ENVIRONMENT GROUP NEWS Issue 17 May 2014

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1 EPIPHANY 2006 EARTHQUAKE Many of you may remember the large earthquake that took place during the day on the 8 th Jan The earthquake was of magnitude 6.9 and was felt over quite a wide distance and buildings in Xania and Iraklio were damaged. This quake was the talking point of people for some time, but was followed by another large one exactly a year later. I was reading a very large document* on earthquake prediction for Greece (over 370 pages) on the way home from the UK and saw this diagram of the quake. I have to be very careful as I know at least two geologists that read the EGN but the information on the diagram below appeared very interesting. The centre of that quake is indicated by the purple circle. The ochre lines are the lines of deep lithospheric fracturing. I will not explain what that means but you will notice that one line of fracturing is to our north and one to our south and they are joined by a line that seems to pass very close to an area under Georgioupoli. (If anyone is interested enough for me to explain further please let me know at david@artoncrete.me.uk). * Short-term earthquake prediction by C. Thanassoulas

2 BEE-EATERS, OTHER BIRDS AND THEIR CONSERVATION IN APOKORONOS I have already completed half of my recording for the Common Breeding Bird Census for this year. Every year I have to record at the same points and approximately about the same time of day for each point (the latter requirement occurs naturally because I have to take the same route each time and a starting time 15 mins after sunrise). The census is carried out throughout Europe and I do it on behalf of the Hellenic Ornithological Society. This year I have recorded a Cuckoo for the first time and also Lesser whitethroats and Chiffchaffs. I was very surprised by the Chiffchaffs as they have usually left the area by the time of the first recordings. I think the Turtle doves arrived on 25 th April and Bee-eaters the day after. I had to return again to England on 6 th May and when I took the dog out the previous evening I had 41 Bee-eaters land on the electricity cables above my head. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me. But I had managed to take some photos of these beautiful birds a few days earlier and one of these photos is shown here. This photo is that of a very young Sardinian warbler, which had left its nest that same day (29th April). For those of you who live on Crete I expect you will see or hear Sardinian warblers every day, unless you live right in the centre of a town. APOKORONOS CONSERVATION For conservation purposes some people are recording certain birds (raptors, golden orioles, beeeaters), orchids, butterflies, reptiles and amphibians. We are recording orioles and bee-eaters to try and discover whether they breed in Apokoronos. But we do need more people to assist.

3 The amount of work involved is not great and does not require special trips into the countryside (unless you wish to). It is simply a matter of recording the date, the species and a grid reference (plus any other special comments if you feel they are of importance) if the species is one to be recorded. It is preferable if you can add the details to a spreadsheet or a file that can be converted to a csv format. This is simply so I can copy your data into the databases without having to type each entry. If you can only identify one species (e.g. Red Admiral) even records of a single species are of importance. You may feel that you can only record from your balcony that is fine. As I say we do need many more people to assist in this exercise in order to determine what is happening in our area. If you can provide either a few or a lot of records could you please contact me via david@artoncrete.me.uk for full details. SOME GOOD NEWS Readers will recall that at the end of last year, a court order was issued instructing the municipality to sack upwards of 30 workers and the fear was that this would impact on the environmental aspects of the municipality s obligations especially with regard to collection of waste, water engineers etc. Thirty-one of the workers appealed against the order. The good news is that their appeal has been upheld by the court and so the council is free to re-engage the workers. We gather that Katerina (the focal point for many things including removal of bulky waste ) is back in her post already. RECYCLING From time to time, rumours crop up about recycling in our area and there are some who not only believe that there is no such thing, but also spread that rumour! On 12 th May, we actually managed to catch the recycling lorry doing its stuff in Almyrida and what we saw was indeed very interesting. The first thing was that the lorry is one of the vehicles from the old municipality of Kryoneridas (which is now in the Apokoronas municipality) and still carries the old nomenclature. The second and much more interesting thing was watching the driver and his mate loading up one blue bin, which clearly had recyclables in it and rejecting the other blue bin which was full of rubbish the latest addition to the bin being rubbish collected from the beach! Sand, cigarette ends, normal driftwood etc. Which is clearly NOT the stuff to put in the Recycling Bin!

4 We assume, therefore, that when the normal rubbish lorry comes around, it will empty the green bins in that area, and also the blue bin with the rubbish in it! That, we think, is the cause of the rumours that It all goes in one lorry whether it is recyclable or not. So, to reiterate yet again. THERE IS RECYCLING IN APOKORONAS! The fact that some people don t understand what the blue bins are for and put normal household rubbish in them is a matter of education. For some time now the Municipality has promised that they will put something about recycling in with our water bills. That s OK, but they missed the last bills which were issued in February of this year. When the next bills will arrive is anyone s guess. It s a long haul, folks, but we need to keep up the pressure to ensure that we have adequate recycling practices in the municipality. WEATHER PREDICTION El Niño expected to bring a hot summer to Greece Meteorologists predict Greece will experience one of its hottest summers of the past decade, with possibly record-breaking temperatures expected to exceed 2007 highs. Forecasting models suggest El Niño (a band of unusually warm ocean water temperatures that periodically develops off the Pacific coast of South America) will affect weather patterns this year. In the past, El Niño caused severe summer heat waves in Greece, and is expected to do the same this year. SOCCER PREDICTION From Bill Calland As for El Nino the English soccer team have already lined that up as their excuse for not winning the World Cup this year! THE PRESSURES OF PREDATION What do you think when you see a documentary about the Serengeti and see the predators seeking their prey? Have you ever thought about the mental processes taking place; not just there but where many predators seek food? Generally, predators fall into one of two categories: sit-and-wait or foragers. The chameleon is a fine example of a sit-and-wait predator. For example, it hides on a branch and waits for a grasshopper to pass by and when in range it shoots its tongue out. I suppose early humans were good examples of foragers. They would go out in small hunting parties searching for prey. Evolution has created different physiologies for the two types but that is not what I am writing about this time.

5 I have a great interest in what is now termed Behavioural Ecology but when I first studied it was known as Ethology. And now the interplay between prey and predator is being considered mathematically by behavioural ecologists. Let us consider a small deer on the plains of Africa. It requires a certain amount of food and when it arrives at a new patch of grass it does not know whether there is a sit-and-wait predator lurking. So initially it will be very alert spend a large percentage of its time looking around and eat little. As it becomes more comfortable it will slowly relax, ease defences and eat more. Eventually it will move on. Meanwhile, if there is a predator lurking at what point should he pounce? If he attacks as soon as the deer arrives at the patch of grass, the deer at that moment will be on high alert, notice him and escape. However, if the predator waits too long then the deer will have eaten sufficient and move away. He has to time his attack in order for success. So both prey and predator are continually working out different tactics and different timings; one for survival and one for food. The theoretical equations being built up are of great interest to me but next time you see a wildlife documentary you may try and see this mental interplay taking place. BEACH PETITION This has all the makings of an environmental disaster for Crete. Please read this link which has all the information. So, the Greek Parliament is currently considering a bill which will totally remove all restrictions from what can be put on our beaches, thereby allowing permanent structures, unlimited sunbeds etc, etc, and if you feel that this should not happen, please sign the petition against it by clicking on the link below. Bob _source=share_petition YOUR STORIES AND INPUT Readers are encouraged to send articles and photographs to: for inclusion in the Environment Group News. Any stories you can tell about your pictures will be welcome. Please also let us know if you would like any further information on environmental issues or would like to participate in our group activities o0o