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Kevättä odotellessa

February 23, 2016February 23, 2016outikimalainen Leave a comment

Sivustoa työstetään parhaillaan! Odotus palkitaan keväämmällä, kun kimalaiskeskeinen maailma avautuu hitaasti mutta vakaasti.

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We've finally had some rain. Not enough- it should rain for several days for the nature to catch up, but it's a start! It's been so dry for so long that animals like hedgehogs and squirrels have had rough time 😞 But it's raining now. The air smells clean and fresh. The forest has it's signature scent again- a thing I didn't even realize was missing. There were tens of forest fires throughout the country yesterday- closest one was less than 20km from us. It couldn't have spread here, but you could taste the smoke in the air. And there should be more rain to look forward to in the near future! Traditionally a Finnish midsummer is utterly soaked and cold as October, but this might just be the first time I'm thankful of such forecast. Yes it not that comfortable but honestly- a mild discomfort of a humans in a Nordic wellfare state is nothing compared to the necessity these rains provide to the nature. #climatechange #nature #naturediary #naturejournal #luontopäiväkirja #ilmastonmuutos #luonto #yleluonto #rain #itsfinallyraining #vihdoinkinsataa

The way life just finds it's way, in the smallest of places, is just a never-ending amazement. #naturejournal #traveljournal #lifewillfinditsway #plantlife #croatia #dubrovnik #nature #mediterranean

Phlomis fruticosa (Jerusalem sage, pensaspaloyrtti). Growing on top of mountain Srđ (though it's quite difficult to understand how a hill with the hight of mere 412m can be called a mountain 😏). If you travel to the top of Srđ, you'll find intense crowd of people from the viewing platforms. There's a pricey restaurant and waiting lines to practically everywhere. And if you leave the area with all the recent infrastructure, you'll find vast landscape filled with flowers and insects and nice shades to sit. You'll find enormous Xylocopa violacea (violet carpenter bee, rautamehiläinen) buzzing around these Phlomis bushes- the bees are quite sensitive and territorial but they won't sting you for staring. Other, smaller bees will be found too, as well as butterflies and beetles. #phlomis #phlomisfruticosa #sonya6000 #nature #naturejournal #traveljournal #dubrovnik #mediterranean #croatia #bbcearth #neverstopexlopring

Testudo hermannii (Hermann's tortoise, kreikankilpikonna)! I've never seen one in the nature and got reeeeeally happy when we met this fellow. It's quite obvious that tortoises in general aren't that compatible with our fast lifestyle and speeding vechiles, but habitat loss either by agriculture (expanding farms, agrochemicals), infrastructure and urbanisation, is their major threat. Following those are pet trade, wild fires and diseases. T.hermannii is listed as near-threatened. Now it might seem quite hopeless to read these listings. People got to eat too and a place to live would also be nice. But there ARE things we CAN do, for these tortoises as well as nature in general. Eat plants when it's possible- you don't have to go full vegan if you don't want to or can't but choose as much plants as you can. Avoid food waste. Travel cautiously and avoid places that have spurred up fast and lack proper well designed infra- this includes waste management too. Don't ever get pets that are captured from the wild. Even though Dubrovnik is tightly constructed (and more houses are being built as we speak- you can hear the machines from the other side of the bay in the video) there are spots of nature here and there even inside the city limits. On the same area we saw Ophisaurus apodus (sheltopusik, seltopusikki) and Scolia hirta (hairy flower wasp) and got soaked in the rain. On the positive side, even though Dubrovnik is heavily leaning on tourism (which we were undeniably part of), apparently people mainly go there for the old town and beaches, because we saw only three other people in the forest during a couple of hours. #testudohermanni #hermanstortoise #wildtortoise #traveljournal #naturejournal #croatia #dubrovnik #mediterranean #natureconservation #conservation #responsibility

Arbacia lixula, black sea urchins. The beach closest to our accomodation was perfectly rocky for these critters and boy were they plentiful. Their comfort zone started a few meters from the water line and continued as far as there were stones of proper size. Diving goggles were a priceless thing to have- even though the water is clear, you still might want to check if that round dark spot is a dash of mushy seaweed or a bundle of spikes. Most sea urchin species are vegetarians, having a nice algae-based diet. They offer shelter to juvenile fish such as gobies- which I saw at least two species of, but don't know well enough to identify. These urchins are predated by a number of species which were also present: Diplodus sargus (sargo), Diplodus vulgaris (common two-banded sea bream) and Homo sapiens, which was most abundant. Come to think about it- why aren't humans usually mentioned as predators when it comes to eating other animals? If you think about for example fish in general, humans consume them in vast amounts. Sea urchins, more spesifically their gonads and eggs, are also eaten by humans. #arbacialixula #blackseaurchin #seaurchin #mediterranean #mediterraneansea #shore #travel #traveljournal #naturejournal #snorkeling #freediving #ecology #biology #croatia #dubrovnik

Traveled to Croatia a week ago! Came home yesterday. For years I have had this overwhelming urge of returning to the Mediterranean. We traveled there quite often when I was a kid and after 20 years or so I finally booked the flights. There was lots of walking, swimming and eating and I really, really needed a break like this. More pictures will follow! #travel #traveljournal #croatia #airplane #mediterranean #mediterraneansea #shoreline #mixedfeelingsaboutflying

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