SRGC Guided Tour to Eastern Turkey - May 2012

[listera]

Kees are you talking about the rocks that hosted B.rixii

I want to believe that there are other places supporting other populations...

It looks like a great trip!

I visited the NE a couple of years ago in spring and returned to the east this autumn. Perhaps this is the place to share a rather sad story about habitat destruction. During my spring trip the highlight was perhaps a Saxifraga kotschyi population in full flower on a fantastic limestone outcrop just north of Kop Dag Pass... We spend hours there photograping all sorts of plants on the ridge, and fantastic fritillaries in a nearby scree, like the fritillary shown below, I suppose crasifolia ssp. crassifolia.

Imagine the shock returning there about 8 weeks ago finding no sign of this fantastic limestone rock outcrop whatsoever. Kop Dag Pass has been made a lot wider, a road the size of a runway for large passenger planes... In the process the complete limestone ridge MUST have been used for building material ... All gone, including many saxifrages and other exciting plants. No sign of it whatsoever.... We even went back to check once again. Gone . I repeat, the complete outcrop, clearly visible on the right in the first picture is GONE!!! I will post some pics here..., as a tribute to what used to be a really fantastic location.

There is a lot of (road) building going on in eastern Turkey, Kop Dag Pass is not an exception. Don't be put off going there ofcourse, it's still fantastic, but it must be said there is much destruction going on. We did find S. kotschyi elsewhere in the Kopdag area, but not nearly in such a nice location. Another, and much worse example of destruction is de Coruh valley, one of the biodiversity hotspots of Turkey, where a cascade of 13 hydro electric reservoirs is being constructed....... Turkey has a policy of becoming less dependant on oil, but at least some of the hydro electric projects that are carried out are very controversial, not just because of damage to nature, sometimes whole communities are forced to move .

Don't be put off to join this trip though, there are vast quantities of splendid nature to enjoy in this part of Turkey. My pics from the spring trip to the NE can be found in the following gallery on my website http://keesjan.smugmug.com/Botanical-trips/Asia/Northeastern-Turkey-May/

[Maggi Young]

Kees are you talking about the rocks that hosted B.rixii

I want to believe that there are other places supporting other populations...

Do you refer to Bellevalia rixii ?


http://www.vanherbaryum.yyu.edu.tr/flora/famgenustur/li/be/ri/index.htm

[Kees Jan]

No, I think Bellevalia rixii is still safely growing on a scree near Kop Dag Pass . I found it well away from the road, perhaps 2 km. Only few plants on a steep scree when I was there!!!

I think the main victim of the 'upgraded' road is a Saxifraga kotschyi population, although this species is found at some other locations a bit lower down on the Bayburt side of the pass. There are not very many limestone cliffs around Kop Dag, but there are VAST QUANTITIES of limestone scree. Sax. kotschyi seems to be restricted to rock faces though (not in scree), away from too much sun.

[listera]

at last pain relieving news 

[Maggi Young]

Friends, there are still some places available on this tour : I think it would be advsiable to make your booking sooner  rather than later!

[Arda Takan]

=(

[DaveM]

Just returned from this fantastically floriferous foray across eastern Turkey. I am exhilerated and exhausted but as I have been downloading my images I thought I'd give you a taste of the trip. The journey took us from the wet forested area around Trabzon on the Black Sea coast, south to Erzurum and Erzincan, through steppe country to Malatya, finally ending in Kahramanmaras. This took us through a real mixture of geology and hence varied scenery. The mountain views were incredible and the plants  never failed us!

Meadows of Muscari aucheri and Bellavalia paradoxa
Springs with Primula elatior
Fritillaria alburyana
Iris reticulata (there are many irises to come.........)

I must say a big thank you to Chris Gardner who led us to the plants, ably abetted during the first part of the trip by Adil Guner and during the second part by Mehmet Koyuncu; also to Margaret and David Thorne, whose idea this trip was.

[Maggi Young]

Welcome home, David!
Four photos and I can already tell it was a good trip. Looking forward to seeing and learning more when you have the time.

[DaveM]

Just a few more pics.....

Rindera lanata
Hyacinthus orientalis ssp chionophylla
Onosma albo-rosea
Aubrieta canescens

There'll be more in a few days - off now to get some shut-eye before an early start for Chelsea tomorrow 

[fermi de Sousa]

.... as I have been downloading my images I thought I'd give you a taste of the trip.
....
....
...Iris reticulata (there are many irises to come.........)

Goodness!  perhaps I'm underwatering mine when they are in bloom!
 
Great pics, Dave,
cheers
fermi

[Brian Ellis]

Lovely pictures so far David, looking forward to more on your return from Chelsea, thanks

[Claire Cockcroft]

Great pictures, Dave.  Here are a few pictures showing the variation in Iris sari that we found in many more locations than expected.

[DaveM]

What a fabulous Iris that is. Hi Claire, glad to see that you got back OK and no horror stories on way back??

I'm still working through my photos. First a few pics of the people - I don't have many and am hoping that others will post some too.

Our leader, photographing Arum conaphalloides var. cordatum in the Subatan Mountains (above Kamaliye.

Adil Guner, among Muscari aucheri and Bellevalia paradoxa

The infamous Green Tours picnic - the gentleman on the left is Mehmet Koyancu from Ankara University and Allium expert who accompanied us during the second part of the tour.

Another picnic

A thorne among the Hellebores and cowslips (Margaret), Zigana pass

Ben Wilson genuflecting before a fine patch of Primula auriculata

[DaveM]

We arrived late in the evening in Istanbul - a late meal and a night view of the Blue Mosque. We spent the next day at the Nezihat Gokyigit Botanic Bahcesi, a private garden and collection that is a new venture for Turkey and directed by Adil Guner. Built within the confines of an urban motorway intersection, this garden has rapidly become a veritable oasis in the middle of skyscaper-land. Though it is conceived as a Botanic garden and living collection, to most inhabitants of Istanbul it is seen as a desirable picnic place or a location in which to have your wedding photographs taken. So... no real difference from Kew or Edinburgh then?? Nevertheless the development is rapidly taking place both within the garden itself and the encroachment of the skyscrapers. Amazing place but difficult to get to!!

[DaveM]

The garden features many of the plants of Turkey, attempting to replicate the many different habitats. There is also a developing collection of the bulbs. Some parts of the garden have been left for the native plants of the Istanbul area. But as you might expect from Adil's interest in Iris, the garden features many. Just a couple here - we will see more later in their natural habitats.

Unnamed iris
Iris schachtii
Iris sprengeri