Natural History Photographs


Crete, Greece

30 March - 7 April 2018

In the previous year, I visited Crete in the last week of April. But a week is far too short for a large island like Crete, with its rich flora with many endemics. So this year I returned for another - again far too short! - visit, now at the onset of April with the possibility to find plants that flower earlier. Another difference with last year is that I chose to also sample the eastern part of the island. As it turned out, compared with last year the flowering season was much earlier, so that in the end there was quite an overlap in for instance flowering orchid species. But interestingly not all species had responded similarly to the different weather, so that some I barely saw in 2017 were common now, and vice versa.

As with all my trips in this corner of Europe, I traveled together with Matty Musters, who took care of all the logistic aspects, in addition to being a good friend and conversational partner.

If you click on any of the three rectangles you will be linked through to a more detailed map, on which you can select individual sites.