Olive Trees

I am just back from Corfu and I was struck by the beauty of their Olive trees.Where I was staying was in the midst of an ancient olive grove. The trees had the air of having been growing on this steep slope for an eternity. Climbing up through a series of stone terraces and a maze of rolled up black netting you feel you could be going back in time by hundreds of years.

Looking at the branches these trees had long past their peak and there was very little to be picked. But I was more interested in the strange holes in all of the trees bark. I have no idea what makes them. When I was photographing the Olive harvest in Spain I do not recall anything like this. Is it a local bird? Or just a different variety of olive?

These groves with their cathedral like high ceiling of  light green leaves merging with the deep blue of the sky, the constant noise of the Cicadas and the lizards scurrying away in front of you, make the Corfu groves a very special place. No wonder the Durrells fell in love with this Island.