Our Notepage
Here we give notes and information of the habitats, animals and plants you see in the films.

SALT AND FRESHWATER LAKES

Larnaca saltlake birds

Saltlake. first rains. arrival flamingoes. Whenever the first rains occur greater flamingoes land on the salt lake. The rains bring the brine shrimp larvae to the surface and the flamingos like to eat the shrimp larvae. They also feel safer surrounded by water. The brine shrimp lays fertlised eggs in the sand which will hatch only when conditions are right, that is when lake is full of water, and the salinity of the water does not exceed 25%. Flamingoes arrive at the earliest in November, depending on rainfall, and leave at the latest in June. when they fly north east to breeding grounds in Turkey. (watch video)

Saltlake. flamingo feeding. Flamingoes are filters feeders. They prefer to feed in water 5 to 50 cms in depth but will also feed in much deeper water. Stationary, with their head submerged upside down in the water, their bill pointing backwards, they tread in one spot turning in a circle, disturbing the mud with their feet, and suck the water into their bill. The delicate keratine gills in their mouth grasp and swallow the solids, then squeezing out the water from the sides of their bill. When upright the cup of the flamingoe's beak is on the top, which only makes sense when feeding as the head and the beak are upside down the cup is now on the bottom holding the food before swallowing. Their food is brine shrimp, larvae of chironomids, small molluscs, crustaceans and plant seeds. They will eat 200 grammes (7oz) a day, 60 grammes (2oz) dry weight, per day filtering 20 litres of water in the process. As there is no competition for brine shrimp from other birds, the flamingos can stay on the lake in large numbers. They arrive when the density of algae and brine shrimp are at their maximum and stay until the supply is depleted to one quarter of its original density, when they will move on. The minimum concentration of algae in the water is 3 grammes dry weight per litre before the flamingos will have to move on. The shrimp recover very quickly, returning to normal levels in under two weeks. This emphasises the unique value of several saltlakes within flying distance, as exists in Cyprus, for the birds to fly between and to return to lakes following the variation in availability of food. There is also an need to manage all the Cyprus lakes to provide a home for the flamingoes. Their food contains carontenoids made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen sythethised by the algae, that converts to pigments in the flamingoe's body, that form the canthaxanthin in their feathers. This turns the flamingoes pink.(watch video)

Saltlake.flamingo behaviour. Flamingos have a array of distinctive body movements which are thought to indicate to prospective mates that individuals fitness. The more vigerous the movements the fitter the bird. These displays are more frequent as the flocks are preparing to leave their wintering lakes and set off for their breeding sites. Marching A group of birds, standing upright, one bird almost touching the bird in front, set of on a fast walk, head flagging as they move. Head flagging. One bird will lift its head into am alert position, with its bill pointing upwards, and start to turn its head from side to side. once one bird has taken this posture others follow. Wing salute. Usually following head flagging. Each bird, with its head held up and its kneck outstretched, spreads its back feathers, cocks its tail into the air and flicks its wings open. It will hold this position for a few seconds and then snap its wings shut. Inverted wing salute/Bowing The flamingo lowers its kneck, cocks its tail into the air and partly opens its wings over its back with the tips pointing upwards.This lasts just a couple of seconds before the wings close again. This movement is more often made by the females. Twist-preen. The head flag and wing salute is usually followed by a twist preen.One wing is held above its back while the bird twists its head and kneck around as if it is preening. Wing stretch. The flamingo stretches one wing and one leg on the same side of its body to the back. Hooking. An aggressive action against other encroaching flamingoes. The head is held forward horizontally with its beak pointing back into its chest. Kneck swaying. Another agressive gesture. The flamingo sways its head and kneck to and fro.(watch video)

Saltlake.flamingo moult. Flamingos moults are irregular but usually occur once or twice a year depending on the age of the bird and takes place over winter to early spring. The discarded feathers wash up along the shoreline providing ideal material for the swallows to line their nests. If the flamingos loose and replace their flight feathers gradually over the winter then they will still be able to fly, but if the moult happens over a short time then they will be flightless and vulnerable. Flocks tend to synchronise their moults, as the group can better protect itself rather than allowing flightless individuals to manage by themselves.(watch video)

Saltlake.flamingo sleeping. Flamingos sleep with both legs tucked under their bodies, or standing on a single leg, head held in front of their body or curled into an "s" shape along their backs. For protection they gather into tight flocks with the individuals at either end keeping an eye open. (watch video)

Saltlake.flamingo short flights. Flamingoes fly around the saltlakes, always looking for the most abundant supply of their food. And as time for their departure grows nearer flights become more frequent as wings and communication is tested, They take three or four running steps to propel themselves into the air and three or four running steps to steady themselves as they land. By March these flights are more frequent as the food in the lakes is becoming depleted and more movement is needed to find the best spots. Finally as the water recedes and food becomes scarcer, one after the other, the flamingo flocks take off for good, heading east for their breeding colonies in Turkey, Afghanistan and Iran.(watch video)

Saltlake. flamingo predation. Adult flamingoes are over six feet tall and quick to take flight. There are not many predators who would be able to bring them down. But pollution in the water, the outflow from drains of neighbouring houses, and overkeen child hunters with their first air rifle, will. All the saltlakes, except Paralimni, are protected and this sort of activity is prohibited. But occasionally it still happens. (watch video)

Saltlake. flamingo young. Young flamingoes are the last to arrive on their wintering grounds and the last to leave. They will not mate until they are 5 to 8 years old and so do not share the same pressures as the adults to establish a nesting site on their summer breeding ground. As they are raised in creches they are used to sticking together and migrate to and from their wintering ground in flocks of young birds, guided by a few adults, and remain in these flocks throughout their winter stay. Their plumage is black and white. They will be two years old before they will grow pink flight feathers as they will have not yet consumed enough of the carotenoid to produce the pink colouration. (watch video)

Saltlake.flamingoes depart. The saltlakes dry out completely over summer and cannot provide the protection anf food needed by breeding birds.So the flamingoes will leave. The frst signs are a creschendo of hoots as they seem to alert one another, opening and closing their wings as if in practice flight, dipping their heads with their wings pushed upwards, raising their heads up and down, moving their heads from side to side, and walking purposefully in circles. Then they take off in huge groups. Individuals some way away will join in and, once in the air, smaller groups split off from the main group and circle back as if to pick up straglers. Then they head off east, either following the coast or the line of the Trodos mountains, before turnng north, to join flamingoes migrating from Spain, Italy, Iran, Israel and India on the breeding grounds on Lake Van and the Gadiz delta in eastern Turkey. Other breeding lakes in Turkey, Akgol and Burdur have dried up due to drilling and climate change. Young birds, with black wing feathers, without the pink of the mature birds, stick together in juvenile flocks, and are the last to leave, with no urgency to establish a breeding territory. Flamingoes will start to leave from Febuary although it will be late June before the last birds have left. In winters of heavy rainfall birds may be on the lakes even later as long as there is sufficient water to feed and keep safe from predators.(watch video)

Saltlake. small birds. Some birds like the hooded crows, owls and kestrels, live around the saltlake for the whole year. Most of the smaller birds are staying for just the winter before moving on to breed further north. During their stay they need be aware of predators, the most deadly being the kestrel. Crows will see off a kestrel by acting together, mobbing him, and forcing him out of their territory.(watch video)

Saltlake.autumn migration. The saltlake is a safe resting place for migrants. In autumn, with most of the water evaporated, there is no food for the birds. They have landed here simply to rest. With wide visas, it is easy to spot predators before they can cause any harm. Flocks of grey heron and demoiselle cranes sit at the centre of the saltlake within sight of the mosque, while glossy ibis, egrets and waders black backed stilt and spur winged plover prefer the reedbeds near the aquaduct at the northern end of the lake. They stay for just a few days.(watch video)

more on saltlake on the issues page

Larnaca saltlake foxes

Saltlake.fox cubs. There is more than one set of breeding foxes around the saltlake, each producing an average of two cubs. Normally the parents will bring back carion to the set to feed the cubs, but these two cubs are orphans. They have found foster parents who have stood in to provide food until the two become independent. But they are very wary and approach very slowly. Their distrust of humans will hopefully keep them alive. (watch video)

Saltlake.fox eats. Foxes live and breed in the wild copses that surround the saltlake. They establish a territory which will have a safe den underground to give birth to their cubs and access to food. The bushes around the saltlake harbour birds lizards and rats, all food for foxes. Foxes hunt but they are also scavengers and are as adept as feral cats in finding leftovers in dustbins. Once a territory has been tested and found safe, then families of foxes will breed in the same territory from one generation to the next. They are shy animals, seldom emerging before dusk, and very wary of humans. With good cause. As now hunting pressure groups are trying to reinstate the fox as a legitimate target for their guns. (watch video)

Saltlake.cat and fox. Cats and foxes are both hunters and scavengers and their paths cross often as they seek out the same food scources. Nomally a cat will give way to a fox. But as the outcome is uncertain if there should be a confrontation, fights are avoided. There are feeding tables around the lake where people who care for the wild animals will put out scraps. The cats will often be waiting safe in a tree and,less wary of humans, will be the first to feed. The fox approaches later when quiet has returned. (watch video)

Saltlake.beagle and fox. Beagles are the traditional hunters of foxes. But this beagle, abandoned on the saltlake, has found it better to co operate rather than compete, at least at mealtime. He knows when food is put down for the foxes and he has come to share. The fox and the beagle dance around each other a little but settle down to each take a mouthfull. (watch video)

Saltlake.fox family eating. When food is readily available foxes will share with close relatives. Four foxes share a meal of dinner scraps put down by a walker. This meal point is regularly replenished and the foxes have come to know this and that there will be enough food for all. The dominant fox, with face marks resembling black eye tears, eats first while a smaller fox with similar markings watches and eats when the opportunity arises. Two other foxes watch and pace in the background afraid to approach before the larger fox has finished. A lighter coloured fox, with less distinct eye markings, approaches first. When he leaves, a fourth fox with black socks on his/her front paws, warily approaches to mop up what little is left and quickly retreats. This group remained together for a month, before they were disturbed by moving heavy machinery near the earth, after which the group split up and dispursed. (watch video)

more on fox hunting, hunting and stray dogs on the issues page

Larnaca saltlake trees and flowers

Larnaca saltlake.eucalyptus forest.The eucalyptus is a tree with a flaking bark, shallow widespreading rootes, and long pendulant leaves growing in clusters, white, cream, yellow, pink or red flowers, woody cone shaped fruits with valves that open to release its seeds. Its leaves produce the eucalyptus oil that is used as a perfume and disinfectant. The petal structure of the leaves let the light filter down to the ground not shading out the shrubs that grow beneath the tree. Eucalyptus trees were introduced by the British late 19^th century. In 1879 a forester A.E. Wilde, seconded from the bBitish consulate in India, planted the first Eucualyptus seeds. Eucalyptus spread out their rootes sideways under the ground and will draw up water from a wide area around the tree. Cyprus at that time was hit by frequent malaria epidemics, one third of the population of Nicosia died from the disease in one year 1986. Today older people remember as children, loosing brothers and sisters to the disease.The mosquito larvae breeds in shallow pools and it was hoped that the eucalyptus with its unusual roote pattern would drain the saltlake swamp destroying the mosquitoes breeding sites. The last case of malaria was recorded in Cyprus in 1967, the same year the WHO declared Cyprus malaria free. A Turkish Cypriot, Dr Mehmed Aziz, health inspector for the British government in the early 1900s was responsible more than anyone else, for the eradication of malaria in Cyprus. The eucalyptus also played its part. Today there is concern that the Eucalptus draws up water that might be better used for irrigation, but its unusual roote pattern does not penetrate the deep aquafers where the water flows and so the tree does not divert water from crops or town water supplies. It does not compete with native shrubs in the mountain forests and so does not endanger native Cyprus trees. ( An article by Serkan Ilseven and Mert Basson our pdf page explains this in more detail) The eucalyptus is native to Australia, part of the myrtle family, of which there are over 700 species. 16 species can be found in Cyprus of which two, the blue gum eucalyptus ( eucalyptus globulus) and the red gum ( eucalyptus tereticornis) are most often found. The eucalyptus adds a layer of bark each year as the old bark dries up and peels off the tree. The gum resin from the bark is used as a colour die for silk and wool giving a natural green to red hue. The leaves contain an oil which serves as a powerful disinfectant and insect repellent, and a sweet perfume. The tree itself regenerates quickly when cut down and so provides a replenishable scource for pulpwood and paper production. It is favoured habitat for bees as it is the only tree in flower from October to December and so loved by beekeepers. So in all eucalyptus is a productive tree for humans. On the saltlake the forest is a hunting ground for the kestrel and tawny owls, shelter for the hooded crows, and migrating beeeaters. Foxes build their homes in the undergrowth. Mimosa and buckthorn are the most common shrubs growing beneath the trees providing nectar for bees and berries nutrition for small birds. The shallow rootes of the eucallyptus make it vulnerable to high rainfall and strong winds. In the spring of 2020 a large magnificent tree crashed to the ground. Young eucalyptus will sprout from seeds which had laid dormant in the ground as full sunlight penetrates for the first time and the fallen tree will likely regrow from its stump. (watch video)

more on eucalyptus forest on issues page

Saltlake.spring flowers. The rains are followed by a greening of the banks of the saltlake. Asphodel is the first flower to bloom, with anenomes and crocuses suceeded by the barbary nut iris, yellow trefoil, blue scarlet pimperel and asparagus pea, Many of the flowers, like the iris and anenome, grow up from bulbs in the ground in the same places every year. They spread by sending out rhizomes under the soil, extending their colony very gradually over time. As they don't rely on insects for reproduction they can flower earlier than other plants. Rarer plants like the naked man's orchid also propagate through rhizomes, and so also appear in clusters in early spring, but they need a special fungus to thrive and so remain rarer and localised. Other early flowers, like the rest harrow, pimpernel, cape sorrel, grass vetchling, wild garlic and crown daisy are insect pollinated and so flower later, their seeds carried over the entire bank of the saltlake. (watch video)

Larnaca saltlake.early summer .The banks of the saltlake change from green, interspersed with colourful spring flowers, to uniform brown as temperatures rise and rainfall decreases. The most visible plant of early summer is mimosa with its dense display of yellow flowers. The mimosa, like the eucalyptus, the dominant tree on the saltlake, is an import from Australia. Migrant birdslike the reed warbler, are on their way from East Africa, to breeding grounds in central and northern Europe. A few remain to bred in Cyprus.The beeater flies from western and southern Africa to breed in southern and eastern Europe. Small numbers have bred in Cyprus. Beeeaters burrow a hole into sandy banks to lay their eggs, breeding in dense colonies. Although the colourful early spring flowers have died away, there is a subtle variation in colour amoung the grases, from green through brown to red.The lake is filled to the banks, even as late as May and June, but a carpet of algae floats on the surface, created by the increased oxyen levels resulting from the recent inflow of grey water from nearby houses. (watch video)

Saltlake.late summer flowering plants .With its yellow petals and red stamen, the flowering Jerusalem Thorn is quite striking. It is one of the last flowering plants before the summer heat withers any delicate vegetation. The bumble bees and wasps drink it's nectar, taking pollen from flower to flower at the same time, propagating the plant. Only specialist salt tolerant plants can grow in the conditions on the banks of the saltlake, plants like the saltwort and glasswort. These plants can grow here as they have mechanisms for dealing with the salt which is drawn in the water the plant needs to survive. Some of the salt is pumped back into the soil through the plant's rootes. What salt is taken up into the plant is absorbed and stored within its cells. When the concentration of salt becomes too great in some stems, they wither to be replaced by a younger growth and the cycle is repeated. Late in its annual cycle the glasswort turns brilliant red. Subsequently some stems die away to shed excess salt. (watch video)

Saltlake.agave plants in flower. A native plant of Mexico and related to the yucca. The agave flowers only once, every ten years or so. It sends up a stem to a height of thirty feet, to bear its tubular flowers which turn to seed over the summer. Once the seeds are dispersed the parent plant dies. In the Meditteranean the american agave is the most common, known as the century plant as it takes so long to mature flower and produce seeds. Young plants can also grow from the roote system.The argave is a natural sweetener and a food scource. One variety is the main ingredient in the production of tequilla.(watch video)

Larnaca saltlake.Limnatis.fallen trees. Once weakened, sucessive years of drought will kill a tree altogether, or so weaken it that a strong wind will bring it down. Once it has fallen, fungi and insects get to work, absorbing the bulk of the tree little by little, returning its nutrients back into the soil. The bracket fungi and crust fungi creeps over the surface of the tree while the weevil and the chafer beetle burrow into its centre. Beetles and ants both eat into the dead tree and lay their eggs in the caveties, accelerating the trees decompostion as their offspring do the same. Bit by bit the dead tree breaks into smaller pieces until it disintergrates altogether. (watch video)

Larnaca saltlake walks

Larnaca saltlake.walk at dusk. A walk around the saltlake at dusk reveals the shy animals that hide away during the daylight. On the receding waterline, noisy black winged stilts pick insects off the lake surface and crustaceans like the brine shrimp from the water. They arrive in June, depending on how much sand has been exposed by the receding water, and leave together, over just a few days, in early August, possibly to other local sites where the feeding is better. Swallows give way to bats, the nightshift, both sweeping for insects. Crows roost as the owls wake. Two types of owl hunt on the borders of the lake, often in pairs, the scops owl, distinguishable by its erect ear tufts, and the smaller little owl. They swoop over bushes picking off insects, mice and frogs. The largest mammal of the saltlake, the fox, is also a hunter. The vixen brings back food to her cubs, sometimes a crow, sometime even a feral cat. If he doesn't eat it, the cub marks it as his for eating later. The Cyprus fox is protected as it is a unique Cyprus species. Also brought out by the night are are the smaller mammals, the hedgehog and the field mouse. (watch video)

Larnaca saltlake.spring floral walk. After a late but long period of rainfall the grasses of the saltlake break out into colour with a succession of wildflowers. On disturbed ground light and water trigger seeds into growth. Poppy seeds can lie dormant in the soil almost indefinitely, before exposure to light will stimulate growth. These opportunistic plants of disturbed ground, corn poppies and crown daisies, are annuals, which, once pollinated, will wither away, leaving their seeds in the ground for the cycle to repeat.They grow in different places each year, wherever their seeds fall. At this time of the ear flamingoes are on the lake in large numbers.Some will stay till late Spring but most will move before the last of the rains. They fly east, setting off on their migration to their breeding sites in Turkey. They follow two rootes over Cyprus, either following the south coast or the line of the Trodos mountains. Amoung the grasses perrenial plants like the thistles, grow in the same place every year. Their roote system buried in the soil, is stirred into growth by the Winter rains, push up their stems, flower and then wither, with their rootes always secure under the soil. Other birds visible on the lake in numbers are the swalows and swifts. They fly in flocks over the grasses and and over the water sweeping up the myriad insects that hatch in Spring. Some perrenials have developed an extraordinary relationship with other plants that provide nutrients they cannot generate for themselves. Broomrape, looking a little like an anaemic orchid, cannot produce chloryphyl and, on the saltlake, relies on pine trees to provide it. They grow under the pine, formng a perfect cicle under its canopy, extracting clorophyl from its rootes. The most exotic plants include the orchids and broomrape. These plants grow in small single colonies and can be found in only one or two spots around the saltlake. As the water of the lake starts to evaporate, wading birds, like the blackbacked stilt fly in to feed from the insects exposed on themud and in the shallow water. Most of the flamingoes have left. Often it is just the juvenile flamingoes that remain behind. As they do not need to compete for nesting sites there is no rush to leave, as long as water remains on the lake. Now the last of the flowering plants are showing, the wild leek and blue cardodatium, as the grasses yellow and wilt in the increasing heat. (watch video)

Larnaca saltlake.summer floral walk. During the long scorching six months of summer, from May to October, plants wither and colour evaporates from the saltlake. Groundhugging plants with very small flowers like the heliotrope manage to keep their flowers into early summer. The caper flowers after dusk when the daytime heat has diminished. From June even the grasses dry out. The thistle husks are the only reminder of the springtime blossom. Red and green dragonflies hover over the vegetation, engaging in courtship races, returning to a familiar stalk of grass, waiting for a mate. A dragonfly lives for a single year, of which only two months in late summer are spent in its adult form when it is seen flying between plants. The rest of its life is spent as a nymph under water. In its two months as an adult a dragonfly finds a mate and lay its eggs under the surface of the saltlake for the cycle to repeat, eggs hatching into midges, which undergo several moults before finally emerging as adults next summer. If not first plucked from the water by overwintering flamingoes. (watch video)

more on Cyprus flora on issues page

freshwater lakes and ponds

Achna reservoir.autumn migration. Birds have a high metabolism and so need to eat constantly. When food becomes scarce they will migrate to new places where food is more abundant, they relocate to a territory that is optimum for them. Migration will consume up to 40 percent of the birds bodyweight, so the rewards in energy conservation when they reach their destination must outweigh this loss. Not all birds migrate. Common feeders with a generalised diet will usually stay put, while birds with more specialised diets will fly south in persuit of their favourite food. As lakes freeze in the north water birds fly south to find open water. Herons, egrets and bittern are fish eaters and so look for open water with a supply of fish. The reservoirs fit the bill exactly. These large birds use thermals, upward drafts of air, to aid their flight and as these thermals are only found over land, normally these birds will avoid flight over the sea, rather following the mainland coastline. The birds on the Achna reservoir have followed southerly winds which have brought them to Cyprus.If there is enough fish, some will overwinter here, but most will fly on to the Middle East, and Africa, north of the Sahara. (watch video)

Oroklini marshes.waders. Waders arrive later in the spring, when the water levels on the saltlake have receded. As they feed from the waters edge as they cannot reach their food when the lake is full. Some waders, like the black winged stilt, the ruff and plovers tolerate the salty conditions on the lake, while others, like the snipe and sandpipers, prefer the clearer water on the Oroklini marshes east of Larnaca. (watch video)

Spiros reservoir. freshwater birds. One pond on the saltlake has been dug and lined to take recycled water from Larnaca. This is greywater pumped on to be used by agriculture. It is fresh not saltwater, and the lake is much deeper than the saltlake and stocked with fish. This attracts freswater birds who like to eat fish, and diving birds who feed from molluscs on the reedbeds on the bottom. Cormorants, buik swans, grebes, and even pelicans visit this pond. (watch video)

more on bird migration on issues page

COAST

coast birds

Cape Greco.spring migration. Cape greco is marquis, a typical mediterranean landscape. According to Paul Sterry in Collins Complete Mewditerranean Wildlife "as a rule of thumb a given habitat is probably marquis rather than garingue if you have to force your way between shrubs". Typical marquis plants are thorny, to protect themselves from being eaten, and thick leaved to better retain water. Cape Creco has three main layers of vegetation, the trees, mostly eucalyptus and allepo pine, bushes, dominated by juniper, and the ground vegetation.The promitory itself is a huge larval outcrop formed as larva cooled as it reached the sea in the massive volcanic eruption that created the island. Its volcanic soil makes Cape Greco particularly rich in flowers. As the sea has a cooling effect on the local climate the flowering season is extended into early summer. Some of the flowers are endemic to Cyprus, that is they can be found only in Cyprus. On the other hand other plants, the eucalyptus and mimosa in particular, are introduced plants. The eucalyptus was introduced to Cyprus as recently as 1984 from Australia. The position of Cape Greco, on the south east tip of the island together with its rich plantlife, make it a favourite resting place for spring and autumn migrants. It provides food for a variety of birds. The kingfisher plucks small fish from the sea, the flycatcher catches the pollinating insects, finches pick the juniper berries, and sparrows scavenge the scraps left by passing bathers.The black headed bunting, more often heard than seen, migrates fom India in the early summer to to breed and nest in the bushes of Cape Greco. The chuckar is bred as fodder for the hunters, but is reasonably safe within the limits of the wildlife park.The sea around the cape is rich in sealife. (watch video)

Akamas.autumn migration. Birds often follow the coast on their migration. It provides a route map which birds recognise from generation to generation. Other aids to navigation are reference to the stars, the earth's magnetic fields which some birds are specially adapted to sense, scanning the landscape, inherited recognition of the landscape, learning migratory routes from older birds. Most small birds fly at night, 3-6 kilometres high, setting off at dusk and resting in daylight. This is when the warblers like the willow warbler and the blackcap settle on the trees to rest and eat, and when they are vulnerable to bird traps, nets and limesticks. Large birds usually fly by day. White storks are heavy birds whose migratory journey would normally keep them overland where they find the thermals to help them on their way. Ocassionally they find their way to Cyprus, probably by accident, Normally fish eaters, they will eat whatever they find during migration, catching the late insects in the afalfa fields. (watch video)

Akrotiri.griffon vultures. The griffon vulture is not likely to survive in Cyprus without a help from conservation groups. There used to be over 100 birds just fifty years ago but now cywild videos there are less than ten. (see issues) The griffon nests on steep cliffs, inacessible to possible predators. But as the nest is so high up the chicks face a terrifying inaugural flight, when they must fly or crash down onto the rocks below. Unfortunately too many chicks do perish on their first flight. Other birds also live on the cliffs. It is the rock doves natural habitat, hooded crows, kestrels and most notably eleonora's falcon. The eleonora hunts over the cliffs, often in pairs, picking out stragglers from the flocks of migrating birds that follow the coastline. Like the griffon it also nests in crevices high in the cliffs.(watch video)

more on cape greco on issues page

TOWN

town street and garden plants

Larnaca street. street trees. Street trees provide shade and coolness for children to enjoy the swings in the shade of a mature weeping fig. They decorate the strees with colour as a drive and a walk along Larnaca streets with figus, passing an innovative block of flats with green plants hanging down wire mesh on its exterior, passed blue flowered jacavander and pink oleander. Walk beneath peppertree passed a house in process of demoltion with its trees and hedges ripped up. Walk passed the stubs of felled trees lining the pavement, fruit trees, mandarin and lemon with roosting sparrows. Date palms in flower to the stubs of felled palms. Laurel,olive and red jasmine to the concrete filling where trees once grew.(watch video) read more about street trees on the issues page

Larnaca street. calabrian pine. Also known as the turkish pine, it is native to the easterm Mediterranean with its mild winters. It grows from sea level up to 600 meters. It is the most common tree in Cyprus covering about 90% of woodland. Closely related to the aleppo pine which has co2 sequestration rate of 50g annually. Its highly nutritious sugary sap, honeydew, is collected by honeybees who produce pine honey, with known medical benefits. It can grow up to thirty meters high, only reaching its full height after 50 years, with a trunk diameter of one to two meters. Its bark is orange red with deep fissures. Its needles bright green to yellowish green. Its cones, when still closed, are green ripening to red brown after 24 months. The cones open slowly in the next year to disperse its seeds in the wind after they are softened by the early winter rains. It is a popular tree on town streets as It is tolerant to heat and drought and will grow in poor soils. This reduces the need for extensive maintenance. Without competition from close forest trees, it grows a wide canopy offering shade and coolness, fought over by drivers parking their cars. Collared doves and laughing doved nest in its thick canopy and thrushes and tits scour the branches for insects (watch video)

Larnaca street. norfolk island pine. Also known as the house pine as it is sometimes grown in containers as a ornamental house plant.It is endemic to Norfolk island in the Pacific, part of Australia. It grows slowly. Branches grow out horizontally, from the same height on the tree, forming a perfect pentagon. Branches grow at each stage of the trees growth producing five levels when the tree has reached its full height of 65 metres. Its trunk will grow to 3 metres in diameter. It has small male and large female cones which take 18 months to mature disintergrating to release their edible seeds. Its symetric appearance has made it a popular town tree in Cyprus, as it tolerates the Mediterranean climate, with its hot summers and mild winters. In the town it is a favourite roosting tree for overwintering starlings that swoop on it in huge numbers and a resting place for crows, starlings, doves and other town birds. (watch video)

Larnaca street. spring blossom. In the Mediterranean trees burst into vibrant colour putting to shame the pastel blossoms of northern europe. Street trees are planted for their colour, and although some may be in blossom for a relatively short time, others will come into flower to take their place. The judas tree appropriately planted near St Lazarus church is the tree, legend holds, that Judas used to hang himself. It is an import to Cyprus from Judea. The rhododendron, native to the Himalayans, and the bougainvillia, an import from Brazil, are popular ornamental shrubs as they flower continuosly from May through to October. (watch video)

Larnaca street eucalyptus trees. The row of eucalyptus near the Larnaca police station are as old as the British built port and customs buildings that sit close by. They may have been planted by the British who valued the shade they provided and the fresh aroma from the trees sap. The eucalyptus is a native of Australia and so is a long way from home, but has become naturalised in Cyprus and now grow wild around the coast. (watch video)

Larnaca street. date palm. Once grown for it's date crop it is now a tree found mainly in town in gardens. The date palm is a testament of ancient civilisations, cultivated in Arabia eight thousand years ago, with fossil records dating back 50 million years. It is mentioned in both the Bible and the Qu'ran. A date seed two centuries old, found in a pot during excavations of Herod the Greats palace at Masada in Israel, was planted in 2005, and grew into a fruit bearing tree. The date palm can be male or female, with only the female tree bearing fruit, up to one thousand dates in a single bunch. But first it must be pollinated by pollen from the male tree. It can live for 150 years and grow to a height of 75 feet. It is a tree of extraordimary productivity with every part having a use. The fruit is rich in nutrients in particular potassium and is the base of a multitude of middle eastern dishes. The sap is tapped for palm wine, the leaves used for mats, ropes, and baskets, the wood for roof rafters and walking sticks. In Cyprus a infestation of red palm weevils (see garden insects) has led to the destruction of many date palms. (watch video)

Larnaca street. weeds and wild flowers. Plants will grow wherever they find a bit of earth and a bit of water, along the pavement guttering, in sunken drains, from leaking wall pipes. Only plants with specific strategies will survive the raw heat on the pavements.Most plants are pollinated by daytime insects and so show their flowers in the sunlight. But the street plants often hide their flowers during the day, to open at dusk when the heat has subsided and the nightime insects are on the wing. The red jasmine"s flowers are tightly coiled during the day but at dusk become a wave of colour as they open their petals to draw in moths and other night flying insects. The red jasmine is remakable in that a flower can be divided right across its centre into two separate and distinct colours. Many of the street flowers are garden escapees, hybridised plants, that have become feral, rather than true wildflowers. (watch video)

Larnaca.town and hills.summer storm. In mid summer, after months of unrelenting heat, the skies darken, storm clouds gather, and for a couple of hours torrential rain pours onto the streets and fields, before the skies clear and the heat returns. (watch video)

Larnaca. bird lady. An old lady living in Larnaca takes her three pet paraqueets with her wherever she goes. She is often seen with them as she buys her groceries or walks on the beachfront. Their relationship is beneficial to both, companionship for her and refuge for the birds.(watch video)

Larnaca. night animals. Night animals emerge after sunset. Fear of predators, particularly us, humans, keep them hidden during daylight hours. This is particularly true for foxes, who were hunted almost to extinction in Cyprus. Night animals feel safer hunting and scavenging at night. Owls are adapted for night hunting, able to see clearly in the dark with their large eyes. Cats too have specially adapted night vision. The black rat is an exceptionally able climber, spending most of its life in tree canopies. It also builds its nest up in the trees. Mice and hedgehogs have poor vision and can only gain by scavenging at night, with less competition and fewer predators. The Cyprus long eared hedgehog is an endemic species, able to consume half its own body weight in its nighttime forageing. Bats hibernate during the day and emerge at night. They emit signals that bounce back to give the outline and proximity of objects and animals around them and so don't need vision to navigate. Exceptional hearing also helps them to locate the myriad of night moths and insects, which are their meal of choice. There are nineteen species of bat in Cyprus, the pipistrelle amoung the most common, and the fruit bat the most exotic. All are now protected. The combination of street lights and the sweet scent of the franjipani tree, a common ornamental tree in the town gardens, attract the insects. The bats hunt the insects and circle wherever the franjipani tree is found. One pipistrelle can consume three thousand insects in an evening. The fruit bat, once hunted, and still a rare sight, feeds from fruit trees, including the hanging fruit of the palm, another common ornamental tree in towns. ( "An introduction to the bats of Cyprus", a study by Niel E Middleton and Haris Nicolaou can be found as a pdf on the pdf page) (watch video)

Larnaca.colonial gardens. The ex colonial houses built by the British for the mayor and chief of police stand side by side on the road leading to the Larnaca seafront. One house has been renovated while the other slowly decays. The gardens to the houses were planted with exotic ornamental trees, like the silky oak, bottlebrush, and imported trees such as the maple, beech, and ash, still growing but now wild and unkept, with grasses and flowering plants growing in their shadow, where insects, paricularly butterflies, thrive. (watch video)

Larnaca garden.washingtonia palm. The Washingtonia palm is an ornanental tree lining the towns roads, introduced to Cyprus from its native California. It is usually pruned so severely that its flowering and seed production is never seen. Left to itself it produces bunches of hanging white flowers in Summer, turning to berries in Autumn. The flowers are pollinated by bees as they drink their nectar and its berries provide food for birds and, in this instance, for a colony of fruit bats visiting after nightfall. (watch video)

Larnaca garden. Wisteria Wisteria is a member of the pea family native to the Far East where it is a symbol of life, immortality and expanding consciousness.It lives for up to 100 years. A plant in Japan is estimated to be over 1200 years old. Two types of wisteria are common, Japanese wisteria and Chinese wisteria, identifiable by the darker blue flowers of the Japanese wisteria, but more strangely by the different growth pattern of the two plants. The Japanese wisteria twists its stem clockwise around a supporting railing or tree branch and the Chinese anticlockwise. All parts of the plant contain saponin, which is toxic, especially concentrated in the seeds and seed pods. It is a climber, wrapping its stems around any available support. It can climb up to 20 meters high and spread 20 meters across. It will flower only after 5 years, flowering for just 3 to 4 weeks in mid spring. Its hanging flowers open first from the top and then spread down to the bottom. Only when the flowers have faded do the leaves emerge.The flowers are pollinated by insects, being a particular favorite of bees and wasps, taking pollen from flower to flower as they drink the flower’s nectar. (watch video)

garden insects and reptiles

Larnaca garden. Reptiles.

Of the six thousand lizard species worldwide, there are eleven species of lizards living in Cyprus, three true lizards, four skinks, two ghekos, one agamas and one from the cameleon family. Four are endemic to Cyprus. Lizards hearing is generally rather dull and so they rely on their enhanced vision to get around. They hunt insects, flies and crickets, and snails, spiders and caterpillars and are consequently a welcome visitor to fruit trees and vines. Lizards are cold blooded. They cannot regulate their body temperature, but have to rely on the external temperature to maintain ther body heat. They bask in the sun when it's warm and hibernate when it's cold when they can no longer keep themselves warm enough. (watch video)

Larnaca garden butterflies and moths.

Of all species of lepidoptera only 1/7 are made up from butterflies. The remaining 6/7 are moths. Of the total 140,000 lepidoptera species 120,000 are moths. The visual difference between butterflies and moths is in the shape of their antenna, butterflies being club shaped at the tips, and the position of their wings when resting, Butterflies rest with their wings closed and moths with wings open. Butterflies fly by day, most moth species fly by night.

Both share the same lifecycle, evolving through the same stages of metamorposis

STAGE 1 eggs are laid on a specific host plant in Spring which will be food for the caterpillar once hatched from the egg, usually about 10 days after the eggs are laid. The eggs of some species (xxx) are laid in the autumn and remain unhatched until the following Spring.The time of the year when eggs are laid is regulated by the availability of the caterpillars foodplant, and the seasonal climatic conditions. In Spring plants are abundant for the caterpillars of both Spring laid fast hatching eggs and overwintering eggs.

STAGE 2 The caterpillar emerges from the egg and immediately sets to feeding, rapidly increasing in size. As they grow they molt their skin, a process they repeat 5 or 6 times, each time resulting in a slightly different appearance, changing its color and pattern. After 10-20 days the caterpillar makes its final molt, transforming into a pupa.

STAGE 3 The pupal stage last from 1-3 weeks. The xxx which overwinters as a pupa will remain in this stage from 2 to as long as 10 months. The pupa remains motionless, responding only to touch with a slight wiggle. It does not feed, suspended from a leaf of its foodplant, hidden from predators.

STAGE 4 Within the pupa the caterpillar liquifies and restructures as a butterfly. The butterfly emerges at dawn, to avoid predators, pumping blood into its wings which unfold within a few minutes, stiffening for a further 1-2 hours before the butterfly can take to flight. For most butterflies their adult life span is just a few weeks, enough time to mate and lay eggs. Butterflies species that seem to be on the wing from Spring to Autumn are often in fact three or four generations with a lifespan of just a few weeks. Exceptions are the satyridae which live for a few months. The cleopatra and nettle tree butterfly lives for 12 months, from May to May the following year.

In their often short life as an adult, the butterflies need to mate and reproduce. The male of some species establishes a home territory, and either waits for a female to pass through to invite her to mate. Other species will actively seek out a mate. Once a mate has been found scents (pheromones) are released from a section in the wings. Mating will last from a few minutes to a few hours.

Butterfly eggs are a favorite food for many insects, particularly wasps, who will take them back to their hives for food for their larvae. Only 3 eggs from the many laid by each butterfly will develop to adulthood.

Different butterflies are seen at different times of the year and in different spaces. Some, like the small white, are seen throughout the year, flying locally from garden to garden in search of food. The Cyprus Grayling and Cyprus Brown fly further, from plains to mountains, as the heat withers plant life on the plains, and return to the plains, as it becomes colder in the mountains ,to lay their eggs. Other butterflies, like the Painted Lady, has its numbers explode in Spring and Autumn, as migrating swarms fly over Cyprus from Israel, flying northwest, feeding as they go, on their way to Turkey and Greece, and in successive generations reaching northern Europe. In the Autumn The painted lady passes again over Cyprus, this time on its journey south. Many remain overwinter, as its host plant, the nettle, stays in leaf through the mild Cyprus winter. It will produce three broods through Winter to Spring, the final generation flying north as the nettle withers in the Summer heat. Other butterflies like the long-tailed blue, and millet skipper follow much the same path. The Red Admiral arrives in Cyprus in late Autumn, usually in October, to spend the Winter in Cyprus,. It lays its eggs on a common weed, pellitory, in three overlapping broods, the last brood seen in June. (watch video) (see identification)

Larnaca garden bugs and spiders.

BUGS

Bugs and beetles as with all insects have six legs, and have wings along their back protected by a hard outer shell. Beetles are the largest group of insects in the world, with over 4000,000 species, around 40 percent of all insect species. In their short adult life they are programmed to find a mate and reproduce. They have a strong sense of smell which picks up the pheremones of the opposite sex. After mating the female will lay its eggs in wheat bran or flower, food for the young, but then leaves them to fend for themselves. The offspring go through four life stages. They remain as an an egg for 7-10 days. This is the first stage. They then hatch into a larva, tiny on hatching but vociferous eaters, growing rapidly, shedding their old skin as they go through up to 15 molts. This second stage lasts about 3 months. Once the larva has grown to full size it sheds its skin for a final time and develops into a pupa. In this third stage, which lasts 7-10 days, the pupa remains motionless as its internal body parts are rearranged to form its final body shape as a beetle, developing its legs and wings. Shedding its pupal skin. The beetle enters its final satge as an adult, some adult beetles will living for only a few weeks simply to reproduce, other species can live through the winter.

SPIDERS

Spiders are not classed as insects, as they have 8 rather than 6 legs. Their body is divided into two parts with a narrow waist. All 8 legs are attached to the front part of the body. The first pair of legs administer the venom to sedate their prey, the second pair are used to touch and feel. The remaining two pairs are used to help with the silk production that makes up their web. At the back of the spider are 3 spinarettes, which provide the proteins needed for the spider to weave its web.The silk of the web is light, but it can be tougher than Kelvar, used by the spiders to wrap up and protect their young, build shelters and construct their web.

The large loose three dimensional web of the daddy long legged spider is quite different from the tight orbital webs of other garden spiders. Spiders are mostly found at the centre of their webs during the day, waiting for an insect to become enmeshed. They move out to the struggling insect, immobilise it with a shot of venom, and wrap it up to put in the larder.

Spiders lifecycle is divided into 3 stages, eggs, young and adults. Eggs are laid into a cocoon, holding a few or sometimes several hundred eggs. The eggs hatch hatch after a few weeks, or in some species, after hibernation as eggs, after 10 months. The young spiders go through 5 moults before reaching their full adult size. As an adult male spiders live for only two weeks, long enough to find a mate and restart the cycle .

Most spiders have poor eyesight, but very sensitive to vibrations, relying on vibrations in their web to alert them of disturbance. The spiders joints are equipped with vibration sensors to sense movement on whatever surface they are standing on. They are also able to detect electric fields with their very sensitive body hairs. Spiders can travel over long distances by weaving strands which will carry them on the wind. As the spiders silk as it leaves its body is negatively charged and this is repelled by the negative charge of the plant it is sitting on, this may help the spider to launch into the air when setting off on these flights.(watch video) (see identification)

Larnaca garden. Bees, Flies, Wasps (Hymenoptera)

150,000 species worldwide, with many more species still undiscovered. They are an irreplaceable resource allowing plants to seed and trees to fruit, pollinating 80 percent of flowering plants, and 75 percent of fruits, vegetables and nuts, as they feed, carrying pollen from plant to plant, fertilising each plant with each visit.

Bees and wasps grow to adulthood through four stages, eggs, larva, pupae to adult. The eggs are laid in a nest, where once the egg hatches, the larvae feed on insects brought by the adult, in the case of wasps, or feed on pollen in the case of bees. Larvae develop into pupae, enveloped by a protective skin, and finally emerge as the adult wasp or bee.

BEES

There are seven distinct bee families. The Apidae family, the largest family (around 5,700 species), include the most familiar garden bees, honeybees , bumblebees and carpenter bees. The Megachilidae family (around 3,000 speies) include leafcutter bees and mason bees.The Andrenidae family (around 2,700 species) are solitary ground nesting bees. The Colletidae family (around 2,000 species) are the plasterer bees. The Halictidae family (around 3,500 species) , called the sweat bees as the are attracted to human sweat have a dark metallic appearance. The Melittidae family have only 200 species, restricted mainly to Africa with the Stenotritidae family smaller still with 21 species, restricted to Australia. All the families, with exception of the Australia, can be found in Cyprus, 335 bee species, with 21 species endemic, found only in Cyprus.
Bees feed from the nectar found in flowers. They taste the sweetness of a flower just by standing on it, tasting with their feet and legs. Flowers are negatively charged, with their roots in the ground. Bees as they fly become positively charged. Bees sense the flowers electric charge with their sensitive body hairs and when they descend on a flower pollen drifts up to attach to the bees, which they carry to the next plant. The male pollen from a flowers male anther carried to the female stigma of another plant enables that plant to form seeds which will be the next generation.

FLIES

160 thousand species know worldwide, second only to beetles in species number, but far more important in their roles in maintaining ecosystems. In Cyprus there are approx 1800 known species of flies. Feeds from dead meat, dung and from flowers. Important in biogradation process of dead animals as well as plant pollination. By feeding and recycling decaying matter that in time would have become toxic, flies are reducing the threat of habitat pollution. The larvae of the common Green Bottle is used in medicine to clean infected wounds. Feeding from decaying plant material flies speed up the process of plant decomposition.

Unlike most insects flies have a single pair of wings. Like other insects flies go through four stages of development, egg, larva, pupa and adult. The adult lays its eggs on carrion, or its foodplant, hatching into maggots, to feed and grow, shedding its skin three or four times to reach its final stage when its skin hardens to form a pupa. After only a few days the adult fly emerges. Different fly species tend to favor specific habitats, dunes, grassland, marsh or forest, following their food source.

WASPS

Wasps, slimmer in build than bees, are predatory, feeding on other insects, as well as feeding from pollen. They lay their eggs in nests, like bees, but most wasps have a heirachical system to organize their hives as do bees. Unlike bees they feed their larvae with the larvae of other insects, not pollen.(watch video) (see identification)

Larnaca garden. Grasshoppers,Crickets and Mantids

GRASSHOPPER AND CRICKETS

grasshoppers and crickets have an oval face with two complex eyes either side with two antennae between the eyes. There are 3 simple eyes on top of the head.ntennae help the insect to smell and feel its surroundings. Complex eyes are used for normal sight and can perceive movement, the simple eyes for sensing light and help with flight stability. Hearing organs are on the side of the body. Its wings give them limited flight. Grasshopper and Crickets sing to attract mates by scraping one body part against another, in most cases rubbing the ribs on their back legs against their forewings. Each species has a different song, some singing with ultrasound frequencies, the male singing louder than the female. The Syrian grasshopper shown in the video however is silent. Males are smaller than the female and sit on top during mating.The young develop in a series of molts to reach adulthood after 4 -10 months. The nymphs are light green changing to brown through successive molts. The grasshopper has a lifecycle of one year. They thrive in the hot summers and mild winters of the Cyprus climate, which provide them with a constant source of food. Grasshoppers and crickets tend to eat only vegetation.

MANTIDS

mantids have a triangular head with two large compond eyes set high on its head. It can swivel its head 180 degrees detecting movement 60 feet away. Antenna on either side of it head sense odors. Mantis are carniverous, feeding form flies, grasshoppers, butterflies, even other mantis. It has six legs, 3 body segments-head, thorax and abdomen. The first pair of legs are adapted with interlocking spines for grabbing prey. They will sit and wait for an insect to land within its reach and grab it with its long forelegs, lined with spiky rods designed to catch prey. Hot temperatures and low rainfall in Cyprus is the ideal climate for mantids. They will hide in the shade of low lying shrubs away from predators. After mating in the autumn the females spins an egg case (otheca) and lay 40–100 eggs. The case will protect the eggs overwinter The mother then dies two weeks after egg laying. The young mantis hatch in the Spring, breaking open the egg case. They then grow, shedding their skin (ekoskeleton) in a series of molts, hanging upside down from a branch, molting up to twelve times before reaching adulthood, when its wings become fully developed. As an adult it has a lifespan of six months. There are 2400 mantid species worldwide, most found in Asia in tropical forests.Two speciesare common in Cyprus, Praying Mantis (Mantis religiosa) and Giant Afican Mantis (Sphodromantis viridis). (watch video) (see identification)

Larnaca garden.Cicadas

The sound of the Mediterranean summer is the song of cicadas. The loudest of all singing insects at 95 decibels, as loud as an electric drill.

There are 3,000 cicada species worldwide with 3 species recorded in Cyprus. They have two compound eyes set wide on their head and three simple eyes set on the top of their head. Two short antenna sit between their eyes. They sing by rapidly vibrating membranes on each side of their body, with the sound amplified by cavities in their body. The males sing singly or in groups to attract females.

Most of their life is spent underground, as nymphs, Of their average 2-3 year lifespan, 2 years are spent underground and a brief 2 months above ground. Then they will mate and the female lay her eggs. They die soon afterwards.

The eggs are laid in cracks in tree bark and hatch after six weeks. The nymphs then draw the sap from the bark, before drifting to the ground where they burrow down with their forelegs up to 8 feet into the earth before finding a rootlet, to extract the sap to feed. Once they have found a suitable source of food, they build a protective cell from which they feed until time comes to find another root and repeat the process, moving from root to root with the seasons. Underground they will molt their skins 4 times, increasing their body size with each molt. The nymph spends two years below the surface. Then it will tunnel its way back to the surface to emerge at night and climb up a tree, clinging to the bark to shed its nymphal skin to reveal its adult form with flight wings, leaving its shedded skin on the tree bark. Its body is then white in color. It climbs further up the tree seeking a more protected spot, where, over the next few hours, its skin will harden and darken. Then in a brief adult life, sings, mates, lays its eggs and dies.(watch video)

Larnaca garden. Snails.

The garden snail is native to the Meditteranean, but now has been distributed around the world. It is mostly a nocturnal animal, favouring damp surfaces. There is an estimated 131 species of snails in Cyprus. 96 live on the ground and the remaining in or near water. All snails seem to prefer damp conditions which aids their mobility. Snails feed on fruits and vegetables, and occasionally on the bodies of crushed snails. It will eat soil to obtain the calcium needed to build its shell. In turn snails are a source of food for birds and other insects.

A snail has four tentacles on its head, the upper two bear sensors which serve as eyes, the lower two act as sensors for feeling and smelling. Its mouth sits between its tentacles. In hot and dry periods a snail will withdraw into its shell and build a layer of mucus over the opening attaching itself to a damp cool suface. It will stay there until the wet weather retuns.

It has both male and female organs and so an individual can fertilise itself. But usually they will seek out a partner in a mating process that can last 12 hours. Six days later they drop 80 eggs into an excavated hole one inch deep. The newborn snails can take two years to mature. They grow within their shell enlarging the shell by adding calcium layers to the opening to accommodate its growing body. They have a typical lifespan of 2 years. As one snail can produce six batches of eggs each year and as they feeds mostly on plants, they can overwhelm a garden. A snail is one of the slowest moving creatures. Its maximum speed is 1.3 centimeters a second. It moves by contracting and elongating tits body, leaving a trail of mucus in its path, which lubricates the snails journey.(watch video)

town feral cats

Larnaca feral cats. In northern Europe it is rare to find feral cats roaming free. So when cats congregate in restaurants and pubic places in Cyprus, it is usually to the delight of tourists. But feral cats lead a hard life, constantly seeking out food, fighting to defend a territory, if not falling victim to an uncaring driver or misguided poisoner. They rarely live longer than two years. Colonies that attach to churches and mosques usually are treated more kindly. Which is appropriate as animals figure in all religions. Muhammad had a pet cat and preferred to take off his coat rather than disturb his cat who had fallen asleep on it. The Mediterranean was the birthplace of the cat. The Egyptian mau, the Turkish angora and Turkish van are the purebreds whose genes are now mixed in the Cyprus cat population. (watch video)

Larnaca streets. feral cats. A female cat in season sends out signals to all the toms in the neighbourhood. She will remain receptive for two or three days and as she may bear kittens to more than one father, each tom has a interest in staying the course in the hope that his turn may come. An average litter of four kittens with births twice a year would lead to an an annual eightfold increase in the cat population, which will soon become unsupportable. If they stay on the streets most of the kittens will not survive to maturity, and those that do will not live for more that a couple of years. Life is indeed very hard for street cats. One grey female gave birth to four all grey kittens. Three died in their first months,victims to uncaring or unattentive drivers. The fourth, a female, shyer than the others, survived. She in turn gave birth to three kittens, a tabby brown and two long haired black. Only one of thps family survived, a female long haired black who in turn gave birth herself to three kittens. Puttting out food for a cat family gives them a better chance, as searching for food forces them to scavenge over a wider area, crossing more roads, evading more cars and visiting households who may be unsympathetic to cats. But a soup kitchen becomes habit forming for the cats, and an obligation on the chef to continue to keep it open. And as word gets out more cats will drop in. (watch video)

Larnaca street. feral cat and kittens. Feral cats roam the streets of every town and village. Mothers find abandoned houses, roof tops, any secluded place to give birth and raise their kittens. Within seven or eight months those kittens are producing kittens themselves. Mortality is high, cars and cat flue take a high toll, perhaps three of four kittens. Nevertheless a mother will work tirelessly to feed herself and bring milk back to her family. This cat, Mirabella, is particularly mindful in caring for her family. She takes food from a one house and then returns to her kittens hidden in rooftanks in a house several houses away. In time she moves her family to the house with the food, and rears them there. They have been neutered so the cycle of giving birth, feeding kittens to see so many die, has been interrupted and the three cats have a chance of a calmer life. Nevertheless only one survives. Traffic and cat flu have taken the others. The one female survivor remains feral, still living and feeding around the house bur never entering inside. (watch video)

more on poisoning and feral cats on issues page

town garden cats

Larnaca garden. raising a lost kitten. An abandoned kitten of only a week or so old has almost no chance of survival. This boy was left with his sister and brother in a box on the roadside. His two siblings died very soon after being found but he, with a lot of care, made it. The effort is more than worth it. (watch video)

Larnaca garden. cats family. Cats form families that share a habitat, in this case a garden in Larnaca. They build a hierarchy, which avoids internal fights, and act together to defend their territory against incomers. In this family, Ollie, a orange tabby, is the undisputed boss. Grisa, a small gray, is the old lady, now over thirteen years old, Kitty, a black and white longhair, a wanderer and climber, Mogli, with the broad face and white shorthair typical of a Turkish van, and a talkative cat, likes to stay close to home, Trixie, a longhaired tortie, is the senior female, Missie, rarely ventures far from the back door, Biscuit, with the tabby coat and triangular face typical of the Turkish Angora, is the most demanding and affectionate of the family, and the recent arrival BB, still attached to Biscuits shirttails. Only Ollie and Kitty wander a distance away from the garden, but as they are fed at home, they do not need to wander far, as feral cats must, in search of food. (watch video)

Larnaca garden cats.waiting for food. Cats live solitary lives, and for the most part will find their own space where they will spend most of their time. They will come together for meals. Here they reestablish bonds. Rubbing heads is an intimate gesture but also mixes fluid secreted in glands in their cheeks, which creates a group odor. Missy followed Mogli into the family and the two have always had a special bond. (watch video)

Larnaca garden cats.mealtime. All the family cats eat together and will assemble in the kitchen at the same time of the day. Ollie, the boss cat, expects to be fed first, and the other cats will give way to him. Trixie, Mogli and Biscuit will eat around Ollie, while the others will only feed if they are a safe distance away. An the evening meal, familiar faces appear at the window, feral cats who have learned that they will find a meal if they turn up at the right time. The window ledge outside is as close as they will approach, their hunger trumping their natural fear and suspicion of people. (watch video)

Larnaca garden cats.mating. Trixie, the youngest of the family females, is still fertile. She makes it clear to the local toms, by laying scent trails and by loud caterwauling, that she is about to come into heat, and it is at this time that a gaggle of males collect outside the window. Younger inexperienced cats are shooed away by the mature males. When she is ready she will seek out one of the toms and mate, and then seek out another. Her season will last for 7-10 days, after which she will wait to see if she has become pregnant. If she has been unsucessful she will come into heat again a few weeks later, and the cycle will repeat until she does fall pregnant. Pregnancy last about two months before the kittens are delivered. Queens, undoctored females, come into heat twice a year, usually in the spring and autumn. Trixie did not fall pregnant and was neutered very soon after her mating. (watch video)

Larnaca garden cats.new family members. Innate fear of people will keep feral cats away from the house, although they may wander through the garden and appear at mealtimes. Mature domesticated cats who have been abandoned may approach, but the cat family will gather to chase him or her away. The only way a new cat will be accepted by the rest of the family is if it comes into the house when still a kitten. Usually the cats will display aggression or at best ignore a new kitten, but the male cat Biscuit has made it his duty to iniate new members into the family. He himself was a kitten when he appeared on the front porch holding out his damaged front paw, an injury which has left him with a limp. BB, who was found hiding up in the chassis of the car, is under his care for the moment. A few weeks later, Picolo, who would fit in the palm of the hand when she was found, claims the attention of a now older BB and a caring Biscuit. (watch video)

Larnaca garden.rescued kittens. A household that cares for cats soon gets a local reputation. Unwanted kittens get dropped off on the doorstep.Two black and white kittens, unrelated, have found their way into the domestic family. Before long they are inseperable, playing and learning from each other. It is interesting how quickly the kittens learn from the larger family, which areas are safe from the dogs, which particular spot they can claim for sleeping, the use for litter trays, the quickest route around the garden, the best place to hunt lizards, where the gaps are in the fences, the best climbing trees. (watch video)

Larnaca garden.rat and cat. A brown rat has fallen from the safety of bourganvillia on a palm tree to find herself feet away from a housecat. There follows a standoff of a few minutes until the rat finds a route of escape back up the bouganvillia. Rats are considered vermin in Cyprus, as in most countries, not getting much sympathy from town residents. They like to live among people, recyling their refuse as food. Rats may produce five litters a year of six to nine kits. They should be visible everywhere. But ninetynine percent do not reach maturity, predated by the large population of cats. So a brown rat is a rare sight especially in daylight. They prefer to come out at night, when they are at less risk, and will forage for food not usually further than a few meters from the nest in which they were born. (watch video)

Larnaca house and garden. mamma and her kittens. A queen presented herself to the soup kitchen heavily pregnant. This was her second litter, the first delivered almost a year before without any of the kittens seeming to have survived. She had made another bad choice in locating her family, on a building site. This time the kittens are removed to a safe place and four of five survive their early weeks. This is an unusually intelligent and determined mother. When she and her kittend are shut away in an inside room she has a ingenious method of releasing them and returning them to the familiarity of the front porch of the house.(watch video)

more on poisoning animals and cats on issue page

town birds

Larnaca. St Lazarus chuch pigeons.

Pigeons are native to sea cliffs, but any vertical site with ledges will serve just as well. Pigeons have become town dwellers in every country in the world. They are tolerated and even fed by townpeople. A flock of pigeons will interbreed producing local variations in markings and colour. In spring the males go through their courting rituals circling and cooing, circling and cooing, until they find a receptive female. (watch video)

Larnaca garden.collared doves. Collared doves are said to stay with the same partner through their lives. They live in towns and villages, always close to human populations where food is abundant. They nest in tall shaded trees in town gardens,wary of the garden cats that are always a threat for the fledgling chicks. The collared dove does not migrate, but over the last century they have spread from the Mediterranean northwards, reaching England in the 1950s and Scandanavia in the 90s. In winter they forage in flocks of fifty birds or so, to separate in Spring to return to their nesting ground.This pair have nested in this figus tree in this garden every year for the past five or six years. (watch video)

Larnaca streets. laughing dove

A resident bird of Africa and the Middle East spreading north to Turkey and Cyprus. Now a resident bird in Cyprus. Normally would live in dry scrub or semi desert conditions but has taken to living in towns and villages, where it tends to stay in its home area. The doves feed from the ground, usually in pairs or small parties, eating grass seeds and insects. In spring both parents help to build their nest under the roof eaves, made of a bed of twigs. Both parents incubate a clutch of two chicks, which hatch after a couple of weeks and fledge a couple of weeks later. Its sedentary nature can lead to frequent sightings in one street and none at all a few streets away. (watch video)

Larnaca streets. sparrows

Sparrows have suffered a dramatic fall in population in Europe over the last thirty years. Sixty two percent decline since 1980. In Cyprus they seem to have fared slightly better, a year round resident, with their populationss increased in Winter by migrants from Northern Europe.. They prefer towns to any other place to live, seldom straying more than a few kilometers from their birthplace in their lifetimes. As the days lengthen in spring males call and display to passing females next to the nest site they have found. A bond is formed between the male and female base around the nest and usually lasts for both birds lifetime. Both birds share nestbuilding often under the eaves of houses, carrying stems and roots for the outer layer, dead grass and leaves for the innner layer lined with feathers. Normally the clutch is five eggs, which hatch after 14 days. Both parents bring insects back to feed their chicks for the two weeks they remain on the nest. The young fledge within a few hours of each other xx in trees and bushes close to the nest, still fed by their parents. After a couple of days the chicks are able to feed by themselves and become completely independent after 10 days. In late summer the families form small flocss, gathering on electric cables, flying and feeing together from the ripening seeds on garden trees. At dusk they gather into larger flocks at favorite roosting sites in the town centre. Here it is a little warmer overnight, street lights reveal night predators like the owl, and there is safety in numbers.(watch video)

Larnaca garden. great tit

The great tit is an all year resident, found all over the island, in the mountains and a common bird in the towns. A pair will establish a breeding territory in early spring, nesting in tree holes and might be encouraged to use nest boxes placed in undisturbed spots around the garden. The nest is built fibres, grasses, moss, hair and feathers. If the chicks are raised sucessfully, the parents will return to the same nest site nest year. It feeds primarily from insects and spiders, cockroaches, grasshoppers and snails, berries and seeds when insects are scarcer in Winter. With larger nuts like hazelnuts, it will chip away with its beak until it breaks the shell.
It adapts to the colder temperatures by increasing its own body temperature by warming its blood. It is a versatile songster, with over 40 different calls and songs.(watch video)

Larnaca garden. hooded crow.

Hooded crow is a year round resident, common in the mountains, plains and on town streets. It is spread across northern and southern Europen and into the Middle East. Intelligent birds they are able to communicate with each other, passing on good feeding sites, even sharing the sadness of the death of a family member.

They nest in large colonies in April. Hooded crows mate for life, returning to their nest site year after year. They build their bulky nest from sticks in tall trees, particularly eucalyptus, laying four to six eggs. Incubation by the female alone takes seventeen to nineteen days while the male brings food to back to the nest. The chicks fly from the nest after 32 to 36 days

During the day individual birds keep to the same one or two blocks where they are familiar with food sources. Ingenious birds they scavenge from roadkill, forage from household scraps, and eat slugs and snails. A bird will pick up a snail and drop it from a height to shatter its shell. It will hide food to eat later. As dusk falls individuals return the same site to roost in large flocks, protected by numbers from predatory night owls and on cold nights helping each other to keep warm. They are able to communicate and bond with fellow birds in the roost.
When threatened by a predatory bird like the kestrel, the hooded crows flock together to see off the predator. (watch video)

Larnaca. spring migrant.barn swallows. One of the most common spring migrants is the swallow. They fly up from south of the Sahara, following their food scource, insects, arriving in Cyprus in early April as the insects start to emerge. They swoop in groups over town rooftops, collecting the insects in their beaks. The male biirds arrive before their mates to prepare a breeding space if conditions are favourable. They need soft wet mud to build their nest and this can be found on the banks of the saltlake. So most nests will be found not far from the saltlake. Swallows pair for life. They can live for up to five years and may return to the same nest to breed year after year. By the end of June, as the crickets start to sing, the swallows abandon the town for the cooler climate in the hills, while the town swelters in the July and August heat. (watch video)

Larnaca garden.autumn migrants.starlings.

Starlings arrive in large flocks in October returning in April to their northern European nesting sites, to build their nests in tree holes, laying a clutch of four or five eggs.

While overwintering in Cyprus they feed during the day from insects, worms, fruit and seeds occasionally raiding dustbins. In the evening they gather in large flocks, their flights taking exotic shapes as they twist and turn in unison before descending onto their roosting trees, favoring particularly the symetry of the street cedars..
They have a wide range of calls, can recognise the call of family members, and can imitate random sounds like car horns.

They are intelligent and adaptable birds able to live in very different habitats. Even so, like many European birds, their numbers are in significant decline to be red listed as a bird of conservation concern. (watch video)

Larnaca garden. winter migrant. robin.

Robins in northern Europe will usually stay in one territory through their lives, through summer and winter. As robins can live for as long as eight years the same bird will can become a familiar resident in a garden.

A pair will nest in the same garden through their lives, laying two to three clutches of five to six eggs from March through the summer.

European robins are not thought of as migrants. They change their diet from insects to grubs and berries as the colder weather sets in, and stay put in their established territory. But a small number, usually females, will leave for the winter heading south.

In Cyprus they arrive in October some falling fouls of the mistnets and limesticks. It is1unusual to find a wooded garden in the town, and this garden has become a favorite for this robin who has returned year after year. In the trees are insects and fruit, and water in the garden fountains.(watch video)

Larnaca garden. Winter migrant. Chiffchaff

Chiffchaffs fly south from northern Europe with the approach of winter, heading for milder climate in southern and western Europe, southern Asia and northern Africa. They arrive in Cyprus in large numbers in October and usually stay till April. Some, who do not continue on south to Africa, will overwinter in Cyprus in spots where they can find insects and ripe fruit, pine forests, scrub and in the warmer town gardens. It can needs to eat one third of its own weight of insects daily for its survival. In March they will join up with flocks as they visit Cyprus on their journey back to their breeding grounds across Europe, Turkey and Iran. The male builds its nest near the ground in bracken undergrowth while the female takes sole responsibility for raising the five to six chicks of a typical clutch. Laid in May and June. Incubation takes 13-14 days, and the chicks will remain on the nest for another 14-15 days. (watch video)

Larnaca garden.spring migrant. collared flycatcher. A visitor in early Spring, the collared flycatcher is a migrant that travels from sub Sahara Africa, where it overwinters, to breed in southeast Europe. It prefers woodlands where it builds its nest in tree holes. It is probably the number of trees around the house that attracted to the garden feeding on the early insects. However it only stayed for a few days. (watch video)

Larnaca garden. autumn migration. A garden with a few mature trees will draw migrants to rest and feed from the insects and berries. The further a bird has to travel the earlier it will make its migratory flight. Willow warblers flying from Scandanavia to South Africa will arrive early, blackcaps with shorter journeys from Central Europe to Northern Africa arrive later. The shortest journey is made by the great tit who flies a few kilometres in a vertical migration from the mountains to the plains to avoid the harsh mountain winter. Where the variety of birds is limited in town gardens over the summer, just a few sparrows, doves and swallows, with the winter any number of different species might visit, warblers, robins, song thrushes, wagtails anf finches. (watch video)

Larnaca garden. fledgling birds.

Families of birds find their way into the garden, as here there are trees and greenery while all around there is concrete paving. The fledgling birds are fed by their parents, the greenfinch chick still dependant and unwilling to explore himself, while the great tit chick is perhaps older and more adventurous, willing to seek out a drink for himself. (watch video)

more on bird migration and garden birds on the issues page

HILLS AND MOUNTAINS

hills trees and flowers

Cato Drys plane tree The oriental plane is a native tree to Cyprus. It is deciduous, that is it looses its leaves in the winter. It needs to be near water as the plane has no mechanism for storing water. The water flows up through the rootes up to the leaves and returned back into the atmosphere. This is the reason it is always cool and fresh under the shade of a plane tree. Although there is no evidence of a river where this plane grows in Cato Drys, when the tree was planted over 100 years ago, it was on the banks of the Agios Minas which ran through the village, and which now flows underground. This tree has spread over fifty meters in diameter with its heavy branches supported by iron bracts. (watch video)

Apesia village.mastic tree. This is quite likely the oldest tree on the island. Over 1500 years old, it has survived the rise and decline of the Byzantines, the Turks, the Venetians. It is 6.8 metres in circumference and 7 metres tall. As with most very old trees, it's centre is hollowed out, nutrients and water carried up to its leaves through the vessels under its bark. (watch video)

Nisou mediterranean cypress. The mediterranean cypress is native to the eastern mediterranean, from Italy around to Lebanon. It is also native to Iran. The tree was often planted in cemetries, both in the Muslim and Christian worlds as it is associated with mourning. Funeral garlands are still often made of boughs from the cypress This tree at Nisou is isolated, growing in the courtyard of a demolished house. It is 34 meters in height and its trunk almost 5 metres across. With the history of the village, once occupied equally by Greek and Turkish Cypriots, it must have witnessed much in its 500 year life. (watch video)

Lefkara Spring flowers. The ground here is covered in broken limestones, impossible to plough and not particularly fertile. For wildflowers this is a bonus, as more delicate plants can grow undisturbed, not outgrown and overshadowed by tall vigerous plants that thrive in more fertile soil. Cyprus is a botanist's paradise. The variety of soil types, pulled up from the depths of the earth's crust as the island was formed, the variety of habitat types and the development of plant types over time, isolated on a small island, have resulted in flowers unique to Cyprus and sometimes unique to a particular place in Cyprus. Over 150 endemic pants have been recorded. It is very difficult to be sure if a flower is a common wildflower or a local rarity, found nowhere else but in that exact spot. Identifiction books do not always help. Websites that may help can be found on our links page. (watch video)