MaltaWildplants.com FORUM

A big congratulations MWP for the newly discovered small bumble bee orchid as well as for the smooth thyme-leaved fumana.

You are regularly coming up with new species (including endemics) of flowering plants when we thought that we had an almost complete knowledge of what is present in our islands.

Hi jackpot, MWP and anybody around Congatulations to HC Weber for the new book about Maltese foodplants which will allow us to eat our wild plants more safely when we get hungry in the countryside. MWP I think its not that everyone has become an expert. I think that it is more a case that everyone h...

You are becoming very good to be resurrecting extinct species! I wouldn't be that surprised if you were to come across a living dodo, a T-rex or even the yeti. Joking apart, you must be working hard and doing a lot of exploration to come across such rare plants including something like this which ha...

Wonderful insect photographs really bringing them to life - you can see the hummingbird hawk moth actually pollinating the flowers with pollen grains stuck to his fine long tongue...er probiscis. really nice photos!

How did you manage that !!!!!!!

It seems that O. lactea may not be present locally. Light coloured, sometimes almost completely white specimens of O. conica are not rare and so I think that your photo must be one of these. However this brings to mind a question for the experts here: What morphological characteristic/s can distingu...

Very nice picture Herr jackpot!

I kindly accept your delayed season greetings and convey an even more belated seasons greetings to you and to all the forum members.

(Although most of you must have recorded me as presumed extinct I am still around)

Same here - for me they are all fusca!

The first one is E. melitensis
The second one (A) should be E. pinea
B should be E. exigua
The last one is E. helioscopa

"Almost 200 palm trees had to be uprooted last year after falling victim to the dreaded red palm weevil, and the government has pledged €300,000 to help remove infected trees. Another 60 trees remained infected and were waiting to be removed, Palm Health Department director Marica Gatt said, adding ...

Same here - I have been very busy recently - I still log in every now and then, but generally have no time to post.

Tamus?

Why do you say it is rare? Fireworks are very common in Malta

Hopefully not since it is a very good book.

I have just bought the book a few days ago from a local bookshop - it is excellent, well presented and very informative and useful for somebody like me who is next to illiterate as regards ornamentals. The hardcover and soft cover versions were both available at the bookstore. I bought the soft cove...

Yes you could very well be right. That is why I said that the increase could possibly be connected with climate change and that this could partially explain the phenomenon. It is reasonable to argue that overfishing of certain predators could possibly create vacant niches which in turn could be expl...

A case in point COULD be the Mediterranean barracuda which was a formerly uncommon fish in Maltese waters but has increased considerably over the last decade or so. It is typically a fish that likes warmer waters, so it is likely that changing climate has at least a partial role in this. However it ...

Seems like another bit of good botanical detective work. They say that the closer you look, the more you find Good work MWP

Lizards are also very common on Comino - here pesticide use must be negligible except for the few cultivated fields. AntonB, I also noticed that lizards in the Maltese countryside have practically disappeared over recent years. It is an interesting research question, but one which is probably rather...

Haas is right. It is the small heath ( Coenonympha pamphilus ). Quite a common butterfly. Unfortunately the meadow brown ( Maniola jurtina ), which was very common and widespread has become very rare over recent years, particularly in Malta (In Gozo it has also declined substantially and is rare, bu...

I do not know anything about this particular plant, but I think that this business of describing each tiny orchid variant as a distinct species seems to be getting out of hand (of course I am not referring to you mwp but to all these botanists coming up with orchid names) :( :( :( I am sure that if ...

Unless you try to capture them or handle them you will not be bitten. They will only bite if captured or cornered with no means of escape.

Rest assured that the two legged serpent is a far more dangerous creature, and there are a number of these around!

Really excellent work on all fronts MWP. A really big prosit. You have developed into a very good botanist over a relatively short period of time. You are managing to combine fieldwork and research with excellent results, and presenting these in an excellent format which is accessible to all those w...

I agree with most of your arguments MWP. I would personally enjoy a hunter free countryside, but what I prefer is besides the point. My argument is about the principle of hunting per se - You are 100 % right regarding the lack of enforcement, and the environmental damage caused by hunters and partic...

A very interesting thread, this is turning out to be. In general, I tend to be in agreement with RB over most points (and to avoid any forum members from jumping to premature conclusions, I am neither hunter nor trapper, and nobody in my family is) However, I am more than convinced that banning all ...

I have never come across that thing either. A very good photograph wolf. Is this a rare thing?

MWP - how on earth did you manage to get in so close and manage to get so much detail - and everything so clear and well focused ! Insomma nature photographer ta veru! Prosit!

Issa dehret... nahseb il pc tieghi xi ftit ghajjien.. i do not know what it is but identification without flowers is too difficult for me

I do not know why but I am not able to see the photo accompanying this post (the same with the post about Salix pedicillata)

It must be Acontia lucida (f. albicollis).