Enjoying rare orchids & Lanner Falcon flying into Etna’s cone, Sicily

As well as enjoying endemic and rare orchids on Sicily in April/May, botanist Jessica Turner was also impressed by the aerial acrobats of a Lanner Falcon – as it dipped into Etna’s cone!

Mt. Etna by Jessica Turner

Despite generally unsettled weather for our week in Sicily, we were in brilliant sunshine on the summit of Mount Etna, surrounded by snow, but able to feel the heat of the lava near the cone. And also we had excellent views of a Lanner Falcon, flying at eye-level, and even below us as it dipped into the cone.

This year we visited a new site, south of Palermo, which is the stronghold for a very rare endemic orchid, which only grows in this part of Sicily: the Pale Ophrys (Ophrys pallida). We found it to be locally abundant, and also added two more orchid species to our list there: Milky Orchid (Orchis lactea) and Tongue Orchid (Serapias lingua). Overall, we found a good number of endemic species and varieties of plants, including the original Sweet Pea (Latyrus odoratus) from which all cultivated forms are derived.

For more information on our 'Wild Flowers of Sicily' tour, click here.