about herbicide, did you see that the sale of Cidokor/Roundup is to be banned in the EU from October 1st, together with 11 other glyphosate-based herbicides? Good as far as it goes, but it still leaves 12 other glyphosate herbicides on the market!

I'll look forward to hearing the results of your dragonfly investigations. A good place to see them is in the environs of Humac, where there are some lovely natural pools where the horses and hunting dogs drink, and butterflies abound, as there are no poisoned fields in the vicinity.

Natural pool near Humac. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

VG, 3 10 2016. Have you seen any bats recently?? I'm really concerned at how few there are, compared to crowds up to about ?10-12 years ago, counting from when I first arrived in Pitve in 1988. And bee-keepers tell me they have no honey this year, and are taking their hives to Šćedro, where there are fewer environmental poisons around.

SJ, 3 10 2016. Bats? Yes, a few. Some around the house but not often or regular. Couldn’t identify species either.

I've just returned from Stari Grad where I saw a few Swifts flying around and still one Swallow, so I suspect it will be much the same in Jelsa. Can’t remember which evening, in the latter part of last week and very high up about 150 birds went over the house, by far the majority were House Martins with a few Swallows amongst them.

VG, 25 10 2016. Maybe this recent article by Chris Baraniuk about ring-necked parakeets in the UK might be of interest? I used to love watching those birds squawking their way to and fro across west London! More recently I learned that the same kind of parakeets arrived in the rgion of Heidelberg in Germany and Barcelona in Spain at around the same time as they were first seen in the UK, sometime in the 1970s. I wonder where they came from, and why they spread over parts of Europe?

SJ, 25 10 2016. Yes – thanks for the article, not being a frequent visitor to London I was overjoyed to see some parakeets while I was at Twickenham for a Rugby match some years ago, life doesn’t get any better than that – Rugby and Bird Watching!

I am helping neighbours pick Olives for my sins for another week ( I’d forgotten how much fun that was/is ………….. ummmm) but managed a trip to the airfield on Sunday morning: I saw at least 100 Pied Wagtails in varying sized flocks, with smaller stuff too distant to identify properly. There was also an unidentified Pipit which I will persevere with. Robins are singing everywhere now but seldom prominent . My last Swift was seen on October 23rd, it's possible that there are a few still around, but as I've not been into town I can't say for sure. I saw a Black Redstart yesterday in Prapatna. A rough count gives me around 60 species which is a little disappointing, I had expected more. But I might have missed several species, through not travelling to different locations.

Black Redstart. Photo: Steve Jones

VG, 25 10 2016. I'm also up to my ears in olives. Mercifully I picked my own early, with pleasing results. I'm now helping my friends and neighbours, which in some ways is more arduous.

SJ, 28 10 2016. Don’t know whether or not you can help me here. Is there a bird called a “lugarin” I heard yesterday in conversation so I am presuming it is a dialect word for something? Would you know – Serin perhaps?

VG, 28 10 2016. My Pitve-Zavala dialect dictionary defines lugarin as 'zelenkasta konopljarka', which seems to be commonly translated as greenfinch. Konopljarka is linnet. Any help? I hope those people weren't talking about trapping them. It's now against the law to trap migrating songbirds, but....

SJ, 28 10 2016. No – I think it was flying overhead – the person who was talking about it is definitely not a trapper/ hunter of anything like this for sure. Thanks for very much for that, I keep periodically hearing them but am not seeing many. But just didn’t know the word ……………. One day perhaps! I keep waiting for this book “Ptice Hrvatske i Europe” , if I ever get a copy. Have been in touch with someone now who may be able to help.

Was picking Olives yesterday and came across this spider, pretty well the same size as an Olive or just a fraction bigger and it very nearly got picked as one. The circular part of it was the size if an adult thumb nail. Tried to ID, am thinking it is a female of the Garden Spider variety (Araneus diadematus) – although I wouldn’t bet on it - of which there are many, it seems. Anyhow the second biggest I have seen since being here. Pretty impressive.

Big bright spider among the olives. Photo: Steve Jones

VG, 28 10 2016. That's a beauty! The biggest spider I've seen in my field was possibly a type of Black Widow, very bright, with orange stripes, perhaps about the size of a 5 kuna piece. It stayed peacefully in its web between two olive trees for quite some time, fortunately out of reach of the dogs, and then went on its way. Wondrous.

SJ, 1 11 2016. Black Redstart day. I saw the one last week in Prapatna, but all too quickly, which always makes one doubt. However I have seen a few more in and around  Dol in the last few days, including a couple in the garden. There were several in one of the fields nearby, possibly up to a dozen, so clearly they have come in from somewhere. I wonder whether they over-winter or move on.

I also saw a Wren in the garden during the week, the first one of the year for me here.

SJ, 6 11 2016. Went out briefly this morning and amongst other species was delighted with about 150 – Goldfinch/Gardelin.

Goldfinches. Photo: Steve Jones

Also - and a great record - one solitary Swift. Several other flocks about, I am thinking they are mainly Chaffinches but they're a bit too far away to identify clearly.

VG, 5.11.2016 Wonderful chaffinches: let's hope not too many of these beautiful birds fall into the hands of the (now illegal) trappers..

SJ, 8 11 2016. I have started collating all the birds seen this year in a table with English/Latin/Croatian names - but not dialect. I think I am at around 60 species now.

VG, Thanks Steve, we'll look forward to seeing the full list!

© Steve Jones, with Vivian Grisogono 2016

For more of Steve's beautiful nature pictures, see his personal pages: Bird Pictures on Hvar 2017, and Butterflies of Hvar

Nalazite se ovdje: Home Novosti iz prirode Autumn update from Dol, 2016

Eco Environment News feeds

  • About 89% of the public want their governments to do more to tackle the climate crisis – but don’t know they’re the majority

    • The Guardian is joining forces with dozens of newsrooms around the world to launch the 89% Project – and highlight the fact that the vast majority of the world’s population wants climate action. Read more

    A superpower in the fight against global heating is hiding in plain sight. It turns out that the overwhelming majority of people in the world – between 80% and 89%, according to a growing number of peer-reviewed scientific studies – want their governments to take stronger climate action.

    As co-founders of a non-profit that studies news coverage of climate change, those findings surprised even us. And they are a sharp rebuttal to the Trump administration’s efforts to attack anyone who does care about the climate crisis.

    Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope are the co-founders of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now

    Continue reading...

  • Discovery could provide valuable clues as to how the climate crisis might affect Antarctica, says study

    Giant, flat-topped icebergs the size of the city of Cambridge drifted off the coast of Britain during the last ice age, according to a study that has uncovered evidence of their existence for the first time.

    A series of distinctive, comb-like grooves found preserved in sediment near Aberdeen in Scotland were left behind by the underside of huge “tabular” icebergs that dragged across the North Sea floor between 18,000 and 20,000 years ago, the researchers said.

    Continue reading...

  • Campaigners condemn decision amid growing evidence of harm to health and climate from heating appliances

    Wood-burning stoves will be allowed to heat new-build homes in England despite growing evidence showing their significant contribution to air pollution and carbon emissions.

    The government is writing its future homes standard, a set of rules for developers, aimed at decarbonising England’s housing stock. Heating the UK’s 28m homes accounts for about 18% of greenhouse gas emissions.

    Continue reading...

  • Birds in their 40s wintering on mudflats of the Wash received leg rings in early 1980s

    If your ears are assaulted by the shrill piping calls of an excitable bird on the east coast of England, fear not: it’s probably an oystercatcher experiencing a midlife crisis.

    Two of the handsome black and white birds with bright red-orange bills have been found to be the oldest known oystercatchers ever recorded in Britain, clocking up at least 41 and 43 years on the mudflats of the Wash.

    Continue reading...

  • Two Belgian 19-year-olds have pleaded guilty to wildlife piracy – part of a growing trend of trafficking ‘less conspicuous’ creatures for sale as exotic pets

    Poaching busts are familiar territory for the officers of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), an armed force tasked with protecting the country’s iconic creatures. But what awaited guards when they descended in early April on a guesthouse in the west of the country was both larger and smaller in scale than the smuggling operations they typically encounter. There were more than 5,000 smuggled animals, caged in their own enclosures. Each one, however, was about the size of a little fingernail: 18-25mm.

    The cargo, which two Belgian teenagers had apparently intended to ship to exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia, was ants. Their enclosures were a mixture of test tubes and syringes containing cotton wool – environments that authorities say would keep the insects alive for weeks.

    Continue reading...

  • The Marches, Shropshire: In this garden we’ve had woolly aphids, rose aphids, whitefly and blackfly, now we have Californian maple aphids, who have a story of their own

    An accidental touch of a branch brings a handful of little sticky dots. Looking at the branch, the surprise is that all the lower ones are covered with a shifting pointillism of dots moving together. Under a hand lens they become autonomous animals – aphids.

    There are thousands of them, moving independently as individuals, each with a sense of purpose and moment, determined and working together. Forming clusters around scar tissue on bark wounds, walking upwards towards the canopy of opening leaves, the aphids catch the sunlight and their amber bodies shine with the viscosity of drops of honey. In the morning sun they cast shadows, an imaginary material to which old fears and prejudices stick.

    Continue reading...

  • Americans have often moved between states for opportunities. Now they’re being forced to uproot themselves to escape hostile forces under Trump

    Continue reading...

  • The UN has called the detention of Pablo López Alavez ‘arbitrary’, while human rights organisations say his sentence is part of a systematic and alarming pattern of criminalisation of Mexico’s environmental activists

    The meeting room in the prison of Villa de Etla, a town in Oaxaca, Mexico, doubles as a classroom with school desks and a small library. The walls feature motivational phrases such as “First things first”, “Live and let live” and “Little by little, you’ll go far”.

    Pablo López Alavez, a 56-year-old environmental defender, has had nearly 15 years to contemplate these sentiments – and faces 15 more, after being imprisoned for murders he says he did not commit.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘As a species, these crocs are easy to find and easy to catch. Brice Itoua is the most skilled hunter in his village. But they kill the crocs to eat – not to sell’

    The Congo dwarf crocodile is a lovely species. They’re very shy and, unfortunately, very easy to find and catch. Mostly hunted for their bushmeat, these crocs only grow up to a few feet in length and during the dry season, they often spend the daytime hiding in burrows and dens at the water’s edge. Hunters use a long, woody liana vine with a hook on the end to drag them out, before binding their snout with a shorter vine and carrying them away.

    Last summer, I shot a story about the Congo dwarf crocodile after being given access to the Lake Télé Community Reserve by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which manages this protected area in the Republic of the Congo with the Congolese government.

    Continue reading...

  • Rock deposits provide first land-based evidence of Earth’s largest flood, when water surged through strait of Gibraltar

    The event that refilled the Mediterranean basin 5m years ago is thought to have been the largest flood in Earth’s history, with water surging through the present-day strait of Gibraltar 1,000 times faster than the Amazon River, filling the basin in just a couple of years. Now jumbled rock deposits on the top of hills in south-east Sicily provide the first land-based evidence for this flood.

    The megaflood theory emerged in 2009, when scientists discovered a massive eroded channel at the bottom of the strait of Gibraltar. Subsequent research has revealed scours on the sea floor, showing how the water forced its way through the shallow gap between Sicily and mainland Africa, to fill the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

    Continue reading...

Novosti: Cybermed.hr

Novosti: Biologija.com

Izvor nije pronađen