Day 5: 29th April:
We were down at the Alykes Wetlands
before 630 to be greeted by a good spread of birds in magical early morning
Lesvos light. Nine Temminck’s Stints fed together while three new Spotted
Redshanks were new in and scything through the shallow water. Black Winged Stilts
and Wood Sandpipers performed double action feeding with perfect reflections
resulting in curious super long legs. Orange, lemon-shaped Squaccos lurked in
the closest sedge clumps and a Red-throated Pipit called as it zoomed overhead.
Nine Wigeon and three Garganey loafed at the back and a Curlew called but could
not be found.
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| Wood Sandpiper |
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| Wood Sandpiper |
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| Black-winged Stilt |
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| Black-winged Stilt |
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| Black-winged Stilt |
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| Black-winged Stilt |
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| Black-winged Stilt |
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| The most spherical Temminck's Stint ever... |
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| Synchronised Ruff |
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| Squacco |
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| Squacco |
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| Squacco |
However it was the Greater Flamingo fly past that stole the
show... Some were already feeding on the pool and this circling, honking flock
contemplating whether to join them or not was certainly the best I have ever
seen on the island.
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| Greater Flamingos with Yellow-legged Gulls |
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| Black Stork |
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| Alykes Wetlands... looking mmm... wet |
The bump back produced nothing new and breakfast beckoned.
No Great Spotted Cuckoo this morning and so we headed north towards Kavaki. We
were the only people there and over the next hour we found four different male
Ruppell’s Warblers in the scrub below and behind us with one showing incredibly
well in the same oak tree as last year.
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| The Kavaki view |
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| Chrysanthemum coronarium, Poppies and Reseda alba |
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| Reseda alba - ACV |
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| Ruppell's Warbler |
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| Ruppell's Warbler |
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| Ruppell's Warbler |
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| Ruppell's Warbler - Sam Shippey |
Sam and I had to wait for a wonderfully tame
Cirl Bunting to move out of the way so that we could get up to the boulder! To
be honest he was better looking that the warbler!
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| Sam creeping up on the Ruppell's |
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| after the Cirl Bunting had vacated his spot |
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| Cirl Bunting |
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| Cirl Bunting |
Eastern Subalpine Warblers were similarly showy and a male
Sardinian was briefly seen. Oddly there were no Crag Martins or Ravens but
Turtle Doves were purring and a Julie saw a Blue Rock Thrush.
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| Eastern Subalpine Warbler | | |
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| Molivos from Kavaki |
Perasma Reservoir was disappointing with no small birds and
very few insects at all but thanks to a passing couple we did see two adult
Audouin’s Gulls amongst the multitude of
Yellow-legs just before leaving.
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| Muscari comosum - Tassel Hyacinth |
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| Like a tiny yellow marigold |
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| Broad Bodied Chaser |
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| Spanish Broom - Spartium junceum if only you could do scratch and sniff pc screens |
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| Silene colorata |
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| The amazing seedpods of Tordylium apulum - flowering plant just behind |
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| Audouin's Gull |
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| Anaxos Olive Groves |
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| Silybum marianum |
We took lunch with Alison and Costas in Anaxos (after a quiet buyt hot olive grove walk) which was
lovely, before tackling the interesting concrete road up to Klapados... not
quite sure that I should have attempted it in the bus but we made it and had
the area to ourselves with nothing but the breeze, bees, surround sound
Nightingales and other woodland edge birds to disturb the silence. The hoped
for Eastern Bonelli’s Warblers chipped and trilled around us and the first
Wrens were heard.
This sheer wall of wood is about 12 foot around giving the tree an
original girth of about 30 I reckon. Only this perforated side survives
and I am on the inside looking up and the fresh green leaves are from
branches coming out from the other side of the giant so she still lives
on.
She sits amongst the upland ruins of Klapados and must have
shaded the village long before the Greeks defeated the Turks in these
hills on 8th December 1912 leaving the village and seemingly the trees
in ruins. Trees are wondrously resilient things...
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| Younger Planes adding to the canopy |
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| Views from the remains of the village looking south east |
The track down to the waterfall was taken, with Long-tailed Tits and Coal Tits
heard along with Short-toed Treecreepers and more chipping Bonelli’s.
The waterfall was a dribble and there were only some Blue Featherlegs and
Beautiful Demoiselle amongst the odenata but it was the ancient water scarred Entish
Oriental Planes and reflective pools that I took my crew down there to see. It
was beautiful and I heartily recommend that everybody go there at least once in
their Lesvos lifetime...
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| Not the regular Star of Bethlehem we see... Ornithogalum collinum |
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| female Beautiful Demoiselle |
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| male Beautiful Demoiselle |
Somehow we made it back down to the main road via the southern road and then
wiggled on smooth tarmac back to the Kalloni saltpans and wetlands where more superb
Stint action was had. Both species showed together at just a few yards range as they fed with a party of Ruff.
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| Little Stint |
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| Little Stint |
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| Temminck's Stint & Little Stint |
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| Temminck's Stint & Little Stints |
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| Temminck's Stint |
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| Ruff |
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| Ruff |
A Black-headed Wagtail showed very well at the Sheepfields and the grey mare was looking as gorgeous as usual and was obviously expecting once again.
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| Black-headed Wagtail |
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| Black-headed Wagtail |
The Short-toed Lark that we saw in the morning in the way back to breakfast was still in the corner field and showed far better that than the elusive little blighters out on the Sheepfields.
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| Short-toed Lark |
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| Short-toed Lark |
The Kalloni Pool finished
things off nicely with a Black Stork, Purple Heron and Glossy Ibises which is nice way to end any day - other than the G'n'T was missing.
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| Purple Heron |
Love the acrobatic Stilts Howard
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