I actually managed to get up before most of the birds this morning. In fact it
was still very dark and the Stone Curlews, Scops and Barn Owls were still vocal
and the bats were darting around the street lamps. The cockerels were crowing
as the first glimmer of colour lightened the black in the eastern sky. Antony
and I picked up Thekla and headed for the Eastern Pans to have Sol at our backs
as we watched the Pelicans and other waterbirds wake up. It was windless with
mirror reflections until the giant Dalmatians awoke and started going about
their morning ablutions and this in turn set off the mass of Great White
Egrets, Grey Herons, Cormorants and Spoonbills all of which had increased
slightly in numbers (36, 24, 210 and 27). Counting the Pelicans was as challenging
as ever but we consistently got to 34 this time. They did not do the mass feed
on the roosting pan but headed off to check out a couple of the others with a
snaky phalanx of Cormorants in tow. Flamingos glowed in the golden light
wherever you looked.
The Black-necked Grebe showed better and six Teal and eight Mallard were
noteworthy while a calling Whimbrel was new and only my second on the island
along with Curlew, two Grey Plover, and several Shanks. Two Kingfisher played
chase on the main channel and a Little Grebe was my first here too.
Back round to the western side to check for waders before the light got too bad
but it was quite tricky and the hide being locked did not help as most waders
were close by the bank. However there were three Kentish Plovers, Curlew
Sandpiper, 17 Little Stints and two Marsh Sandpipers amongst others seen.
One
noticeable increase was the number of finches with several good flocks ofGoldfinch and Greenfinches tackling the seriously spiky heads of the Milk
Thistles. The big barn Little Owl became my third species of the morning.
The next couple of hours were spent walking the Loutzaria Triangle which gave
me the chance to find them some nice perched Chats, Shrikes and Tree Pipits and
Antony saw the Wryneck briefly perched up before it dropped down only to do a
fly past ten minutes later! There was no sign of the Steppe Buzzard but several
Commons and the juvenile Long-legged were seen along with two Kestrels and a juvenile
Red-footed Falcon. There may have been some quality walnut and fig scrumping going on in the name
of a healthy breakfast and Thekla added a new word to her vocabulary as a
result.
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Yep - a Red-backed Shrike
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Morning Glory
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Quince - Kydoni
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A seriously lazy day then ensued broken only by a wander into the village for a
disgustingly huge ice-cream from Pagotelli’s and a couple of butterfly forays
into the garden for Millet and Mallow Skippers, Painted Lady, Swallowtails,
Small White and three Blues including my first Lesvos Geranium Bronzes. Oh and
a Hummingbird Hawkmoth or two whilst saying hello to Nancy's lovely dog Dias.
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| Mallow Skipper |
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| Mallow Skipper |
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| Mallow Skipper |
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| Millet Skipper |
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| Millet Skipper |
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| Painted Lady |
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| Painted Lady |
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Common Blue
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Anthophora bimaculata
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| Anthophora bimaculata |
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The mighty, muscley Dias
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Lesvos Great Tits are quite pallid
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Casual balcony scanning was productive too with
Ravens, Short-toed Eagle, a Buzzard v Long-legged aerial battle, a female
Peregrine and two Goshawks with a very distant adult and a closer view of the
rusty immature male again. Hoodies and Feral Pigeons heading from the Tsiknias
towards town guided me to his circling!
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A very distant, very cropped Goshawk!
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An evening drive out onto Loutzaria failed to provide more Wryneck views but
there were some posing Shrikes and such like and an Ortolan popped up near the
ploughed field once again. There seemed to be a few more Willow Warblers and
Tree Pipits round but almost no flava Wagtails at all.
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Red-backed Shrike
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Red-veined Darter
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| Red-veined Darter |
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A very large Hawkmoth caterpillar that I rescued from the road after it was left by a Shrike
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Little Owl - I saw it twice during the trip but it was the only one
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Hooded Crows
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Short-toed Eagle back on his post
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These sheep puzzled me and I have just worked it out that they were all cream (no dark ones) and looked all clean and fluffy like they had just been through a washing machine and then blow dried!
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Down at the pans there
was less visible mud and just a few Redshank to see but there were 25 Slender-billed
Gulls amongst 132 Black-headed all scooting around picking flies from the
surface like oversized Phalaropes.
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