A good journey west saw us at our first stop just below the
Agra towers and standing in the chilly conditions watching our first Cinereous
Buntings singing up on the crags along with Eastern Black-eared Wheatears, Blue
Rock Thrush, Cretzschmar’s Buntings, Stonechats and a foraging Sombre Tit. A grand way to start the day but we were all
glad to get back in the bus to warm up!
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It was freezing! - ACV |
On to Eresos and the start of the track to Sigri where, as
usual, I stopped at the first little chapel.
An Eastern Orphean Warbler was going for it by the roadside and
performed magnificently from the top of the little Willow-leaved Pear and a
black and white flycatcher appeared in the base. I called it as Collared but then changed my
mind to Pied but it looked odd. The alarm bells barely got going before it
zipped back into the Olives.
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Eastern Orphean Warbler |
Ten minutes later it started calling and it did not feel
right for either Collared or Pied. Surely it could not be? It reappeared and I
got several brief but good views including white all the way down the tail
sides that looked to go around the tips.
The wing patch looked good and the white collar extended around towards
the nape. It dashed higher up the slope
and we lost it but it appeared that we had actually seen a male Semi-collared
Fly. A short distance on I picked up a male Collared on its peeping call in the
next grove and it showed well as it dipped down from the lowest branches while
a Cirl Bunting grovelled underneath.
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Green-Underside Blue |
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Green-Underside Blue - ACV |
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Snail Killer Fly sp |
Cretzschmar’s Buntings and Crested Larks followed us along
the track up to the crest of the hill where a fun hour was spent with the
Isabelline, skinny Northern and madly displaying Black-eared Wheatears on the
plateau in front. Three male Collared
Flycatchers were sharing two small trees and the fenceline with four Whinchats
and two Stonechats and a female Red-backed Shrike was in the only clump of
bushes where a puzzling sylvia warbler was singing away and although I could
not find it, I think it was a Barred Warbler. Oddly there were no Rock
Nuthatches.
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Collared Flycatcher - Steve Cullum |
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Collared Flycatcher |
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Collared Flycatcher |
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Collared Flycatcher |
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Isabelline Wheatear |
Ravens kronked, popped and rattled and two Black Storks, a
female Peregrine, four Buzzards, two Common Kestrels and three Short-toed
Eagles drifted over while a little further on two Rock Sparrows actually showed
well on the deck.
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Rayless Chamomile - Anthemis rigida |
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Asphodel - ACV |
Rock Nuthatch eventually gave itself up and Woodlarks were
added to the mix of Buntings, Chats and Wheatears. Down at the little farm the
Rock Sparrows were singing and utilising the old Nuthatch next again and a
couple of Tree Pipits flew over calling.
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Cretzschmar’s Bunting - Steve Cullum |
Whitethroats, Spotted Flycatchers and several more Collared
Flycatchers were encountered on the way to the first Pear Tree of Happiness where
Great Reed and Eastern Orphean sang and Woodchat Shrike grated away by the dry
stream.
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Eastern Black-eared Wheatear |
The next two Pear trees held a female Pied and Collared and
amazingly a surprise male Black-headed Bunting that had obviously just found
somewhere for a bath and stayed put for a few minutes while it preened its
feathers. Good to have one early in the trip. A Great Reed Warbler sang from
the Brambles and we were surrounded by Red-rumped Swallows, Sand and House
Martins and a male Golden Oriole bolted from cover. A young male Marsh Harrier
drifted over with a Buzzard and Short-toed Eagle and there seemed to be a
movement of the latter going on. Two Lesser Kestrels came over and were a taste
of things to come.
Lunch was taken before approaching the ford where a cursory
glance showed a few Blue-headed Wagtails and a stunning male Citrine paddling
about! All out! Superb views were had
for the next 15 minutes as this crisp yellow headed beauty fed methodically
between the rocks. Eastern Olivaceous
Warblers were in the Oleanders and we could hear Bee-eaters above. Andrea found a small Chequered Scorpion under a rock.
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Citrine Wagtail |
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Chequered Scorpion - ACV |
We bumped out of the valley and picked up a Squacco flying
in and several pairs of Woodchats in the paddocks while there were some good
views of more flavas and two Tawny Pipits in the track ahead of the vehicle and
a lone Willow Warbler and a second
Black-headed Bunting whilst watching them.
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Northern Wheatear |
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Black-headed Bunting |
Up to the top where more Tawny Pipits – 11 in fact – greeted
us and then at the Cheese Sanitorium the escarpment was full of hovering
falcons with at least 26 Lesser Kestrels using the updrafts to hunt as well as
picking up aerial prey too. Some of the
males were quite beautiful. Six
Short-toed Eagles were also spread out along the ridge.
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Lesser Kestrel |
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Lesser Kestrel |
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Lesser Kestrel - ACV |
Three Lesser Whitethroats were the first we had seen and
three male and a female Red-backed Shrike were dotted about but it was the two
stunning male Golden Orioles that probably won the birds of the day for many
people as they used the bushes to drop down onto insects in the grass
below. They glowed and were probably
some of the best and most prolonged views I had ever had. Collared Flycatchers
were once again a feature and we had only just found out what had been
happening on Ipsilou. A close Bunting on
the fence turned out to be a female Ortolan!
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Red-backed Shrike |
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Red-backed Shrike |
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Golden Oriole |
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Eastern Dappled White |
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Ortolan Bunting |
I opted to not go down to Faneromeni as it was already 4pm
and instead went straight up to the very top of Ipsilou. It was immediately apparent that there were
black and white flycatchers everywhere and we had a slow walk back down to the
main road. I can only imagine just how
many Pied and Collared Flys there were in those oaks with the calls of both
species constantly around us. I suspect we were well into three figures. I
listened out for Semi calls but heard none but was pleased to hear the dry
rattle of one or possibly two Red-breasted Flycatchers with a brief couple of
views of one and its Whinchat-esque tail.
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Julie & the Giant Fennel |
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Collared Flycatcher - Steve Cullum |
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Pied Flycatcher |
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Bombus lucorum on Woolly Thistle |
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Trifolium uniflorum |
Wood Warblers broke the 20 mark as the clambered around the
flowering oaks gleaming in gold, lime and white with the odd bird singings and
plenty of those wonderful call notes we hear so rarely at home. Throw in several Spotted Flycatchers,
Subalpine Warblers, Masked Shrikes, three Golden Orioles, male and hepatic
female Cuckoo, Hoopoe and Blackcaps and it was an experience of a lifetime to
remember. I barely took a picture and
birds were rarely still but that wall of calling birds that surrounded us will
remain with me always.
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Wood Warbler |
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Eastern Subalpine Warbler |
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Eastern Subalpine Warbler - Steve Cullum |
The three Wheatears and Rock Nuthatch greeted us back at the
van before the start of the journey home which was interrupted on the outskirts
of Antissa by a Wryneck sitting on a wire fence. I was even able to reverse up
and some of those in the back saw it too!
My first proper view of one on the island. Quite amazing! A final stop at Perivolis Monastery to feed
the cats and hope for Middle Spotted Woodpecker was successful with both tasks
completed in short order along with the Wood Nuthatches a few more Flycatchers,
Cirl Buntings and another Masked Shrike.
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Praying for Middle Spot... except for Steve |
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The Cats - ACV |
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The Cats - ACV |
It really was time to head back and we eventually made it to
the Pela at 7.30 after 11 hours graft.
We were tired but there were smiles all round.
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