Greek Creatures

Around the hotel, there were certain animals we saw a lot of.  Swifts had built their nests in the corners of balcony ceilings and thronged all around the hotel.  When we peered up at the next door balcony we could see two nests and a little Swift would watch us avidly.  It's parents would fly in and out at such speed that it was hard to believe that feeding had occurred.

There were many, many Sparrows too, calling all the time, their song was the backing sound of relaxation.  Whenever food was around, there they would be, waiting for some pastry or bread.  They were so tame, one time F was sat with a bread roll on a plate right by his elbow and a Sparrow came and tried to eat some of it.

I remember lying on a shaded lounger looking up at a small slit of sky and watching Swifts and Sparrows and thinking that they were both so beautiful, I would be happy to claim either.  At that second a Crow floated across the gap.  I smiled.  The Crows there may not have been my Crows, they were much more grey as they were Hooded Crows, which we do get in the UK but not in Cornwall.  They were the only Corvids I saw and they were there to keep me company the whole time.

Going back to animals feeding on scraps....  The people of Rhodes love their cats and there were many at the hotel, slinking around waiting for bits of meat or fish or cheese to accidentally fall.  I must admit I did become somewaht clumsy and a fair bit seemed to fall from my plate...  There was even a cat with kittens and she had had a her litter in an urn turned on it's side by a path and everyone would stop to peek at the kittens as they passed.  Well until a vet took her away somewhere quieter anyway.  The male cats would try and take her food....

At the hotel there was also countless Ants of varying types and some of them were huge!  Well over a centimetre long.  I appreciated their presence although I found their size disconcerting.  They reminded me many times about achieving much with small steps and patience.

Then there was Wasps (my totem of the Moon of Welcoming) who I have decided not to be scared of.  And Mosquitos, unfortunately, and it seems F is somewhat allergic to them....

I saw plenty of Gulls but they seem to be much less common there than here.  there behaviour was different too, they were not the raucous yobs they can be in Cornwall.  On Rhodes they showed their elegant, graceful side, flying along the coast or high in the sky.

In the pine forests, on the cooler slopes of the mountains there was an exotic bird I had not expected to find.  The Peacock!  They are so beautiful and so noisey!  We even saw them up in trees and trying to get down out of trees, not so elegant then.  I am still very conscious of them however, because there is one that lives near us and I can hear it calling.  I think they are a bird I will remain conscious of and that may appear on my wheel somewhere.

Another candidate for my Wheel is the Hoopoe, maybe for my Firekeeper as that was the last wind, if that turns out to be one of my roles.  It first came to my attention before I went away.  I have a friend who is a bird photographer and she had recently taken a photo of Hoopoe and shown it to me, because they are very uncommon in the UK.  She was very proud.  While in Rhodes, twice I caught a glimpse of a beautiful bird taking flight and all I could see was that it had black and white stripey wings and was magpie sort of sized.  To my surprise, a little research turned up this bird I had only just heard of.

We also saw many Lizards.  We took many pictures of Lizards as well....  They seemed to quite like posing on ancient ruins!

Lastly we saw Goats!  Everywhere!  I like Goats....

Oh and a big rat, that ran up and over a branch like a Squirrel....