Parakalo
I have just returned from a long 3 hour hike through the varied terrain of the Akrotiri peninsula. I started at 6am to survey for the endemic to Cyprus Acanthodactylus shreiberi Fringe Fingered Lizard which i have done several times now. This Lizard has been reported throughout Cyprus though this is the first pilot study on record of the lizards population density. When the data has been fully analysed by the Akrotiri Sovereign base area environmental department, trends will be obvious regarding the lizards habitat preferences.
To do this i have been told to survey the Akrotiri peninsula covering the diversity of habitats in a zig zag pattern. I start early in the morning to both prevent unnecessary sun exposure and to view the lizards at there most active time when they feed.
I use an etrex GPS device to follow each transect chapter that i charter plot on the computer the day before, this allows me to survey a different section of the peninsula each day without getting lost of re-tracking over previously surveyed ground. Each Fringe Fingered Lizard i sight i log its coordinates on the GPS device.
Each day i load up my days discoveries and have a map complete with a track of my hike and flags indicating each logged Lizard. After just 3 transect chapters i have noticed a pattern in habitat preferences, but it is not over yet the donkey work continues...
The highlight of the day for me was not sweating in the arid heat but sighting a turtle nest on a secluded beach on the south west coast of the peninsula. There were two tracks, one up the beach and one down the beach. the meeting point of the two tracks was a mound beyond the high water mark and some obvious sand disruption. I called the warden to check it out, it was most likely a loggerhead turtle.
I spend much of my remainder time when not surveying to establish friendships with locals and to observe their involvement with their environment. A visiting research scientist of the University of Nicosia at the center suggested i interview locals of Akrotiri to discover the local awareness of study species such as the lizard. I appreciated his advice as an interesting contribution to my report.
Another update soon,
Efharisto,
DN Felix Driver