Greece autumn 2018

[Yann]

Very nice pics, Yann, you have seen a lot of plants, but also some animals.
The deer, they do not seem to be afraid. They are not hunted by the local people?
The turtle is native to that region, I guess?

The red deer is protected and not hunted, it only survive there and Epirus, those in Rodopes are in small population.

Testudo marginata is very common in Greece. In spring the males are very aggressive, i saw a female ripped in her neck and eyes.

[Gabriela]

Fantastic pictures Yann!
Love the olive man-tree

[sokol]

Last week end i travelled with LucS and LucG in the nearby of Athens. We were lucky with the weather and plants.

In the Lavrio region the soil contains a huge amount of limestone and clay.

Nice report, Yann. We have been at the same mountain last week:

[Yann]

a nice spot, I gave GPS to Razvan who was also in the area with the AGS and Oron also visited the mountains. It's now too crowed

[sokol]

a nice spot, I gave GPS to Razvan who was also in the area with the AGS. It's now too crowed

It was a very nice place over there. Unfortunately I am back home again. I would prefer a crowded Crocus place and being still in Greece. We have seen nobody interested in Crocus on the whole trip.

[ruweiss]

These pictures are so beautiful - many thanks for showing.

[Yann]

a few more and i think Stefan gonna complete the post with plants seen in the north Peloponnese

Verbascum graecum (undulatum wasn't any more blooming)


Scutellaria rupestris ssp. parnassica


Pollinisators


Dittrichia viscosa


And the last one is from Mati where more than 90 peoples died in flames. I visited the village the first time in 2011, 2013 and this spring. The visit was very special to my eyes and life has gone back as you can see.

[sokol]

I will complete it with the whole trip from Northern Greece to the Peloponnese.

So called FYROM is out of the topic but probably of interest here.

Janis has given me information about a location of Crocus pallasii south of the border from Serbia to FYROM. We have been lucky to discover it at our second attempt at Saturday,  morning, 27.10.2018 and were even too early as all flowers have been still closed at the beginning.

Biotope with Crocus pallasii


Crocus pallasii

[sokol]

We continued in Greece with the northern slopes of Mt. Olympos and we have found just Crocus mazziaricus there in stony Meadows with Juniperus and Quercus.

Biotope of Crocus mazziaricus and some Ophrys like spruneri, zeusii and others in spring


Asyneuma limonifolium


Crocus mazziaricus

[Yann]

very late Asyneuma, usually they're over end of august

[sokol]

I have learnt that there are sometimes plants that flower a second time, like your Anemone or Iris for example 

I have seen another flowering Asyneuma two days later.

[sokol]

We crossed the foothills of Mt. Olympos from North to West next morning. In the stony areas were just a few Crocus mazziaricus growing. Then we discovered first Crocus macedonicus from the car, growing in Meadows that were less stony.

Biotope of Crocus macedonicus


Crocus macedonicus

[sokol]

Landscape from the western foothills of Mt. Olympos






Biotope of Crocus macedonicus


Mt. Olympos

[sokol]

We have been going then to the Pindus range and found a nice Population of Crocus mazziaricus between Elassona and Deskati.

Biotope of Crocus mazziaricus


Crocus mazziaricus






Venetikos river

[sokol]

We have got a location of Crocus robertianus close to Milea in the Pindus range from a Greek friend, that was our next destination.

It has taken some time till we have found the first plants on a meadow with pine trees and bushes, grazed by cows but finally there were enough plants.

Biotope of Crocus robertianus:






Crocus robertianus