Lesvos : Day 7: 17th September :
A lay in today .... wow... 7.30... and soon out on a magical mystery tour back up towards Petra following the advice of Martin and Alison before finding the poorly signed track up to Klapados and the site of the last battle site between the Greeks and Turks in 1912. The track was largely concrete on the steep ascent but a little 'exciting' in parts as we climbed up through the olives and the pines to the spot commemorating the moment northern Lesvos became Greek ruled. The Oriental Plane trees were huge and climbing over the ruins of the village and there were plenty of birds to be seen with Jays and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers noisily calling all around and Blackcaps and Tits feeding on Turpentine Tree berries and Pokeweed.
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| Klapados |
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| Huge Oriental Plane - it was also very hot... |
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| A path worthy of a future explore |
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| A superb large fungi - Laetiporus sulphureus |
The track levelled out a little and then started to descend again and we soon found a large open 'picnic' area that afforded amazing views east towards Stypsi. A Sparrowhawk greeted us as we alighted. I had been told to look for red painted markers on trees and rocks to lead us down to the stream and waterfall in the valley bottom and we were soon descending through the pines and into the Oaks and Planes below.
It was very warm and still with barely a sound to be heard other than the odd Coal Tit, Blue Tit and Jay. Robins ticked away and Wrens could be heard among the rocks. Once down in the bottom we entered a magical world of babbling clear water over mossy rocks, collecting in sunlit pools among the questing roots of century old planes.
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| Genuinely one of the most serene spots I have ever been too... |
Great orange Cardinal fritillaries glided in and out of sunrays and the Graylings were giving us the usual headaches but they were still wondrous to watch especially the larger ones with a large pale central upper wing band which I am now pretty confident are all Eastern Rock Graylings.
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| Cardinal |
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| Cardinal |
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| Eastern Rock Grayling |
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| Eastern Rock Grayling |
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| Eastern Rock Grayling |
Emerald Spreadwing damselflies were hanging from almost any available twig with Eastern Willow easily outnumbering Robust (Scarce to us at home) and I found a couple of Winter Damsels too. Red-veined Darters lurked a little higher up and two odd long hawkers with blue in the body and eyes were eventually identified as Eastern Spectre despite the earliness of the hour as they are usually crepuscular but the behavious and habitat were spot on.
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| Eastern Willow Emerald |
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| Eastern Willow Emerald |
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| Winter Damselfy |
The pool at the base of the dry waterfall contained Balkan Green Frogs and numerous Water Boatman. It must be even more amazing down here in the spring when the waters are flowing. I could have spent all day there.
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| Balkan Green Frogs |
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| Sam getting to grips with Emeralds |
After the climb back up we continued down the track towards the main road adding Long-tailed Tits to the list. Lazy lunch was taken with Alison in the Omega in Anaxos before continuing 'around the block' and descending back to Kalloni via Limnos Monastery.
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| Sorry Sam, but you were so enjoying your fried eggs on toast |
One small Starred Agama was on the wall and obviously in mid-slough and a Keeled Skimmer was new to the trip dragonfly list.
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| Starred Agama |
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| Limnos Monastery |
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| Limnos Monastery |
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| Keeled Skimmer |
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| Keeled Skimmer |
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| ... and the photo bombing prize for the day goes to the Freshwater Crab saying hello as I snapped this Balkan Green Frog in the Holy Water outlet inside the monastery |
It was now incredibly hot so after a serene amble round the Monastery grounds we made for the Pela pool and an 'oh.... if you insist' G'n'T...
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