After being woken by the Barn Owl at 2.30am screeching just outside the window I
then failed miserably to get up early to go check the Pans and so after
breakfast it was time to go and poodle around Metochi.
|
The harbour on the morning bread run
|
It was quiet on the
drive in with just a few Red-backed Shrikes, Crested Larks, House Sparrows and
Corn Buntings in the dry fields and swirling flocks of mixed hirundines over
the irrigated sections while Bee-eaters drifted through in noisy groups.
|
Corn Bunting |
|
Red-rumped Swallow - one of three still being fed by the parents
|
The lake was almost completely dry but there was still
enough of a pool at the top end to hold ten docile Black Storks that seemed to
be doing nothing but having a foot spa while over 20 boisterous Little Egrets
and a grumpy Grey Heron were in the trees and shallows. Little Grebes, Wood and
Green Sandpipers were seen but the reed margin was at least two feet higher
than the water and no crakey things were seen.
|
Metochi Puddle
|
|
Black Storks
|
|
Little Egrets and Grey Heron
|
|
Little Egrets |
Further round the trail it was quite productive and I drove
down a few lanes I had ventured into before and even found the Metochi Chapel
up the valley. There were Red-backed Shrikes, Black-eared and Northern Wheatears and Whinchats dotted
around the crop fields along with two unexpected juvenile Masked Shrikes in
silvery black and white finery. One was mobbed by two Cirl Buntings and a Spot
Fly. This was not a species that I was expecting to find still in the olive
groves.
|
Eyes on the prize... Eastern Black-eared Wheatear |
|
Masked Shrike and Cirl Buntings |
|
My only previous juvenile was at Spurn in 2014
|
|
Red-backed Shrike
|
A Hoopoe showed very well on a fence and Rock Nuthatches
were noisily poking around one of the small farmyards while a Short-toed Eagle
hunted from telegraph poles and dropped down unsuccessfully into a thistle
field. It was just a pity that the light
was the wrong way.
|
Hoopoe |
|
Short-toed Eagle |
|
Short-toed Eagle - Quite like a Honey Buzzard when seen like this
|
Stone Curlews were seen sheltering near a tamarisk on the Christou before a
swift cuppa and then back out to Potamia.
|
Stone Curlew |
I was distracted by an inquisitive stallion on the drive in (and its attendant
Flat Flies!) when suddenly the sky was filled with low circling Pelicans as ten
Dalmatians came off the raised reservoir that I had never even looked at! They
were magnificent although the horse was a bit miffed at my switch in attention.
|
Dalmatian Pelican
|
|
Flat Fly
|
My walk up the valley was incredibly hot and the river was
bone dry save for a few green puddles down below where frogs and terrapins
paddled and dragonflies danced. Red-veined and Scarlet Darters were seen along
with Small and Southern Skimmers and Lesser and Vagrant Emperors.
|
Potamia
|
|
Small Skimmer - male
|
|
Small Skimmer - female |
|
Small Skimmer - male |
|
Scarlet Darter - male - I couldn't get down into the river bottom to get closer
|
Birds were a little scarce with a few mixed Tits including
Sombre with Cirl Buntings, Middle Spotted Woodpeckers, Chaffinches, Willow
Warblers and Lesser Whitethroats in with the roving flock. Black Stork,
Short-toed Eagle and Buzzard circled above in the blue.
|
Black Stork |
|
I have had Enid working on this one & looks like another the seed heads of Aruncus dioicus. I can't find it recorded for Greece but it is widespread in Turkey and I can't really get much closer than Lesvos.
|
|
Close up of the seeds. Happy to have any further input...
|
|
Seedheads of Greek Horehound - Ballota acetabulosa
|
|
I saw a similar sprawling mass climbing up into a tree at Napi a few years ago and it remained unidentfied...
|
|
But now I do... the rather bizarre Joint Pine - Ephedra fragilis campylopoda
|
|
Ephedra fragilis campylopoda |
|
Osyris alba
|
|
Small Caltrops - Tribulus terrestris
|
I saw the Pelicans
return so after lunch headed up the track to the reservoir. They had gone again
but the giant pond liner water body did not disappoint with six Coot, 27 Little
Grebes, a juvenile Garganey and a pair of Ferruginous Ducks. Red-veined Darters and Violet Dropwings
perched on the fence line. Why on earth have I not looked here before?
|
Potamia Reservoir
|
|
Coots! |
|
Ferruginous Duck |
|
Garganey and Coot
|
An afternoon on the balcony out of the sun but in the
increasing breeze allowed me to get the Pelicans on the ‘garden’ list as they
dropped in from on high to Potamia and I also saw four each of Short-toed Eagle
and Black Stork and a swirling kaleidoscopic cloud of 180 Bee-eaters drifting
through.
The evening was spent retracing yesterday's Lotzaria and
Salt Pans route. It was quieter but there were some good close Shrike views and
the Marsh Harriers were quartering actively. Star bird was the juvenile Cuckoo
hunting from the irrigation pipes near the big Lotzaria Mulberry tree.
|
Black Stork on the Tsiknias
|
|
Northern Wheatear
|
|
Northern Wheatear |
|
Long-tailed Blue - one of countless flitting along the hedges with Lang's Short-tailed Blues
|
|
Sprinkler Cuckoo
|
|
Sea Squill - Drimia maritima |
|
Sea Squill - Drimia maritima |
Down at the pans there were still at least 26 Dalmatian
Pelicans but now 18 Spoonbills, eight Black Storks and 11 Great White Egrets
while Marsh Sandpipers had gone up to four and three Spotted Redshanks were new
in.
|
Spotted Redshanks |
The bay adjacent to the Sheepfields was full of birds with Great Whites,
Flamingos, Yellow-legged Gulls, four Curlew and the first four Mallard of the trip while a
Great Crested Grebe was further out.
|
Great Whites,
Flamingos, Yellow-legged Gulls and Curlew |
|
Whinchat on the Racecourse fence
|
I chose the swift main road return which gave great views
of the young Flamingos once again as they fed in the channel.
|
The underside of the bill looks like the same as a baleen Whale - which when you think about it, the insides are designed to do a very similar seiving job
|
A fantastic bird-day on Lesbos again. Love your blogs.
ReplyDeleteA fantastic bird-day on Lesbos again. Love your blogs.
ReplyDeleteGreat read, well done you. Camera is looking good and shots are really sharp. Boy is it dry! Bit of a difference from your normal spring visits but it seems the birding is as good?
ReplyDeleteYou must be pleased with your images Howard, another great read thanks, Phil
ReplyDelete