Cow with bell. Galicia, Spain. Photograph by Raymond JC Cannon
Readers of my blog may know that I am a frequent visitor to the Province of Galicia, in NW Spain. There are many reasons to visit this attractive region, tucked away on the shoulder of the Iberian peninsula: the beautiful countryside, the empty beaches, the cold waters of the Atlantic!, the cuisine, the rustic architecture, the Gallegan culture (Gallego is the native language of Galicia) and so on. But one I have not dealt with before, is the cows!
Young calves resting in a meadow. An idyllic life apart from the flies! Galicia, Spain. Photograph by Raymond JC Cannon
Galician cows are adorable. First of all they are such an attractive colour. The commonest breed by far, is the Rubia Galega, or the Galician Blond beef cow. Whether or not you are a meat-eater, I think it is fair to say that these animals are well-treated and seem to me to have a very comfortable existence. As these photographs show, they are usually to be seen sitting in an idyllic meadow, quietly chewing the cud, far away from any stress or hassle!
Rubia Galega cows in a meadow. Galicia, Spain. Photograph by Raymond JC Cannon
Galicia is a rural land of smallholders, with many small farms and scattered plots. Whilst agriculture in this autonomous region is becoming more intensified, it seems to be much more small-scale and self-sufficient than many others parts of Europe. Whilst that might not be good for productivity and profits, it certainly is good for cows!
Cows by traditional stone wall. Galicia, Spain. Photograph by Raymond JC Cannon
Alas, this quiet, small-scale way of life is probably not sustainable in the long term. Galicia has been changing since the 1950s, but it is still a relatively poor area – compared to other regions of Spain – without too much major industry, and a largely rural economy. Many people have left Galicia to look for work elsewhere, in Europe, and the rest of the world. So, many of the traditional stone farm houses – with their characteristic slate roofs (below) have been left to slide back into the earth from which they came!
Traditional Galician farm house abandoned. Galicia, Spain. Photograph by Raymond JC Cannon
I get the impression that, like a lot of agricultural communities (the UK included), the people working the land are getting on in years. Whilst it may be an idyllic and healthy life-style for some, running a small farm or smallholding does not make much money. Yet there must be opportunities to turn this unspoiled and pristine land into high value – i.e. high quality – crops, be they plant or animal.
Rubia Galega calf in a meadow. Galicia, Spain. Photograph by Raymond JC Cannon
Galicia is a very tranquil and uncrowded part of Europe. Most foreign tourists head to the beaches on the Mediterranean coasts of Spain. The Spanish themselves know to head north (not south!) in summer, and some parts of the coast do fill up a bit in August. But for the most part, Galicia is remarkably uncrowded, the roads are largely empty (by UK standards), and the cows get to life in peace and harmony! Have I painted an attractive enough picture yet?!
There are other cows in Galicia, including plenty of black and white Friesian milk cows in some areas, and a number of rare breeds. One of the strangest is the Cacehna cow (below), which seems to be a sort of all-purpose cattle breed; it can be used as a draft animal, for milk and for meat.
Cachena cow with odd horns. Galicia, Spain. Photograph by Raymond JC Cannon
Of course one reason why Galicia is so good for cows, is the grass! And the grass is good because it rains! But the climate is mild. Galicia, sticks out into the Atlantic, so expect sunshine and showers most days, and you will not be disappointed! So I’ll finish with a cow enjoying the sunshine in early June, by the sea.
Cow by the sea! Galicia, Spain. Photograph by Raymond JC Cannon
The Kittiwake nests are all empty now in Scarborough; on the cliffs and in the town, the birds have all gone. Long gone. Gone to sea.
Katie did not want to go to sea; she wanted to stay on her ledge above Marks and Spencer and try all the lovely food her gull-friends on the roofs around her were eating. But it was not to be. Her parents had looked after her and fed her well all through the summer, but now they were tired and needed a break. They wanted to go to sea. Katie would either have to come with them or look after herself, but she was quite incapable of finding food. Walking about the town begging for chips, like the herring gulls, looked like fun, but she didn’t think she could do it. Her legs were too short and she was not cut out for street life. Reluctantly, she came to conclusion that Yes, it was time to go. So one day in late August they all set off.
Newly-fledged Kittiwake chick just like Katie!
Katie had been down to the sea a few times with her parents. She had had a go at sitting on the ocean and trying to peck at the occasional morsel that passed by, but she had never really been out to sea. She had not flown far out, far away from the land. She had just jumped in and out, and sat on the sea wall smelling the ocean and watching all the other gulls.
This time was different. Her parents looked serious and in no mood to put up with her reservations. Her Dad, Harold, said: ‘Come on Katie. If you don’t come with us now, you will sit here and starve. A Kittiwake has to go out to the sea. The ocean is where we really belong. You’ll see.’ So off they went; flying high and further out than Katie had ever been before.
A lot of other gulls were leaving Scarborough at the same time, and soon they joined up with others in a large flock, heading north along the coast. The were soon joined by some other Kittiwakes flying over from the land. ‘Where do you come from?’ Katie asked one of them. ‘Newcastle’ he replied, in a strange accent she had not heard before. ‘Ooh eye, its great there said one of the older gulls; we have nests on a bridge, high above the river’. ‘Oh I was born on a bridge’ said one of the other birds from Scarborough. ‘It’s great, you have a lovely view and it’s very safe. There were so many of us, all close together on the bridge.’ ‘Sounds just like Newcastle’ said the newcomer. ‘So we have something in common then’ he said, flying closer to the bird from Scarborough who happened to be a female. ‘Perhaps we should stick together for a while’ he smiled. Yes Kittiwakes can smile, only they can see it. Humans don’t know what a Kittiwake smile is!
In winter. many kittiwakes move in small flocks …. Some flocks include both adults and first-year birds, but I doubt if there is any kinship between the individuals, as pairs and their offspring separate once they leave the colony in autumn. (Coulson, 2011).
Newly-fledged Kittiwake chick in July. Just like Katie before she went to sea!
After joining up with all the new birds from Newcastle, Katie looked around to see where her Mum and Dad had gone. They weren’t there. She couldn’t see them anywhere. ‘Where’s my Mum and Dad?’ screamed Katie! They’ve gone!
‘You are on your own now’ said one of the older birds from Newcastle. ‘You probably won’t see them again until next year now.’
Since Kittiwakes are not fed by their parents after they leave the nest sites, successful (and rapid) dispersal to good feeding sites is probably critical for the survival of the juvenile birds. (Wernham et al., 2002).
‘How am I going to survive!’ moaned Katie. ‘I don’t even know how to catch fish!’ ‘Don’t worry’ said the older bird. ‘Stick with us and we’ll show you. You’ll soon get the hang of it’. ‘Yea stick with us’ said some of the other juveniles. ‘Our parents have left us as well! We’ll be OK if we stick together’. So off they flew; a small flock of adults and juveniles, not related, but with a shared purpose and common interest. Flying into the unknown, but armed with the instincts and adaptations millions of years of evolution had provided them with. Enough to give them more than a sporting chance of surviving in this new world.
Katie and her companions flew north helped by a strong wind blowing from the south-west. They made rapid progress and were soon up near the coast of Norway.
‘My Dad came from Norway’ said Katie, excitedly. ‘Let’s go and find him! ‘It will be like looking for a needle in a haystack’ said one of the older birds. ‘What’s a needle and what’s a haystack said Katie’, confused. ‘Forget it’ said the older bird. Stick with us and we will look after you’. ‘OK’ said Katie, looking wistfully across to the foreign shoreline they were flying next to.
‘We are going to go much further north, and then we will head over to Greenland for the winter’. Greenland sounds nice thought Katie. It should be warm there by the sound of it. Little did she know!
Some young Kittiwakes probably remain on the other side of the Atlantic, off Newfoundland and Greenland (Wernham et al., 2002).
They flew on, stopping off to rest and feed on the surface of the sea at night. Eventually the reached a new land. A strange place with huge cliffs and thousands and thousands – hundreds of thousands – of Kittiwakes. Katie had never seen so many Kittiwakes. They joined up with the huge flocks and Katie started chatting to some of the other juvenile birds.
Hundreds of thousands of Kittiwakes nest at Diskobukta on Barent’s Island (Barenstøya), Svalbard Archipelago, where they are preyed upon by Arctic foxes.
‘Where do come from’ asked one of them. ‘Scarborough’ said Katie.
‘Where is that?!’ the other bird asked. ‘It’s a town far to the south from here. I was brought up on a ledge above Marks and Spencer’ said Katie. What’s that?’ said the other bird. ‘It’s a shop’ said Katie. ‘That sells food’.
‘Are there foxes there?’ said the newcomer. ‘Well a few’ said Katie, ‘but we don’t see them much’. ‘Here the foxes try and eat you’ said the local bird. It’s a nightmare I can tell you. My sister was taken by a fox. I can’t wait to get away from the land and head out to sea!’
So off they flew travelling west this time. Soon they saw something floating in the sea. ‘What’s that?’ asked Katie. ‘It’s ice stupid! Haven’t you ever seen ice before?’ ‘No’ said Katie. It looked very strange, and she was not sure if she liked it. ‘Look, you can stand on it’ said one of her new friends’ swooping down and landing on a small lump of ice.
In winter, some Kittiwakes remain as far north as the Arctic Circle, so how do these birds feed and survive in the total darkness? The answer is not known. Some may feed behind fishing boats using floodlights, whilst others may be attracted to luminous prey. (Coulson, 2011).
What happens next? Will Katie survive the winter and learn to look after herself? Find out in the next installment of Katie the Kittiwake!
References
Coulson, J. (2011). The kittiwake. A&C Black.
Wernham, C., Toms, M., Marchant, J., Clark, J., Siriwardena, G., & Baillie, S. (2002). The migration atlas: movements of the birds of Britain and Ireland. T & AD Poyser.
Stone pine (Pinus pinea) tree bark. Galicia, Spain
A came across this amazing tree earlier this year in Galicia, Spain. It was partially prostrate, but still growing. The beautiful, plate-like bark was adorned with mosses and lichens, which gave it a strangely artistic effect, almost like an abstract painting! It is, I think, the stone pine (Pinus pinea L.).
Stone pine (Pinus pinea) Rio Sor, Galicia, Spain
What struck me most about this tree however, was the remarkably beautiful composition and texture. The presence of the lichens pointed to clean and pristine environment.
Stone pine (Pinus pinea) with lichen
The bark of this tree is thick and plate-like, an adaptation which protects it against fires.
Stone pine (Pinus pinea) bark
Just a natural phenomenon, but a joy to see because somehow it conjures up a deep seated desire to connect with the substance of the world from which we have emerged.
Stone pine (Pinus pinea) bark. Rio Sor, Galicia, Spain
And also, I think, a love of patterns and textures, which must somehow be related to our ability to find meaning in the complexity of nature.
We tend to take bread pretty much for granted these days. There seem to be abundant supplies – indeed much of it goes to waste – in every supermarket I go into (in the UK). But it was not always that way! There have been many times of bread shortages in the past. There was a Bread Crisis in Britain, 1795-96, when the country was fighting wars with France. Poor harvests and extreme cold even led to a bread riot in 1795. There were shortages of bread during the First World War, and bread was also rationed after WWII, for a couple of years.
Wheat growing on 28 June 2019. Bedfordshire
Could it happen again? I think the answer is probably not, unless we do something very stupid! UK farmers now supply most of the wheat (as well as oats and rye) required by flour millers. I was surprised to learn that flour mills now source more than 80% of their wheat from British farmers, compared to less than half of that in the late 1970s (Grain Chain, 2016).
Wheat growing on 11 July 2019. Bedfordshire
One reason I have an interest in wheat, is that for one period of my life (studying for a PhD) I spent a lot of time sitting in a wheat field! Studying this lovely creature (below). Very high populations occurred in 1979; there were hundreds of these aphids on each tiller, with billions (maybe trillions) taking to the air at the end of July that year!
The rose-grain aphid (Metopolophium_dirhodum) Influentialpoints.com [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)%5DWheat (Triticum aestivum) growing on 12 July 2019. Beds, UK
Wheat – most of which is winter wheat (planted in the autumn) – is a classic monoculture; a single crop stretching out to the horizon (below). Farmers get about 8 tonnes per hectare on average, resulting in a total British harvest of somewhere between 15 to 17 millions tonnes. That sounds good, but we are a fairly small producer on a world scale, although the EU as a whole is the largest producer (just above China).
Wheat (Triticum aestivum) on 26 July 2019, Beds, UK
So, it seems to me that UK farmers are doing a good job on the whole, although how sustainable the whole system is, is another matter. We rely on a few varieties of wheat, grown as monocultures, reliant on inputs of fertilisers and pesticides. Farmers from the past would no doubt be puzzled to see the wheelings (below) left in fields to make these applications!
Wheelings to allow tractor access in a wheat field, Beds, UK
Similarly, the carbon footprint is not exactly light! We now have huge tractors and harvesters. The tractors race around country roads carrying their massive trailer loads (below); the fields at harvest time are a dangerous place (and not just for field mice!); I don’t think anyone gets out of their vehicles if they can help it. The drivers sit in their comfy cabins listening to their favourite music!
Harvesting oats on 15 July 2019. Beds, UK
Some might argue that all this industrialisation is the price we must pay for our current abundance, but vast amounts of bread are wasted, almost 900,000 tonnes of bread every year, reportedly. Nearly, half the bread produced here in the UK, 44%, is thrown away! So, I think this shows, that a little more care and respect for the sacred loaf, could free up resources to enable a more sustainable production system, with more attention on preserving the health of the soil and the well-being of the wildlife that lives in and around these fields.
Reference
Cannon, R. J. C. (1986). Summer populations of the cereal aphid Metopolophium dirhodum (Walker) on winter wheat: three contrasting years. Journal of applied ecology, 101-114.
I came across a flock of goats with a large white dog, near Cabo de Bares in Galicia, Spain. There is a lighthouse nearby.
The dog was very passive and did not react much when I approached the group and started taking photographs.
Livestock guardian dogs (LGD) as they are called and apparently being used more frequently these days to guard flocks of goats and sheep (and even chickens) from wolves. I knew that there were wolves in northern Spain, but I was surprised to learn that they are found right up to the coast in Galicia where these photographs were taken.
The above map indicates that wolves occur right up to the northernmost Capes, including Cabo Bares where I saw this flock.
Cabo de Bares, Galicia, Spain
The dogs are placed at an early age with the flock they come to guard, so that they form a close bond and defend them relentlessly against predators.
If the wolves attack, these dogs will stand and bark and hopefully that will be enough to deter the wolves. I think that this particular breed is a Pyrenean Mountain Dog, but I am not certain. Anyway, the goats seem happy enough!
Sadly, some of these working dogs suffer a shorter lifespan than dogs which are kept as pets. Hopefully, they have pleasant and satisfying lives in their beautiful surroundings.
I will look out for more of these LGDs now that I know they exist. There are an estimated 2,000-2,500 wolves in Spain, the biggest population in western Europe. The hunting of wolves is banned in Portugal but still allowed in some parts of Spain.
I should finish by saying that I am assuming that this dog is there to guard against wolves. I did not speak to the farmer. The wolves are distributed over a vast area at a maximum density of about 7 wolves per 100 square kilometers according to the Wikipedia article. So quite how big a threat they are, in this particular location, I don’t know.
It was a cold and windy day here in Scarborough today (4th May 19), for the finish for Stage 3 of the Tour de Yorkshire 2019, cycle race. The waves were sweeping into North Bay, driven by a strong wind. It must have been grueling to have cycled 135 km in this weather. The men’s race finished about 18:30. The women’s race had taken place earlier.
North Bay Scarborough
I have no idea who the individual cyclists are, but some people may recognize them.
Tour de Yorkshire finish 4 May 2019
I missed the winners! The light was so bad that it was hard to get any useful shots. But then the sun came out for a few minutes and I managed to get some photos of the later riders.
Tour de Yorkshire finish 4 May 2019
The crowd had waited patiently in the cold for the riders to arrive, but those beneath the large screen could follow the progress of the race via the helicopter video. Sadly two riders crashed out.
It was all over in a flash, but exciting and one cannot help but be impressed (and in awe) of the cyclists who could cycle so far and so fast, in such awful weather!
I recently did a short cruise to Norway on the Boudicca, a nice 28,388 ton cruise ship of the old style, meaning that it looks like a ship and not a block of flats! Unlike the choppy seas shown in the painting (above) from the KODE Art Museum in Bergen, we had excellent weather and the water was like the proverbial mill-pond on most days (below in Flåm).
The Boudicca is smaller than many cruise ships so it is able to enter some of the smaller fjords, such as the 42-km long Lysefjord (Light Fjord) in SW Norway (below).
The Boudicca in Lysefjord
The captain took a very hands-on approach to maneuvering his ship in this narrow fjord (below).
Captain Mikael Degerlund on the Boudicca
The spectacular granite walls of Lysefjord have created some remarkable features, like the famous Preikestolen, or Pulpit Rock (below) which is a near-perfect square, flat-topped rock with sheer drops (600m down) on three sides.
Preikestolen or Prekestolen (Preacher’s Pulpit or Pulpit Rock) in Lysefjord, Norway
The ‘Pulpit’ is easier to see in this photograph (below). I must say that I was much happier looking up at it than I would have been standing on the edge of the precipice (no fences!).
Pulpit Rock
What is so impressive about these landscapes is their scale. The sheer size of the fjord walls is simply breathtaking and has clearly inspired many artists over the centuries, as a visit to the art galleries of Bergen revealed (below).
Traditional painting from KODE 3 art gallery in Bergen, Norway
Cruises of this sort are a mix of sightseeing and on-board activities, such as song and dance shows. The standard of the shows put on by the singers, dancers and musicians was impressive; there were two shows a night of the action-packed, in this case, rather British (below) programme numbers!
Show time on board the Boudicca
The next fjord we visited was Jøsenfjorden, another small fjord rarely visited by cruise ships. It was necessary to spin the ship round on its axis to turn it around at the end of the fjord.
Turning the ship around by 180 degrees in the fjord
There’s lots to do on the ship, from deck quoits to sun bathing, although sometimes there’s competition for the best places!
Aft on deck 7 of the Boudicca
Our first port of call was the small town of Rosendal. There were lots of tours on offer from this location, but I opted for a hike around the countryside. I was first off the ship in the early morning, on a perfectly still day (below).
Coming ashore at Rosendal, Norway
There were lots of boats and yachts in the harbour; Norway is a rich country with a GDP per capita above US$70,000, thanks to the oil they own and the capital they have wisely invested.
Yachts in from of the Boudicca at Rosendal, Norway
One of the best things about a cruise on a Fred Olsen ship such as this, is the food! There are lots of healthy (and sugar-free) options, and the vegetarian dishes were also very good. The problem is that it is hard to say no! And you very quickly get used to luxuries like fresh cherries in your salad!
Salad with cherries for lunch on board the Boudicca
The sea food was also good (even though I don’t eat it!).
Sea food spread for lunch on the Boudicca
For the first two ports of call we went ashore on tenders. It’s quite fun going ashore on these spacious crafts, although they are not easy to launch and recover.
Tender from the BoudiccaRecovering the tender aboard the Boudicca, at Flam, NorwayView of the Boudicca from a tenderWalking the gangplank!A War Memorial at Rosendal, Norway, with the Boudicca in the background
There were many additional tours which could be booked on board (below), but for those who like walking, just mooching around for a few hours ashore, is a much cheaper option!
Looking at the tours brochure.
The geography of the Norwegian fjords is incredibly complex, with a myriad islands, rocks and shoals, so a local pilot is taken on board (below).
Small boat delivering the local pilot.
There were at least two ship’s photographers on board (both from Bali!) and they did a very good job of photographing everybody, such as when we got on (below) and off the ship and at all the special events such the Captain’s cocktail night.
Boarding the Boudicca at Dover.
If you want to go to some events, like the Captain’s cocktail night and formal dinner, it is necessary to dress up a bit (below). This was the first time I had worn a bow-tie for at least 30 years!
The author in his crumpled dinner jacket!
The second port of call was Flåm, at the head of Aurlandsfjorden (below), with a large cruise ship (the 115,055 ton Azura) berthed at the small dock.
Ship’s tender at Flåm, Norway
It is said that nearly 500,000 visitors arrive at this tiny little village of Flåm, which is a gateway to many places and offers a variety of tours, including the famous Flåmsbana railway (£55 return!).
Flåm, Norway
Once again, I opted for a long walk and enjoyed the local scenery, including these rather handsome Highland cattle!
Highland cow enjoying a mud bath in Flam, Norway.
We saw lots of local ferries moving up and down the fjords (below), and if I went back this would be the way I would try to see more of the country.
Local ferry, Norway
One of the last fjords we visited on this cruise was the spectacular Nærøyfjord (below). This 17 km fjord was appropriately narrow (Naeroy!) in some sections, the thinnest being only 250m wide.
The spectacular Nærøyfjord with highly folded rock strata
Entrance to Nærøyfjord, if I remember correctly!
The scenery was very dramatic at dusk as we sailed up the Sognefjord on the way out to sea and on to the final port of call, Bergen.
Sunset on Sognefjord
This brief glimpse of the fjords of Southwest Norway stimulated my imagination and it was easy to see how people imagined the landscape to be full of trolls! It is however, a wild landscape with all sorts of living animals, including reindeer (below), elks, wolves, bears and last but not least lemmings! Lots to explore in the future if I get a chance.
The spectacular Norwegian landscape caught in paint. KOBE museum, Bergen.
Finally, a word about the crew, who were fantastic. They were from many nationalities, although predominantly Philippino, Indonesian and Thai and they all did a great job, cheerfully and efficiently.
The friendly ship’s photographer Sita, at the other end of a lens for a change!
Some incredible images in this National Geographic piece. There were more than 40,000 submissions from ‘My Shot’ contributors, including me! Only 39 images were chosen. Not one of mine – I’ll keep trying – but I think you will agree, the chosen photographs were all amazing!
Common Leopard Butterfly (Phalanta phalantha) mud-puddling at Mae Klang waterfall, Doi Inthanon, Thailand.
It was a very hot day when I visited Doi Inthanon, Thailand’s highest mountain (at 2565 metres or 8415 feet), in early May this year. Temperatures in Chiang Mai city had reached 40 deg C the day before, but it was much cooler up the mountain. There are large tracts of different types of forest on this mountain – Doi Inthanon National Park covers an area of about of about 482 square kms – but it is often shrouded in cloud near the top.
Forest on Doi Inthanon, by the Royal Chedis (or stupas) at about 2140m.
Unfortunately, the top of the mountain was rather cloudy on 7th May, so we headed further down, stopping off at a number of waterfalls, where I hoped to photograph butterflies.
Wachirathan Falls, Doi Inthanon, Thailand, May 2017.
One of the most beautiful falls on the mountain is Wachirathan Falls, just over 20 km into the NP, which is a magnificent spectacle, even in the dry season. Unfortunately, there were not many butterflies about, or the ones that were flying about were rather inaccessible, so I decided to head further down to the ever popular Mae Klang Waterfall. This lies just outside the boundaries of the NP, so is more heavily visited by picnickers and sightseers.
Mae Klang Falls on 7th May 2017
There was much less water flowing than in previous visits; compare the photograph above (taken in May, before the rains have arrived) with that taken in November (at the end of the rainy season) in a previous year.
Mae Klang waterfalls 8 Nov 2013
Mae Klang waterfall is at an altitude of about 1,200 m or so, so is much hotter than further up the mountain, and there were plenty of butterflies around! The problem was that because of the high temperatures, the butterflies were flying about so fast it was very difficult to photograph them! One of the more obliging species was the Common Leopard Butterfly (Phalanta phalantha), which were present in quite large numbers along the stream beds next to the river.
Common Leopard Butterfly (Phalanta phalantha) mud-puddling at Mae klang waterfall, Doi Inthanon.
The butterflies were ‘puddling’ or ‘mud-puddling’ as it is called; they are trying to absorb sodium (in the form of sodium chloride, salt) or nitrogen (in the form of amino acids) from moist substrates such as mud, animal excrement, rotting fruits, carrion, dung, bird droppings, sweat, tears and so on (See 1: See you down the puddle). Curiously, many of these Common Leopard butterflies were sucking up moisture from the rocks themselves (below). There must have been a thin layer of water on the rocks, which may have produced a solution of salts or minerals attractive to these insects.
Common Leopard Butterfly (Phalanta phalantha) Mae klang, with extended proboscis
Despite being engaged in mud- or moisture-puddling, the butterflies did not stay put for long, and usually flew off as soon as the lumbering photographer approached them! I did not manage to get as close as I would have liked, but after taking dozens of shots, I managed to get a few usable ones.
Common Leopard butterfllies (Phalanta phalantha)
These butterflies take about three weeks to develop from egg to adult (at 28 deg C) and the larvae feed on flowering plants in the Willow family (Salicaceae) including Flacourtia inermis and Salix babylonica (Links 2 and 3).
Common Leopard butterfllies (Phalanta phalantha) on rocks
There were also quite large numbers of yellow/green butterflies flying about, at amazing speeds! One often sees pictures of stationary butterflies, which fail to do justice to the extraordinary vitality of these insects. Butterflies can be very fast fliers – especially the nippy little Skippers, which can reach speeds of up to 60 km per hour! Skippers are shaped like little jet fighters! As the following photograph illustrates.
Spotted Demon (Notocrypta feisthamelii alysos). A Skipper from Chiang Dao, Thailand.
I did manage to grab a couple of photographs of the lively yellow/green butterflies, which turned out to be Lemon Emigrants, feeding on nectar from Lantana flowers.
Lemon Emigrant (Catopsilia pomona pomona) Mae KlangLemon Emigrants (Catopsilia pomona pomona) Mae Klang
I also came across this little skink – a Streamside Skink (Sphenomorphus maculatus) – on the rocks near the waterfalls (below).
Streamside Skink (Sphenomorphus maculatus) Mae Klang, Doi Inthanon, Thailand.
The waterfalls are a good place to cool off on a hot day, and people like to sit and relax on the rocks beside the streams. There are plenty of small restaurants and vendors nearby providing food and snacks for visitors.
Mae Klang Falls. People sitting and eating by the streams.Mae Klang Falls bathers
So even when temperatures are unbearably hot, there are many places to go to chill out, whether you are a butterfly, skink or primate!
Rayalu, M. B., Kumari, V. K., Naidu, M. T., & Atluri, J. B. (2014). Life history and larval performance of the Common Leopard butterfly, Phalanta phalantha Drury (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera: Nymphalidae). International Journal of Advanced Research in Science and Technology, 3, 191-195.
Hmong girls posing with a tourist in May 2017 on the steps of Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Anyone who has visited the beautiful temple – Wat Phra That Doi Suthep – on the mountain above Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, and has walked up the long flight of stairs rather than taken the funicular lift, will have seen the lovely little girls in Hill tribe costumes who sit on the bottom of the steps – and half way up – posing for photographs. They are dressed in traditional Hmong costumes.
There are over 300 steps up to the pagodas on Wat Phra That Doi Suthep
Over the years I have visited this temple a number of times and have pictures of what must be different generations of youngsters sitting on the steps, going back to 2005.
Hmong girls on the steps of Wat Phra That Doi Suthep in 2005Hmong girls on the steps of Wat Phra That Doi Suthep in 2005
The girls don’t just dress up in these gorgeous costumes for fun, although they clearly enjoy interacting with tourists, they usually ask for payment. A few coins. Although, being so young they are not very aggressive in asking. Nevertheless, in my estimation they must accumulate a fair bit of money over the course of a few hours. I could be wrong, but I have the impression that they are little gold mines!
Hmong girls on steps of Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep Buddhist temple, Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. May 2017.
Nevertheless, I was very surprised to learn that two of the girls had been accused of stealing a tourist’s watch! (Links 1 and 2, below) A British tourist who had posed for a photograph with the girls, subsequently found that her watch was missing and accused them of stealing it. In the photograph, one little girl has her fingers next to the watch, but the evidence is circumstantial. The photograph and story went viral, and like millions of other people around the world I was left with the impression that this was the end of the story.
Golden umbrella on Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai Province, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
It was a good story! Innocent-faced little ‘treasures’ pocket a tourist’s watch! But it turns out that it was false (See Link 3) The tourist eventually found the watch, but by then the damage was done. There are still articles on the Web accusing the children of theft (4).
This is one little apocryphal story (definition: of doubtful authenticity, although widely circulated as being true) which thanks to the power of social media, reached millions of people around the world, and left most of them with the impression that it was true. Well maybe there are child pick-pockets, and perhaps I am naive, but my impression is that they were innocent. What it demonstrates however, is that once a story has ‘gone viral’ there is very little that can be done to change it, whatever the facts may be. This is why politicians – who could I mean?! – are prepared to lie and promote falsehoods; they know that if the story is juicy enough, or salacious, it will get picked up by social medias – which we all use – and shared or spread by us all. I suppose all we can do is to remain skeptical, cautious about things until proven beyond reasonable doubt; perhaps not believing everything we see or read and remaining open to alternative explanations!
I recently did a short cruise to Norway on the 
Ray's ramblings 