SW Turkey 31 October to 5 November 2010

[Tony Willis]

I joined my fellow passengers a large number of whom were morbidly obese and most of whom were already dressed for the beach to check in at 4.30 am on a freezing Friday morning in Manchester. I retired to a lounge for breakfast not joining them for early morning beers. I rejoined them for the 7.00 am departure on the four hour flight to Dalaman expecting to sleep most of the way and be prepared to start plant hunting within an hour of landing. This went well apart from  a couple of interruptions when Mary (her name was tattooed on her hands) woke me up to so she could buy 1000 cigarettes from the duty free to keep her going for the week and Daniel (his name tattooed on his neck) who was sat behind me kneaded me in the back a few times .

Following the usual safety announcements and a warning about excess drinking on the flight and not abusing the staff we had a really good flight.

Two hours after landing I was on Yumrutepe Gec above Kalkan within sight of the sea looking at

Sternbergia clusiana
Crocus mathewii (my camera or is it me has difficulty coping with the contrast on this crocus)
Biarum pyramid

The first two pictures show the site of the plants. I had found the crocus before but never seen it in flower and the sternbergia was a new find so a great start.

And them continued on to Kas which was in the middle of celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the creation of the Turkish Republic. The first picture of Kas shows the island of Kastellorizo in the background site of Galanthus peshmenii Kastellorizo form .In the evening there were great celebrations and these little girls and boys were in a parade carrying baskets of oranges. Plant wise Kas was disappointing this year and there were just a few plants of  

Urginea maritime in flower.

[Tony Willis]

Staying at Kas I went out to visit an ancient site at Arykandra and there were few plants to see on the way apart from Cyclamen graecum

But I did see this mantis and the site is large and impressive dating back to the 4th century BC and the Lycian tomb is from a couple of hundred years later.They were also uncovering some mosaics and this was work in progress

[Tony Willis]

I then moved on to Goynuk staying in a lovely hotel recommended by Arthur who had stayed a few days later. I walked a long way hoping to see Crocus wattiorum,I had seen this last year but there were none showing .It is a lovely climb and on the way were many fine

Cyclamen graecum and
Cochicum sp.

[Tony Willis]

From there I went to see Galanthus peshmenii at Gedelme a well known site.They grow around the base of an enormouse and quite magnificent plane tree. Again they are late and there were only a few hundred out with many hundreds more just pushing through. Those on the large rock lower down the gorge were not even showing and it was totally dry. I am sorry to say there were none with exciting green bits on them!
Growing above them is a very fine specimen of

Smilax aspera

[Tony Willis]

Finally I moved to Akyaka not far from Marmaris to travel down the Bozburun peninsula to look for Narcissus serotinus  and Biarum marmariense. There were a good number of  narcissus in flower and lots of biarum but it was over. What was interesting was finding Cyclamen hederifolium on a shady hillside at the end of the penininsular where the temperature often gets over 45c in summer

On the last morning leaving for the airport I drove through some woods just near my hotel and saw the beekeepers bringing in their hives for winter. This is a big industry in Turkey and in the autumn they gather the hives in from the countryside in there thousands and put them in the woods near the sea for protection. The families live in tents with their hive over the winter. Growing with them the ground was white like snow with the narcissus serotinus.

Followed by an uneventful flight back home to the cold and rain.

[Brian Ellis]

From there I went to see Galanthus peshmenii at Gedelme a well known site.They grow around the base of an enormouse and quite magnificent plane tree. Again they are late and there were only a few hundred out with many hundreds more just pushing through. Those on the large rock lower down the gorge were not even showing and it was totally dry. I am sorry to say there were noe with exciting gren bits on them!

...but lovely nonetheless, thanks for showing us Tony

[ashley]

What wonderful plants and fine pictures Tony, and great to see some of the landscape of this part of Turkey.  Thank you.

If your report lacks anything at all it might be a pic or two of those tatoos & breakfast beers  

[angie]

Looks a lovely and interesting place. Thanks for sharing.

Angie

[Gerdk]

Tony, it seems late autumn is a fine time to find a lot of interesting flowers. Thanks for showing them - especially the white ones (Daffodils of course  ).

Gerd

[art600]

Crocus mathewii (my camera or is it me has difficulty coping with the contrast on this crocus)

We travelled 300 mile round trip to see Crocus mathewii on Baba Dag, and I was unable to capture one photo of the beautiful Crocus.  In fact none of us has a decent photograph.

Thanks for the excellent report - will try to post mine shortly

[David Nicholson]

Interesting report Tony, thanks.

[mark smyth]

Thanks!

None with green bits? You need to go to SpecSavers. I can see two green tipped flowers.

I always go on holiday dressed for hot weather

[ian mcenery]

Following the usual safety announcements and a warning about excess drinking on the flight and not abusing the staff we had a really good flight.

Tony when I first read this I  thought it said we had a really good fight it just seemed to fit in with the crew's request for good behaviour.

Nice pictures and the weather looks a bit better than last year. Keep em coming

[Thomas Huber]

Great photos, Tony.

Like Mark I see two snowdrops with green outer petals.

[Maggi Young]

So did I.... but I've taken medication.... just waiting for it to kick in........