Wild Flowers & Walking week

Crete In Bloom Weeks 2008

08 - 15 April 

15 - 22 April

From coast to mountain top, Crete has a unique range of wild flowers and birds. The profusion of flowers and orchids, including 150 endemic species, is at its best in April and May when we are pleased to offer Wild Flower and Walking holidays.

Expert guidance will be provided by Dr Stephen Waters and Clive Daws, both of whom have led field excursions for many years. They will provide advice on botanical and environmental issues as well as nature photography and birds. Excursions include trips to coastal sand dunes, to the snowcapped peaks of the White Mountains, to the high plateau of Omalos, to the orchid meadows at Spili and to the Imbros Gorge.

The Crete in Bloom week was recently reviewed in the Bulletin of the Ecology and Conservation Studies Society, some of whose members took part in the tour.

They commented: 'This was such a successful and incredibly interesting field trip that full coverage of the week's activities would occupy a complete Bulletin... The great thing about the holiday was that at all times we felt unrushed. Thanks to our leaders Stephen and Clive and the other drivers, there was a perfect balance betweeen looking at the flowers and other natural history by day and enjoying meals together in the Taverna in the evening.' 

Clive Daws

Lunch

Stephen Waters

A week including Pure Crete accommodation, air fare, expert guidance and excursions is £715 per person.

CRETE IN BLOOM ITINERARY

We may occasionally need to rearrange or alter these plans, bearing in mind that flowering seasons vary from year to year.

Day 1 (Tuesday) Those arriving in Crete transfer from the airport to settle in at the houses during the afternoon. Evening: Introduction, illustrated talk about the island and its plants.

Day 2 (Wednesday) Morning: Shopping trip to nearby port of Souda (groceries, bank, post office, Chemist etc.) Followed by short drive to Aptera site with a range of botanical and historical interest. Afternoon: Walk back to Megala Chorafia to visit the olive terraces near the village.

Day 3(Thursday) We drive to the Omalos Plain with anemones and other colourful flowers, often in great abundance. In the afternoon we walk to the mountains above to see scillas and crocuses.

Day 4 (Friday) Morning: Visits to Chania, with museums, markets and other features of interest. Early lunch at tavernas of one’s choice. Afternoon: Either inland to Therisso Gorge or seaward on to the Acrotiri Peninsula.

Day 5 (Saturday) Stop at Vrysses for shopping and refreshment. On to the flower-rich Minoan tomb site at Armenoi. After lunch, sand dunes and other coastal habitats. Later, we will probably visit the village of Maza, with a tiny but beautifully frescoed Byzantine church, and have the evening meal at the local taverna.

Day 6 (Sunday) We walk the Imbros Gorge at the south of the island. This is the habitat of numerous endemic Cretan plants, as well as offering spectacular scenery. Pause at the top for refreshments and arranging that transport will be available at the end of the walk.

Day 7 (Monday) Visit the town of Spili near the centre of Crete. The fields above the town have an impressive range of orchids, often accompanied by fritillaries and scarlet tulips.

Day 8 (Tuesday) Those leaving Crete transfer to the airport for an afternoon flight. On the way, there should be time to visit the Souda Bay War Cemetery and possibly the Monastery of Agia Triada on the Acrotiri Peninsula near the airport. 

Recommended Plant Handbooks

This list is provided by Clive Daws and Stephen Waters. Other books and guides to Crete can be found by clicking on the Books, Guides and Map page.

Some of the specialist titles can be ordered from: www.summerfieldbooks.com  (Suppliers for the Botanical Society of the British Isles) or www.nhbs.com.

Prices (where indicated) are approximate.

Blamey, Marjorie and Grey-Wilson, Christopher (1993 onward)  Mediterranean Wild Flowers / Wild Flowers of the Mediterranean.
Harper Collins / A&C Black / Domino Books. Several hard- and soft-cover versions (contents apparently identical) published at £16 - £25. ISBN 0002199017 / 0713670150. Some are of interest to book collectors, which can inflate prices drastically for particular copies!
Colour paintings of over 1500 species from all around the Mediterranean, plus many line drawings of details used in identification. An excellent, book, particularly if you expect also to visit other Mediterranean locations.

Fielding, John and Turland, Nicholas (2005) Flowers of Crete. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
£55. ISBN 184246079X. Magnificently-produced book, full of valuable information on Crete, its plants and their ecology. Splendid photographs, which include most species of the island’s flora. Only drawback: large and heavy to carry, weighing 3.04 kg  (6 lb 11 oz).

Papiomitoglou, Vangelis (2006)  Wild Flowers of Crete. Mediterraneo Editions, Rethymno, Crete, Greece. £16.50. ISBN 9608227771.
Good photos and descriptions of over 500 species you are likely to meet on the island. Just about pocket size, probably the best of the compact Cretan flower books.

Orchids (Remember that nearly all orchid species are spring-flowering.)

Kretzschmar, Horst,  Kretzschmar, Gisela and Eccarius, Wolfgang (2004) 
Orchids  Crete & Dodecanese. Mediterraneo Editions, Rethymno, Crete, Greece. £22.50. ISBN 9608227429
Excellent photographs, identification details and distribution maps.

Other books, including older and more specialised works

Many of these, inevitably, are out of print but are worth considering if you can spot them secondhand at a favourable price.

Alibertis, Antonis (1998)  The Orchids of Crete and Karpathos. Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
A fully-illustrated guide, including hybrids and special forms, for the orchid specialist.

Alibertis, Chryssoula and Antonis (1989)  The Wild Orchids of Crete. Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
Earlier edition. Species cover similar to the 1998 version but many of the illustrations differ.

Clauser, Marina and Innocenti, Andrea (1999)  The Flora of Crete. Bonechi, Firenze, Italy.
Excellent photographs of many of the most characteristic species of Crete.

Huxley, Anthony and Taylor, William (1989)  Flowers of Greece and the Aegean. Hogarth Press, London.  Has helpful additional information, e.g. on herbal uses of plants, and their local Greek names.

Jahn, Ralf and Schönfelder, Peter (1995)  Exkursionsflora für Kreta. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart.
Keys and short descriptions for all the Cretan flora. The only compact and reasonably accessible book aiming for this level of cover. Illustrations are confined to photos of about 100 species, mostly endemics. Available only in German. Good, but not for the faint-hearted!

Polunin, Oleg (1980)  Flowers of Greece and the Balkans. Oxford University Press.
A thorough work, more authoritative than most of the ‘popular’ books.

Schönfelder, Ingrid and Peter (1990)  Wild Flowers of the Mediterranean. Collins, London.
Good for general use, with top-quality photographs, but less cover of the Cretan endemic species.

Sfikas, George (1987)  Wild Flowers of Crete. Efstathiadis, Athens, Greece.
Pocket-size, and deals specifically with Crete.

Sterry, Paul (2000)  Collins Complete Mediterranean Wildlife Photoguide. Harper Collins, London. A wide range of illustrations - but don’t be misled by the word ‘complete’ - there’s no way of getting photos of everything into one fieldguide.

Mediterranean Ecology

Grove, A.T. and Rackham, Oliver (2003)  The Nature of Mediterranean Europe  An Ecological History. Yale University Press, New Haven and London.

Rackham, O. and Moody, J.A. (1996)  The Making of the Cretan Landscape. Manchester University Press.

Checklists and Distribution Atlases

Barclay, Colville (1986)  Crete, Checklist of the Vascular Plants. Englera, 6. Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum, Berlin - Dahlem.

Turland, N.J., Chilton, L. and Press, J. (1993)  Flora of the Cretan Area. Annotated Checklist and Atlas. HMSO (Natural History Museum), London.

Chilton, L. and Turland, N.J. (1997)  Flora of Crete A Supplement. Marengo Publications, Retford, Nottinghamshire. Additions and updates to the 1993 book
Further online updates: http://www.marengowalks.com/fcs.html

Flora & fauna

Photographs by Clive Daws and Stephen Waters