The searing heat of summer on The Hot Rock has passed. Life is beginning to emerge again from the crisp remains of the scorched landscape. Trekking in the mountains reveals more every day as plants and animals emerge from the dust-dry soil to do what is hard-wired into them, ensuring the survival of the species. It starts to happen rapidly as temperatures follow the sun downwards before both start to climb again after only a few months and everything again shrivels and hides.
Trekking up into the mountains there is something new every day. Here are just a few images of how the desert begins to be transformed.
The Autumn crocus emerges naked from the ground late September onwards. Individually …
….. in clumps in the shade ….
…. in clumps in the sun ….
…… massed together ….
covering whole terraces under the trees
Bees show the scale before they disappear inside the trumpet
I found the exquisite Biarum marmarisense on a couple of other mountainsides
Squeezing out between rocks
Caressing each other
Difficult to see the mantis looks like a stick unless it moves
… but I found this one when dismantling the hessian shade cover on the roof terrace
. alittle easier to see against the dark wood of the railing
Rearing up on 4 of its 6 legs
… and then landing next to my pliers
I nearly trod on this big fella, over a foot long, almost black, covered in dust and wandering along the mountainside
When you get old the wrinkles in your neck give you away
This little guy was unwilling to come out of his shell once he spotted me
Not everything survives. I don’t know how this bird of prey met its end but it was spread out like a feather cloak not savaged by a predator
I thought this was an Ottoman Viper but checked and it was identified as a Coin-marked snake.
looking for a bolt-hole as I followed it with the camera
The snake was identified by Matt Wilson who has a very good European Amphibian and Reptile Blog. Check it out:
http://mwilsonherps.wordpress.com/trip-reports/symi/
x
Barry's Ramblings 
Lovely shots =)
Enjoyed the safari – thank you!
A pleasure. You must have often seen this time of year on Tilos and know know good it is. Hope life is good in Oz