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!