Naturewatch Two

Following the recent post about the wildlife we get around here. I dug up these older photos (some of which are on the Facebook pages for two of the novels, "The View From Kleoboulos" and "A Brief Moment of Sunshine"). Plus there are a couple of new ones down below as well...

From April 30th 2011. A beautiful jay on the palm tree just outside our French windows. He (or she!) had come to nick some of the breadcrumbs we put out for the house sparrows. Plus he goes after the loquats on our nearby μουσμουλιά tree.

Dragon or damsel? I dunno, but very attractive all the same. Here it sucks moisture from the tips of the Agave, where we've clipped off those lethal spikes that can have your eye out!

A mother dolphin and her calf put in an appearance in Kalathos Bay during our Bay-to-Bay excursion in June 2014.

February 2009. This little chap, a Sardinian Warbler, flew into the glass of our French windows and knocked himself senseless, thus allowing us this rare photo opportunity before his wits returned and off he sped. We get a lot of these because they gorge on the berries that form after the lantana has flowered. They also polished off our grape harvest again this year, after we'd first thought it was rats! Then we spotted these little devils actually in the act, but hadn't the heart to deny them the tasty treat, even though it meant we'd have not one single grape left come harvest time.

Mediterranean Toads. Nothing if not resourceful when it comes to finding somewhere to hide out during the daylight hours. I'd just turned this hose reel around in July 2010.

Another snap of a Sardinian Warbler from October 2011. Here he's actually chomping on the lantana berries. When we prune we try and leave some uncut berries especially for these little chaps and their wives.

In November 2006 this robin did a kamikaze smash into our kitchen window glass. Once again (as with the Sardinian Warbler further up the page) I was afforded the opportunity to snap him before he recovered and flitted away.

A Swallowtail butterfly from July 2014. Note the blue bits at the tail end of the seemingly back-to-front wings.

And finally, on the Bay-to-Bay excursion just yesterday, Sunday August 7th 2016. Coincidentally, I was just being asked by two UK guests about whether we may see any dolphins when the cry went out that we had one keeping us company at the ship's bow. With the iPad Mini in such bright light, I had no idea if I got anything, but was quite pleased with these two.

Ditto.