Islanders

03/10/2024

03/10/2024

Two perfect complete mammals skeletons from Comino island. Both are old introduced species that have their impact on local biodiversity. For more Information see: https://www.academia.edu/70098248/A_contribution_to_the_knowledge_of_the_terrestrial_mammalian_fauna_of_Comino_and_its_satellite_islets_Maltese_archipelago_

29/09/2024

15/09/2024

Bears rock in Dwejra 📸 by Jeffrey Sciberras.

11/09/2024

Elephant Rock, New Zealand 🐘🪨
📷[IG]brentpurcell.nz

11/09/2024

On tal-Fessej rock. 📸 J. Sciberras

31/08/2024

Ta' fraben islet cave. Images by J.Sciberras.

27/08/2024

Ghallis rocks by Jeffrey Sciberras

20/08/2024

Malta’s only fully-submerged terrestrial cave can add another unique thing on its list of special features: the islands’ first recorded case of a very rare species of blind shrimp. “The blind Ħarq il-Ħammiem cave-amphipod is one of its kind and only exists in St Julian’s special undergroun...

10/08/2024

Filfla educational trip 10.8.2024. Every wonder that Filfla and the nearby rocks( ta xutu kbira & zghira ) were once one island with a narural slope connecting to ta xutu rocks up to the plateau of the main island. Every year we visit the island we see new cracks and further crumbles which the island is loosing on a daily basis.Shame how it was destroyed by human greed. Next trip is 14.9.2024 to the north of the islands.

06/08/2024

Thanks Maltadaily for this.

02/08/2024

Further possible evidence supporting the once existing Filfla chapel.
By Arnold and Jeffrey Sciberras.

The once majestic Filfla islet was previously much larger than its current 2.5 hectares. The land mass has reduced drastically by millennia of sea pounding, and of recent history, heavy bombing practice by the British, other naval and air forces.Located at the most southerly point of the Maltese Archipelago, Filfla is a small, uninhabited isle 5 kilometres south of Malta. The islet rocky platform which was originally attached to the south-west coast of Malta. An ancient cataclysmic event, resulting in the Maghlaq Fault on the main island tore Filfla away from its parent, like some boulder thrown out to sea, thereby converting it from a nondescript section of coast into the separate entity that we know today. The name is said to come from felfel, Arabic for pepper. The name probably originated either due to the isle's tiny size or its original shape which may have been reminiscent of a small pepper. Later, it was referred to as Piper on maps, which is the Latinised form of felfel. According to historical sources there used to be a small structure on the island, dating back to the fourteenth century, which doubled up as a place of worship and a store of food and water for fishermen stranded upon it in times of bad weather. The chapel was deconsecrated in 1575 and apparently the cave housing this chapel/food depot collapsed after an earthquake in 1856 that also sank part of the island. A late medieval painting showing strong renaissance influences which is found in the vestry of the parish church of the nearby mainland village of Zurrieq is popularly known as the “Madonna ta’ Filfla” triptych and is popularly assumed to have once adorned the Filfla chapel, although doubts exist whether a painting of such quality would have been commissioned to sit in such a rather deserted chapel. A map of Malta dating back to 1798 depicts a chapel on Filfla, which was built inside a cave in 1343.The titular painting of the Madonna accompanied by saints Peter and Leonard bears the date 1604, and had been removed from the chapel. It's now preserved in the parish church of St Catherine in Zurrieq. The islet is a small, rocky platform which was originally attached to the south-west coast of Malta. Despite all this ,today there is hardly any evidence that the chapel ever existed. The islet is so destroyed with the bombing that there no evidence of a cave or any remnants of a chapel structure ever built in it. However when the current authors visited the island in one of their scientific research visits(by permit issued by ERA)they found evidence to support that there was a freshwater spring facing the north of the island. Till this day the cliffs here are constantly humid and support a freshwater species of mollusc. Also this side receives less sunlight then the south side does making it more susceptible to humidity. Despite there is no physical evidence of the chapel, in 2013 on the plateau ( xaghra ta fuq) the authors found several globigerina stone slabs “Knatan in Maltese”(some were even placed in ground as pediment) that show the structure of a room perhaps even the remnants of the chapel. Could it be that the chapel was built on the plateau rather than in the so called cave? Or could have been that stone slabs from the chapel remnants were taken up on the plateo to build perhaps a hunting room”dura in Maltese”? Personally we find it too much of a hassle to take such stone slabs to the plateau just for a room or hunting room which this structure can easily be built from stones on the plateau that's why we propose that the latter structure is the remnant of the chapel. We must also keep in mind the family Attard which lived for a period of time on the islet during the plague. This year and interesting discovery came to light. During one of our educational Filfla trips, one keen visitor approached us after one of our commentaries and told us that his father in law in the 1970s used to work as a sergeant in the Xutu tower in Zurrieq . Some maintenance needed to be carried out and some items including the original large key “muftieh” of the chapel where discard so the sergeant took them for his own personal collection. The visitor told us that he inherited such a key and it is a very priced family hair loom possession. He was willing to share such information and the photograph of the key but for obvious reasons would like to stay anonymous. Whether this is the actual key or not of the chapel one might argue whether on authenticity or whether the current family was misinformed, however it was always considered in the tower a special item to be kept. Hope in the future this item can be given to the national collections heritage or at least could be studied in the future to confirm its true authenticity and continue to build the knowledge of this mysterious chapel of the islet of the Filfla.

References:

CINI, G. (2005) Filfla had a chapel dedicated to our lady.Times of Malta . January 4th pg 15.
SCIBERRAS, J. & SCIBERRAS, A (2013) Filfla`s Ecological Study Visit Report. MEPA Unpublished Report.
SCIBERRAS,A.&SCIBERRAS, J.( 2021) It-toponomastika tal-gżejjer żgħar ta’ madwar Malta u Għawdex. Il- Hames parti : Filfla, il – Ħagra tas-sajjietta u minn bengħisa sal-aħrax tal-Mellieħa. Ilmiklem.com. SCIBERRAS,A.&SCIBERRAS, J.( 2024) L-Attivita tal-bniedem fuq il-ġżejjer iż-żgħar li jinsibu fil-baħar ta’ madwar Malta u Għawdex. Il- Miklem. 📸 A.Sciberras .Also published here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/zS3ghF5CsSYpqf8r/

27/07/2024

Another magical moment...last one I promise:)

27/07/2024

Bottle nose dolphin 🐬 in front of our boat!

27/07/2024

One trip topping the other!!!!This Filfla trip 27.7.2024 is another one for the books. We saw so much wildlife that for countless times we had stop our commentary and go " look there and look here". Some of the highlights were obviously the bottle nose dolphin 🐬 ,Tuna ,flying fish ,Dolphin fish ,long fin tuna, several species of pelagic fish ,the increadible wierd ocean sunfish ,several sea birds and much more! Unfortunately around Filfla we saw nothing today because of some illegalities :( Thanks again Roderick Aguis from AZAD for organising such an event.

27/07/2024

Unfortunately some illegalities that disrupted the avifauna of Filfla this morning. These several incidents were reported by the visitors of the trip to the relevant authorities ( obviously to no avail)

27/07/2024

Bottle nose dolphins near Xrobb l-ghagin fish farm.