Wild gladeolus : Gladiolus italicus found in a flat area under a grove of trees close by north valley watercourse. Several others found blooming in the area.
A cool wind was blowing down the valley from the west and this marbled white butterfly was clinging hard to the thorny burnet.
Below, not sure what this is: the bright colour of the leaves caught my eye, and the unusual shape of the seedpods.. Found under the shade of the pines, amongst the boulders.
This spider was lurking over our porch.. Akiva took this pic just before we cleared the cobwebs. Its leg span was about 10 cm.
Below: one of the smallest snakes in the country, a Typhlops, - known as a blind snake, though you can see a dark eye. This individual was betw 15-20 cm long. Moshe found it under a rock in the neighbourhood today and Avremi took this pic.
Finally I have an I.D. for the 'demon seedpods' plant ... they are called Sainfoins (a french name meaning 'healthy hay' because of their value as feedstock. They are species of the genus Onobrychis and there's a very nice wikipedia article about them at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainfoin.
Acanthus already in bloom.
Saturday 11 April: Blackbirds in song, swifts, bee-eaters, flock of about 25 over gazelle field, hawking. stone curlew calls at about sunset same area. Turtle dove heard cooing vigorously by east valley dirt road near Pistacio orchard. Collared doves, hooded crows,
Sunbird in the garden.
Sunday 12 April : Bulbul started up melodious calls from about 5.45/5.50 a.m. house sparrows have been up for about an hour already. Orphean warbler heard singing at 5.54 a.m. laughing dove cooing at 5.56 a.m. distant cawing of Hooded crow.
Today we walked up to the centre of the neighbourhood, then walked back through a park and down to the upper valley road where a little owl is usually found on the bluff. No luck today.. but there were many passersby so that may have made it seek quieter refuge.
We did see plenty mustard in bloom with Viper's bugloss of the local kind and quite a few clumps of blue Anchusa azurea on the way down (Italian bugloss)
Monday 13 April: Today we went down to the north valley dirt road.. many neighbours were still on spring break so there was much activity: some boys had acquired a third donkey, a young black one, as well as the mature brown female and the well grown white and other boys were hauling dead trees for bonfire night.
*Great tits had fledged* .. a whole family was flitting between the pines at the edge of the watercourse, calling incessantly, the coarse high pitched calls of the juveniles and the deeper scold of the adults. We saw one large dark hawk fly quite low over the valley towards the north, bee-eaters and swifts were also aloft. Great spotted cuckoo heard , hooded crows and jackdaws also around as usual.
Cool day today: just 10.5-15.5 degrees C. The Hamsin that filled the sky with fine dust just yesterday has already broken. Winds today have been brisk and westerlies all day.
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