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Summer has arrived, and the people of our village have left the coast, where they spent the winter, and come back to the mountains for the summer. The weather has warmed up, and the farming season is in full swing. Because of the unusually warm, dry winter and spring, the crops are well ahead of what you'd generally expect.
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The winter and spring have seen practically no rain. Whilst this isn't good for the crops, it means the poppies are spectacular; much taller than usual and a brilliant scarlet red. |
| Poppies grow well amongst lucerne, a legume grown for animal feed. When it's ready, it has to be cut by hand using a sickle; backbreaking work. | 
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Once you've cut your lucerne, it has to be taken home. You can heave it onto your shoulders... |
| ....or you can barrow it in a wheelbarrow. | 
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Now that the barley has been cut, it needs to be threshed. A tractor and attachment is used these days, so it doesn't take as long as it did when horses or oxen were used. |
| But it's still not an easy job - the barley has to be forked by hand into the machine, there's a huge pile of it and the weather is hot. | 
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The dust covers everything and everybody around, getting into your clothes and hair, and filling the house, if you haven't remembered to shut the windows. |
| Mother goat and her kids seemed to be determined to have a closer look in the guesthouse - probably hoping some of our guests had something edible about their person! | 
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The mosque in the centre of the village. The call to prayer comes five times a day, and punctuates the life of the village. |
| During the heat of the day, when you can't work in the fields, the men come to the village cafe, and sort out the problems of the world. | 
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Davut, genial proprietor of the Dervish Café, prepares the tea under the watchful eye of the Prophet Ali. |
| In a huge old plane tree next to the village cafe, a pair of tawny owls has made a nest. They can even be seen in the day, as they survey the scene below where the men are drinking tea. We don't know what they think of it, though |  |
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And just to remind you that farming isn't all about sitting in the shade drinking tea, this is Suleyman Dayi with an astonishing load of straw to be carried back to the donkey. |
The birds are all very busy now - the babies are growing apace, which means lots of work for the parent birds.
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The Mountains in Summer - Birds and Wild Flowers
These baby swallows loudly demand food from morning till night, and judging by how much they've grown, their frazzled parents are providing it. The nest looks just a tad overcrowded!
Tending the chicks is the priority. This pair of masked shrike have a hard time chasing the jays from their nest - for the jays, despite their attractive looks, devour other birds' eggs or chicks.
In this photo, and the previous one, the shrike is dealing with a caterpillar. With lots of nests, so lots of chicks, in the garden, we don't need insecticides!
Rather a rarity! We're not sure why this hoopoe was sitting on the road, but he stayed long enough to photograph him.
We have to include another picture of one of the pair of Scops Owl who have a nest just across the road from us. These are the smallest of the owls found around here, whose existence is the reason for Owlsland's name.
The Garden in Summer - Herbs & Flowers & Wildlife
We tend to get carried away by the birds, but the butterflies have been breathtaking this year too. The herb garden when disturbed produces clouds of them. These are on the lavender.
These blue butterflies are at their peak just now - there are literally hundreds of them, clouds of bright sapphires.
More colour - the tubs and urns in the garden are producing a lovely show - geraniums and pansies, erigeron and antirrhinums.
Love-in-a-mist, or nigella, has self-seeded everywhere, as have borage & poppies, with some happy results.
Serendipity in action! California poppies are another prolific self-seeder, which give weeks and weeks of bright colour. We let lots of them grow in amongst the veggies, which keeps the greenfly at bay.
As the shrubs and trees in the garden grow, new species are being attracted. This is a male black headed bunting; he and his mate nested in our garden for the first time last year and we're delighted that they have returned to nest this year again!
Often overlooked for some of the showier birds, but the sparrows are an essential part of the village! Great survivors, scoundrelly opportunists, they will eat anything, and snatch food wherever chance puts it in their path. We've even seen them on the dogs' dishes whilst the dogs are actually eating!
Another example of nature's pest extermination! This female sparrow and her mate nest in the nest-box every year, and account for kilos of crickets which would eat the flowers.
And that's a taste of June in the mountains -
Come and visit, see it for yourself!
About Owlsland
Prices & Booking
Site Map
The village month by month archive