WildLife

One of my evening pastimes was sitting on our small balcony observing the 'wildlife'.  However, in contrast to the fierce fish in the sea which seem to have mulitplied, the wildlife has disappeared.

There were once flocks of sparrows which nested in the trees in front of our building.  They made one hell of a noise each evening as they flew in and out of the foliage, arguing, calling to mates, choosing their branch for the night, disputing sitting rights.   They rustled and chirped and chirruped till the dark of night.

There are no sparrows in the trees this year.

We thought at first it was because of the high winds.  

However the band of sparrows at the restaurant returned when the winds died down, hopping up onto the table for crumbs, checking out plates as diners left.  Yet we didn't  see or hear them after their lunch.

The foxes seem to have disappeared too.  They would, in years gone by, appear on the beach after dark rumaging for left over pizza and burger buns.  We even spotted them up around our building where other people left out bowls of food.

A fox maybe a pest to some but it was delightful to see them so close up, pointy face and long bushy tail.  

I missed the foxes

There are always a couple of dogs, looked after by the permanent staff at the base.  This year there were three, one much bigger, a friendly giant.  They rarely barked and largely ignored the humans unless a morsel was offered. The dogs wandered along the beach, sleeping on the grass under the shade of the trees, and waited patiently outside the restaurant at midday.  They looked a contented pack.

Then there was the night bird whose seranade I always looked forward to.  K called it a cuckoo but I looked on youtube for the sounds of greek night birds and found it was the Scops owl.  

More about the Scops Owl tomorrow