This selection of photographs covers the reptiles and single amphibian species that we encountered over two weeks in Crete - 25th Sept - Oct 9th inclusive.
Despite some effort being put into searching for reptiles and amphibians - our list remains short and covers only the most easily encountered species. No snakes were seen, tortoises remained a mystery to us and out of the three gecko species present on the island (Coghlan, S. 2001; cretanbeaches.com 2018) only one was successfully seen and identified.
Such a dismal list is undoubtedly the result of a combination of factors incl. time of + effort of searches; habitat; size of area and locations visited; access to habitat; individual bias i.e. we got very good at spotting Cretan wall lizard (Podarcis cretensis); seasonal affects; possible misidentification; disturbance.
Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) - Vamos
This juvenile Balkan green lizard was the only individual noted of this species. It was observed crossing a farm track on the outskirts of Vamos .. and was obliging enough to freeze momentarily for the camera.
Arnold and Ovendon (2004) describe a single sub-species of Balkan green lizard inhabiting Crete Lacerta trilineata polylepidota. However, cretanbeaches.com (ibid) states that two sub-species are present. Both the former Lacerta t. polylepidota as well as Lacerta t. trilineata.
The Cretan wall lizard is the only endemic species of lizard on the island - enjoying a taxonomic split from Erhard's wall lizard (Podarcis erhardii) as recently as 2008 (Wikipedia 2018). This species of lizard was by far our most commonly encountered reptile, seen throughout our travels and only seemingly excluded from areas of close human habitation where the ubiquity of the feral domestic cat (Felis catus) may well have suppressed the population?
Cretan wall lizard
Balkan terrapin (Mauremys rivulata) was noted in small numbers at Georgioupolis Lake - too far away for photographs - stacked as they were like a pile of abandoned dinner plates on a distant muddy foreshore.
A very flat and very dead green toad (Bufo viridis) was found on the farm track to the south of Vamos which leads into the next valley.
green toad (deceased)
The Turkish gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) was the only gecko species successfully recorded on the trip - three individuals being seen on various walls around the Arosmari Village Hotel
Turkish gecko
The small Turkish gecko in hand (above) was rescued from the clutches of a local moggy, its tail had been lost. However, with the stump being both clean and dry it looked as if the loss had occurred somewhat prior to the most recent cat encounter.
Close examination of this tiny survivor also nailed the ID as Turkish gecko - the adhesive pads on it's toes being "not extend[ed] to the toe-tips and are divided beneath" as per Arnold and Ovendon (ibid).
Turkish gecko - adhesive pad detail
A probable ocellated skink (Chalcides ocellatus) was disturbed on a farmland waste above Vamos - the briefest of views - but it had a distinctly different Jizz from the other reptiles encountered.
Bibliography
Arnold, N. & Ovendon D. (2004) 2nd Edition A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Britain and Europe Collins, Harper Collins Publishers, London
This selection covers the butterflies and some of the notable invertebrates that we encountered over two weeks in Crete - 25th Sept - Oct 9th incl. - whilst based at Arosmari Village Hotel, in the traditional Cretan village of Vamos, in the district of Chania.
Our first butterfly sightings were naturally in the apartment and hotel gardens and when exploring the local area in and around Vamos during the first couple of days. In this early period we frequently had to dodge showers, heavy rain, deluges and oppressive humidity under various shades of sky from blue sunshine to dark heavy cloud.
Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) and Geranium bronze (Cacyreus marshalli) were the most common butterflies of the hotel gardens - along with a single and very territorial speckled wood (Parage aergeria) which patrolled the prickly pear (Opuntia humifusa) by the amphitheatre.
Geranium bronzes Arosmari Village Hotel various dates
The Geranium bronze is a recent edition to the Cretan fauna, the species originating in South Africa - and is thought to have established itself in the Mediterranean after having been accidentally imported to Mallorca on Pelargonium cultivars in 1990 (Tolman T. and Lewington R. 2008). A few individuals of this species have also been recorded three times in the UK between 1997 and 2001 (Lewington R. 2015).
speckled wood Arosmari Village Hotel
Common blue (Polyommatus icarus) was also seen occasionally in the gardens. Out of interest Chapman's blue (Agrodaetus thersites) is check-listed as a butterfly of Crete by Stephanie Coghlan (2001) - but is excluded from the island by Tolman and Lewington (ibid). If both species were to be overlapping in Crete then a passing ID on the wing of common blue would be harder to make!
Another infrequent garden visitor was the brown argus (Aricia agestis) and Lang's short-tailed blue (Syntaracus pirithous) which occurred several times as did Pieris spp.
brown argus Vamos (farmland)
Lang's short-tailed blue iPhone record shot Arosmari Village Hotel
Wandering around Vamos we found a patch of scrubby grassland along the roadside behind the school - to which we returned several times as it was a hot spot for butterflies - finding holly blue (Celastrina argiolus), common blue, clouded yellow (Colias croceus), large white (Pieris brassicae), small white (Pieris rapae), swallowtail, red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) and painted lady (Vanessa cardui).
holly blue - Vamos
Clouded yellow - Vamos
large white - Vamos
red admiral - Vamos
painted lady - Vamos
swallowtail - Vamos
Both Meadow brown (Maniola jurtina) and most probably Oriental meadow brown (Hyponephele lupina), were also seen on this road verge area - although flight times are more consistent with Meadow brown, and very late for Oriental?
putative Oriental meadow brown - Vamos
My brief view of the above specimen in flight strongly suggested that it had a pair of dark spots on each of it's upper-wings. The deep(er) scalloping of the hind-wing incl. the notch or kink at the bottom of the lower wing are also features indicative of the Oriental meadow brown, which is discussed here:
It was here that we also had our first encounter with the cryptic mallow skipper (Carcharodus alceae) which would instantly "disappear" when it came to rest on the ground.
mallow skipper - Vamos
Other notable species included hummingbird hawk moth (Carcharodus alceae), silver Y (Autographa gamma) along with the "straight out of a sweetie jar" shieldbug Graphosoma italicum which seemed to be found exclusively on fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and the stunning dragonfly broad scarlet (Crocothemis erythraea).
Graphosoma italicum
broad scarlet
Heading out onto the farm tracks surrounding Vamos - we added wall brown (Lasiommata megera), along with Cretan grayling (Hipparchia cretica) - the ID of which I will discuss further below. The strong flight of a large brown butterfly also suggested plain tiger (Danaus chrysippus), but it would be later in the holiday before I could convincingly bag this species.
wall brown - Vamos
Cretan grayling - Vamos
Despite a lack of running water or ponds in the slopes around Vamos - there were certainly plenty of dragonflies - although other than the single broad scarlet - as above - they all appeared to be red veined darter (Symeptrum fonscolombii).
red veined darter - Vamos
Away from Vamos the most productive site for butterflies was Georgioupolis particularly around the small agricultural fields and stream behind Kalyvaki Beach. This was also a very good area for bird-watching especially when adding the short trip to Georgioupolis Lake to the itinerary!
During my first exploration around Kalyvaki Beach I bumped into a fellow British amateur naturalist who was also chasing butterflies and birds. He kindly gave me the location of a small colony of plain tiger located on the lip of the bay where it runs into the main stream / river (?) behind the Arkadi Fish Taverna.
plain tiger - males - N.B. the strongly marked sex gland
Georgioupolis
plain tiger - female ovipositing - Georgioupolis
The gentlemen also described a local field in which he had found large numbers of long-tailed blue (Lampides boeticus)- I followed these directions as best as I could but never managed to find the field. It would take a second visit to Georgioupolis before I saw long-tailed blue a male nectaring road side, and a possible second very worn individual on what I seem to remember was bramble (Rubus fruticosus)?
long-tailed blue - Georgioupolis
Georgioupolis produced sightings of small copper (Lycaena phlaeas), brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) and a very reluctant skipper which refused to settle for a photograph - I saw it prior to the meeting with the other Brit, but could not relocate it afterwards - my strongest impression was that it was a worn female Lulworth skipper (Thymelicus acteon)? I was shown photographs of a mating pair of putative pygmy skipper, but did not see this species myself.
I chanced upon a dead Bath white (Pontia daplidice) hanging from a stem - I would only see one other individual of this species on the trip - in the Samaria Gorge. Happily, this second butterfly was very much alive and in flight! The gorge also gave us our only sighting of Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra).
Bath white - Georgioupolis
Red veined darter were common in Georgioupolis with some allowing me to get close enough to get frame filling photographs. At Georgiopolis Lake a large hawker species was present, but never settled anywhere to provide me with an opportunity for successful identification. Although, I was sure it wasn't my target species Cretan spectre (Boyeria cretensis).
red-veined darters - Georgioupolis
Cretan grayling is the endemic species of Hipparchia, and the only Hipparchia sp. on Crete (Rowlings M. 2018). We saw a grayling type butterfly in - Vamos, Georgioupolis, Imbros Gorge and Samaria Gorge. I felt less confident to definitively call it as Cretan grayling for two main reasons. The first being that I completely failed to get good views of the top side of the wings - all were seen at rest - or very flighty when disturbed. Secondly, I am aware that there is some potential confusion with white banded grayling (Pseudochazara anthelea), Hermit (Chazara briseis) and Great banded grayling (Kanetisa circe) all of which appear on the butterfly list in Stephanie Coghlan's checklist (ibid).
However, the ranges of the latter two species do not appear to include Crete in Tolman and Lewington (ibid). I was also a little confused by flight times as Tolman and Lewington (ibid) describes the flight period of Cretan grayling as Mid May / Mid Aug - whilst placing the flight period of white-banded grayling as ending Mid July?
The answer to my confusion seems to lie in the excellent online resource of Matt Rowlings: euroButterflies (ibid) in which the flight period of Cretan grayling is described as: "Both sexes fly in mid May and June then the females move to higher altitudes to avoid the very hot very dry summer months. They descend to lay eggs on the fresh growth that follows the first autumn rains." This description, would also fully coincide with the wet weather front which we experienced at the start of the holiday!
A number of moth species were noted coming to the porch light of the Hotel Apartment - no attempt has been made to ID these species, and I took few photographs of them for that same reason.
However, one night time visitor did capture our imaginations and I took several photographs over the two weeks along with a couple of videos. Mediterranean mantis (Iris oratoria) was regularly seen on the outside walls close in to the porch light. On one memorable evening she sat on the doorstep undertaking what can only be described as personal grooming - all the time completely ignoring my presence - head torch on / phone in hand recording.
Bibliography
Coghlan, S. (2001) 5th Edition A Birdwatching Guide to Crete Arlequin Press, Chelmsford Essex
Lewington, R. (2015) 2nd Edition Pocket Guide to the Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland British Wildlife Publishing, Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, Oxford
Tolman, T. & Lewington, R. (2008) Collins Butterfly Guide, The Most Complete Guide to the Butterflies of Britain and Europe William Collins Books, HarperCollins Publishers, London
Dragonfly identification confirmed with reference to:
Brooks, S. (1999) Revised Edition Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland BritishWildlife Publishing, Dorset
cretewww.com 2018 [ONLINE] Odanata - Dragonflies and Damselflies of Crete Available at: http://cretewww.com/odonata/index.htm Accessed 19th December 2018
