Category Archives: Wildlife

Symi: the end of Spring

Posted on June 8, 2015 by BarryH

A wet winter and a cool spring made for an even more than usually vivid display of colour and life on Symi, the island reputed to be the hottest and driest in Greece. In the summer months it is bleached … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Nature, Photography, Spring, Wildlife | Tagged crickets, dragonflies, Flora, flora and fauna, Greece, Oertzeni lizard, photography, Red Darter, Symi, tortoise, unpredictable weather, wild flowers, wildlife | 2 Comments

Canadian Rockies: walking slightly nervously on the wild side.

Posted on January 29, 2015 by BarryH

Almost at the end of my stay in Canada, on the last of my days off from skiing, I set out to trek along the Bow River to the Hoodoos, thin pinnacles eroded in soft sedimentary rock. It was 4 … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Photography, Wildlife, Winter | Tagged Alaskan Malmute, banff canada, Banff National Park, Bow Falls, Bow River, Canada, cougar, coyote, elk, Hoodoos, Hoodoos Trail, ice, photography, Rundle Mountain, trails, Tunnel Mountain, Tunnel Mountain Drive, wapiti, wildlife, wolf | 1 Comment

Canadian Rockies: Climate change

Posted on December 30, 2014 by BarryH

I haven’t been coming to the Canadian Rockies long enough to know what the norm is in terms of weather. So this is a snapshot looking back 5 years. In the UK we have ‘weather’, pressure systems blown in in … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Wildlife, Winter | Tagged Banff, Bow Falls, Bow River, Breugel, Canada, canadian rockies, climate change, frozen river, ice, ice hockey, LS Lowry, Spray River, winter | 2 Comments

Symi: imagining the past

Posted on November 23, 2014 by BarryH

As I recounted in the blog, in July I trekked via many distractions to the ridge-top Lappatoniou Castle on the western-most peninsula on Symi. Then in early in October I went back with friends who, after trial and error and … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Wildlife | Tagged agricultural enclosures, ancient pathways, archaeology, dragonflies, Flora, footpaths, Greece, historical remains, Lappatoniou Castle, Symi, threshing circles, wildlife | Leave a comment

Symi: back to a waterhole in the desert

Posted on November 10, 2014 by BarryH

During the summer on Symi and the other islands I visited, I went walking in the mountains every day. Since I have been home I have been out very little even though I live at the edge of the Brecon … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Grey Britain, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Pontypool, Reflections, Spring, Wildlife | Tagged aquifers, biarum marmarisense, brecon beacons national park, dragonflies, goat paths, Greece, Green Toads, Gria, Horio, hornets, Pedi, Pedi Valley, ponds, Pontypool, Pontypool Folly Tower, rainfall, Red-veined Darter, Symi, Wales, water hole, water levels, windmills | 2 Comments

Symi: Wildlife safari.

Posted on October 18, 2014 by BarryH

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Wildlife | Tagged autumn, autumn crocus, biarum marmarisense, Coin-marked snake, Greece, Symi, The Hot Rock, tortoise | 3 Comments

Symi: A Taste of Honey and Dalliance with A Painted Lady

Posted on October 4, 2014 by BarryH

I stopped to chat with friends in Lefteris’s kafenion at the top of the Kali Strata on the way back to the house from the restaurant close to midnight. After a short while the owner started hurriedly carrying the wooden chairs … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Wildlife | Tagged Biarum marmarense, Buterflies, flash flood, Greece, Horio, Kali Strata, Lefteris's kafenion, nature, Oertzeni lizard, Painted Lady, Sea squill, Squill, Symi, Thistle flower, thunderstorm, wildlife | 5 Comments

Symi: wandering the mountains in a search for the past

Posted on September 14, 2014 by BarryH

My jaunt along the Kokkinochoma peninsula ‘Trekking to a time before Greece’ and finding the fortified platform and other stuff, which I think are Pelasgian remains (though with no corroborating expert evidence this is conjecture), set in the top of … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Wildlife | Tagged ancient routeway, Antiquity, footpaths, Greece, Helenistic Ruins, Painted Dragon lizard, Pelasgian, Ruins, Symi | 1 Comment

Symi: a jaunt down a mini-gorge

Posted on August 14, 2014 by BarryH

The pattern of my days on Symi is different to previous years. I spend the morning doing chores around the house and writing. By midday I have had enough of both and need to get out into the mountains and/or … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Wildlife | Tagged Butterflies, gorge walking, Greece, Greek Islands, hiking, Nimborios, Painted Dragon lizard, Starred agama, Symi | 2 Comments

Symi: a trek into the past

Posted on August 6, 2014 by BarryH

I’m fascinated by deserted settlements. They show the stark effects of seismic economic shifts, technological development, and climate change. They can also show how people lived decades ago. Whenever I am on Tilos I visit and write about the deserted … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Hiking, History, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Reflections, Wales, Wildlife | Tagged deserted village, dragonflies, gateway to the past, Ghera, Greece, Gria, Karpathos, Micro Horio, national heritage, Olymbos, Pedi, St Fagan's National History Museum, Symi, Tilos, time portal, traditional bread oven, Wales, water abstraction, water supply, Welsh Folk Museum, windmills | 1 Comment