Greece: Cape Sounion

The Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion

Cape Sounion is the southernmost tip of the Attic peninsular, about 70 km south east of Athens. The drive there from Athens closely follows the coastline. We went there to see the Temple of Poseidon, which was wonderful, but we also found some interesting surprises. In the picture above you can see the remains of the temple with the island of Patroclus in the background. (This is not a reference to Achillles's Patroclus, but rather to an admiral in Ptolemy's navy.)

We walked up from the car park towards the temple to quickly gain the clearest view of what remains. The remains of the portico of the temple is on the left. It was constructed in 444–440 BC in the Doric style on the site of an early temple of the so-called Archaic period and dedicated to Poseidon, the god of the sea and protector of mariners. The very helpful Wikipedia entry says that the temple would have resembled that of Hephaestus in Athens which was built at about the same time. We admired the Temple of Hephaestus in our walk around Central Athens.

An unexpected feature as we continued our exploration was a small flock of grouse.

This is the view looking directly at the remains of the portico. The square column on the right has a lot of graffiti from past tourists ...

... of which perhaps the most notable was Lord Byron (just above the line separating the two stone block) who visited Sounion in 1810-11

We explored the surrounding area and gained a nice view over the nearby bay, where we learned from a very helpful information board that there would once have been been a port, shipyards and a naval base.

Further information boards revealed that the site was fortified in 413 BC (during the Peloponnesian War with Sparta) and was home to a garrison over a long period. This is the main street along which the garrison buildings were arranged.

Nearby there was a temple to Athena built in 470 BC. This temple was demolished in the 1st century AD, and parts of its columns were taken to Athens to be used in the South-East temple of the Agora in Athens.

I am always on the look out for butterflies, but it was perhaps too windy and I had just a couple of glimpses. I did snap a fine red dragonfly however.

Conditions: sunny, hot, windy.

Rating: four and a half stars. A great outing.

Menorca: Cala Galdana - Algendar Gorge and Cala Macarella

The mouth of the river Algendar at Cala Galdana

For today's walk we have come to Cala Galdana on the south coast of Menorca to do two there-and-back walks.

The first one is along the gorge of the Algendar. We head away from the town, initially past an array of bars and restaurants, with the river, already narrowing, in a concrete channel on our right. Quite quickly we reach open country and see the high right hand side of the gorge over to our right.

We are in fact walking along a track to a house, but soon the path veers right and we are surprised to find a rather beautiful hen in the long grass.

Here is our first view of the gorge proper.

It's very overcast and quite cool. There is a lot of birdsong from mainly invisible birds, but soon we start to see numbers of Speckled Wood butterflies, the orange European race.

There are lots of small whites too. Gradually the the gorge opens out and the vegetation changes. We see blue and brown damselflies.

Rocky heights loom ahead.

Quite suddenly the imposing left wall of the gorge closes in on us

It looks like we have reached a dead end. Our walk book describes an open gate and we can see the gate ahead but it looks - and indeed is - firmly locked. We see if there is a way round, but the obvious desire path to the right has been barricaded too. We chat to a very pleasant English couple who have been birding and they point to the Egyptian vultures circling above us.

There is no option but to turn back, having foregone about a quarter of the walk. Things brighten up on the butterfly front though and we see a Cleopatra and a Small Copper.

We return to Gala Galdana and have some lunch.We then head off on the steep and direct route towards Cala Macarella. There are great views back over the bay as we climb.

At the top the path levels out and becomes quite wide, if rather uneven in places. There are a number of orchids to the side of the path.

But not many butterflies, until I spot two or three Painted Ladies off to the left.

After a while we come to the wooden staircase which leads down to Cala Macarella. I think I counted 190 steps before we reached the back of the beach.

The path joins the beach at the right side in the photo. I decided to head round to the cliffs on the other side to take this picture.

By climbing another stair case it was possible to get a view of Cala Macaretta, a delightful concealed inlet on the side of the main bay. It is so secluded that it is apparently the preserve of naturists.

After returning to the main beach and enjoying the view for a while, there was nothing for it but to climb the 190 steps and make our way back to Cala Galdana.

Conditions: warm, but rather cloudy.

Distance: about 6 miles.

Rating: four stars.

From: Walk! Menorca by David and Ros Brawn

Donnington

Donnington Castle

A nice local walk today starting at Snelsgrove Country Park, just north of Newbury. You follow a tarmac path away from the car-park and soon head across heathland where there are large swathes of bright heather.

Leaving the Country Park, you follow a track with fields behind a hedge on one side and woodland on the other to eventually emerge in Bagnor. I detoured towards the Watermill Theatre, crossing the Winterbourne Stream and then walking through the nature reserve. This was a little disappointing as I failed to spot anything of great interest.

I returned to the route by the Blackbird pub and followed a tarmac path to cross over the A34 and approach the nearby golf course. I was greatly cheered to immediately see this fine dragonfly. It is a Common Darter. It is described as being abundant, but it was a new one to me.

A path through a woodland strip leads you out of the golf course to emerge at the back of Donnington Castle. Sir Richard de Abberley was granted "licence to crenellate" in 1386. I learn from Wikipedia that this is a 19th century term and that there is some debate about they were a serious mechanism to control fortifications which could be used the king or simply a mark of royal approval, i.e. a status symbol.

The main remaining element of the castle is the majestic gatehouse shown in the photo at teh head of this post, but the rear view gives a better idea of its scale.

The castle was held by Sir John Boys for the king during the Civil War and withstood two sieges. Parliament voted to demolish the badly damaged castle in 1646 after the final defeat of Charles II and only the gatehouse was left standing.

I now made a planned diversion from the walk route to go into to Donnington village to see the celebrated almshouses: Donnington Hospital.

The hospital was built as a square around a courtyard in 1602 and restored and re-opened in 1822. The enormous chimneys are a dramatic feature.

As I was walking down to the village I spotted to my right another building that looked like it might be an almshouse. Further investigation revealed that it was Abberbury Close (1938), which is also owned by the Donnington Hospital Trust.

Interestingly, the Trust was founded in 1393 by the same Sir Richard de Abberbury who built the castle. It is the tenth oldest almshouse foundation in the country. The Trust also now looks after Jesus Hospital in Bray, which we saw on a walk in March.

I returned to the castle and followed a track past the golf course and across the heath to return to the car park, passing this impressive barn conversion on the way.

Conditions: cloudy with brief sunny periods.

From: 50 walks in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire (AA).

Distance: five miles (officially 4).

Map: Explorer 158 (Newbury & Hungerford).

Rating: four stars, thanks to the almshouses. 3.5 otherwise.

Pamber Forest

Silver-washed Fritillary

Having been stuck at home for some days with a stomach bug, I decided I was sufficiently recovered to enjoy some butterfly spotting and headed off to the most reliable place near to home - Pamber Forest. I parked near Tadley Bottom and set off the walk along teh main north-south track through the forest.

It was quite windy, but immediately I began to see Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Small Tortoiseshell and soon after that the unmistakable rapid gliding flight of a bright Silver-washed Fritillary. There were then lots of sightings as I wondered on, mostly tantalising, but after awhile some began to roost briefly on brambles and I was able to take a reasonable wings-open photo and a wings-closed one illustrated to silver wash on the underwings.

Along the way I saw Red Admiral, Large and Small Skipper, Large White, Comma, Speckled Wood, but my other main goal, the White Admiral, eluded me.

However, I did see in quick succession two fine large dragonflies, both new to me. The first was a well-named Goldenringed Dragonfly. A large and dramatic insect.

I spotted the second as it flew into a bush and attached itself to a small branch, hanging vertically. I was able to take my picture with a macro lens rather than the usual telephoto. I am pretty sure it is a Migrant Hawker.

By now I was almost at the end of the track and in an area where I saw White Admirals when I walked this way last year. I wondered around for a while seeing several more Silver-washed Fritillaries, but no White Admirals. Then, literally just as I was turning to walk back along the track, one glided past, soon to be followed by two or three more as I inched my way homewards. None would pose for a picture but it was a great end to a most enjoyable couple of hours.

Distance: 3 miles.

Conditions: hot and sunny, quite windy.

Map: Explorer 159 (Reading, Wokingham and Pangbourne).

Rating: four stars.

Selva Verde

Part of the garden at Selva Verde Lodge

We are on holiday in Costa Rica and staying for a few days at Selva Verde Lodge in a private reserve near Puerto Viejo di Sarapiqui. It is in the tropical rain forest on the Caribbean slope of the central mountain range. The post describes our exploration of a couple of self-guided trails followed by a guided tour in primary rain forest.

We started the self guided tour in the small botanical garden where there were a number of dramatic tropical plants like this heleconia ...

... and this vibrant passionflower.

The presence of flowers meant some butterfly sightings, including several Banded Peacocks, which looked at first like some sort of White Admiral.

We walked in a loop around this section of the grounds, spotting an Agouti (which I failed to get a really clear photo of). It is rather like a very large squirrel.

Then we crossed the road and walked through secondary rain forest (i.e forest which has been cleared and then has regenerated).

 This brought us round to the shallow, but fast-flowing, Sarapiqui river.

To continue our exploration we had arranged for a guide to take us across the suspension bridge over the river into the primary rain forest which lay beyond.

The essential difference between primary and secondary forest was immediately apparent: the trees were bigger and more closely packed, there were more epiphytes and more activity in the canopy.

It was hot and humid in the rain forest but surprisingly quiet. Our guide was very enthusiastic about it: the forest was "very beautiful" and "gorgeous". I was thrilled to soon see a Giant Damselfly.

But I was frustrated by a blue Leaf butterfly which would only perch on the underside of leaves.

One of the features of Costa Rican rain forest is how many of the plants and creatures are dangerous: we soon saw the poisonous Blue Jeans Frog (a tiny red frog blue legs) and the Green/Blue Poison Dart Frog ..

.. and the bullet ant.

An American entomologist, Jason O Schmidt, has developed the Schmidt Sting Pain Index and according to him the bullet and offers the world's most painful insect bite.

Our guide also identified the black growths we had seen on several trees - they were termite nests.

Our fascinating introduction to the rain forest ended at a 300 year old hollow tree with bats roosting inside.

Conditions: hot (low 20s) and humid.

Distance: probably not much more than a couple of miles all told. Frequent stops for explanations and photographs.

Rating: four and half stars.