2024-04

18th April 2024

There were not many birds out and about on Mount Arbel yesterday but there were very many lovely pink flowers, and pairs of butterflies at every step. These flowers, blush centaury thistles (Centaurea crocodylium), are found in Northern Israel, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Despite their Latin name they’re not crocodilian, though their ‘bite’ is quite sharp. They seemed like a magnet for butterflies and bees. The pictures here are:

1. A clouded yellow butterfly that resembles a leaf when it folds its wings up. The white wing spots look like an insect has bitten through a bit of the leaf leaving a hole to tell predators that it’s foliage rather than a butterfly. That’s fine unless a predator just happened to like eating leaves!
2. A not-so-white, Bath white butterfly – called thus after the City of Bath in England, which is itself named after the Roman-built baths there.
3. A buff-tailed bumblebee, which, funnily enough has a buff-coloured tail. There’s a popular myth that given the shape and weight and wing size of the bumblebee it should be aerodynamically impossible for it to fly. Clearly, it’s a myth, as it can and does fly – though, in a very erratic sort of way, as no doubt, Rimsky-Korsakov would have confirmed. In a fight with a hornet, a much more adept flyer, the bumblebee would easily be outmanoeuvred. But scientists have recently noticed that in such a fight the bumblebee drops like a lead weight to the ground, taking the hornet with it, and the impact is sufficient to allow the bee to escape.

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12th April 2024

At Ramat Hanadiv, recently, we ran into a fritillary butterfly, with a lovely chess or checkerboard pattern on its wings. It flitted from flower to flower and didn’t settle for long at all – and when it did settle it kept its wings upwards. Then it ‘frittered’ away! At the gift shop there was a book called ‘Butterflies of Ramat Hanadiv’ - and a rather lovely book it is, with colour illustrations and descriptions of the butterflies and their caterpillars in Hebrew and English. We bought it, of course – it wasn’t expensive. The author, Dr Rachel Schwartz-Tzacher, explains that Israel is home to eight different (but all similar-looking) species of fritillary, but only two of them are seen at Ramat Hanadiv – the lesser spotted fritillary and the Jerusalem fritillary – ‘lesser spotted’, not necessarily being a description of how often it is seen. After much deliberating I worked out that the fritillary we had spotted was a female Jerusalem fritillary (Melitaea telona).

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Now that I have found a butterfly expert in Israel I wrote to Rachel with a question, and she was gracious enough to reply.

I asked Rachel why the caterpillars (Ocnogyna loewii - Ocnogyna tiger moth) that I filmed in February at Nachal Tzippori, thrashed about so much. I had thought it was a defence mechanism against predators, but she told me that they are making silk – they secrete from their lower lip a sort of liquid silk which dries and solidifies when it meets the air. They do it to manufacture a silk tent to shelter them from predators. Man uses such moth caterpillars to produce silk – so next time you buy a silk scarf or a silk tie, you’ll know where it comes from.

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Animals have four legs, or in our case just two; insects have six legs, spiders have eight and centipedes and millipedes have many more (but not quite as many as it says on the box). Animals, though, never have more than four legs – not even spider man. But last month a six-legged gazelle was spotted (and photographed) in Southern Israel. It has four normal legs, which it uses in the usual manner, and an extra two growing out of its back, and these rest on its back as it goes about its day-to-day activities. These extra legs are the result of a rare genetic disorder, known as polymelia.  Israel’s gazelle (the Mountain gazelle - Gazella gazella) is an endangered species – there are just 5000 individuals presently in Israel and very few anywhere else. Perhaps this genetic aberration comes about because inbreeding is a consequence of very small populations.

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11th April 2024

Apparently the least frequently seen herons are the black-capped (or black-crowned) night herons (hereon I’ll just call them night herons). The night heron is also known as the quark bird. It doesn’t get this name because it’s made up of billions of subatomic particles, though it certainly is, but because its quack or squawk sounds a bit like ‘quark’. It’s no great surprise that they’re not seen so often, as they are nocturnal birds and are out and about in the dark. That said, the herons I see most often are in fact night herons, which seem to like to spend their mornings by the lakeside in Tiberias.

They’re short and stocky and would lose out competing with larger more agile herons.  So, instead of battling with the bigger birds for limited supplies of food, they hunt at night. Their huge red eyes help them see better in poor light, and their plumage is good for night work – dark feathers on top so that they’re not seen by nighttime predators and light feathers underneath which helps them to avoid being seen by the fish on which they prey.

Like all herons, they’re expert “still fishers” waiting patiently for long periods for their catch. And so, if they do come out during the day, you don’t have to be too quick to get a good still photo. This bird kindly posed for me a couple of days ago.

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4th April 2024

This week we’ve been soaking up the sunshine – it’s been about 32 degrees for the last few days. Ramat Hanadiv was looking resplendent in yellow when we visited on Sunday and yellow trees and shrubs are much in evidence in the Switzerland Forest too. Particularly spectacular are the yellow mimosa trees with their fluffy yellow honey-scented balls, looking like static yellow fountains.

So, I was somewhat surprised to discover that yellow doesn’t actually exist. Well, if I’m being more accurate, I should say that I discovered that scientists have discovered that yellow doesn’t exist. This is a little strange because we all see yellow, all the time – which is better than seeing red all the time. The science is far beyond my proper understanding, but with my simplistic mind I think it’s a bit like this: – the colour we see is reflected light that appears to us as yellow but isn’t actually yellow. I must be awfully clever to see things that don’t exist – a pigment of my imagination!

Isn’t it strange that the mimosa tree, Acacia saligna, is known as blue-leafed wattle. But then again, if yellow doesn’t exist, I suppose it’s not so bizarre to think of green leaves as blue leaves.

2024-03

31st March 2023

Last week Miriam and I were invited to give a presentation about the Nature of Israel to our local ESRA Group - Miriam’s music accompanying some of my photographs – and we talked about the fascinating flora and fauna that we see. I showed a photo of the rather beautiful coastal iris that I took recently in Netanya. One of the participants asked if we had seen the equally beautiful Gilboa iris, which we hadn’t. So a couple of days later we set off to Mount Gilboa in search of these irises. Mount Gilboa, at almost 500 meters above sea level, towers over the surrounding countryside and can be seen from miles away. It was the scene of King Saul’s last battle, which didn’t have a happy result for him and his three sons, and ultimately led to King David’s succession. Much later in history Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria, was also involved in a battle there. Although he wasn’t victorious, he fared better than Saul, and was able to return home to his Sultanas (and probably his sultanas too).

Last week the mountainside was covered with giant fennel plants with lovely mustard-coloured flowerheads, purple milk thistles, which were equally tall, and the very much lower, but bright and cheerful-looking chamomile flowers, members of the daisy family. The giant fennel is a Triffid-like plant that grows quickly to a t’rific height (2 to 3 meters), and whose sturdy stalks were used in days gone by in Sweden and elsewhere, to inflict pain on misbehaving schoolchildren who fell out with their teachers. The thistles can also cause significant pain to anyone who falls in amongst them. The chamomile, though, isn’t the source of pain at all – it makes a nice tea (if you like that sort of thing, which I don’t). After being chased by Mr McGregor, whom he met at the end of a cucumber frame, Peter Rabbit managed to struggle home. In Beatrix Potter’s words - “Peter was not very well during the evening. His mother put him to bed and made some chamomile tea: One tablespoonful to be taken at bedtime.”

Among the millions of fennels, thistles and chamomiles we did manage to find half a dozen or so Gilboa irises (Iris haynei). They’re a glorious bright purple colour and it’s well worth driving to the Gilboa to see them, specially at this time of year. Their flowering season is from the beginning of March to mid-April, so you’ll have to be quick to see them at their best, though. These flowers which are only found in this locale are classified as vulnerable, so they’re not for picking and indeed, as is usual in such circumstances, are protected by law.

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28th March 2023

Butterflies and lizards are both cold-blooded, so spend a lot of time basking in the sun to gain sufficient warmth to function fully. That said, I had awful trouble keeping up with the swallowtails, red admirals and a gecko that I saw last week at Mount Arbel. The red admirals were far too quick for me – they didn’t stay still for more than a second and by the time I got anywhere near, they were flitting around, sometimes in pairs doing a rather elaborate courtship dance. A swallowtail did settle near for me about two seconds, and I had about two seconds to look at a gecko before it realised I was watching.

The gecko was an Israeli fan-fingered gecko (Ptyodactylus puiseuxi) - I’ve written before (23rd November 2023) about its amazing ability to walk upside down across a smooth ceiling or rock – take a look at the November post for more details. I was thinking about what an interesting sounding name a gecko has and actually it takes its name from the Tokay gecko whose chirping sounds a bit like ‘gecko’. If I have too much Tokay wine, which I’m quite fond of but haven’t had for years, I’ve also been known to make chirping sounds that sound like ‘gecko’.

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26th March 2023

I had a walk last week at Nachal Amud – the Amud stream. The stream runs from Ramat Dalton, north of Safed and flows through a windy (that is, winding) and sometimes windy (that is, a bit breezy) route down to the Kinneret lake. The Amud, which gives its name to the stream, is a 20-metre-high limestone pillar. I joined the stream fairly close to the Amud but was disappointed to find that the route towards it was closed because of danger from falling rocks. So, I walked in the opposite direction alongside the stream. In several places I had to cross it without a bridge, and though there were rocks to walk across as steppingstones, it was still a challenge for me not to fall in. I got my shoes a bit wet, but nothing worse than that. Along the route there were flowers galore and in the stream thousands upon thousands of tadpoles. I could hear frogs croaking loudly but couldn’t see them. And there were sunbirds and bulbuls in nearby trees. After walking a few hundred meters I came across a huge rock growing out of nowhere and I could see a large cave high above (80m). There was a sign on the path that explained in Hebrew, Arabic and English that a skull had been found in this cave just lying there (lazy-bones) – the earliest human skull ever found in Israel. It wasn’t quite from a human as we know humans but from Archaic Homo sapiens. The skull is now in a Jerusalem Museum and what happened to the rest of the body, nobody knows.

The accompanying photos show:

• Purple pea fields that were a sort of pea-purple colour
• Bright yellow downy restharrow (also from the pea family)
• Oleander seed pod
• The skull cave

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20th March 2023

This is the best time of year to see Israel’s beautiful wildflowers. When we visited Ramat Hanadiv last week, the nature park was carpeted with wild mustard, pincushion scabious and kalaniot (the usually red crown anemones); we also hit a purple patch of flowers – it must have been our lucky day.

We enjoyed looking at a splendid pinkish-purple three-toothed orchid. Orchids can live up to 100 years! Though in our house they do well to last 100 days. Maybe if we gave them some water occasionally, they’d survive a bit longer.

There was a lot of purple clover - Trifolium purpureum - Trifolium, meaning three-leafed. So, I maintain that a four-leafed clover isn’t actually lucky, as it’s not really a clover at all.

And there were purple cornflowers also known as the Syrian cornflower - Centaurea cyanoides. Sounds a bit like half man, half horse, and not-half poisonous!

I also photographed a cattle egret, that seemed to have lost its cows – how careless! And in the gardens, a jay that wanted a bath.

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17th March 2023

Last year on one of the tracks at Ramat Hanadiv, we saw a tortoise scurrying along at a snail’s pace. It was somewhat sluggish, indeed as slow as a sloth. It took a quick look at me and then tootled off, unperturbed by the camera I was pointing right at it. Tortoises carry their houses (that is their shells) along with them, but most creatures have to look for protection from predators a little further afield. Caterpillars, for example, which are easy prey for birds and beetles, often use other defense mechanisms, such as being poisonous or being covered in horrible little hairs. This week while I was looking for the mantis sac that we saw a couple of weeks ago, Miriam noticed a very small pile of twigs ‘walking’ across our path. I once saw a tree ‘walk’ across a motorway in front of me, on a particularly stormy day, but generally trees and twigs aren’t meant to take walks. As we looked carefully at the twigs, we could see a caterpillar’s head sticking out at the front. This was the caterpillar of a bagworm moth, which gathers little bits of twigs and grasses and covers itself in them, a sort of log cabin – to disguise the fact that it is there and to be a first layer of protection. How clever!

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As we were walking along the track, a truck went past and stopped – there was Dr Tzach Glasser, the Nature Park manager. Tzach had been kind enough to give Miriam and me a guided tour of the park a few months ago. As we chatted, I recalled our conversation last year about Griffon vultures and the work that Tzach does to preserve them in Israel. Sadly, just a few days ago, three vultures were found dead in the South of Israel – it’s thought that they may have eaten a poisoned carcass.

 

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14th March 2024

This week on our way to Netanya, we stopped at Ramat Hanadiv. After a coffee at the wonderful outdoor Mata’im café we had a short walk through the gardens. Of course, I always look at the frogs in the lily pond near the main gates. There were a few frogs – and before I reached the pond, they were croaking to each other. I was hoping to photograph frogs with their vocal sacs inflated but wasn’t lucky enough on this occasion.

I did get to see a rather lovely greenfinch, though, perched high up in a tree. I recalled Wordsworth’s poem The Green Linnet – green linnet, being a name that the greenfinch used to be known by. In Wordsworth’s words:

Beneath these fruit-tree boughs that shed
Their snow-white blossoms on my head,
With brightest sunshine round me spread
Of spring's unclouded weather,
In this sequestered nook how sweet
To sit upon my orchard-seat!
And birds and flowers once more to greet,
My last year's friends together.

One have I marked, the happiest guest
In all this covert of the blest:
Hail to Thee, far above the rest
In joy of voice and pinion!
Thou, Linnet! in thy green array,
Presiding Spirit here to-day,
Dost lead the revels of the May;
And this is thy dominion.

Even so long ago, Wordsworth knew, as we all know now, that time spent out enjoying nature is time well spent – it eases stress and generally improves one’s well-being. I was encouraged to read a few days ago in a Jerusalem Post article, that recent research has shown that time in nature can reduce the risk of osteoporosis. I’m one of those people who have this crumbly-bone condition, as does my sister (and my brother has a reduced form of it – osteopenia). We inherited it from our late father.

So, it’s great to know that the time I spend at Ramat Hanadiv and at other nature sites throughout Israel, is actually doing good things for both my mind and body.

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12th March 2024

The sycomore fig is a fig, but the sour fig isn't. Go fig-ure that!

This tree is in the heart of a residential area of Netanya, and is so old that it was there very many hundreds of years before the current apartment buildings and houses that surround it. Indeed it is thought that the tree is more than 1,000 years old and possibly even 1,500 years old. Its diameter is an incredible 24ft, and it is for sure one of the oldest trees in Israel. It's not a sycamore tree. It’s a sycomore fig (Ficus sycomoros) - note the slightly different spelling - and it is a member of the fig family of trees. When the bible, for example in I Kings 10:27, refers to sycomore trees (sikma) it refers to this tree rather than the sycamore, that we were familiar with in England. In the summer the tree produces large quantities of figs, which are not particularly human friendly, but bats go nuts about them. And you might not Adam and Eve it, but the leaves are definitely big enough to clothe fully-grown adults.

Last week at Caesarea, as I walked along the coast, there were lots of these yellow flowers – sour figs (Carpobrotus edulis). They’re a succulent with green and red foliage, and their fruit, which is edible and is used to make jam, resembles a fig. But it’s not actually related to the fig family.

The kind of fig tree that produces the figs we eat, whose primary purpose is for the production of the fig rolls that I’m particularly fond of, is a subject for another day.

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8th March 2024

Until a hundred years ago or so, there were bears in Israel. The Syrian brown bear, happily lived here and there’s a record of one being seen near Mount Arbel, just a few miles from our home, about 150 years ago. Sadly, today, you have to visit the zoo to see bears in Israel, though I’m not sure I’d fancy meeting one on Mount Arbel.

Syrian brown bears we don’t see, but Syrian bear’s breeches we do. The rather interesting looking plant Acanthus syriacus is found in much of Northern Israel, including in the Switzerland Forest where I took this photograph yesterday.

The plant is interesting to look at, particularly in that the shape of the leaves inspired the design of the capital at the top of Corinthian columns. Just the day before yesterday, I photographed this capital at Caesarea. Two thousand years ago, King Herod built up the city and named it in honour of Augustus Caesar – and it was known as the cultural and commercial capital of Israel. 

The third photograph is also from yesterday - a mackerel sky over the trees of the Switzerland Forest, early in the morning.

While I was writing this post yesterday evening, our talented friend, Lisa Aigen, made a pencil drawing of me.

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5th March 2024

Put out the flags – yesterday, for the first time ever, I photographed a corn bunting. We saw two at Mount Arbel, the first from quite some distance, and the second reasonably close by. I have to admit that I thought they were both sparrows – it was only after I’d ‘developed and printed’ the photos that I realised they were both buntings. Of course, I should have listened to Miriam, who immediately stated that they weren’t sparrows and were probably buntings.

Buntings look a bit finch-like, and indeed they are related – but they’re a distinct family themselves. The corn bunting has heavily streaked brown plumage and has a yellowish bill.

Yesterday was a bluebird day. Half an hour earlier I had snuck up, closer than I usually manage, to a blue rock thrush, precariously balancing on the cliff edge. In case you’re wondering, it was the bird balancing precariously, not me. Despite my old man’s walking pole, I keep well away from the edge, which has a drop of some 50 to 100 meters. I don’t think my crumbly old bones would fare well with a 1-meter fall, and certainly not such a huge one.

Quite some time ago, Vera Lynn sang:

There'll be bluebirds over
The white cliffs of Dover
Tomorrow, just you wait and see.
There'll be love and laughter
And peace ever after
Tomorrow, when the world is free.

Every day, we pray for peace and a world of love and laughter.

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3rd March 2024

Almonds and Lupines

 The almond trees are blossoming beautifully. Van Gogh would have had a field day. But to deliver nuts the flowers must be pollinated by bees, and then a few months later there will be almonds in the drupes (outer husks) that grow from the flowers.

As well as the almonds that are eaten as nuts, some are used to provide almond milk and most important of all, in my opinion, some are used to make marzipan.

Do take care, though, bitter almonds have so much cyanide in them that just a handful can cause death. Check with a nut-ritionist if you’re not sure.

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In recent weeks we have seen quite a number of blue lupins (Lupinus pilosus) near to home, but in Jerusalem on Friday we saw a few hundred thousand at Givat Haturmusim (which translates as Lupin Hill).

It used to be thought that lupins ‘wolfed’ minerals from the soil, which is why they got their wolfish name. However, the truth is that they take nitrogen from the air and use it to provide nutrition for the soil - so not the big bad wolf after all.

2024-02

29th February 2024

A sac, but no sacs.

Earlier this week we were at Ramat Hanadiv and while walking in the nature park we happened upon an egg sac of a praying mantis. Having seen one a year ago or more in the Switzerland Forest near home, we immediately knew what it was. After mating, the female mantis lays her eggs and in so doing creates an egg sac, also known as an ootheca, with a frothy substance that hardens into a case. The process can take an hour or even a few hours, and she then fixes it to a fence or a stalk or branch on a bush, with a special glue that she secretes. Having produced the sac and left it in a safe place, she then abandons it and leaves the hundred or more eggs to hatch, usually a few weeks later. We shall keep an eye out for it on future visits and let you know what we see.

After our walk we retired to the café for a coffee and then paid a quick visit to the frog pond. Having seen a mantis’ egg sac, we were hoping to see a frog inflating its vocal sacs. We spotted a couple of frogs, but they were not keen on putting on a performance – they were a tad-polite J !! We’ll hope for better luck next time.

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25th February 2024

In England as I drove along the motorways a kestrel hovering by the side of the road was a common sight. Here in Israel too, they are seen quite frequently by the roadsides. They perch on a post or wire and survey the surrounding area, looking for small voles or mice. From time to time, they will fly from their perch and hover 10 to 20 meters above the ground for half a minute, or even a minute, to get a better view of their prospective lunch. On a windy day they position themselves against the wind to hover with little effort. When there’s no wind, they flap their wings to allow them to stay still. In days gone by the bird was known as a windhover, for obvious reasons, but now everyone knows it as a kestrel. It’s a small falcon, barely bigger than a pigeon, but not as fast, reaching just 40mph. However, its diving speed is fast – up to 60mph (and without a safety helmet).

A kestrel needs to eat four or five voles a day to stay alive. But the voles are not easy to see as they scurry along through the undergrowth, out of sight. A few years ago, scientists discovered that kestrels can see ultra violet light and vole urine reflects this light. Since voles dribble urine wherever they go, they’re leaving an easy trail for kestrels to spot them.

This beautiful bird was perched at the side of the lane leading up to Mount Arbel. I stopped the car a few meters away and inched towards it, to get a good look, before it flew off to join its mate which was hovering over the nearby hillside.

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22nd February 2024

Lizards come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The biggest is the enormous Komodo dragon, 10ft long, weighing 150lb and capable of killing and eating a water buffalo. And the smallest is just an inch or so. We don’t see Komodos in Israel, fortunately, but we do see Lebanon lizards quite frequently – they’re about 4 inches long. The lizard’s name in Hebrew is lita'ah zerizah, which means speedy lizard, and speedy it is. I spotted this speedy little fellow running on a wall in a residential area in Tzefat (Safed) yesterday. 

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21st February 2024

There is a herd of cattle that frequents the Switzerland Forest, and actually spends more time there than we do. The herd is made up almost entirely of cows and calves, together with a single bull – and a rather hefty jumbo-sized one it is. It seems to be completely docile and is far more interested in grazing than anything else – but we don’t want to show it a red flag and we’re a little cautious when we go past it.

More often than not, close to the cattle we see rather beautiful white egrets. The cattle egret, Bubulcus ibis as Latin scholars would say, is neither a bulbul nor an ibis, but rather a heron. In some places it’s known as elephant bird, but even in flight it has no more resemblance to a jumbo than it does on the ground. Nor does it look elephantine when on the back of cattle. Flocks of cattle egrets have been known to cause problems for air traffic controllers as they sometimes gather at the edge of airfields – as a jet clashing with an elephant bird wouldn’t lead to a good outcome for either.

The cows seem to ignore them totally, even when the egrets walk all over them. They have a symbiotic relationship and both gain from living in close proximity to each other. The egrets find insects and grubs that the cow unearths as it walks along, and they also pick fleas from the cow’s body. It can’t be much fun being covered in fleas so I’m sure the cows appreciate the delousing service.

If you would like to see a photo of a cattle egret in flight, take a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_egret where you will find my pic of a bird I saw near Netanya.

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20th February 2024

We’ve had more very heavy rain in recent days, but it did stop, and the sun came out for an hour or so on Sunday morning. I mustered up the energy and right away set off for the Switzerland Forest, which was glowing in the sunshine.

I saw masses of yellow wild mustard and also dill, fennel, rosemary sage and lavender not to mention kestrels, jays, a stonechat and a Sardinian warbler, which had packed itself into a rosemary bush to hide. As I walked through the woods, I could hear chukars with their distinctive chuck-chuck-chukar-chukar call, but they weren’t to be seen – they kept a low profile, as they do, probably hiding behind the mustard. They’re far more comfortable running along or flying low rather than flying at great heights. As flying birds, they just about pass muster, but as road runners they certainly cut the mustard.

Israel is not known for its mustard condiment, but at this time of year there is so much of it about, that you would think it would be harvested and bottled. However, it’s not quite the right kind to make a decent condiment, and even cows and sheep shouldn’t eat too much of it as it can irritate their stomachs. So, stick to your Colman’s or Dijon mustard.

Oh, and by the way, the milk thistle (the thistle of Scotland) is now showing its true colours.

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Breaking News!

More than 700 steppe eagles flew from Egypt to Israel over the weekend. So, keep your eagle-eyes trained on the sky, but mind your step!

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18th February 2024

With many birds, you have to keep your eyes open to spot them. Some alert you that they’re around, with their chirping, calls or song, though it may still be difficult to see them if they’re hiding in bushes or trees. Cranes, however, make their presence known with their loud honking and if you crane your neck upwards you can easily see them flying overhead. Just a few days ago while I was on Mount Arbel, I heard their distinctive honks, looked up and watched fourteen or fifteen fly past. A friend who lives in a nearby village told me that hundreds of cranes fly from the Hula late in the afternoon and settle for the night in the fields surrounding the village and then head back to the Hula in the morning.

Unfortunately, there’s been a significant outbreak of avian flu in Israel in 2024, and  more than 190 cranes have died so far, as well as many other birds. As a result, the Hula Reserve has been closed to the public. Just three years ago there was a massive epidemic of avian flu in Israel, killing 8,000 cranes and more than a million other birds, particularly chickens and turkeys. It’s to be hoped that this outbreak isn’t as serious.

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14th February 2024

After last month’s visit to the Iris Reserve in Netanya when we didn’t get to see irises, we went again last week. Success! The beautiful Iris atropurpurea, the coastal iris, was in full bloom. And also the rather lovely pale blue Israel lupine, in Hebrew Turmus Eretz Yisrael.

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13th February 2024

My thanks to Raymond from Leeds who sent me a video clip from the UK’s ITV News from a few years ago. It is a wonderful story of how the Israeli Army and Nature and Parks Authority used a drone to feed a Griffon vulture chick, whose mother had died. We love watching the Griffon vultures at Hai Bar and Gamla and now whenever we see one, we’ll be thinking maybe it’s the one with the drone mother. You can see the video here – it lasts for about 3 minutes.

The accompanying photo is one I took last year at Hai Bar.

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8th February 2024

Yesterday we discussed the castor oil plant and ricin. We noted that the poison ricin is a derivative of the plant. And indeed this poison was used to assassinate the Bulgarian dissident and journalist Georgi Markov in London in 1978. His murderer injected ricin into him via a poisoned umbrella.

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In Hebrew the castor oil plant is called kikayon which is a word that occurs just once in the Torah, in the Book of Jonah. After delivering G-d's message to the people of Nineveh, Jonah went into the fields seeking solace. There G-d caused a kikayon to grow to provide Jonah shelter from the sun. The kikayon is often translated as a gourd, but some Bible commentators suggest it is the castor oil plant. And supporting this theory the Talmud (in the Mishnah of Shabbat) notes that kik oil is possibly the oil from the kikayon, that is, castor oil.

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7th February 2024

We’ve had a little bit of rain in the last two weeks. Actually, a little bit of rain is a little bit of an understatement. It has rained and poured, and rained and poured more. The Israel Meteorological Service says we haven’t had rain like this for more than thirty years. One day last week the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) rose by 14.4 cm (almost 6 inches), though even with all this rain the lake is still not as a high as it was this time last year.

For much of the last two weeks the weather has restricted our walking and bird/animal spotting activities but knowing that the rainy period is almost over we headed out on Monday morning for a brief walk on Mount Arbel – there was only one other person there and just a few bedraggled birds and a couple of soggy Syrian hyraxes. We did see marigolds and geraniums which seemed to appreciate the rain.

On Monday afternoon, I had a walk along the shore of the Kinneret – Miriam had more sense than to join me. The birds had more sense than to be out too, so I enjoyed the solitude and admired some castor oil plants growing at the edge of the lake. The plant’s scientific name is Ricinus communis and as you might guess from its name is the source of the deadly poison ricin, as well as the more user-friendly castor oil.

Before too long, the clouds closed in, and emptied themselves on me. As I wrote in a poem last year “it was the sort of day when I regretted being that sort of person who can’t sit at home in a warm dry chair reading and drinking and enjoying creature comforts”. You can read the whole poem in the Voices Israel Anthology 2023 published by The Voices Israel Group of Poets in English or you can read it here - https://natureofisrael.blogspot.com/p/that-sort-of-day.html.

The photos show a castor oil plant next to the Kinneret.

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5th February 2024

One of the joys of a walk in the countryside in Israel is that there are almost always some butterflies to be seen fluttering by. Amongst my favourites are the swallowtail, the painted lady and the plain tiger. But butterflies don’t grow on trees. They are the culmination of an exciting metamorphosis – egg, caterpillar, pupa and then butterfly.

Last week there were lots and lots of small furry/hairy caterpillars on milk thistle leaves at the side of the track on which we walked in Ramat Hanadiv. And we saw them this week too at Nachal Tzippori. These little creatures are actually not as friendly as they look and the hairs on them can cause quite considerable skin irritations – it’s best not to touch them. These particular caterpillars will not develop into butterflies but into moths – the Ocnogyna loewii - Ocnogyna tiger moth. The caterpillars thrash about, which seems to be a defence mechanism to ward off predators.

A few years ago, we encountered processionary moth caterpillars, which are also somewhat unpleasant to touch. It seems that they make these long trains to tell predators that they’re a snake, so better look elsewhere for a snack.

A caterpillar’s mission during the few weeks from hatching until it pupates is to get bigger and bigger so that there is enough energy for the butterfly/moth to function. It will eat all day long – I’m quite envious – and believe it or not, it can increase in weight a thousand-fold.

A caterpillar has six legs, as does the moth/butterfly it will become, and twelve eyes, six on each side of its head. Despite all the eyes, it doesn’t have 20-20 vision – just 6-6 vision!