Day 10: 30th April:
It was meant to be a northerly sort of day but I ended up
heading up past Dafia and by the time I had reached Lardia I had already picked
up five Eastern Bonelli's Warbler and a heap of Nightingales from the car.
Several more were heard along the gorge and Crag Martins and Rock Sparrows
showed at the pinnacle while high above a pair of Long-legged Buzzards talon
grappled in the blue. Cretzschmar's Buntings collected squished insects in the
road and Cirls sung from the wires.
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| Cretzschmar's Bunting |
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| Cretzschmar's Bunting |
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| Eastern Bonelli's Warbler |
Perivolis monastery was quiet and serene with
another Bonelli's singing and three Black Storks arguing over a rocky
escarpment.
There were plenty of insects
with Ilex Hairstreaks and Green Underside Blues along with Small Coppers,
Meadow Browns and Levantine Skippers. A
full grown Bush Cricket - Ephippiger ephippiger was the first I had
actually ever seen having been calling the typical Lesvos Bush Crickets this
for years!
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| Ilex Hairstreak |
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| Small White |
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| Levantine Skipper - Thymelicus hyrax |
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| Bush Cricket - Ephippiger ephippiger |
From here I did the unthinkable
and veered off the normal route and down to the seaside village of Gavvathus
with its patchwork of fields and groves looking very similar to the nearby
Sigri and Faneromeni but with the addition of a large dunes system to the east.
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| The plains of Gavvathus |
It is obviously a popular beach
spot in the summer with a host of beach signs with do and don’ts and useful
directions including the apparent outcome of sampling the local well waters...
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| Poorly parked boat |
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| and frankly disturbing Christmas decoration on his summer escape - but at least he took a book |
The usual assortment of three
Shrikes, Black-headed Buntings, Olive Tree Warbler, and commoner species were
seen while Alpine Swifts circled above. A sooty Eleonora's Falcon headed along
the coast spooking hirundines and Jackdaws before the first of the day's
Bee-eaters entertained us as they hawked from the tamarisks.
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| Bee-eaters |
Sea Holly and Yellow-horned
Poppies dotted the beach along with Sea Spurge and Sea Medick and a funny
orthopteran had me stumped till I got home and identified it as a Mediterranean
Slant-faced Grasshopper (Acrida ungarica mediterranea).
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| Yellow-legged Gulls - ACV |
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| Yellow-legged Gulls - although the one on the right is a monster... ACV |
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| Sea Holly |
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| Sea Medick |
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| Mediterranean
Slant-faced Grasshopper (Acrida ungarica mediterranea). |
A quick check around a small
chapel near the Bee-eaters provided me with Mallow Skipper, Wall Brown and a
smart Southern Comma.
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| Southern Comma |
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| Wall Brown |
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| Mallow Skipper - ACV |
Mount Ordimnos was my lunch spot
but the road was dug up and had men working on it so you could only get to the
incinerator but the Isabelline Wheatears were superb with at last six males
strutting and displaying and making sounds like a box of fireworks. For a subtly
brown bird it sure does pack a aural punch. There were plenty of Broad Bodied
Chasers round the pond but it was not the best place for lunch so I headed up
Ipsilou to the summit where the cloud could be watched coming in off the sea
below us. Pied, Collared and Spot Flys flicked in the oaks and the Orioles and
Hoopoe were still giving it large in the lower escarpment trees along with two glowing Wood Warblers.
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| Isabelline Wheatear |
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| Isabelline Wheatear - ACV |
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| Isabelline Wheatear - ACV |
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| Wood Warbler - Glen Moore |
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| A misty view of Faneromeni from Ipsilou |
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| Synema globosum on Cistus - a groovy Crab Spider |
The lower ford at Faneromeni
still had its Great Snipe and it gave superb views feeding alongside the river
where it particularly liked probing underneath the water pipe on the right hand
side. I was pleased with my views yesterday but these surpassed that by miles.
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| Great Snipe |
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| Great Snipe |
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| Great Snipe |
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| Black-tailed Skimmer - ACV |
Bee-eaters were all around and 80 spiralled up in
one pruuking flock of colour with other small groups taking the site total to
120. An Eleonora's drifted over with a Short-toed Eagle before I started back
on the coastal track and several Turtle Doves gave superb roadside views.
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| Turtle Dove |
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| Turtle Dove |
The
wind had got up and a dust cloud followed the car but there were still
Bee-eaters to be seen and Pied Flys, two Wood Warblers, Lesser Grey Shrike and
three Red-backs were in Meladia.
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| Little Owl - ACV |
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| Stonechat |
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| Wood Warbler |
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| Lesser Grey Shrike |
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| Woodchat Shrike |
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| Woodchat Shrike |
I made it back in time for the supermarket but not the
Dalmatian Pelican or Bittern that eluded me although 41 Whiskered Terns was a
nice way to end the day as they hawked along the saltpan road.
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