My weeks holiday allowed me to experience a small taste (no I didn’t eat it!) of the wildlife on offer in Corfu. This lovely green and verdant Greek island in the Ionian Sea is awash with wild flowers in spring, though it seemed like every other Corfoit was in possession of a petrol strimmer and was doing their best to blitz it! Away from the villas and holiday apartments things were much quieter, even so some olive groves were getting the treatment.
Loved the lizards, never see many in the UK but here they liked to sunbathe on the rocks. They are very wary and scuttle off when approached making photography difficult. The biggest was a Balkan Green Lizard living in the front garden of our villa, pity he had lost his tail.
Those of you who have read Gerald Durrell’s book ‘My Family and Other Animals’ will remember his meetings with the Rose Beetle man. These beetles or chafers are big, up to an inch (25mm) long and are a glorious metallic gold/green. Mostly seen flying around tree tops they like to feed on nectar.
The birdlife on Corfu was somewhat disappointing, so much so the zoom lens never got bothered. There was a distinct lack of garden birds and the countryside was pretty quiet too. I fear the large amount of empty shotgun cartridges and feral cats may be responsible. The hunting of spring migrants on Mediterranean islands is a big problem, although it is part of the culture it is not big and not clever! We did see some nice birds though, Scops Owls by our villa at night and the Red-rumped Swallows in the old fort. A highlight of an evening meal in our favourite taverna the ‘Olive Press’ was the Barn Swallows coming in to roost a few feet above us and the owner welcomed them.
“But wait!” I hear you say “Where are the butterflies?” Well butterflies were in a great abundance and if you would like to see a few check this out https://blhphotoblog.wordpress.com/portfolio/corfu-butterflies/ I decided to put a gallery on my HOME page, enjoy! For a taster feast your eyes on this beauty!
