Report from Lesvos Part 2

Time for the second half of the week on Lesvos. Not quite as stunning as the first half as I had seen quite a few of the species I wanted to see on the first part of the week. We were doing more tourist stuff and seeing the sights of Lesvos.

Thursday saw us heading North to the fishing village of Molyvos which is where a lot of tourists end up and where Jet2 were trying to send us before Howard re-directed us to Skalla Kalloni. This involved a drive through pine forest on twisty roads and finding a parking spot before walking into the village which is much more of a tourist trap than Kalloni. Shops, cafes, wee market stalls and locals trying to interest you in buying something before the season ends and they are left with unwanted stock. We then went north along the coast looking across to Turkey which is about 15 miles away, before cutting back on the new road towards Kalloni. We were looking for somewhere to picnic when we came across Limnos Monastery so we stopped off, had our picnic and did the tour. Lovely old monastery but no monks. Some nice birds in the surroundings but nothing startling apart from a pair of ravens overhead. The most interesting thing we learnt was that the main monastery is surrounded by lots of little beehive chapels and apparently visiting monks could come for a retreat and have their own little chapel for prayer and meditation.

Coast at Molyvos

Greek Orthodox chapel at Limnos

....and the ceiling

Cloisters

Overview of Limnos

Small chapel in the grounds

Lots of small chapels dotted around 

We returned to Kalloni to chill out and took an evening walk towards the mouth of the Tsikinas river. Beautiful walk but along soft sand which did not do my recovering hips a lot of good, offset however by red-backed shrike, willow warbler and spotted flycatcher in the bushes behind the beach, a jay on the way back and the usual stunning Greek sunset. This happened every evening, but if you have too many stunning sunsets they sort of lose their impact. 

Friday started with a 0600 alarm and a drive to the Kalloni salt pans for a sunrise spectacular with Howard and Colin (from Wales). We had good views of a variety of birds and with three scopes going I think we saw everything there was to see. Interesting fact was that my travel scope is not in the same league as Howard's Swarovski or Colin's £20 e-bay scope he takes with him when he goes abroad. Here is what we saw and heard, plus a few sunrise photos and a link to Howard's account of the same outing. Dalmatian pelican, black stork, spoonbill, teal, kingfisher, curlew, ringed plover, grey plover, greenshank, redshank, black-necked grebe, cormorant, little egret, great white egret, grey heron, greater flamingo, buzzard, avocet, black-headed gull, yellow-legged gull, sandwich tern, stonechat, crested lark and corn bunting - all before an 0830 breakfast. 

Sunrise

Kalloni salt pans

Moonset

Link to Howard's blog is here:

https://blueeyedbirding.blogspot.com/2024/09/lesvos-day-6-20th-september-2024.html

Post breakfast saw us back to being tourists again and calling at Ipsolos Monastery which has monks, the petrified forest, Sigri, and Faneromani beach. We stopped quite a bit on the new road but every interesting bird was a raven (or 12) , the monastery is on a hilltop with fantastic views  and the petrified forest was a real eye opener in terms of the variety of trees which have been petrified. The Sigri museum was also well worth a visit and the drive back via Erosos caused shredded nerves as the wee orange light came on in the middle of the mountains. All the common species were noted but we also saw wheatear, whinchat, sand martin drinking from the hotel pool, 25+ yellow wagtails behind the beach at Faneromani and bird of the day a stunning Eleanora's falcon which flew over us at the petrified forest. 

Ipsolos monastery

Turkey in the distance

Stunning location

Petrified tree stump and roots - it is actually solid rock!!

Looks wooden but it is solid rock

Self with petrified trees - no funny comments please!

Tree stump and fallen tree

Faneromani beach

And so to Saturday and another tourist trip to the Roman aqueduct, Moria and Mytilene which is the capital. We had an amble around, bought a few gifts and had lunch in a seafront cafe. The aqueduct is  very impressive considering it is only a vestige of its former self. It was a tad warm and it also involved an interesting drive through very narrow streets some of which were one way (whoops!!). Mytilene is a large town and ferry port but it has a nice little pedestrian area with narrow streets and interesting shops for wandering tourists. Nice touristy day out but not much birding. Some aqueduct views below, I didn't take any photos in Mytilene and back we drove to Kalloni for a break. 

The streets of Moria

After a rest and a drink I took off to look for two little reservoirs within 10 minutes drive of the hotel. I found them both using Google and was quite impressed. Lake Metochi had water and one spotted flycatcher, Periana reservoir had water and no birds BUT en route home through olive groves a small flock of birds flew up into the trees so I stopped and looked. It was a great tit flock of 10/12 birds so always worth a look to see if anything else is in the flock. I found a willow warbler and then noticed an odd brown bird feeding in the grass and bingo it is a wryneck. Only the second time I have seen one, the first time was on a French camp site in 1985 - 39 years ago. I was quite excited as I had picked it up  myself ( It had been reported earlier in the week) and it might even make bird of the week even though I had three lifers on Monday. Anyway a nice way to finish and here is a celebratory sunset. 

Final sunset from the hotel balcony

Sunday was basically, breakfast, pack, checkout and drive to the airport. Unlike Howard I didn't pick up any final species en route and we checked in and flew out to Belfast via Manchester going from 30C to 13C and from Greek hooded crows to Irish hooded crows. C'est la vie.

No change obviously to the patch lists but the 2024 list took a bit of a boost as follows:

2024

152: Sanderling

153: Greater flamingo

154: Dalmatian pelican    LIFER  😎

|155: Black-necked grebe

156: Black stork

157: Montague's harrier

158: Osprey

159: Kentish plover

160: Yellow-legged gull

161: Slender-billed gull   LIFER 😎

162: Scops owl                LIFER  😎

163: Crested lark

164: Red-rumped swallow

165: Yellow wagtail

166: Whinchat

167: Spotted flycatcher

168: Red-backed shrike

169: Jay

170: Hoopoe

171: Bee-eater

172: Ruddy shelduck

173: Corn bunting

174: Spoonbill

175: Woodchat shrike

176: Eleanora's falcon

177: Wryneck

Report from Lesvos - Part 1

I have always wanted to get to Lesvos as it has a wealth of birds as well as a bit of history and culture. Spring was always going to be difficult with commitments at home and when we were looking for a short warm autumn break I had a look at Lesvos and a chat with Howard Vaughan (ex RSPB warden at Rainham Marshes) to see whether we could do a "non birding" holiday which gave me a chance to see some birds as well. The answer was a very positive yes with the added bonus that Howard and his wife Andrea would be there the same time as we were and were happy to give a few pointers. Jump forward three weeks and we had flights sorted, hotel sorted, car hire sorted and a guide to get us from Mithylini to the Hotel Pela in Skala Kalloni. 

I managed a couple of outings which were bird related - a tour of good spots near the Kalloni salt pans on the first Monday morning and a dawn trip to the pans to see the birds moving out of the roost very early on Friday, and still back to the hotel in time for breakfast at 0830. Other than that everything else was picked up en route, from the hotel, local walks, picnic stops or tourist sites. One bonus was the excellent road network and the lack of traffic which meant you could pull off if a bird appeared overhead. At one point I spotted two birds on a fence along a main road and was able to stop, reverse back and get a look at a wheatear and a whinchat. Try doing that on the A1. 

I'm going to do a daily log with a few photos thrown in, as usual my efforts were not the best, the digiscoping didn't work well with distance and heat haze. I will however put a link at the end to Howard's excellent blog and better photos than mine - as usual a man with a good camera who knows how to use it. If the bird is in green it's a first for the year, lifers get special mention in red. 

The first afternoon saw the default birds which were everywhere and easy to see - hooded crow, collared dove, yellow-legged gull and house sparrow as well as greater flamingo which were always easy to see if you drove past the salt pans which we did quite a lot. We also had a raven en route and a marsh harrier behind the hotel. If you read Howard's blog you will see that while Tanya and I were crashing out in the afternoon heat, he was out spotting exotic raptors and passerines. Apparently I missed a flock of 100+ bee-eaters one afternoon as I had crashed out. 

Sunset at Skalla Kalloni

Ditto at 26C

Monday saw a familiarisation trip round the tracks on the west side of the Kalloni salt pans - a magnet for all sorts of birds, but not before we saw a red-backed shrike and a great tit in the hotel garden. To be honest it was sensory overload as no sooner did we spot one mouth-watering bird than another one appeared to distract us. I missed quite a few but still managed to add a few more to the holiday trip list - 

Dalmatian pelican, greater flamingo, cormorant, shag, grey heron, little egret, great white egret, black stork, black-headed gull,  slender-billed gull, black-necked grebe, buzzard, osprey, marsh harrier, Montague's harrier, yellow wagtail, whinchat, wheatear, jay,  sand martin, red-rumped swallow, curlew, kentish plover, bee-eater, hoopoe, crested lark, greenfinch, goldfinch, willow warbler and spotted flycatcher. 

We then visited a supermarket packed a picnic and set off round the Gulf of Kalloni to a tiny picturesque fishing port called Krakala for a picnic and a few more nice birds - blackbird, bullfinch, Mediterranean gull and kingfisher. The icing on the Monday cake was three singing Scops owls from the hotel. Howard managed to find one and get it in the scope only for it to fly off as he hit the focus ring - but I heard it singing and saw it fly off in the hotel lights so it is on my list. 

Phone photo of a black-necked grebe

Gulf of Kalloni picnic site

Harbour at Krakala

Tuesday saw us doing touristy things at a ruined temple site dedicated to Apollos, an underwater town which you can't see because it is underwater (!!) and a walk in a pine forest followed by  a scenic drive. Red-rumped swallows from the hotel balcony were a good start and we added chaffinch en route but not much else until we went an evening walk around the Christou river bridge which is west of the hotel. A large flock of small brown birds turned out to be corn buntings and I found two ruddy shelduck sitting on a field in a marshy area upstream from the road bridge. Very pleased with the ruddy shelduck for a couple of reasons, firstly I found them myself and secondly it is only the second time I have seen one. The first was a vagrant in Strangford Lough at Castle Espie in November 2005. We even called in to Castle Espie to see if one of theirs had escaped but they said they didn't have any and it was unringed, so bingo, we counted it. 

Ruins of Apollos' temple

And again

A river with water - a rare sight in temperatures of 30C+

This river is close to a Kreuper's nuthatch site but not surprisingly we missed them.

Wednesday saw us back to the temple site for a longer tour and then we looked at the east side of the Kalloni saltpans.  This added spoonbill and repeat viewings of Monday's list. In the evening we drove up a dusty track and tried to find a small reservoir but we ended up too far west at a dried up weir which was basically a bird free zone. The scenery was nice however and we were well off the beaten track where small hired cars seldom go - bit like driving in Africa on an unpaved road. The supposed red-backed shrike we saw  on a fence near the hotel turned out to be a juvenile woodchat shrike. Note to self, do not take any bird in Lesvos for granted - check it out if you can!!

Saltpans and flamingos

Dalmatian pelican, cormorant and flamingos

Typical hillside scrub

No water in the weir

I will wrap this one up for now and leave you with a link to Howard's blog with more exciting birds and better photos. I will start at Day 1 where we get an honourable mention and you can follow his daily blog from there., it is well worth reading through each day and it will whet your appetite for a trip to Lesvos, or at least let you see why I wanted to get there.

https://blueeyedbirding.blogspot.com/2024/09/lesvos-day-1-15th-september-2024.html

I'll save the lists for Lesvos Part 2.

Another patch lifer!!

Not often you get a lifer on your patch like the grey phalarope we spotted last year, but this year it has happened again at WOW when an American golden plover dropped in for a couple of days. They do pop up on the north coast every so often but don't usually stray south. Having said that, any wintering golden plover flock is always worth a close look just in case. Only difference for this patch lifer is that it had been spotted by someone else and reported on the NI birds website. It was always on the far side and frequently went missing behind the grass, but when it appeared it was clearly different from your run-of-the-mill goldie. With lower water levels there has been a good run of waders through WOW - ruff, common sandpiper, sanderling, whimbrel and an immature little ringed plover. Like last year the abundance of small fish has meant good numbers of cormorants, (11) grey herons (15), and little egrets (13) as well as the now regular kingfisher. WOW also provided my last swift of the year on August 8th. A look down Belfast Lough added guillemot and gannet as well as an unexpected great northern diver which flew up as I was getting the scope on it, looped round and flew east towards the open sea. Apologies for the blurry photos of the American golden plover - it was the best I could do!! 

Male ruff

Female ruff

Other than that things have been quiet. England gave good views of nuthatch on Richard's feeder in Bolton and marsh harrier at Leighton Moss plus two great white egrets.  We normally travel overnight to Liverpool but the daylight sailing gave me a "little" bonus from the ferry as we approached the Mersey estuary in the shape of two little gulls.  

The coastal path finally provided a rock pipit but has been noteworthy this year for what it hasn't produced - curlew, lapwing, mallard, grey wagtail, swallow and house martin which I have always regarded as nailed on certainties on the patch. I haven't give up on curlew, lapwing, mallard and grey wagtail but there has been no sign of swallow and house martin which used to nest in the area and were regularly seen in previous years, but this year nothing and I have been desperately looking for flyovers along the coast. I haven't seen or heard a raven either, again I would normally have heard one over the garden by now. 

2024
147: Sedge warbler
148: Little gull
149: Whimbrel
150: American golden plover  LIFER 😎
151: Little ringed plover
152: Sanderling

NDCP
57: Common tern
58: Rock pipit

WOW
80: Greenshank
81: Great northern diver
82: Gannet
83: Guillemot
84: American golden plover
85: Whimbrel
86: Little ringed plover
87: Sanderling

The kingfisher edition

 WOW turned up two kingfishers which stayed around most of the day - and the next one as well. I can honestly say I have not had as prolonged, close views of kingfisher ever. They chased each other round the reeds, sat on posts, preened, washed and fished. Up till then we thought the highlight was the common sandpiper preening on the trestle right in front of the window, or the two ringed common terns we spotted, but we were proved wrong when the two kingfishers turned up. Kingfishers are occasional visitors to WOW, usually in August/September when the youngsters are chased out by the parents. They do not usually stay long and very rarely give good views. There are fish in the reserve but nowhere they can safely breed so they usually move on. The deeper pools have given them a chance to fish and they are catching small fish. Hopefully they will be a more regular feature at WOW. Let's start with the common sandpiper on the trestle which was there for 15 - 20 minutes.

The kingfishers pitched up later and were still around when I left after an hour plus of watching them. They also showed well over the weekend and were enjoyed by quite a few folk who posted photos on the RSPB WOW Facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/RSPBBelfastWOW

This week the male kingfisher was still doing its stuff and we had a couple of ruff  and a greenshank. There was a third ringed common tern which has been forwarded to the relevant people. The two terns from last week came from the Blue Circle island in Larne Lough and the South Wall in Dublin - ringed as a chick in June 2021.

Ruff

Ruff

Alcedo athis

Ringed tern, white PNP - best I could do!

Off to sunny Bolton for 10 days, looking to add to the 2024 list if I am lucky. 

2024

147: Sedge warbler

NCCP

57: Common tern

WOW

78: Kingfisher

79: Sedge warbler

80: Greenshank