...and suddenly Spring bursts in

 

Ophrys Speculum

Just found a long time looking for orchid. Ophrys Speculum.

A terrestrial orchid up to 25 cm tall and each inflorescence carries between 2 and 8 large flowers. The plants often grow in groups. In bright sunshine the flowers are highly visible as the light reflects off the speculum in the centre of the lip – it is a bright iridescent purple/blue in colour and very glossy.

The stone cross at Barranc d'Algendar

When Dr Camps wrote this story in 1910, he commented that it had already happened many years ago.

 
The fact is that in an undetermined time in the middle of 1800 there was a man in the town of Ferreries who was said to be able to talk to the birds and who use to make remedies with herbs that he collected from the wild fields that wade through the ravine.

 
On one occasion in the middle of a winter, he left town. Some said that to catch a nest of real hawks, others that to collect a plant called "Jew's beard", the fact is that he did not return to town that night, and it became a stormy night

 
The next morning he was found dead at the foot of the rock from which he had clearly fallen off.

 
And even when many stories circulated through the town as a result of the people superstition at that time, their parents ordered the erection of a stone cross that even today, almost 200 years later, appears among the almost insurmountable exuberant vegetation at the bottom of the ravine.

 

 

Lathyrus ochrus. Muntanya Mala.

Lathyrus ochrus is a annual growing to 0.6 m (2ft). It is in flower from March to June, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and is pollinated by Insects. 

Although no records of toxicity have been found for this plant, the seed of some species in this genus contain a toxic amino acid that can cause a severe disease of the nervous system known as 'lathyrism' if they are eaten in large amounts (although small quantities are said to be nutritious)

Ses Aubertones

Ses Aubertones is the name of an old farmhouse which already appears named in some seventeen hundreds's maps.

Erodium reichardii is an endemism plant on the botanical family Geraniaceae that grows only in Mallorca and Menorca.

Nature claims its own

For many decades, in Algendar Canyon, a place of excessive beauty, there were some mills that took advantage of the flow of the small river to grind cereal.

People lived in that unusually fertile area and there were some inhabited houses and caves. Little remains of that time. Some properties have been rehabilitated as exclusive residential homes and some other areas have become orchards of fruit trees.

The mills, like the one in this picture have been lost in disuse and the land they one occupied has been slowly colonized again by Nature.

 

Bindweed. "Corritjola Borda"

Hedge bindweed or bellbind (Calystegia sepium) with its pure white trumpet flowers is a familiar sight, choking plants in borders and twining around any plant shoot or cane.

According to an old Menorcan superstition if seeds of this plant are placed under the pillow we can have telltale dreams.

Wild flowers in May

Cistus salviifolius

Hippocrepis balearica

Ferula communis

Vicia benghalensis

Gladiolus illyricus

Anacamptis pyramidalis

Sanitja and Malva Sylvestris.

The Sanitja port or Sanisera is a natural port located next to the old roman town Sansiera. The port is in the Caballeria cape and it has an approximately lenght of 800 meters and very little depth which represent a perfect shelter against Tramuntana wind for boats.

The port isn’t very exploited and you can barely see few little wooden boats during high season. The entrance to the port used to be very protected by the Sanitja Tower, a british Tower of Defense built of stone and mortar in 1801. The inside of the tower can’t be visited because over time, it has deteriorated significantly and it’s almost demolished.

The scientific name, Malva sylvestris, is just as lovely as this flowering plant in the Malva genus, and is more popularly known as high mallow or common mallow. This plant is often found in fields and hedgerows and has a striking purple flower. It is native to western Europe, but has spread to portions of the Mediterranean and northern Africa, and has been imported to much of the English-speaking world. 

 The flowers and leaves of this unique herb are used for medicinal purposes, particularly in topical applications as a pain reliever.

Ornithogalum Arabicum

or Llágrimes de Sant Pere. 'Sant Peter's tears' is how we call this plant in Menorca.

In full flower, close to Algendar, today.

Binifaell Vell

Binifaell vell is the name of a farm that has existed for hundreds of years near Sant Climent. According to the inventory of archaeological sites in Menorca, there are the ruins of a Talayot of considerable size in their lands, so this morning I took advantage of the day to get there.

I have not been able to find the talayot. Although ancient ceramic remains are seen in different places and even a 'moló', which is a prehistoric hand mill, I have had to settle for photographing the old farm building and the flower of chicory.

Common chicory, Cichorium intybus is a perennial herbaceous plant of the dandelion family Asteraceae usually with bright blue flowers. It lives as a wild plant on roadsides in its native Europe, and is now common in North America, China, and Australia, where it has become widely naturalized.

The chicory plant is one of the earliest cited in recorded literature. Horace mentions it in reference to his own diet, which he describes as very simple: "Me pascunt olivae, me cichorea, me malvae" ("As for me, olives, endives, and mallows provide sustenance"). It is not only an edible plant as it has also traditional medicinal uses.

San Gabriel

The charm of derelict places.

Orchids blooming in the Spring.

Anacamptis pyramidalis is practically present on the whole island. At the beginning of summer, it often makes large colonies in meadows.

Its red-violet spike, conical at blooming, is quite distinctive. Flowers are numerous, close to each other showing a three-lobed lip and bearing some small lamellum-shaped excrescences at base. These lamellae are useful in guiding the proboscis of pollinating butterflies. 

According to the wikipedia this orchid is especially common on the Isle of Wight  and was designated the county plant in 2008. In Menorca is quite common too.

The dried and ground tuber gives a fine white powder, called salep. This is a very nutritious sweet starchlike substance. It is used in drinks, cereals and in making bread. It is also used medicinally in diets for children and convalescents.

Splendour time for Almond Trees

Senecio Rodriguezii blooming among the rocks.

The Senecio rodriguezii is an attractive small pink ragwort endemic to Mallorca and Menorca that loves the sea and grows on the coastal rocks sprinkled by the waves. In spite of its diminutive size does not go unnoticed, since its bright flowers of a vivid white and pink color emphasize on the brownish gray of the rocks burned by the sun and the salt.

 Sant Bernat

 Green fields on the way to Alfurinet.

Torre Llisa Vell

Although Menorca is just a speck in the vast sea, it has attracted the attention of many archaeologists due to 33 mysterious stone megaliths scattered throughout the island. 

The Talayotic people who created these megaliths never documented the exact purpose of the mysterious stone monuments they left behind. Now, thousands of years later, researchers and archaeologists are trying to identify why they were built.

Torre Llissa is one of the 33 T shaped prehistoric monuments which are unique to the Island of Menorca and located nowhere else in the world. Set in a wilderness on the road to Alaior with a few other sites close by, you'll find the Taula through an archway at the end of a magical country road, where you can smell the ancient lands and some other nature treasures like wild flowers.

 White Wall-Rocket. Diplotaxis Erucoides.

The white wall-rocket is one of the most abundant herbs to be found during autumn and winter in arable land, even though it can be in flower at any time of the year. It germinates rapidly after the first rains, and in few weeks it flowers and covers the fields in white, often coexisting with field marigold (Calendula arvensis) with its orange flowers. Like all Cruciferae it has four petals in the shape of a cross and the leaves are very cut back.

Rainy day...and hoopoes

The rain, which started in the morning, has not stopped falling throughout the day. At times it fell hard and other times it was very light, almost imperceptible.
 

And it is in those moments when you can see some movement among the small animals of the field. The hoopoes, which are insectivorous, taking advantage when the ground is wet to peck worms and slugs.

Hoopoe

 

Rock Samphire inflorescence, near Binidali.

Morning Glory

Most morning glory flowers (Ipomoea indica) unravel into full bloom in the early morning. The flowers usually start to fade a few hours before the "petals" start showing visible curling. They prefer full solar exposure throughout the day, and mesic soils.

Although this plant grows wild on the island, its presence could be considered a sign of civilization and that is found mostly on trails and paths where it often covers tha dry stone walls.

A misty morning at Binixiquet

Binixiquet is a farm near San Clemente which is perched on a crag under which there is a large number of caves probably used since prehistoric times. In a walking distance there are numerous talayotic settlements such as Binixiquer, Binicalaf and Lloc nou d'es Fasser.

Experts in history and archeology agree that it is an area of the island that had human settlements since the time of the first settlers of Menorca.

 In the area there are many watchtowers also that often, as in this case, were attached to farms and also served as a fortress in case of attack. 

Purple Vetch, Vicia Benghalensis, 

With its beautiful purple flowers this plant is appreciated by farmers, a good green manure plant, it is fairly fast growing, an effective weed suppresser, fixes nitrogen and makes a reasonable bulk. A turquoise-green dye is obtained from the flower

Tamarisk

The genus Tamarix (tamarisk, salt cedar) is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Europe, Asia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin  and may have referred to the Tamaris River in the former Hispania Tarraconensis, province of the Roman Empire.

Seven species of tamarisk normally grow in Menorca, mostly near watercourses or on the coastline as they tolerate saline soils.

These trees  are used to help to prevent soil erosion because of their deep root systems. They also have slender branches with numerous small, gray-green, scalelike leaves. Clusters of small pink flowers, hanging at the ends of branches or from the trunks, give the plants a feathery appearance during their blooming season.