25th April 2026 - Day 9 Northern Greece for Bird's Wildlife & Nature

Our final day and the Thrassa lake sent us off with 35 Pygmy Cormorants and the usual colourful selection of Golden Orioles and Bee-eaters but it was a little grey brown warbler that got us excited as it started singing and became our first Eastern Olivaceous Warbler – the last new bird for the crew.

Pygmy Cormorant

Snaffling early morning warmth off a recently parked car

With some time to spare we made a swift journey back west and followed an incredibly winding road way up into the Nestos mountains in the slim hope of a roadside Rock Partridge.  The views were vast, looking south across the plain towards Porto Largos and all those lagoons we checked and to the north west across to the snow-capped peaks in Bulgaria.

There were no Partridges but the alpine flora was fantastic and there were hundreds of Honey-bees and Eristalis Hoverflies in attendance. There were a few Butterflies including a couple more Eastern Greenish Black Tips, Clouded Yellows, Wall Brown and an immaculate Large Tortoiseshell.

Alpine Forget-me-not - Myosotis alpestris 

Alpine Forget-me-not - Myosotis alpestris 

Alpine Pasqueflower - Pulsatilla alpina

Anemone coronaria

Anemone coronaria

Anemone hortensis

Anemone hortensis

Anemone hortensis

Aubrieta deltoidea 

Upright Myrtle Spurge - Euphorbia rigida

Anatolian Orchid - Orchis anatolica

Anatolian Orchid - Orchis anatolica

Early Spider Orchid - Ophrys sphegodes

Four Spotted Orchid - Orchis quadripunctata 

Four Spotted Orchid - Orchis quadripunctata 

Queen-of-Spain Fritillary

Nettle-tree

Clouded yellow

Wall Brown

Small Heath

Birds were sparse but we did have Red-backed Shrikes, Hobby, Eastern Black-eared Wheatears and Hoopoes, and a Griffon that lifted up from down below us and cruised without a beat over our heads and into the distance.  It was a gorgeous spot to spend our last few hours out of the van.

Red-backed Shrike

Griffon 

We still had a way to go and so after a bit of lunch we hit the motorway back to Thessaloniki and the flight home.  It was not without birdlife and many species seemed to be using the empty tarmac as a migration guiding system and we saw two Dalmatian and 27 White Pelicans, a female Montagu’s Harrier, Black Kite, Pallid Swifts and eight Red-footed Falcons as we headed west after a truly fantastic exploration of Northern Greece.

I flew home to Stansted, collected my bag and got the bus to my car, changed my bags round, drove my car round the car park and then tried to get a few hours sleep before being back in the airport at 4am for my flight to Lesvos and that one is a story already told here.