MAY 10TH - DAY 6 OF ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR

TARIFA - LOS LANCES BEACH - VEJER - SANLUCAR - BONANZA SALT PANS - TREBUJENA SALT MARSH

A very long day today was capped with some excellent sightings, top of the bill (excuse the pun) was RED NECKED PHARALOPE (3) and MARBLED DUCK (2) and lots of other goodies.

We drove to Algeciras to meet up with a taxi driver who had found my binoculars in his cab the night before, what a relief and it was quite refreshing to find an honest person,  Anyway I recovered my bins and we drove to tarifa to collect Eve who was joining us for the day.

At Tarifa, after collecting Eve, we drove to a nearby site where a couple of COMMON BUBULS had been seen for the last few days. The Bubuls, from Morocco, had set up residence in a local garden and were systematically stripping a Kumquat tree of its fruit. Unfortunately for us the owner of the tree had the same dead and was taking the fruit when we got there, so no sign of the Bubuls.

We drove to Los lances Beach, which was again quite quiet but we did find a Slender-billed Gull, Lesser Black backed Gull and we had much better views of Short-toed lark. The usual Dunlin, SAnderling, Ringed & Kentish Plovers were running around the beach pools.

At Vejer we stopped to show Eve the BALD IBIS colony, they performed very well and the chicks are looking good and healthy, in fact the Bald Ibis is quite cute for the first 6 months of its life, then it gets ugly!

A long drive to Sanlucar was worth the effort, we stopped along the bank of the River Guadalquiver just north of the town. At this point the river is very wide and tidal, the tide was low and a large expanse of mud was exposed. We found Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, a single Whimbrel, Curlew Sandpiper and the usual Dunlin, Sanderling, Ringed and Kentish Plover. One good sighting was of Black Tern (4) flying over the river with Little Terns.

The Bonanza Salt Pans was teaming with birds, thousands of them what a great place. We quickly logged Greater Flamingo, Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Redshank (50+), Grey Plover, Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper, Sanderling (200+), Ringed Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit and many Little Terns.

Our second stop was at another salt pan brimming with birds and we found 3 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES sitting on the water, they were all in summer plumage but they flew further away before I could photograph them, what a nice bird.

After leaving the pans we drove around to Laguna Tarelo, which also held a good number of species. many Red-crested Pochard sat on the water with Common Pochard, Whiter-headed Duck, Gadwall and Mallard.
On the island a colony of egrets were nesting, we saw: Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Eurasian Spoonbill, Night Heron and a couple of pairs of Squacco Heron. Several groups of Glossy Ibis flew over as did Grey Heron, Black Kite, Booted Eagle and Little Terns. In the reeds we found a small flock of Common Waxbills and then a Little Bittern flew out, it circled and landed in full view a little further away. Also in the reeds were a number of Night Herons and a couple of Moorhens.

Our final venue was the huge salt marsh at Trebujena which is found through the Algaida pine woods. The marshes were also full of birds, hundreds of Greater Flamingos fed in the marsh with Spoonbills and Little Egrets. A good number of terns fed over the open water, Whiskered Terns, Little Terns and a few Gull-billed Terns. On the large expanse of water near the river we found a small flock of Red-crested Pochard and to our great delight a Marbled Duck swan from the reeds to join them. Then a second bird flew over us, fantastic.

We searched for Lesser Short-toed Larks and found instead a good number of Yellow Wagtails, Corn Buntings and Crested Larks. One last good find was a Great Egret which was feeding a small channel.

It was a long drive back, we were all tired, but agreed that we had had a wonderful day out.

MAY 9TH - DAY 5 OF ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR

'THE LAKES'  -  CAMPILLOS - LAGUNA DULCE - LAGUNA FUENTE DE PIEDRAS - LAGUNA SALADA.

Our day trip today took us up past Ronda into the Lake District of Spain, it was another glorious day that got a little hot in the afternoon.

We made a couple of stops along the way, the first to view a Bonelli's Eagle nest site but both adults were out when we got there. The second stop was at Teba Bird Observatory which is essentially a little car park where you can pull in and view a huge mountain cliff-face. From there you can also see one of the huge recreational lakes of Teba, the Embalse Guadaltebe. During our brief stop we saw Hoopoe, Turtle Dove, Great Crested grebe (on the lake), Red-billed Chough, Jackdaw, Griffon Vulture, Alpine Swift and a couple of small flocks of Honey Buzzard.

Laguna Dulce - taken from the hay fields

Our next venue was the Laguna Dulce found just outside of Campillos, we drove around to the back of the laguna to view the fields first. We had high hopes of seeing Little Bustard but the grass was a little too long. We did some some interesting species: A Stone Curlew with a couple of Red-legged Partridges sat in a ploughed filed. Several Gull-billed Terns quartered the hay fields as did Black-headed Gull, there were many Larks singing, mainly Crested but also a few Calandra and Short-toed Larks plus a few Skylarks.

From the fileds we could see some of the laguna and we soon notched a few new species, Black-necked Grebes looked fantastic in their summer plumage and many Grater Flamingos fed near the shore. A few Gadwall joined the mallards and Common Pochard on the water and a good number of Great-crested and Little Grebes were present.

We ate our picnic lunch at the tables provided round by the main hide, a Cetti's Warbler sang constantly as did a Reed Warbler and a Great Reed Warbler could be heard from further away. We saw many Goldfinches in the flowers and thistles and a Melodious Warbler competed with the Cetti's for our attention.

Greater Flamingo

From the hide we quickly found a couple of pairs of  White-headed Ducks, lots more Black-necked Grebes, Red-crested Pochard, Purple Swamphen and hundreds of Common Coot. Our  main target species was the Red-knobbed Coot, 5 of these elusive and rare birds have been frequenting this laguna for the past 2 months, but after searching through the Common Coots several times we could not find one!

a beautiful array of spring flowers

At Fuente de Piedras the group were amazed at the numbers of Greater Flamingos, from a high vantage point we could see the expanse of the laguna and the 'pink' areas where flamingos were breeding, it was an incredible sight. There must have been some 5 thousand pairs, amazing! We drove round to the main visitor's car park and took a walk along the boardwalk system. passing through some dried out lagunas we never saw much, only two weeks ago these pools were full of birds. We eventually came to some water, smaller pools not the main laguna. On these pools we logged Redshank, Little Stint, Grey Plover, Curlew Sandpiper, Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, many Ringed Plovers,a couple of Kentish Plovers and one or two Northern Lapwings.

Black-necked Grebe

Over the afternoon we also had several sightings of Montagu's Harriers and whilst we were watching a couple of males up high we saw a male Harrier performing some fantastic aerial display, giving us a super show of 360 degree loops etc.

We made a second attempt to see the Red-knobbed Coot at laguna Ducle on the return journey, but failed again and we searched a couple more smaller lagunas too, nevertheless we had a great day out and seen a lot of new species. So we set off for Gaucin and arrive at 6:30pm giving us an hour or so to sit on the top terrace and admire the view with a cold tinnie.

MAY 8TH - DAY 4 OF ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR

TARIFA RAPTOR WATCH POINT - LOS LANCES BEACH - LA JANDA - VEJER (BALD IBIS) - BARBATE REGENERATED MARSHES

An action packed today as we headed for the coast to look for migration raptors and some wetland species. The weather was great as usual, but it got very warm, 33C during the middle of the day.

We arrived at Calzada raptor watch point at 9:30am which is just above Tarifa on the main N340 road, it was deserted and so was the sky, so despite having perfect weather for crossing there were no birds in sight, perhaps we were a little too early.

At Los Lances beach it was the same there hardly any birds present, even the gull roost had just 10 Yellow-legged Gulls present. A fair number of Sanderling in both summer and winter plumage looked good, they were joined by 3 Dunlin, 20+ Ringed Plover and a few Kentish Plovers. On the grassy fields behind the hide we found a couple of Short-toed larks and a few of the Crested variety.

Los lances was also fairly quiet except for hundreds of Cattle Egrets, fewer little Egrets and the odd Grey heron and White Stork. We did see a few Black Kites and Common Buzzards fly and we had distant views of Griffon Vultures. In the channels we found 4 Purple Swamphens, Mallards and Moorhens. A Reed Warbler sat out in the open and sang for us but Cetti's Warbler and Common Nightingale were elusive.

We ate lunch near the 'rookery' of some 1,000 nesting pairs of  Cattle Egrets, they were joined by a few pairs of Glossy Ibis and several Turtle Doves. A little further on a lagoon held a couple of Eurasian Spoonbills and Black-winged Stilts.

At Vejer we visited the Bald Ibis breeding sites where at least 9 nests now have chicks, it is an incredible place. The nest are just 3-4 meters above the ground and are situated right over a very busy road, what a sight.

It doesn't get much uglier than this

After a cup of coffee we visited the 'new' reserve at Barbate, this regenerated land was a former landfill site and is now a series of open lagoons and island and is quickly becoming a very good place for birds. The approach track and surrounding flower meadows are full of larks, we found many Calandra, Crested and Short-toed Larks filled the air with song. On the scrapes and flying all around us were a dozen or so of Collared Praticoles, they were superb and gave us very close views both in the air and on the ground. We then had reasonable views of a pair of Stone Curlews on one of the islands, another great bird for us to see. In the distance we could see Greater Flamingo (1) and a few Pied Avocets so we drove round to get better vciews before we left the area.

Collared Pratincole - one of th many in the area near barbate

lastly we stopped at the mirador which overlooks the Strait of Gibraltar, the views across to Africa were stunning, the light was perfect and air very clear. We heard of a Couple of Common Bubuls down in Tarifa and we decided to go back and see them, but disaster struck, the bus broke down, we were thwarted! A few hours later the group arrived back at Gaucin for dinner whilst I went back to Malaga to collect a new bus. A second disaster then struck, I left my binoculars in a taxi, what a blow, a few frantic phones in the morning will be made to retrieve them.

record shot of a Calandra Lark

MAY 7TH - DAY 3 OF ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR

RIO GUADIARO AT ESTACION DE CORTES - LLANOS DE LIBAR NEAR MONTEJAQUE - ENCINAS DE BORRACHES

We spent the day in the mountains, it was dull and overcast to start with but by midday it was very warm and the sun broke through. The group was enhanced by another client, Jane , who was to join us for the day.

The drive down to Estacion Cortes went uneventful and the walk didn't produce the quantity of birds I had anticipated, however, we did a fair variety. A single Rock Sparrow was the highlight but it was brief and seen by only a few.of the group. We all did see Grey Wagtail, Common Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Booted Eagle and there were many Common Nightingales singing, one individual sat right out on a dead tree.A lot of common woodland birds were listed and very brief view of a Golden Oriole was had, the bird flew into the dense foliage of  a plane tree, it gave its rasping contact call a few times before flying off.

the group enjoying a cold drink this afternoon

Our next venue is one of my favourite places in the whole of Andalucia, the Llanos de Libar, this beautiful hidden valley is one of the most picturesque sites in the whole of Andaluica and a great place for birding. We spent about 3 hours there slowly walking along the track whilst scanning the open rocky meadows and steep sided cliffs.

one view of the beautiful Llanos de Libar valley

A pair of Bonelli's Eagles put on a great display throughout our stay as did  many Griffon vultures, several groups of migrant raptors drifted over too. Small flocks of Honey Buzzards, a large flock of Black Kites were joined by a few Booted Eagles and some very low Short-toed Eagles gave us a wonderful show.
Other birds in the sky included a huge flock of Alpine Swifts they wheeled around the high peaks with Barn Swallows and House Martins lower down. Both Common and Pallid Swifts were up there too and we had a couple of views of Red-billed Chough, Common Kestrel and a Raven.

On the rocks we gradually  found our target species, Rock Sparrows were abundant and very showy as was Blue Rock Thrush. We all had excellent sightings of Black Wheatear, Rock Bunting and Cirl Buntings, Woodchat Shrikes, Sardinian & Melodious Warblers and Corn Buntings were everywhere.

dartford warbler

We ate our lunch and continued our search for Common Rock Thrush but only turned up Black Redstarts and more of the above.

After a quick stop for coffee and a brief visit to the very impression bridge in the centre of Ronda (where good, close views of Red-billed Chough was had) we drove to our venue, the Encinas Borraches track.

A wonderful  couple of hours was spent there, the bright sunshine subsided a little giving perfect light for scanning the rocky scree and high limestone peaks. We quickly found Southern Grey Shrike, lots of Linnets, Corn Buntings and Goldfinches. Moving in the scrub and rocky scree area we found Theklae Lark and Red-legged Partridge. The majority of our time was spent scouring the broom scrub for warblers and our efforts paid off with great views of both of our target species. First a Spectacled Warbler gave us the run-around before giving good views then a superb male Dartford Warbler sat out for ages singing to us, what a great show.

One the way back to the car we had several views of the Black-eared Wheatear, some were distance but because of the light the views were good.

So we drove home happy, almost cleaning up all the species of the mountains and very happy with our day out.

MAY 6TH - DAY 2 OF ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR

MARCHANILLA TRACK - SAN ENRIQUE WOODS - PALMONES SALT MARSH  - SIERRA CRESTELLINA


Our first full day and great start to our holiday. We were joined by Debra and Ian who are on holiday from Australia which made the group size now six. We set off from Gaucin at 8:30am and drove down the mountain to San Pablo where we turned onto the Marchanilla track. Along the way we stopped to watch Woodchat Shrike, Corn Bunting, Stonechat, Bee-eater, Common Whitethroat and Serin.

the group looking at palmones salt marsh

The air was full of bird song as we left the bus at the start of the track, Common Nightingales snag from 3 places nearby as well as Cetti's Warbler, Sardinian Warbler and a very showy Melodious Warbler, Hundreds of House Sparrows added to the chorus with Goldfinches, Green Finches and Serins.

Melodious Warbler along Marchanellia track

The hundred meters of the walk produced all of the above plus Little Owl, Common Buzzard, more Corn Buntings than you can shake a stick at and lots of Bee-eaters. Our star bird was next in the bag, the RUFOUS BUSH ROBIN is a rare breeding bird in Southern Spain and this track holds a couple of pairs, we went on to see two pairs with a couple of males competing  for attention from the females, we also saw them displaying their tails and singing from the fenceline, smashing bird.

Rufous Bush Robin

We spent some time further up the valley where gentle sloping hills are covered in grass and it was on the way back that most activity was seen. Up until then we hadn't seen a single migrant raptor! But suddenly they began to appear, first 3 Honey Buzzards came over, a distant Short-toed Eagle circled then a mass of Black kites came over the hill. For the next 30 minutes we watched as groups of  Black kites came over and circled above us catching the thermals from the hillside. They were joined by more Honey Buzzards (19), Marsh Harrier (3), Sparrowhawk (1) and the total for Black Kites was (127).

Tawny Pipit

On the way back to the bus we finally caught up with Tawny Pipit, a very showy individual sat on a fence and let us approach quite closely.

A brief visit to the bridge over the Rio Hozgargante produced Cetti's Warbler, Garden Warbler, Blackcap and to my surprise a pair of Olivaceous Warblers were chasing one another around and looked as though they maybe settling there.

an unusual sighting an Ostrich - must have flown over on the thermals?

After a quick cold drink we set off for San Enrique deciduous woodland which is a small strip of woodland found along the bank of the Rio Guadiaro near the coast. Before we got there we stopped a couple of times, once to look at a pair of OSTRICHES, they must have dropped in from the thermals this morning, ha! A stop at a small road side pool produced Mallard, Little Ringed Plover and a couple of Short-toed Eagles perched on the pylons nearby.

 Just outside the San Enrique wood we watched a few Tree Sparrows, my clients were not impressed by these little gems as all four Brits see them in the UK and so do the Auzzies back home, nevertheless I love to see them!


We ate our picnic in the shade of the trees whilst watching a Great Spotted Woodpecker, then a Wryneck called, the call was answered by another bird not too far away. Our search produced nothing, these elusive little beggars called a few times after that and we still couldn't find them.

What we did find was Short-toed Treecreeper, Blue Tit, White Wagtail lots of Serins and we heard a Green Woodpecker calling. A couple of White Storks flew over as did Booted Eagle and another marsh Harrier flew over whilst we were there.

Our visit to Palmones coincided with the turning of the tide from high to low, which was perfect for us. As east side of the salt marsh we watched from the promenade, there were not too many birds present though. A couple of dozen Yellow-legged Gulls and on the sand bar we saw Dunlin, Common Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, a single Bar-tailed Godwit, likewise a Red Knot and a Common Sandpiper. We then drove round to the west side where we sat on the top level of the concrete hide for an hour.

The light was superb, there was a lovely cooling breeze and some good birds appeared. A small flock of 7 Grey Plover landed not too far away on the exposed mud, 5 of them were in breeding plumage and looked fantastic. The Dunlin were the same, then we saw one of each of Greenshank and Redshank, a few Black-winged Stilts, Common Sandpiper, a single Spoonbill and one Little Egret. Deeper in the marsh we found Grey Heron and an Osprey put in a brief appearance. On the way back to the car we found several Zitting Cisticolas and a couple of Yellow Wagtails.

We set off back to Gaucin at 5pm stopping at Crestellina hoping to see Bonelli's Eagle or an Egyptian Vulture, none of which turned up. So, after dropping Debra and Ian off near Casares we drove up the mountainside back to Gaucin where we ate another lovely home cooked dinner produced by my lovely wife Dawn.

MAY 5TH - DAY 1 OF ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR

MALAGA AIRPORT  TO GAUCIN  WITH STOPS AT GUADALMAR AND SIERRA CRESTELLINA

Today I returned to Spain in good time to collect a bus and my next group, four of which were arriving at Malaga Airport at midday. they all arrived on time so John & Penny, Eddy & Glenda joined me for the first birding excursion of the trip. Ian and Debra are joining us tomorrow.

Bee-eater

It took all of five minute to drive to Guadalmar where a large piece of waste ground lies next to the beach and in direct line to the main runway of the airport.

 Within a couple of minutes we had found a good number of Bee-eaters, several were very close and we found that they were digging nest holes in a low sandy bank. Next we saw Spotless Starling followed quickly by Eurasian Hoopoe, Serin, Monk Parakeet and Goldfinch. A short walk took us to a small stream lined with tall eucalyptus trees, in the trees we found Turtle Doves, a Bonelli's Warbler, Spotted and Pied Flycatchers and many Bee-eaters sat in the dead twigs at the top of the trees.

Monk Parakeets

Feeding on the banks of the stream we found a couple of pairs of Little Ringed Plovers and a Common Sandpiper. Under a bridge we noticed a pair of Red-rumped Swallows had made their nest, they were making regular soirees to and fro. In the sky a number of Yellow-legged Gulls joined Barn Swallows, House Martins, a Common Kestrel and a single Common Swift.

A brief stop was made just before we reached Casares, we looked over a valley covered in oak woodland and recorded our first Booted Eagle and Griffon Vultures.

Serin

At Sierra Crestellina we stopped to look at the Bonelli's Eagle's nest, a single chick could be seen standing on the nest, it is now well developed and must be about 3 weeks old, there was no sign of the adults. Good numbers of Griffon Vultures circled over the mountain ridge and to our great surprise we saw a Red Kite. in the distant we also saw Red-billed Chough, Crag Martin and many Pallid Swifts screamed above us.

Turtle Dove

In the fields, hedgerows and fences we found Stonechat, Greenfinch, Woodchat Shrike, Crested Lark, Goldfinch and another surprise, a small group of Rock Sparrows.

We made it to Gaucin at 5:30pm where the group settled into their rooms and later we ate a lovely dinner  cooked by my lovely wife Dawn. it's good to be back in Spain again.

MAY 4TH - DAY 8 OF LESVOS 7-DAY TOUR

ACHLADERIA BEACH POOLS - TSIKNIAS RIVER

Our very last outing of the trip was a bit disappointing really, we made a very early start as we set for at 6am from the hotel. The weather was, as usual, lovely, clear sky and a nice temperature. We drove to the seasonal pools near Achladeri where we were yesterday, it was another attempt to see the Great Snipe that had been seen by others last night. We failed to see it but enjoyed watching the antics of the Wood Sandpipers as they sorted out the 'pecking order' when feeding on the exposed mud. We saw Ruff. Common Whitethroat, Black headed Bunting, Ruddy and Common Shelduck and a variety of herons and egrets as we passed other marshes during the journey. At 8am we gave up and set off back to the hotel. We took the route along the Tsiknias river in the hope of finding something new but that didn't happen either.

the group having lunch on Vatera beach yesterday

Our last birding memory will be of the Tsiknias river mouth with Little Ringed Plovers, Squacco Herons, Yellow-legged Gulls and Common Terns.

The trip was over!! All that was left was breakfast and a two hour break for packing and traveling to the airport. All the group agreed that despite the hot weather we had had a wonderful Holiday and will take home some happy memories.

MAY 3RD - DAY 7 OF LESVOS 7 - DAY TOUR

KALLONI SALT PANS AND ALYKES SHEEP FIELDS (FROM 6:30AM) - ACHLADERI BEACH POOLS - POLICHNITOS SALT PANS - VATERA BEACH - AGHIOS FOKAS - KALLONI SALT PANS

MNAY SPECIES SEEN ON OUR LAST DAY WITH CITRINE WAGTAIL TOPPING THE BILL

The last full day of our holiday began early, we packed a lot into our last excursions which began at 6:30am at the Kalloni Salt Pans. the weather was superb as usually, T-shirt and shorts even at 6:30am. We stopped along the main feeder channel of the salt pans because we saw a flock of Black Storks feeder in the shallow water, there were 24 of them, a record number for Lesvos!

beautiful flower meadows hold poppies and corn cockle

In the Alykes Sheep Fields we walked along way for very little, a few Short-toed Larks ans the odd Red-throated Pipit but not the Tawny Pipit we were looking for. We also saw, Kentish Plover, Marsh Harrier, White Stork, Glkossy Ibis, Ruddy Shelduck, Ruff, Wood Sandpiper and lots of  Crested larks (my favourite species?).

LESSER SPOTTED FRITLLARY

After breakfast we set off for the other set of Salt Pams found on the southern side of the island. at Polichnitos. We made several stops along the way to view roadside pools and open meadows. We also stopped in an olive grove because we heard an Olive Tree Warbler singing, but it never showed. Masked Shrikes were common as were Black-headed Bunting. At one large lagoon found on the beach we watched some nice species. White-winged Terns were joined by Whiskered Terns, Little Terns and Common Terns. There were a few waders around the shore, Little Stint, Temminck's Stint, Wood Sandpiper and a couple of Sanderling in breeding plumage, very nice too!

SPOTTED REDSHANK AT ALYKES WET-MEADOWS

STONE CURLEW SEEN AT POLICHNITOS SALT PANS

ORCHID SPECIES

A ROBBER FLY SPECIES EATING A LOVELY AMANDA'S BLUE BUTTERFLY - HOW AWFUL

At the Salt Pans we found a couple of Stone Curlew, Kentish Plover, Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff and good numbers of Avocet and Black-winged Stilts.

For lunch we drove down to Vatera, we ate our picnic sitting on benches looking out to sea, there was a lovely breeze blowing onshore. We watched European Shag and Yelkouan Shearwaters in the bay before driving onto a headland at Aghios Fokas. On a quiet track we managed to find a couple of Sardinian warblers, this species is quite restricted in its range on Lesvos and is only found in small pockets, unusual really as it is widespread everywhere else in Europe.

KENTISH PLOVERS - PERFORMING WHAT IS AFFECTIONATELY KNOWN AS "TREADING"

At the headland we had great views of both Scolopi's and Yelkouan Shearwaters, the latter were passing through in good numbers whilst the former came passed in singles. We watched Black-headed Bunting and Black-eared Wheatear on the rock slopes and bushes.

SOME OF THE 60+ LITTLE EGRETS SEEN AT KALLONI SLAT PANS  LATE AFTERNOON

During the return trip we stopped again at the seasonal pools near Achladeri because we had news of a Great Snipe being there, we dipped on the snipe but found a Citrine Wagtail, some consolation at least.


Finally we stopped back to the Kalloni Salt pans about 5pm, as usual there was plenty to see, the light was perfect it made the birds look exquisite in their summer garb especially the Ruddy Turnstone, Curlew Sandpiper, Grey Plover and Black-tailed Godwit. We also found some distant Collared Pratincoles, a very close Spottted Redshank and two more Temminck's Stints. The whole area was alive with Little Egrets (63 counted in one small area), Prulpe heron, Black Storks, Great White Egrets, Greater Flamingos and hundreds of Ruff, Avocets, Black-winged Stilts and the ubiquitous Wood sandpiper. Many White-winged Terns graced the sky with Whiskered Terns, Common Terns and Little Terns, what a fantastic place, I will miss it!!

MAY 2ND - DAY 6 OF LESVOS 7 - DAY TOUR

NAPI VALLEY  - WITH VISIT TO THE NAPI VILLAGE TRACK - MAVRIA TRACK - KALLONI SALT PANS (TWICE)

ANOTHER TOP DAY WITH THE DISCOVERY OF A LESVOS RARITY:  CALANDRA LARK FOUND BY ME THIS AFTERNOON

Our early morning pre-breakfast excursion found us at the Kalloni Salt Pans at 6:45am, it was quite cool with a blue sky and absolutely no breeze. The water everywhere was like a mirror. We stopped at the first couple of pans and listed the usual waders: Wood sandpiper, Black-winged Stilts, Avocet etc. As we drove round to the centre of the area we added a few terns to our list. We then saw a flock of Black-tailed Godwits flying in the distance they came down to feed in a nearby salt pan. The sky was full birds, mainly terns but also many flocks of Ruff had dropped into the pools along with Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper. A short trip around the pans to get a better view of the Godwits produced Ruddy Turnstone, Spotted Redshank and we finally caught up with Temminck's Stint which dropped in just in front us unnoticed for a while as we scanned more distant birds.

We then drove round the back of the salt pans to view the beach area, a good move as we found several new species for our list. Eurasian Oystercatcher was seen distantly along the shore as was Eurasian Curlew and a Stone Curlew was found quite close to us. We then found a Short-toed Lark, a species that is few and far between this yea. 

the group birding along the Napi village track

We drove back to another area of the beach where a Rufous Bush Robin has an annual stake out, along the way we bumped into a Common Starling, why mention a Common Starling, well they are like gold-dust at this time of the year and quite a find! The Bush Robin showed very well, we all had excellent views of it and a Marsh Harrier quartered the fields behind it, another first for the trip.

a couple of views of the Rufous Bush Robin

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After breakfast we spent the rest of the day in two location along the Napi Valley, a valley that links the east and west coasts and is an excellent fly-way for migrating birds. However, there was a strong easterly wind today and we didn't see many raptors. We walked a track just west of the village of Napi and despite the wind we found some sheltered spots where passerines were seen. Common Nightingales sang ans showed, as did Olivaceous Warbler and it wasn't long before we made contact with our target species the Sombre Tit. We had several sightings, mostly brief but good enough. A stake-out at Middle Spotted Woodpecker's hole also proved successful, we also noted Turtle Dove, Little Owl and Long-legged Buzzard.



We drove to the top of the valley noting Long-legged Buzzards, Jay, Bee-eater and Red-rumped Swallow. After eating our picnic lunch we walked a long track to an area called Mavria, the track that climbed quite high near some two masts. It was during the heat of the afternoon and not many species showed: Cretzschmar's Bunting, Masked Shrike, Woodchat Shrike, Long-legged Buzzard, Northern Goshawk and a couple of Red-footed Falcons.

Masked Shrike

It was now 4pm so we decided to re-visit the Kalloni Salt Pans and what a great decision that turned out to be. The 'pans' were brimming with birds, lot more waders and terns had dropped in. We drove round to the Alykes sheep fields first to look for larks and pipits. Within a few minutes were watching a Short-toed Lark but other species eluded us until we put up a larger lark, wow I knew that one, distinctive white trailing edge to the wing and the call, both recognisable as a CALANDRA LARK. This bird dropped down some 100 meters away and allowed to get near enough for great views, this is only the 8th sighting of this species and first one for 10 years!! Great find!  We went on to see another 3 Temminck's Stints and a pool full of Ruff and Wood Sandpipers, other species recorded  were Yellow Wagtail, Kentish Plover and a single Red-throated Pipit.

record shots of the Calandra Lark

Back at the pans it was mayhem, I put the word out about the lark and many people were driving round to look for it and at the same time many others were watching the spectacle in the pans' The light was superb as we watched thousands of birds feeding out there. Nearly 1000 Ruff were present along with: Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Grey Plover (4), Spotted Redshank (2) and many Avocets. The number of terns had greatly increased since this morning with good numbers of White-winged Terns, Whiskered Terns, Little Terns and Common Terns, a good find was a couple of Sandwich Terns.

It was now getting late so we had leave this magical place and drive round to the hotel to get ready for dinner,

MAY 1ST - DAY 5 OF LESVOS 7 - DAY TOUR

AGHIOS IOANNIS CHAPEL - AGRA - SKALA ERESOS - ERESOS TRACK TO SIGRI WITH STOPS AT MELADIA FORD - SIGRI SANATORIUM - SIGRI FIELDS + BEACH AREA + COACH CAR PARK - LASTLY IPSILOU MONASTERY

Another super day on this magical island, we saw some of the Lesvos specialities and a great deal of the superb western landscape. As usual it was dry sunny and hot, all day with a windy late afternoon at Sigri.

LUNCH AT THE CHAPEL NEAR MELADIA FORD

We set off at 8am and drove to the small Chapel just outside of Parkilo, it was quite quiet and after 30 minutes we had seen a handful of species, the best of which were: Cretzschmar's Bunting, Black-eared Wheatear, Cirl Bunting and a Blackcap.

We stopped at Agra to look for Rock Sparrow but instead we found Western Rock Nuthatch (a family of five), Blue Rock Thrush and more Black-eared Wheatears. Next stop was at Skala Eresos where a walk along the river produced lots of birds but the river was overgrown and visibility was restricted. We did see Reed, Sedge, Cetti's and Olivaceous Warbler as well as Common Nightingale. From the beach we saw many large parties of Yelkouan Shearwaters zooming passed offshore and a couple of European Shags on the sea.

RED FOOTED FALCON

We spent the next couple of hours driving along the track from Eresos to Sigri, we stopped many times to look at various species, mainly Cretzschmars Buntings but also Woodlark, Northern Wheatear and Black-headed Buntings. At Maladia Ford we spent time walking to the Fig Grove where we saw Spotted Flycatcher, many European Bee-eaters and a Green sandpiper at the ford.

We ate lunch at the Chapel nearby where we surprised to hear a Thrush Nightingale Burst into song, amazing and what a lovely song, two of the group later saw the bird as they walked in the chapel grounds. We also found an Orphean Warbler, Black-headed Bunting and another Spotted Flycatcher.

REDD-BACKED SHRIKE

Sigri Fields held a Red-footed falcon and at the beach pool  a flock of some 100+ Wood Sandpipers dropped in briefly. At Faneromeni Beach a small pool held Little Stint (6), Ruff (1) and Little Ringed Plover, a grass meadow held over 100+ Yellow Wagtails.

Before we left the area we stopped just outside of Sigri at the 'coach' car park to look for Rufous Bush Robin. We had  a great time and spent a glorious hour logging some great species. The Robin showed well for a short time and at the same time we found a Golden Oriole in an open field. A Wood Warbler then showed next, followed by a Whinchat and a few Red-backed Shrikes.

CRETZSCHMAR'S BUNTING (female)

Our last stop was at the base of the hill at Ipsilou Monastery, we walked a short way to look over the rocky slopes below the monastery. Within minutes we heard a Cinereous Bunting singing and quickly located it sitting on a rock in the middle distance. We had great views of it and set off for home well pleased with our day's sightings.

CINEREOUS BUNTING