The flowers and shells of Aegina

By Hanneke Franke

Do you like nature? Then you did well to come to Aegina. With its mountains, rocks, woods, sea and coastal areas, streambeds and wetlands, it is an ideal place for you to enjoy everything the island can offer you. Really, besides the well-known port and the ancient temple of Afea, Aegina can offer you a beautiful mountain side, medieval Paleachora and the wonderfully green Mesagros. Many paths are waiting for trippers to lead them to magical places. Aegina’s landscape and its nature are a constant surprise to anyone who wants to keep his eyes open.

But what are all these beautiful things that you can see?
An answer to this question and to many others can be found on the website
http://hanfranke.wix.com/flora-of-aegina & http://www.hanfranke.wix.com/ shells-of-aegina

Villages and wetlands

First of all on the website you can find photographs of different places on Aegina, so that you get some idea of the beauty of its villages. But you will also find photographs of its wetlands – especially of the small, unknown wetland of Marathonas, which is the most important wetland of Aegina. Here we have to accentuate the great importance of the wetlands in general, but also in particular that of those in the Saronic Gulf, for the reproduction of fish and the survival of many kinds of insects, birds and other organisms, including migrating birds. Besides the photographs of the wetland in different seasons and circumstances, there are pictures of the different plants found there, with their scientific and Greek names, and furthermore pictures of the birds photographed in the wetland while they were searching for food in the little stream, on its banks or in the seasonally flooded areas. You will also find photographs of the smaller wetlands of Vagia and Kyrannitsa (Vlychada) with a few pictures of the plants found growing there.

The flora of Aegina

The biodiversity on the island is impressive. On the website you will find hundreds of photographs of species growing and blooming on the island. There are pages with all the different species you can see flowering in a special month, not only wild plants, but also trees, bushes and grasses. You will find pages for every species with their scientific names, as well as their Greek, English and Dutch names and in many cases information about the flowering period, the size of the flowers or the plant and the kind of locations where they can be found. The website already contains photographs of over 250 flowering species, often with pictures of the same species in different seasons.

The Bay of Marathonas

Shells

Because of the exceptional marine biodiversity, the website contains more than 70 pages with a presentation of a great collection of shells, all found in the shallows (up to a depth of 2 m) or on the beach of the Bay of Marathonas. The shells are divided in Bivalves, Gastropods and Scaphopods and presented per family, with besides the pictures the scientific name and the size of the shell found.

Fish

The coast of Aegina forms a marvellous, rich natural fish farm. On the website you can find more than 70 pages of fish found in the Bay of Marathonas, most of them with several pictures per species, also presented per family and with their scientific, Greek, English and Dutch names, size and habitat.

Other species

Finally the website contains 30 other marine species that can be found in the Bay of Marathonas, from octopus and sponges to sea anemones and seaweeds. In total more than 600 pages with photographs and information about all the wonders of nature found in and around Aegina await you on the website, to which additions are made continuously.

LET US LEARN MORE ABOUT NATURE,
NOT ONLY TO ENJOY IT,
BUT ALSO SO THAT WE KNOW WHAT WE LOSE IF WE DON’T PROTECT IT!