Mediterranean Painted Frog

February seemed to be wetter than usual. It rained most days and by the end of the month I was hearing a lot of people complaining that they were fed up of the rain even though they all knew that in this country we should welcome every drop of water.

Rain water percolates through the limestone to replenish the over-extracted water table. It also forms streams and rivulets that occasionally rush and at other occasions meander through the valleys.

Rain water collects behind dams built in valleys allowing farmers to water their crops during the drier months. It also fills in the innumerable depressions in rocky areas providing habitat for several aquatic plants and animals such as the Mediterranean painted frog.

The Mediterranean painted frog is the only indigenous amphibian in the Maltese islands. Although this species can be found in other parts of the Mediterranean the race found in Malta is found only here and in Sicily.

This species of frog is protected by European and local legislation. It is illegal to catch or in any way disturb this species without permission. The frog needs all the protection it can get but listing it as a protected species is not enough.

To protect it properly and effectively one needs to known as much as possible about its biology and ecology. One has to know the size of its population, whether it is increasing or decreasing and one has to monitor its habitat and important breeding sites. 

Up to a couple of decades ago one could see many children collecting frogs and tadpoles from Wied il-luq in Buskett, Chadwick Lakes and. Frog catching is not widely practiced anymore but we now need to move a step ahead.  

Being close to nature and viewing animals closely is good in many ways and if done properly it instils a love for nature and subsequently it would give rise to a strong conservation ethic and to future environmentalists.

One way for this to happen is for all schools to create nature areas in their grounds. These areas should provide habitats for indigenous species of flora and fauna. These areas should include a wild-life pond in which one introduces plants and animals including frogs.

If every school had to have a nature area, Malta would have many more children who would become more aware of the natural environment. These sites would also create a network of habitats for nature throughout the islands. 

This article was published in the Times of Malta on 5 March 2015.  

Carob Trees are in Peril

The Plant Health Directorate last week issued a statement to inform the public that carob trees are falling victim to a beetle known scientifically as Apate monachus and in English as the black borer.

This beetle species is native to Africa from where it has spread to many parts of the world including the Mediterranean region.

It attacks several specie of plant including grapevine, peach, apple, pear, avocado and ornamental trees. In the Mediterranean it has been found feeding mostly on pomegranate and carob trees. The damage is caused by adult beetles which bore into the living wood to feed. The larvae live in dead wood and do not cause any damage to living trees.

The black borer is not a new arrival in the Maltese islands. It was first recorded in 2004 and has been recorded regularly since then. It is a nocturnal species and most of the records are of specimens attracted to light in the north of Malta.  

This beetle is one of several beetle species that arrived in Europe and in Malta from other parts of the world. The most notorious of these are the red palm weevil and the mulberry long-horned beetle both of which are alien pests which caused considerable damage to trees. 

The carob tree is not indigenous to the Maltese islands. It was probably brought to the Maltese islands thousands of years ago and has become one of the most common trees, especially, in agricultural areas.

In the past it was cultivated for the pods which were fed to livestock especially horses, sheep pigs and goats.

Carobs have decreased in importance as they no longer provide fodder. Farmers do not plant it anymore and many old specimens have been uprooted to give way to roads and buildings but the disappearance of the carob tree from the Maltese countryside would change completely the Maltese landscape and the way we think about nature.

Land would look more barren especially in summer when carob trees create a patchwork of green in a land that has been parched dry by lack of rain and scorching sun.

This article was published in the Times of Malta on 26 February 2015.

Mediterranean Cowry

Visiting the beach after storms can be very rewarding. Waves can throw up interesting creatures and deposit them on the sand or in rock pools. A few days ago while looking in a rock pool at Pembroke I found a Mediterranean cowry trapped inside.

This species of cowry has very specific needs and would definitely have died in the pool after a few days so after photographing it I threw back to the sea from where it had come.

The Mediterranean cowry is not easy to find. It does not like light and spends the daylight hours hidden under a rock or in a cave.

Not much is known about its feeding habits. It feed on sponges possibly on just one species – the yellow tube sponge. 

This species is restricted to the Mediterranean Sea and to those parts of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to it namely along the Cape Verde, the Azores, and the Canary islands and West African coast south to Senegal and Angola.

Cowries have very shiny shells which have fascinated humans by their beauty. In many parts of the world they were used as jewellery and as currency.

The Mediterranean cowry is one of several species of cowries that can be found in the seas around the Maltese islands.

In the Maltese islands Mediterranean cowries were used to cure ringworm. A live cowry was dipped in oil and then rubbed on the affected part of the skin while a few lines that sounded like an incantation were recited. If a live cowry was not available a shell was dissolved in vinegar or lemon juice and the resulting liquid spread over the affected part.

In Maltese the Mediterranean cowry is known as baħbuħa tal-għajnejn. Għajnejn could mean a pair of eyes because of the cowry’s shape but more likely it refers to a belief in the ability of this mollusc to protect against the evil eye.

Many years ago in Tunisia I saw a young girl who had a cowry attached to her shirt with a safety pin. When I asked her why she was wearing the shell she replied that her mother put it there to protect her from the evil eye (għajn).

In Malta a caged blue rock thrush (merill) was sometimes protected from the evil eye by placing a cowry in its cage. 

This article was published in the Times of Malta on 19 February 2015.

Along Came a Green Spider

The green spider is an indigenous member of the huntsman spider family. This family got its name because of its fast active hunting habits.

It is characterised by its bright green colour which perfectly camouflages it in the green vegetation in which it lives. Females can grow up to 14mm while males do not exceed 9 mm.

In Maltese it is called known as brimba ħadra which I assume is another name given by naturalists as like many species that are not common it does not have a popular Maltese name. The green spider is found around the Mediterranean and in Central Asia. In Europe it can sometimes be found further north including in Great Britain where it has been introduced.

Adult green spiders can be found in the Maltese countryside as early as mid-winter. They lay eggs in February which hatch within one month. The female shelters herself by tying the edges of a large leave together and spins a cocoon inside. She then seals herself in the cocoon to protect herself and her eggs. While inside the cocoon she does not feed. When the eggs hatch the spiderlings are immobile and remain so for about a week when they change their first skin. 

They then leave the nest to start hunting independently.

At this stage the adult female spider dies although sometimes she survives for some more time.

Further north, where winters are colder than in Malta the adult spider appears in late winter and the young hatch in early spring. 

The huntsman family of spiders consists of more than a thousand species most of which are found in warm temperate and tropical parts of the world. They do not build webs and hunt for other insects and other invertebrates running up and down vertical faces and down walls. Like most spiders they immobilise or kill their prey by injecting it with venom.

This article was published in the Times of Malta on 12 February 2015.

The wood blewit is a scarce mushroom that grows under both coniferous and deciduous trees in places such as Buskett and the Simar Nature Reserve in Xemxija. It is a saprophytic species that feeds on the fallen leaves of trees.  

Like most other mushrooms, wood blewits appear after the autumn rains but continue to be found in winter long after other mushroom species disappear.

This species is found in Europe and North America and has been also been introduced in Australia where it is increasing in number.

Wood blewits are edible and are widely collected and cultivated in many parts of Europe where they are generally much more common than they are in Malta which lacks large tracts of woodland. They are very popular in France, Spain and Portugal.

 They have a faint smell of aniseed and a pleasant taste especially when cooked. Some individuals are allergic to wood blewits which can give rise to indigestion and more serious problems especially but not only if eaten raw.

The wood blewit was first described scientifically by the French physician and botanist Jean Baptiste Francois Pierre Bulliard in 1790. Jean Baptiste dedicated much of his time to describing mushrooms managing to add 393 species to the important science of mycology.

The wood blewit varies in colour from lilac to purple-pink. It usually becomes darker and flatter as it becomes older. Wood blewits can be boiled to make a green dye.

Wood blewits can be propagated by placing the fruiting body (the part we see above ground) in a jar full of hardwood sawdust. After some time the fruiting body can be removed and one just have to wait for mycelia which look like very thin roots to start forming. Once the mycelia start to form the whole thing can be placed in leaf-rich compost outside and one just have to wait for the mushrooms to appear above the ground.  

This article was published in the Times of Malta on 5 February 2015. 

 

Where have the flamingos gone?

Last November I wrote an article about a pair of immature flamingos that were released at the Ghadira Nature Reserve in early September. The two birds landed in Malta because they were too weak to continue with their journey south with the rest of the flock. They were picked up by BirdLife Malta volunteers and released in the reserve.

The two flamingos were doing very well. They spent most of the time walking with their head close to the water feeding. They were never far apart from each other and it was easy to imagine that they were in love and that they would breed in the reserve once they became adults.

The pair of flamingos was the highlight for the hundreds of school children and families who visited the reserve during the past five months. 

Alas, the flamingos are no longer in the reserve. On Saturday morning the birds were not to be seen. A search around the reserve provided evidence that there was a break-in during the night. Everything indicated that somebody entered the protected area to get the birds. The storm that was blowing made it easy for whoever it was to enter the reserve without being detected.

The argument that the two birds could have left the reserve does not hold water. Birds do not normally choose to migrate on stormy nights. Secondly, it is not a coincidence that somebody broke into the reserve on the same night that the two birds disappeared. A hunters’ association said that some of its members saw the two flamingos migrating. I do not believe this.

The disappearance of the two flamingos was a repetition of the same old story. Every time an interesting bird decides to spend some time in Malta it ends up a stuffed trophy in somebody’s cabinet. Whoever entered the reserve did not only disturb or kill protected birds. He also robbed hundreds of visitors to the reserve the pleasure of watching two beautiful birds.

I hope that the police will soon find out whoever broke into the Ghadira Nature Reserve and if found guilty he is punished severely enough to deter anybody who is tempted to break the bird protection laws.

This article was published in the Times of Malta on 29 January 2015.

Rockin' Robin

The robin is one of the most common birds wintering in the Maltese islands. It is well known and probably easily recognised by everybody. It is also very tame and regularly visits gardens even in the most built up areas.

Up to a couple of decades ago robins were ruthlessly trapped by thousands of boys and men of all ages. To catch them they exploited the fact that robins are very territorial birds. Each robin takes up residence in a patch of land and defends it against all other robins. 

The characteristic orange breast, song and call evolved to help them to establish and maintain their territory.

The song and call are enough to inform other robins that a particular area is already occupied by another robin. If a robin ignores the audio warning and does enter into an occupied territory, it is confronted by the territory’s own robin. Here the orange breast is used to full effect. If this still does not work it launches itself against the intruder and attacks it.

Robins used to be trapped by being tricked into attacking a robin placed in a cage trap called trabokk in Maltese. If it was the beginning of the trapping season and no robin were available to be used as a decoy they placed a red cloth or a halved pomegranate fruit inside the trap. Each and every trapper caught several robins every season. Most of them died within a few days or weeks because being insectivorous birds they could not live in cages.

Luckily robin trapping is a thing of the past thanks to years of educational campaigns that thought children that it was much better to enjoy robins in the countryside than to trap them. 

Slowly attitudes changed and today children would not recognise a robin trap if they saw one.

Since the trapping of robins stopped Malta became a safer place for the robin and it became possible for everybody to enjoy the sight and song of this bird. On April 11^th the Maltese will be called to make Malta even safer for birds by voting against the hunting of turtle doves and quails when these birds are on their way to breed. This is an opportunity not to be missed as each and every citizen will be able to take positive action for birds. 

This article was published in the Times of Malta on 22 January 2015.