22nd April 2026 - Day 6 Northern Greece for Bird's Wildlife & Nature

It dawned wet and windy and the dark skies were full of large flocks of recently risen hirundines and they literally dripped from the wires in the village.  Most circled before climbing up to the cloud base and making a strike north for nicer weather.

A male Collared Flycatcher and both Whitethroat species were the only other notables seen on a short walk before we left.   It was not far to the main Porto Largos lagoon and we stood in the light rain and scanned through the waders which gave us a flock of 25 Little Stints, two creeping Temminck’s Stints, seven Curlew Sandpipers, three Dunlin, 80 Ruff, six smoky Spotted Redshanks, Redshank, Common Snipe and a selection of Plovers with Ringed, Kentish, LRP and Grey Plover. 

Six Black-necked Grebes bobbed around and a party of 22 White-winged Black Terns rocketed through without a pause for quick dip.

The rain strengthened but our resolve to push on saw us doing our best down at Mandra Marsh.  All three marsh terns were out in the rain with Little Gulls and Smiffy was happy once again while I searched the pools and found five Wigeon, ten Garganey, 15 Shoveler and our first pair of Pintail.  There were Squaccos and Purple Herons but the rain drove us back inside the van and we set off along the coast road in the hope of finding some beach waders but there was just driftwood and waves. Spotted Redshanks paddled round like oversized Phalaropes.

Spotted Redshank

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

The port of Avdiron gave us two Little Terns on the rocks and every sailing ship in the harbour was covered in hundreds of hirundines.  They were all huddling up for shelter but occasionally would dread out in a twittering mass.

Barn Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin and Red-rumped Swallow

With nowhere to have lunch we came back along the coast and stopped again at Mandra where a break in the weather gave us a Bittern hunkered down in the sedges, so low in fact that you could only see the top of the head and eye ball to start with.  Even the Squaccos around it looked big!  It soon lumbered off.

Squaccos

Bittern

Bittern

The saltworks at Porto Largos should have given us a good circuit but the track was undrivable and we had to resort to checking the and nearest the gates but they were covered in Ruff and amongst them we picked up ten Dunlin, three Little Stints, seven Grey Plovers and six Oystercatchers.  Closer to us we found two Stone-curlews on the shingle and Calandra Larks spiralled down and actually sat up on clods for us to watch.  They are equally impressive on the deck.

Stone-curlew

With brightening weather we stopped at the river mouth in Porto Largo where at last we found 12 Sanderling scuttling along the sand bar with eight Dunlin.  There was a fantastic feeding frenzy at the conjunction with Yelkouan Shearwaters plunge diving in amongst the mixed flocks of terns and gulls while Great Egrets and Grey Herons strode amongst them.

On the river itself there were six dashing Greenshank and two Common Sandpipers and a calling Kingfisher did the decent thing and perched up for a short while.  A Hoopoe flew across with food to a nest in the pines and a Sardinian Warbler rattled.  However a quietly singing warbler in the same Bramble clump had a us fooled for a short while before resolving itself into a Moustached Warbler.  An unexpected find as the wintering birds should be long gone by now. 

Back to Porto Lago lagoon where the waders had largely dispersed but there was a fine summer plumaged Bar-tailed Godwit and 29 Dalmatian Pelicans.  A Short-toed Lark was scurrying around in the spartina where two female Marsh Harriers were resting up.

A quick pop back to the rooms and then off inland to the Komestatos River flood plain.  Our first walk took us across damp meadows where large herds of Water Buffalo were being shepherded.  Six Cattle Egrets were walking through them and the roving beasts put up several Squaccos and Purple Herons and a flock of 41 Glossy Ibises whiffled in from up high. Garganey were on the pools and there were once again three flavours of flava Wagtail tripping between hooves. 

Garganey

Garganey

Western Cattle Egret and Jackdaw

Flocks of Wood Sandpipers were pushed ahead of the Buffalo and we reckoned over 200 were on the move but the Spur-winged Lapwings were not going anywhere and breed here.  A lone drake Pintail were found and a Golden Oriole was tantalising us from the towering Poplars.

There were a few raptors with high flying Booted and Short-toed Eagles but our second Merlin of the trip was somewhat of a surprise.  This tiny immature male made a couple of dashing passes sending Wagtails scattering.

Onwards and into the farmland where we went from zero Red-footed Falcons to 13 in a matter of minutes as a mixed flock of sexes and ages hunted a ploughed field with typical agility. Subsequent sky watching gave us Booted and Short-toed Eagles above us and then a bonus Greater Spotted Eagle gave us a few lazy circles.

Greater Spotted Eagle

A Quail was singing so close to us that we could not believe that it remained invisible and further along we heard another two singing out on the rubbly grassland where we were looking for Isabelline Wheatears with no joy.  There were both Eastern Black-eared and Northern Wheatears but the habitat looked so different to where I see Izzies on Lesvos.

New agricultural crop for me... Kiwi Fruit!

Kiwi Fruit!

Shrikes were dotted about and five Red-backs and a Woodchat were found but the small birds were keeping low as a female Montagu’s Harrier was doing the rounds. It was a good way to end the day but perhaps we would get another chance of the Wheatear the next day.

21st April 2026 - Day 5 Northern Greece for Bird's Wildlife & Nature

A short walk before breakfast down to the Fanari foreshore was rewarding with flocks of Yelkouan Shearwaters flickering across the bay and dropping down to feed in frenzied flocks with Yellow-legged Gulls and a few Med Gulls in tow.  A couple of Med Shags flew in too and an Arctic Skua gave chase to some distant terns.

Flocks of Spanish Sparrows moved overhead along with high Bee-eaters and a pair of Spur-winged Lapwings were trying to tell us that they had a nest on the beach so we back away and watched a Sardinian Warbler instead.

We were soon on the road and following the east beach where a stop allowed us to check both the seaward and inland side. The saline pools held a variety of waders with a good spread of Tringas with Greenshanks, Marsh Sandpiper, Spotted and Common Redshanks while Avocets, Oystercatchers, Stilts and a Grey Plover were also found on a spit where Black-headed and Slender-billed Gulls rested. 

Black-headed, Slender-billed Gull and Grey Plover

Black-headed Gull and the only two 'Mingos we saw that day

Spotted Redshank, Slender-billed Gulls, Common Terns and an Oystercatcher

2cy Slender-billed Gull

There was a good number of Common Terns on an island in the lagoon and a Caspian Tern was loafing out there too.  A Lesser Whitethroat popped up in a Tamarisk and a male Black-headed Wagtail joined him and sung wheezily from the top.

Black-headed Wagtail

Black-headed Wagtail

Out to sea we picked up several Sandwich Terns and a flock of nine Purple Herons and three Little Egrets battling their way in high from the south after a long sea crossing.  It is always good to see migration in action.

Purple Herons 

From here our route took us inland and the farmland was amazingly productive despite the appearance of endless rolling fields.  In quick succession we found two male Red-backed, Lesser Grey and Woodchat Shrikes but they were obviously on the move and quickly headed onto the next hedgeline.  There were four Larks with singing Calandras, Sky, Short-toed and Crested and the first two Harriers that we saw both required a quick van exit to confirm that we had found adult females of both Pallid and then Hen! 

On down to some amazing lagoons where we spent a very happy couple of hours.  There were clouds of birds and we counted over 100 White-winged Black Terns, 40 Black Terns, three Whiskered Terns and three Gull-billed Terns swirling around and there were more than double that of Little Gulls.  They were still dropping in from up high where they had been hawking and we suspected that our count was on the low side. 

Collared Pratincoles were up with them and back on the marsh there were hundreds of Ruff and Wood Sandpipers frantically stocked up on the wealth of tiny flies.  Amongst them we found Marsh Sandpipers and a good selection of ducks with Shoveler, Teal, Garganey, Mallard and some Pochard while Mute Swans were dotted around in pairs.

A showy Hoopoe

Mute Swan

A flock of 14 Glossy Ibises afforded us better views than on Kerkini and there were orange Squaccos here too along with snaky-necked Purple Herons.  The odd reedy clumps we found had Reed and Sedge Warblers and we heard the odd Nightingale and Great Reed Warbler too.  There were Larks here too and the Calandras were the clear favourites and our first Red-throated Pipits flew around calling but only landed out of sight in the long grass.

Purple Heron

There were a few raptors around with a pale Booted Eagle and several Common Buzzards, four Marsh Harriers, Kestrels and a dashing Hobby. Suddenly a Snipe flew up the wet field alongside us and Smiffy and I shouted ‘Great Snipe!’ The others were unsighted by the van but we saw where it landed but despite searching we did not see it again which was disappointing.

Our next spot gave us Willow and Eastern Subalpine Warblers in the bushes and a female Red-backed Shrike briefly perched up. 

Lunch in a local village was opposite a typical Greek town square and it felt like it might be good for Scops Owl.  We walked across the road and two minutes later one started calling and no we did not play a tape!  However, it then took twenty minutes to find the little rufous devil as his calls just echoed off the building and trees and it was the Starlings that found him at the same time as we did!  There were other birds in the square with Collared and Pied Flycatchers and a Wood Warbler.  A Syrian Woodpecker was drumming off a telegraph pole on the main street. They really are an urban bird.

Syrian Woodpecker 

A nearby village is famous for its breeding Lesser Kestrels and they did not disappoint with many using specially provided nestboxes and others heading into old ramshackle out buildings.  The views were exceptional and they were very obliging.  The parroty type calls were very odd and I had not been close enough to a colony before to experience the sound of so many together.

Lesser Kestrels

Lesser Kestrel condo

We headed back to that fabulous lagoon where we enjoyed seconds of all the terns and waders but with the rather hefty additions of 25 circling Great White Pelicans and a hunting male Peregrine.  Having a second look for the Great Snipe was the right call and we got fantastic views of it as it flew up and performed a fine low level circuit.  Dancho was especially pleased.

Wood Sandpiper

Great White Pelicans 

Stone-curlews were the next target and we found a pair in a field alongside Elous Lagoon and whilst watching them we enjoyed a bit of a Harrier fest with a 2cy female and creamy 2cy male Pallid, a full adult male Montagu’s and three Marsh.  The young male Pallid was an absolute beauty and was sat in the same field as the knobbly knees before gracefully setting off on a hunting mission.  A day with all four Harriers is always a good one.

A brief beach stop gave us both Yelkouan and a single languid Scopoli’s Shearwater offshore and the beach was littered with perfectly spherical balls of fine weed that had been gentle accreted as they rolled back and forth up and down the shallow sandy beaches.  They reminded me of ‘The Trouble With Tribbles’ Original Star trek episode and henceforth that is what we called them.  I offered to fill up the glove compartment of Dancho’s van with them for artistic effect but for some reason he said no.

Tribbles

Cottonweed - Achillea maritima

Sea Holly - Eryngium maritimum

Sea Medick - Medicago marina

Our final stop of the day was at the nearby headland with a small chapel but we did not stay long as the mosquitos were truly awful.  Both Shearwaters were seen from here too and the bushes held Chiffchaffs, Red -backed Shrike, both Whitethroats and a stonker of a male Collared Flycatcher.  Back at our lodgings in Fanari there were a similar suite of species feeding in the big tree out the back. 

Cornflower - Centaura cyanus - and friends

Eastern Dappled White

Hairy Yellow Vetch - Cicia hybrida 

Horistus orientalis

Jersey Toadflax - Linaria pelisseriana

Large Venus's Looking Glass - Legousia speculum-veneris

Oneflower Clover - Trifolium uniflorum

Purple Viper's Bugloss - Echium plantagineum

The skies were brooding as we walked to dinner and a deluge flooded the streets and we got a little damp on the walk back. Even the Scops Owl was quiet.