A Night Walk

We often take a walk along the upper valley road at night, around 9.30 p.m. these days.
The stone curlews were quiet but crickets were very vocal. We both saw a *red fox* run down from the back of the lowest buildings in our neighbourhood. He headed straight down into the cover of the pines, in the north end of the woods.

Later we spotted a *gecko* running across the road. Geckoes are quite common here, and also fairly vocal. I welcome them since they eat mosquitoes and the sight of them running up walls with their velcro finger pads always reminds me of Gollum in Lord of the Rings.

Another common reptile we saw this afternoon on ruins of an old bunker not far from the stream bed. .. an *Agama lizard, also called a 'hardun' (Laudakia)* . They look a little like iguanas but are usually quite a plain grey. Though they can grow over a foot long and look quite fearsome they are quite harmless and will run when approached.

Other local wild reptiles include those most endearing reptiles, tortoises, (Testudo graeca). One day a couple of weeks ago we encountered a few on our walks. Must have been *that* time of year for them. Close to the stream bed path we heard a rhythmic clunking sound and immediately looked up the east slope assuming that there were buck gazelles about but for a while we could not see what on earth was making the noise. Then we saw them.. just a few metres away. A nicely marked tortoise was banging his shell against the back of the shell of a big mamma, several inches longer than himself. He didn't seem to be getting anywhere with her, she seemed as inert as a rock. After a while he seemed to get bored, turned aside and trundled away.