Jordan Black Irises A Greentours Tour Report March 26th – April 8th 2010 Led by Ian Green & Chris Gardner Tour report by Chris Gardner (plant list supplied by Ian Green) Day 1 March 26th UK/Turkey to Jordan We all arrived at Amman and transferred to our hotel in Madaba arriving quite late (except me as I’d flown in from Istanbul a few hours earlier). Day 2 March 27th Madaba and Dibbin The morning was essentially a cultural one dividing our time between the ornate (inside at least) Greek orthodox church with it mosaic of the holy land and then another museum with many more superb old mosaics depicting Roman life and featuring a number of recognisable birds and mammals from the time from lions to partridges. Wildlife was restricted to Greenfinches, Blackbirds, Chiffchaff and Laughing Dove whilst Peter drew our attention to the pretty grass Lamarkia aurea and there were various stork’s-bills, sandworts and pelitories. From Madaba we drove north around the outskirts of Amman and through rather foggy conditions but after a time the air cleared and we could finally see the wide valley views with many olive fields and flat-roofed houses. We saw our first drifts of deep red Ranunculus asiaticus that lined the roadsides and filled the olive groves. Many more flowers were mixed in and we spent some time here combining lunch with botanising and finding many good plants including the lilac-blue stork’s-bill Erodium gruinum, rounded ‘bushes’ of rest-harrow Ononis natrix, bluish- pink Alkanna strigosa, the robust blue-flowered and bristly Anchusa strigosa and then a rather rare orchid Ophrys bornmuelleri. A few other orchids were scattered around and we managed to find Ophrys umbilicata and Orchis tridentata too. There were also many new legumes with some striking seedpods between them. 1 © Greentours Limited. Visit www.greentours.co.uk for further details. Telephone 01298 83563 Entering the Dibbin forest reserve (mainly pine and scrub oak with lots of strawberry trees and vast tracts of Cistus spp) we hadn’t gone very far when a very tall and pristine Violet Limodore Limodorum abortivum was seen and soon after this we also found three very fine Ophrys sphegodes ssp transhyrcana. Jays were common as we climbed higher finally reaching an open area at the top with a large deer enclosure to our left. Inside were a number of Fallow Deer that were being reared with the intention of reintroducing them to the wild. A Hoopoe was probing the turf nearby and across the road in some fallow fields were many finished Bongardia chrysogonum, pretty yellow Hypecoum pendulum, Silene aegyptiaca and more legumes, but sadly the field had been ploughed not long ago and there was no sign of last years Fritillaria persica. We all wandered back downhill seeing Cyclamen persicum flowering in rock crevices, Allium neopolitanum on the roadside and the lovely smooth tan to sunburnt English tourist-red trunks of Arbutus andrachne. There were also more Violet Limodores and quite a bit further down a population of Sword-leaved Helleborine Cephalanthera longifolia. There was one more stop on the way back to try and find the frits but there were none on the cold windy site although we did see two Short-toed Larks and Linnets. It was on to the Olive Branch Hotel perched high about the valley with superb views of the hills and olive swathed valley below. The owner liked her flowers and in the grounds she had even planted a few stunning dark-purplish brown Iris nigricans that were apparently very common around her home in Amman! Day 3 March 28th Wadi Rajib and Jerash What a change in the weather! It was a beautiful sunny morning as the last of the clouds slipped from the hilltops and we headed out into the countryside with clear and expansive views across the valley speckled with olive trees with wooded areas and interesting looking dryer slopes. Our destination for the morning was an area below some craggy cliffs that was very flowery and alive with butterflies. Seconds after we started walking there was a Woodchat Shrike and a Scrub Warbler as Cretzschmar’s Bunting called. We followed a wide track uphill finding many attractive flowers with masses of pale yellow Scabiosa prolifera and deeper yellow spiny Centaurea hyalolepis, the thistle Notobasis syriaca and the white umbellifer Artedia squamata. Butterflies were everywhere with dozens of Marbled Whites (two species, one probably hylata), Clouded Yellows, Lesser Spotted Fritillaries, Melitaea punica and Small Coppers, together with the odd Mazarine Blue and Brown Argus. A Spur-thighed Tortoise followed and close by was the pretty shrubby Kickxia aegyptiaca with delicate little yellowish flowers. Long-legged and Common (Steppe) Buzzards were amazingly common with some in the air almost the whole time and clearly some sort of migration going on. Crested Larks called from atop boulders and there was a Great Grey Shrike in a hawthorn. Our main floral quarry of the day seemed to be over and we had all but given up finding any when Rosie shrieked “Iris” and there they were three fine flowers of Iris haynei our first of the flamboyant Oncocyclus irises, the flowers very dark purplish-brown. A bit further up the track were Lesser Kestrel and Lesser Whitethroat and higher on the slopes in some scree was another fine plant the pale blue flowered borage 2 © Greentours Limited. Visit www.greentours.co.uk for further details. Telephone 01298 83563 Trichodesma boissieri with thick grey leaves that seemed appetising to the fritillary caterpillars feeding on them. Coming down from here we also saw a purplish scabious, a pair of Blackstarts and then two Long-billed Pipits. Driving on a short way we were heading for our lunch spot but still found time to quickly stop for the superb displays of tall hollyhocks Alcea setosa that lined the road. At the lunch site itself there were some delicate Venus’s Looking Glass Legousia falcata and across the road a couple of decent specimens of the impressive squill Scilla hyacinthoides with soft-lilac flowers in elegant whorled spires. Continuing we stopped to investigate a promising-looking north-facing hillside and quickly found the very fine pea Lathyrus spathulatus along with some large Tessellated Skippers and the odd Eastern Festoon. Higher up on a loose bank were some big Sword-leaved Helleborine Cephalanthera longifolia one with a pair of Small Whites mating on it. The adjacent olive grove had some large Ornithogalum divergens and various buttercups, and fields further along has lots of deepest purple Gladiolus atroviolaceus and both Orchis anatolica and Orchis tridentata. From here we split in two, one bus heading for cultural delights at the Roman ruins at Jerash, the other continued with the wildlife. Bus two didn’t drive too far before turning off and following a track just about wide enough for the bus that took us right into the patchwork of fields and olive groves. Walking on there was an attractive brick-red pea Lathyrus blepharicarpos and a superb clump of Ranunculus asiaticus, more Orchis tridentata (very dark) whilst Oron caught a beautiful male Green Lizard allowing us to see his exquisite pattern close up. Plant of the day followed when we came across a simply stunning specimen of the remarkable Salvia indica whose whorls of soft lilac-blue flowers had lips of black marbled with white or brown, making them appear to have bees or beetles hanging from the flowers, quite extraordinary! The sun set gently across the hills with a clear sky promising another fine day tomorrow. Day 4 March 29th Syrian border Today was a day of two halves, with a somewhat frustrating morning followed by a fabulous afternoon. It was another very fine day as we set off north towards the Syrian border area heading for a small village where we hoped to find more irises. After a few wrong turns and asking the locals we ended up on a road out of the village heading through arable fields directly for the border where we stopped at a guard post. There appeared to be some good habitat only a kilometre away, but we were refused permission to go any further and instead parked up and decided to check some other promising areas not too far away on foot. There were many Crested Larks and a few Corn Buntings as we walked also hearing a number of Quail calling and two of these were flushed from cover soon after. Unfortunately we appeared to have drawn a blank with the irises eventually finding a few plants with spent flowers, although the were a couple of slightly jaded Eminium spicatum as compensation and also three pretty pheasant-eyes with Adonis dentata (pale orange), annua (scarlet) and larger flowered palaestina (red). John then managed to collect a stunning mantis, green with 3 © Greentours Limited. Visit www.greentours.co.uk for further details. Telephone 01298 83563 white marbling, which posed well for pictures on plants and humans alike. Wandering back there was a fallow field with good Hyoscyamus reticulatus and Legousia speculum-veneris as Fan-tailed Warblers bounced through the air and a male Marsh Harrier coursed over the fields. After a short delay our second bus arrived with a tasty lunch of flatbreads pasted with oregano and sesame. A couple of Calandra Larks put in a brief appearance before we moved on. A lengthy detour because of roadworks meant it took longer than planned to reach the next stop although we saw Pallid Harrier along the way and even when we arrived it looked a bit dry and unpromising.