May 2nd Half

above: Broom, in bloom here and there not far from east watercourse.

Beetle on pomegranate leaf.. many were flying about the tree near cistern between sunset and dusk, as well as lacewings (further down the page). Below, this species of ladybird (or ladybug but of course really a beetle) seems the most prevalent right now. Its larvae also found on milfoil, thistle and some other plants. (Black aphids also quite common now on fennel and various composites)

Below, mating robber flies on thorny burnet. I realised these seeding composites by the burnet are actually fleabane.. they're everywhere.. given the small size of the flower itself the seedheads are unexpectedly spreading. Caper bugs about, many nymphs seen but still plenty healthy capers.

30th May

Much earlier vegetation starting to dry out now, grasses turning yellow, most thistles and fleabane going to seed and we're picking up 'caterpillar burs' and nasty sainfoin seedpods on our walks, but other vegetation just getting green, such as mullein and Varthemia sprouting up fresh everywhere. First blooming thyme noticed today! The thistle which has small blue tuft blooms has come up everywhere but not bloomed as yet. Caper vegetation esp along valley road.. we noticed blooms more at night than day. Wild carrot is everywhere, Polygonum has put forth fresh green, fleabane making surprisingly spreading seedheads and a large purple late thistle noticed, not milk thistle. Hawthorns produced more fruit than last year (which was none) but far from their best. Pomegranates in full bloom now. Horehound and Ballota now in bloom. Thorny burnet berries mostly brown.

Birds: Prinias very active and vocal, hobbies about , calling esp. round sunset. Blackbirds in song then too. Some stone curlew calls. Hooded crows as active as usual and jackdaw calls on and off through the day when their flocks are active. Collared doves less now, intermittant, more muted. Turtle dove coos sometimes heard. Greenfinches twittering and chawing around bunker rubble area but seem somewhat fewer than previous years.
Around the buildings: house sparrows, bulbuls, sunbirds, laughing doves, feral pigeons and several times a week noisy calls of ring neck parakeets heard.. they fly from forest to/around neighbourhood and back, favouring the eucalyptus by east watercourse. Syrian woodpeckers today heard around north watercourse. In last week various young birds heard calling for food, some of them sounded like young great spotted cuckoos but didn't get sightings. Bee-eaters heard a few times, but not in notable numbers, the odd large brown job passing through, stopping by to roost overnight (honey buzzards?) , occasional Tristram starling calls, chukar partridges spotted on rocks around the area .

Plenty gazelle grazing activity noticed lately.. up to at least a dozen gazelle active in east field and windsurfer hill slopes, various bachelors still seen between north watercourse and hidden watercourse. Hyraxes active in the usual colonies and some young seen. Hedgehog heard on our walk the other night, snuffling in vegetation close to valley road. Occasional fox sightings in various places but no more cubs spotted.

Insects: see above. .Bath white butterfly spotted yesterday, various small blues and Satyrids but not good close views. More grasshoppers, the one with lateral broad stripes and crimson underwing. More black millipedes. Cicadas heard at the zoo last week but not up here yet. Crickets at night.

More gecko activity on building walls at night heard. No agamas seen yet. Correction.. Akiva saw agama in small park near central bus station early afternoon yesterday. I

This blog is four years old now! Wow so much discovered in these few years, more than we realized could be here since we arrived in north Jerusalem about 18 years ago..I feel like I only actually LIVED the last four from a natural history point of view.

31st May

Yesterday evening, 30th May we spotted 'glow worm' (really a beetle) on rock not far from valley road, low bank.. it was dark and no camera for pic.. but looked like she was arcing front part of her body up and backwards.. the last three segments of abdomen glowing steady light green.

Another hedgehog making its way through milk thistle, didn't see, just heard.

Spookiest thing, this evening (31st) after 10.30 7 (or 6, we were so astonished we both totally forgot to count) appeared to be large white birds appeared over east valley, about twice canopy height and together silently flew over us, slightly fluttering (against wind) somewhat up and over the neighbourhood, looked ghostly white reflecting all ambient light, quite large .. only thing that remotely fit were egrets but not quite like them either and at such a late hour. Couldn't make out head shape but broad wings. Entire owl family? Never saw so many owls flying together and only thing that would look so light would be barn owls which I don't think are here.

Italian Anchusa in bloom on upper valley road (from edge neighbourhood to below pool), also broom near east watercourse(above, top)

Today's afternoon walk (31st May) .. Hooded crow with great spotted cuckoo juvenile on electic cable post, crow hopped right over the cuckoo which was calling incessantly.. ignoring it. As we approached to take a pic the cuckoo flew into some nearby pines but crow remained. Singing blackbirds various places east valley, Prinias, jackdaws, Syrian woodpeckers.

May: First half

The white sage discovered in the ploughed field area behind the almond row.. now overgrown with oats, golden thistle and an assortment of other vegetation. Above, close up, below, whole plant. A number of these in a patch there, not noticed in previous years.

Grasshopper nymph on Kickxia.. lots of these about now by roadside and plenty little yellow blooms on the Kickxia.

Firebug on fleabane. Fleabane pretty much past its prime now, gone to seed. Below, a related firebug on fresh mullein foliage. This is the one near the pumping station, already has a flower as of yesterday.

Wednesday 4 May

Hiked up to the quarry. Tristram's starlings whistling all about, settling on rocks around quarry Akiva saw for sure 6 individuals at once and had impression from all the calls that there were more about.

Chukar partridges also around quarry environs and lip of quarry itself, we didn't count how many. Akiva had impression their backs are paler and greyer than those back around east watercourse, that the latter were browner. The grey would certainly give them more camouflage in this open stony environment. He also thought the hyraxes looked paler and greyer too though the ones we saw were the more mature individuals which tend to be more blonde and shaggy than younger breeding individuals and young.

Buteo over the valley, had terminal tail bar though thin, much banding but no noticeable dark shoulder areas. Hobbies not noticed yesterday though have been seen and heard this month.

An unfamiliar lark noticed on approach to quarry, had shorter crest than crested lark and hardly any striation, body tending to rufous buff. salmon coloured legs , not sure about bill, also salmon I think.

Swifts about, jays in woods, singing blackbirds, great tit fledgelings heard within 100 feet of bunker rubble, greenfinches twittering in that region, collared doves active and heard and on some days also turtle doves,

Gazelles: Saw two adult bucks by north watercourse with one much younger buck , same party of three I suspect we saw a couple of weeks ago. Are these those two males we used to see frequently around north watercourse in vicinity of bat cave, the younger male having attached itself to them, mini bachelor herd?
Gazelle snorts also heard lately from time to time. Gazelles noticed lately tend to have been grazing dispersed over any of the fields, not herding so much.

Saturday 7 May male and female blackcap foraging for food in scrubby/eucalyptus area between saplings and pumping station. Another blackcap pair in trees half way along from there to cistern, as well as family of great tits and one pipit like striated job perched and quite still half way up tree, striated on breast, back with stripes about eye and white fleck on shoulder.

Other birds similar to sunday.

Sunday 7 May
Bee-eaters at least two groups, largest about three dozen .. as yesterday favouring eucs by look out corner as settling place, they had not used those in previous years. , swallows, big brown jobs, Buteos? Several about, passing through, swallows zipping through two small groups

8 male gazelle grazing between bat cave and north watercourse, walking about, two practice sparring,

then saw fox moving from bat cave, followed north of north watercourse east betw. rock shelf and thorny burnets, then headed across watercourse into young pine grove by service road, stopped by wall, appeared to have caught something, sat by there for a while on haunches then headed off towards north gazelle field

Also greenfinches, collared doves, turtle doves, blackbirds but not singing, masked shrike heard in a number of places, one seen in pine near where north watercourse dirt road angles towards central trail. Syrian woodpeckers.

Masked shrike also seen late last week and others heard.

Lots of marbled whites about, counted at least 8 settled out of wind in a patch of thistles and mustard by north trail,

Now in morning in garden bulbuls and sunbirds starting up about 5.40 a.m. laughing doves also. House sparrows earlier . bulbuls also like hunting around the tamarisk over the storm drain.

16 May Monday

Hidden watercourse area , fox family working upstream near acacias far side, vixen with two , Akiva believes three cubs , she was relatively dark but cubs much paler, quite well grown. Another fox around a bit of a distance away.. the dog? Managed to get glimpses of young ones .

Also about: plenty hyraxes including fairly well grown young Shadiker colony very active at dusk as we came up, some barks heard. Also gazelle, at least 5 adult bucks butterfly area before you get to hidden watercourse, amongst the cypresses.

Increasing foliage of goldilocks, thyme, caper, polygonum, mullein, Kickxia.. this is the time their greenery really fills out while the milk and Syrian go to seed and wither back.. but for the summer thistles.. the blue tuft thistle which is also coming into green. Yesterday got a number of shots of various arthropods on this foliage.. always worth checking out the various flower heads for insect life. Wild carrot is also flowering everywhere now and still some milfoil here and there.

Yesterday it had rained earlier in the day . . in the relatively low flat area east field near the fence , between the small olive grove and north hill slopes, amongst pale yellow sea of dried oats 8or 9 gazelle behaving friskily, running, chasing, leaping.. two (juvenile males) in mock spar, another one from grazing group rushed at one of the combatants, chase ensued to and fro.. more chases as we watched.. seemed they all just wanted to be playful and were running about just for the sheer joy and exercise, amazing speed and nimbleness.

Birds now: graceful warblers noisy and active, much purring of turtle doves, occasional calls of greater spotted cuckoo youngsters calling as hoodies forage for them and wait on them, masked shrike in the Pistacia grove yesterday just after sunset, jackdaws, blackbirds, Syrian woodpeckers esp in eucs by Pistacias, chukar partridge up by hidden watercourse today, larks heard in that area and also east field yesterday but no sightings or definite calls of black eared wheatears this season yet, surprising.

Quite a few Buteos (or other big brown jobs, likely honey buzzards) passing through lately wanting to roost but the hoodies harass them when they see them. Yesterday another much smaller raptor joined in the harassment but didn't get a good view of what it was.

Two new species of white sage like flower found lately.. one bushy and branching with basal leaves with more elaborate lipped flowers growing in the ploughed field area behind almond row (head of page) found a week or so ago, and this one, below, foliage and flower, growing by rocks . I have seen neither in previous seasons but too easy to overlook white flowers.

Tuesday 19th April-30th April

Checkered beetle on Achillea

Tuesday 19th April

Gazelle: adult male west heading into woods after crossing dirt road from windsurfer hill to cistern. Small individual at the foot of this trail near cistern.

Fox: heading into woods west of gazelle field.

Two hobbies flying high over valley road. Greenfinch call and twitters around look out corner about sunset but not as much as previous years, just a few individuals, not a flock. Graceful warbler calls. stone curlew calls at dusk,

Garden: sunbirds, bulbuls, house sparrows, laughing doves as usual.

2 black veined white butterflies clinging to a Syrian thistle on the way to the cistern as dusk set in.

Wednesday 20th April

Headed to 'butterfly meadow', between north watercourse and hidden watercourse. On the way heard turtle doves, first I've heardthis season. On the way we saw a number of marbled whites, first I've noticed this season.

On the way back small flock on the hillside , didn't get good view but seemed to be linnets as far as I could make out.

A number of gazelle, both male and female, scattered and grazing on hillside beyond hidden course, in twos and threes.

Tristram's starlings calling up near wall, near head of hidden watercourse. Chukar partidges seen and heard. Shrike heard on the way back near north watercourse.. probably masked. European cuckoo heard. Glimpses of hobbies and sparrowhawks.

Thursday 21st April

Linnets on bank, got good view of one , corroborating yesterday's linnet sightings. More turtle doves.

Windsurfer hill: lots of clumps of Cistus on north and north west slopes, very light almost sandy soils there. pink butterfly orchids found withered with well developed seed pods on western slopes.

Several gazelle seen on the hillsides.

Monday: 26th April

Plenty gazelle seen today: east field in olive grove, long horn male, from horns I think the east field harem alpha. A female nearby behind. A couple of others, looked like well grown young, in field between grove and cypresses at foot of hill. North field: a second adult male up on back near fence, up from watercourse. A third adult male with several females and well grown young, at least five, in the field behind almond row. Further confirmation both areas have adult male with male/young group as well as a spare male between the two, none belonging to the bachelor herd, though the middle male may have been part of that herd, hard to know without marking. At least a dozen individuals seen today.

Hyraxes about and active forest side of valley road.

Buteos , 3 soaring high over east field. terminal tail bar, dark shoulders , otherwise nondescript brown barring on off white.

Hobbies, seen last few days over valley, sometimes one, sometimes pair, also calls.

turtle dove and collared dove coos in woods, laughing dove coos about houses. House sparrow flock by almonds/cistern, at this season they go into fields for grass seed.

Graceful warblers very vocal by east field east watercourse and other places. Blackbird song late afternoon. Stone curlew calls after dusk saturday. Syrian woodpecker one call.

Achillea, bright yellow relative of yarrow, blooming in many open places. One by valley road had largest crab spider I've seen, very camouflaged, had ambushed and grasping not sure what, hoverfly? Or bee, didn't see too close, didn't have camera for shot.

Sat: 30 April

More on Achillea.. on one small stand by north watercourse late last week found a marbled white, several green caterpillars, a checkered beetle and various larvae that may have been ladybird larvae or of some other beetle as well as ants on the stalks.

Gazelles: 3 up near top windsurfer hill, buck following female centre forest and couple females/well grown young lower treed slopes windsurfer.

Fox on one of the rockpiles just north of centre trail, in shade of woods, walking about, investigating. Looked our way a couple of times. Briefly saw another mammal just behind another rockpile beyond it.. got only two very brief glimpses , seemed to be avoiding encounter, got impression it was another fox.

Birds: Flock about 30 bee-eaters around cistern, settled in cistern pine and then took off together, wheeling around, calling. Hobbies about, multiple calls, appearances. Thursday: also hobbies, had nice view of sparrowhawk landed on branch just beyond north watercourse dirt road.. grey wings, top head, back, breast horizontally streaked pale and light rufous.
Also swifts, greenfinches twittering between eucalyptus and bunker pines on sat late aft. collared doves, turtle doves thursday but not sat, latter cooler, that's perhaps why. They seem to prefer cooing on warmer sunnier days but the cooler days don't put off the collareds.

16th,17th April

North gazelle field, approach to shaft.. fields yellow with wild mustard.
Pistacias looking a lot better after their pruning, much more growth and greenery.

Nigellas by north valley watercourse dirt road.

Below, Syrian thistles with black and white spotted beetles.. many blooms had these visitors.

Below, A rose chafer visits a Syrian thistle.

Saturday 16th : Gazelles: At least 10 between north and east fields, in small groups or twos.. adult males seen in each field, in north following a female , in east by himself though probably associated with the females there.. ( they often prefer to graze apart from the females and young and can still be the alpha male of the harem ) . This could mean a buck with females in each area? Possible.

Neighbour Rabbi Goldwasser recently observed sparring behaviour in Pistacia grove area.. looks like there's a challenger to the east field male. Same one as a few months back or another one from bachelor herd trying out? Can't know for sure without marking them some way.

Sunday 17th : Adult male near north watercourse, quite close to us, good size horns.

Interesting behaviour in rocks above bat cave.. Akiva first noticed a fox there.. as I zoomed in with binoculars noticed there was a hyrax sitting on the rocks there. The fox circled but the hyrax stayed completely still, apparently unfazed. Then suddenly, after the hyrax moved a little, though not obviously threateningly , not from our point of view anyway, the fox ran off toward the east. The fox is nearly twice the size of the hyrax but the latter can be quite feisty fighters and the fox had no interest taking on a mature adult. This is also the first time we've ever noticed a hyrax on those rocks. A nomad? No colony over there. Later, hoarse hyrax barks heard at dusk from direction of cypress slum colony.

As the fox moved off we heard much agitated calling from stone curlews.. probably a pair had a nest out on the hillside there and the parents were raising the alarm. They would probably want to distract the fox away from the eggs or chicks.

A call drew my attention to the cypresses just west of the bat cave. A hobby was perched up there, nice look out position. A short while after we watched a pair circle over the watercourse, not very high but quite a bit higher than canopy level. No chasing behaviour so we took them to be a bonded pair. They then headed off towards the owl glade.

Jackdaw flock roosting in eucalyptus, look out corner. Relatively new roost due to building on south west slopes of windsurfer hill, disrupted their usual haunts and behaviour patterns.

Much calling from graceful warblers heard, some greenfinch calling though not as much as previous years, calls of bee-eaters heard earlier , (bee-eaters also heard friday afternoon over edge of neighbourhood, about a dozen spotted) , collared doves in trees usual north western corner of east field, some blackbird song, hooded crows about as usual. Shrike heard from near pumping station.

Garden: bulbul and sunbirds heard before 6 a.m. but still later than first house sparrows. Laughing doves cooing later. No Orphean warbler. Unusual unfamilar high pitched call heard earlier on saturday but could not find cause.. single notes repeated insistently. Not psittacine, too thin but loud.

Much pollen in the air! Most of north gazelle field has wild mustard neck high or higher along with wild barley and oats, along with pine pollen. Yellow Nigella found in a number of patches along north watercourse dirt road, had never seen so much of it there before.. as well as much blooming Syrian thistle. Gundelia flowering is finishing, more Acanthus than I've ever seen before, Asphodel is making seed capsules and its foliage turning orange, very obvious on the hillsides. We'd noticed caterpillars but as yet no marbled whites about. Many Umbellifers like Ainsworthia, though florets fewer, more sparse. not sure of ID at all, so many self similar of those.

Some flowers on hawthorns.. not as many as a few years back but improvement on last year when we found no blooming hawthorns at all.

23 March > 9 April

Happily Nurit/ Persian (or Turban) buttercup are back! We didn't see any last year but this year they are blooming in many places.

Wednesday 23 March

First corn poppies seen! three on woods side just past pumping station, amongst wild wheat, mustard and other vegetation, a bunch more on the verge of east valley dirt road, in usual place near sapling field but notably double or triple numbers in any previous season as far as I've noticed. Other usual site for them is by bunker rubble but didn't check there today.

Adult male gazelle seen just south of olive grove moving towards it, long horn one. Shortly after saw adult male heading into pines and cypress at very north end of east field though uncertain if same one or if it was the 'losing' male that has haunted that stretch in past.. Could have been switch over in olive grove region, light already getting dim.

As we passed look out corner I said ''look out for foxy!'' as we had seen one in that area passing by at dusk. Akiva expressed his doubt we'd see one in the failing light then seconds later pointed as a fox crossed the east watercourse dirt road and headed into the Pistacia orchard a few yards ahead of us! Second time this week that has happened.

Bats over valley road, a few spotted in last week.

As we came down from the hill I heard a European cuckoo call from direction of east watercourse and as we passed look out corner, several more calls from direction of owl glade/shaft. Also heard yesterday.

More calls of stone curlews after dusk today and yesterday and jackdaws, hooded crows making big noise over larger trees along east watercourse as usual these days. Collared doves some coos.

Also heard, great tits, Syrian woodpecker (yesterday) , blackbird song and graceful warbler calls by valley road both days.

Garden: melodious sunbird calls around dawn, house sparrow chirps before dawn from about 4.30 a.m. when still v dark. Laughing dove coos.

Saturday 26th March

Gazelles: 5 in the field beyond the almond row, (which , like most of the forepart of gazelle field is now a yellow riot of wild mustard of at least two different species. ) 3 more gazelle in east field just south of the small olive grove. All females and well grown young, no adult males visible.

Birds: garden, house sparrows, sunbirds, laughing doves, bulbuls, linnet call?

Forest: blackbird song, European cuckoo calling at the corner of the bank, near where the bee orchid grows (must check on that plant)

Now more clover about.

Monday 28th March

21 (+) mountain gazelle: Bachelor herd 16 grazing by north watercourse in eucalyptus grove near bat cave, varying ages from fully mature males to a younger males, horns only about a quarter the size. A little farther east more out in the open a group of at least 5 females and well grown young.

While viewing the females picked up sight of a fox which was making its way along the banks of the north watercourse, then headed across the field in the direction of the shaft.

Birds: greenfinches chaw, cooing collared doves, chatter of great spotted cuckoos every now and again, a Buteo overhead..

Sunday 3rd April

Several more Buteo seen, generally very dark body.

Today, 5 gazelle, north hillslopes, an adult female, an adult male, both by skyline though not together, then group of three we spooked, headed down hill.

Fox, yesterday heading down hill a little north of shepherd's trail under trees, brown/red body, paler face.

Crested larks on hillside, a few individuals seen, calling from rocks, flitting about, flying low. Collared doves, greenfinches about and vocalizing, Jackdaws , hooded crows foraging on ground on hill near top, Graceful warbler calls. Pair of great spotted cuckoos flew over hill, may have been scouting olive grove or other trees to north for suitable nests.
Stone curlew vocalizations after dark.

Vegetation: Persian buttercups (Nurit) (most not great condition compared with two years ago but blooming many places) , pink (hairy) and yellow flax on hill, Alcea various places, full variety of clovers over hill esp. star clover. Gundelia starting to open. Most of rest, wild grains and grasses.

yesterday: that nice specimen bee orchid found near old machneh up from corner picnic site same place third season now, several more on trail across valley road from there and down slope, but much shorter individuals. Also near there: toothed orchid and Ajuga.

Sat. 9 April.

Bee-eaters! First time we saw this season and first time I heard though Akiva thought he had been hearing them a few times over the past week. First about 12 over valley road and neighbourhood shortly after we went out and later about two dozen over neighbhourhood and pumping station closer to sunset.

Blackbird song in two places on the bank, one atop a cypress, another in an acacia farther toward the pumping station.

Also graceful warblers about, jackdaws and hooded crows as usual. Pair of kestrels flying over neighbourhood up from pumping station, circling over/about buildings.

Gazelle: 2 bucks in view near bat cave grazing in open. Those two bucks we've seen before in association or were there others of bachelor herd out of view? Aggravated sounding hyrax barking from atop a boulder up from pumping station. Could be just territorial, no fox or cat in view.

Garden: consistent over last few days: Bulbul heard melodious shortly before 6 a.m. sunbird soon after, house sparrows early, from around 5.30 , laughing dove later, around sunrise. Listening for the Orphean warbler we heard last year but not heard.

Haven't been out much over past week due to fall on hillside, smashed knee on rock, decided better to rest it till worst pain gone.

Vegetation blooming now: milk thistle, purple and white , more viper's bugloss, yellow milfoil

15 -21 st March

Micromeria type, (?) what I call ''minimint'' since the flowers are so tiny, barely 2mm across.

Borage family species found in middle of forepart of gazelle field, level with the bunker rubble.. Anchusa or related but could not find a satisfactory match on Sarah Gold's site so far.

These gorgeous little yellow jobs flourishing more than I've ever seen before around the edges of gazelle field, looks like member of Ranunculaceae , striking butterfly flower shape. In contrast the one Egyptian campion plant had very imperfect flowers this season. Neither seen last year due to the ploughing but this year all other vegetation doing very nicely, at least double the height of two and three years ago. Common mustard species, buckler's mustard, pheasant's eye, and now the chamomile daisies are starting to bloom, and a variety of Geranium and Erodium.

Tuesday 15 March

weather dryer, slightly warmer ~16 degrees C

Gazelle: 1 alpha male treed slopes lower windsurfer. Then saw three subadults in field, ran off down towards olive grove where we saw 7 individuals, females and well grown young, but not sure how much overlap of the three and the seven. One or two probably counted twice- so 9-10 individuals

fox ran into Pistacia grove dusk by look out corner.

Row of mandrakes just off upper shepherd's trail about three quarters way up, hadn't seen them previous years, half a dozen.. All now have green berries.

Birds: hooded crows, jackdaws, swifts, blackbird song, collared dove coo,

Sunday 20 March

European cuckoo heard 4 x direction of Pistacia grove/east watercourse as heard from valley road dusk yesterday, also today from direction of shaft as heard from look out corner.

White breasted kingfisher? Heard several times in the last week along east valley watercourse, today up the hill to the east a little.

Two gazelle: up slopes shepherd's trail

Several blackbirds in song, great tit calls, jackdaw calls, also more stone curlew calls heard from the perimeters lately.

The firecrackers of Purim season seem to get louder every year, I really hope it does not cause significant nest desertions.

Monday 21st March

Well, the firecrackers don't seem to have disturbed the blackbirds who regularly sing so beautifully in the late afternoon in various parts of the woods and bank. Great tits and Graceful warblers also heard. Near the cistern, in the pine grove/eucalyptus grove area collared dove flight call heard for the first time this season. Jackdaws, Jays, hooded crows also seen.

About a week ago neighbours Dumas and Broide noticed flock of large white birds heading over. Dumas reported clear vocalizations so from that they'd be common cranes. Seems a bit early for storks. I need a number estimate yet.

Two gazelle seen grazing in field near security road, between small olive grove and windsurfer north slopes. Akiva caught glimpse of probable fox on ramp back up from valley road to back of houses, very brief but he thought he saw white tail tip. A few fox sightings lately but only very brief glimpses and when already dark or getting dark.

Meanwhile, plant growth continues to grow luxuriantly everywhere. I noticed many grape hyacinths popping up wild in front gardens, Palestine vetch festooning roadsides and many of a tiny mint, probably veined Savory, Micromeria nervosa, by valley road as well as mustard, chamomile, that long season common short yellow flowered legume flowering yet again. (above)

March : first two weeks

View by sapling field, looking roughly north along east watercourse Sunday 13th afternoon.

Bulbous Cranesbill, Geranium tuberosum

Above: member of cress/cabbage family blooming near shepherd's trail

Above: one of the vetches found on thorny burnet. One of Lathyrus or closely related? Other similar species blooming now are off white or salmon in colour.

Wednesday 2nd March

Gazelle: 1 seen near north watercourse, near bat cave. couldn't see if horns. Second was adult male in Pistacia grove.

porcupine: some scat found on trail from valley road north corner to dirt road. They tend to make scat on sloping trails like that.

Lots of flowering Euphorbia now, also a flowering broom by north watercourse in open, only broom seen yet, no foliage.. not spiky broom though. White broom is also in bloom now.
Stone curlew, jackdaws, graceful warbler, Tristram's starling, Syrian woodpecker
Have been hearing faint swift screams over the last few days, nothing definite, but this morning, thursday 3 March, Akiva saw one on his way out to work, just 1 over entrance to our street.

Thursday 3rd March

Saw my first swift of season definite! Flying over valley road. Also about, jackdaws, hooded crows, first cooing collared dove near pumping station. graceful warblers.

Searching for wild tulip western windsurfer slopes above treeline. Did find those single stem lilies as well as a very nice stand of Ophrys lutea and some pink butterfly orchids and patches of the blue purple cress. These four first seen of season. Still lots of asphodel and anemone. Every red flower was approached in hope of tulip but no luck today.. will try again! Most vetches now are the salmon coloured and pale but today found a nice deep purple one.. prob one of Lathyrus.

Saturday 5th March

gazlle? ch

First noticed Carmel bee orchids (by shepherd's trail) , small iris (on hillside above shepherd's trail)

noticed blooming over past week: pheasant eye

swifts heard, syrian woodpeckers, hooded crows and jackdaws about. Laughing doves and collared doves cooing.

Wednesday 9 March

Last few days was a mild chamsin. This broke this morning with cool, blustery winds, later also some hail. At time of our walk temps were down between 6 and 7 degrees C. winds about 6 knots, westerly/north westerly.

5 gazelle on hillslope under trees just south of shepherd's trail, females, well grown young including a subadult male, horns growing nicely, stopped and marked the place with scat..

Jays, jackdaws heard. No hyraxes out, we didn't expect them to be out in this damp and cold.

the small purple flowered Figwort, Scrophularia peyronii growing by side of valley road. I had seen those on hillside to north but first time I've seen it down nearer to home. Also noticed lately, in last week or two, a white Silene growing by our street.

Sunday 13 th March

Bulbuls again heard regularly in the garden esp. around dawn. Sunbird melodious calls, house sparrows chirps, laughing dove coos and foraging on the ground. Still hearing linnets in early mornings but not as much as before.

In the woods: Eurasian jays, Syrian woodpecker calls occasional, jackdaws and hooded crows esp. around dusk, blackbird song, graceful warblers in usual habitats,

3 adult male gazelle seen just west of bat cave, woods across from north watercourse, including one male with particularly long magnificent horns, larger than any I recall seeing, including the east field alpha male.

Bulbous cranesbill photographed today (above), various other Geraniums and Erodium blooming. Now wood sorrel and Palestine vetch now blooming. Cyclamen, asphodel, anemone, shepherd's purse, roman squill continue.