Gargano Day 7: Return to Bari

Before we set off back towards Bari and the airport, our last morning offered an opportunity for a quick exploration of Monte Sant’Angelo itself, and for shopping if anyone wanted.  I was more excited to photograph this old hilltop town, and the views from it.

As we explored, we came across promenades offering wonderful views, and everywhere little winding passages, and flights of steps.  This was a settlement that wasn’t designed with cars in mind, and vehicle access to much of it must have been difficult.

Sedum hispanicum

Our walk wasn’t entirely devoid of plants.  Sedum hispanicum was looking attractive growing in one wall.

Aubrieta columnae

The walls on the north-facing shady side of the castle were liberally decorated with Aubrieta columnae.

Doronicum columnae

At the base of the wall were the yellow suns of Doronicum columnae, together with Lamium gargaricum, white Arabis caucasica and the Nottingham Catchfly, Silene nutans.

Before long, it was time to make our way back up the steps towards the hotel.

Arbutus unedo

Round a carpark ringed with strawberry trees, to the hotel entrance where Lois was waiting.

Our trip was not quite over.  Paul had promised that on the way back I would be able to photograph meadows full of the big Crown daisies which we had seen when flying up the dual carriageway from Bari on our first day.  So when we got down onto the plain, we stopped at a field with views of white stork’s nests. Note the sparrows living in the cellar.

Glebionis coronarium

The meadow here had been a sheet of Crown daisies the previous week.  But alas, it had been cut since then, and cattle egrets were picking over the hay, looking for lunch.  All that remained were a few plants around the edges of the field.

Arable weeds

There were a few other plants flowering with the daisies and poppies around the edges of the field:

• Blue Echium plantagineum
• Bellardia trixago – Mediterranean lineseed, a hemiparasitic plant now included in the Orobanchaceae
• Eruca vesicaria – a white rocket-like plant in the Brassicaceae.

Papaver rhoeas

Still looking for Crown daisies, we stopped again twice a little further down the coast.  The first stop had wonderful sheets of poppies, and Lesser Kestrels, but no daisies.

Melilotus indicus

There was a nice little clump of Melilotus indicus (Honey clover) .

Flamingos

Our next stop was primarily for the flamingos in a lake on the far side of the road (also stork’s nests – see photo above), but I managed to find a few plants of Glebionis coronarium and Malva nicaeensis to photograph.

Ferula communis

Further south, our intended coastal route was closed, and we were diverted inland.  The diversion was lined with the tall yellow stems of the Giant Fennel, Ferula communis.

Glebionis coronarium

And then, finally, we came to a field filled with the Crown daisies.  We stopped, and piled out of the bus and down the slope, eager to photograph this glorious spectacle.  There were two distinct colour forms – deep butter yellow, and pale yellow with a darker centre.

The colour palette of this display consisted primarily of the yellow Glebionis, red Papaver rhoeas, and purple Echium plantagineum, with little patches of white chamomile. And all the way around the edge of the field was a row of Giant Fennel, standing like a fence.

As we travelled further down this new route, the roads were lined with sheets of flowers, in some cases fields red with poppies, elsewhere golden carpets of daisies, with abandoned fortified farms in the distance.  I wished we had all day and could stop at each one, but I had to be content with what we had already got.

Ecballium elaterium

Half an hour further on, we stopped for lunch and a last chance to photograph some flowers.  Ecballium elaterium, the Squirting Cucumber, was in flower in the hedgerow.

Across the road, there were again billowing mounds of daisies, contrasting with the purple of the Echium plantagineum.

After that, we set off with a little more urgency, down the coast, past salt flats and little towns, to get to Bari and our flights home. 

This was a wonderful trip, where we all saw some fabulous flowers, together with occasional birds.  I would like to thank Paul and Lois for all their help, and answering incessant questions about every flowering plant we encountered, and in particular for being so accommodating when I wanted to photograph the daisies on this last morning.

I hope I have managed to maintain a suitable balance, showing just how spectacular the flora of this area is, whilst maintaining a certain level of vagueness about some of the exact locations.