Cyprus - Day 5 - 22nd March 2025

Our early morning walk back on the Mandria patch was a little quieter but there were now five each of Isabelline and Northern Wheatear and ten Short-toed Larks grovelled in the sand in front of us.  A singing Quail played now you hear me now you don’t and two Shag and a Cormorant were offshore.

Short-toed Lark

Short-toed Larks

Northern Wheatear 

Crested Lark

Crested Lark

Spanish Sparrows

Med Shag

From here we followed the road up into the Troodos Mountains where the endemic races of woodland species might be found but we stopped a couple of times along the way including a beautiful hillside where Finsch’s Wheatears had wintered but had already been replaced by Cyprus Pieds. Magpies were prolific and Chukars called from the slopes where Zitting Cisticolas danced and Sardinian Warblers scolded. A female Merlin dashed through.

Magpies 

Cyprus Pied Wheatear

Erodium gruinum

Lomelosia prolifera

Pancratium illyicum - found the name of the big Lily

Other Cyprus Pied Wheatears were see as we climbed along with the first Cyprus Agama  trying to warm up on a rock. Snow started to appear and we were soon within the pines where fresh snow was still piled on the branches.  We parked up at the main car park beyond all the cafes and vendors and had a short walk around the Atalanti Trail where all four localised races were picked up in very short order.  

Black Pine - Pinus nigra pallasiana

Coal Tits were prolific and stridently calling from the towering but curiously flat topped Black Pines.  A distinctive form with dark plumage and a huge black bib that spread.

Cyprus Coal Tit - Periparus ater cypriotes - Max Hellicar

The local Short-toed Treecreepers did not look or sound much different from mainland Europe but the Jays were similar to our own and not like the Black-capped ones from Lesvos but had a greyer back similar to the Brandt’s Jays in Japan.

Cyprus Jay - Garrulus glandarius glaszneri - Max Hellicar

Cyprus Jay - Garrulus glandarius glaszneri

Cyprus Jay - Garrulus glandarius glaszneri

Short-toed Treecreeper - Certhia brachydactyla dorotheae

Short-toed Treecreeper - Certhia brachydactyla dorotheae - Max Hellicar

The final species was the Common Crossbill and a pair showed very well in the snowy pines and we all commented that on call and bill weight they actually more closely resembled Scottish-type birds.  The male was orangey rather than red but I am not sure if this is normal or a sign of immaturity.  Chaffinches and House Sparrows foraged around and Blackbirds, Goldfinches and a Grey Wagtail were also noted before we began our descent.

male Cyprus Common Crossbill - Loxia curvirostra guillemardi

female Cyprus Common Crossbill - Loxia curvirostra guillemardi

male Cyprus Common Crossbill - Loxia curvirostra guillemardi

male Cyprus Common Crossbill - Loxia curvirostra guillemardi

Help please!

Help please!

Winter Aconite - Eranthis hyemalis

Seven Spot Ladybird

Sorbus aria cretica

House Sparrow in Berberis cretica

It was a magnificent view down onto the south coast and the route allowed us to deposit Max back at base before David and I wended our way through the rather populous Pafos and its ever expanding waist-line. Somehow we got parked in a big free car park almost outside the entrance for the UNESCO heritage site and duly paid for entry.  Despite the feeling that it was going to be very busy, it was actually quiet and we spent a couple of hours wandering up and down the tracks through the ruins of the sacred city of Aphrodite searching for migrants.  It was fairly quiet but we did add three to the trip list with Tree Pipit, Woodlark and a Whitethroat.

You could feel the potential of the site but we were just a tad too early in the season for there to be any significant arrival.  Two European Stonechats were found and these Eastern birds were certainly giving us the run around. Two male Blue Rock Thrushes gave close views and we picked up a few Brevi Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Hoopoe and Black Redstart.  A Pallid Swift did a few lazy circuits at low level.

Black Redstart

European Stonechat

Hooded Crow

Cormorants over Pafos

Blue Rock Thrush

Blue Rock Thrush

Blue Rock Thrush

Blue Rock Thrush

Clouded Yellows were numerous and Pafos and Lang’s Short-tailed Blue, Eastern Festoon and European Swallowtail were found and we got close to several Cyprus Agama along with Troodos Wall Lizards.

Cyprus Agama

Cyprus Agama

Troodos Wall Lizard

Troodos Wall Lizard

Pied Chafer sp

Lang’s Short-tailed Blue

Clouded Yellow

Prickly Pear flowers

Barbary Nut

Some quality time was spent admiring the late 2^nd – early 3^rd century AD mosaics in the Roman House of Dionysos.  Incredible to imagine they are about 1800 years old.  The pebble mosaic of Scylla predates them by at least five hundred years.  Tigers may have roamed further west way back then but the Peacock surely indicates just how far east trade occurred back then.

The Four Seasons

pebble mosaic of Scylla - about 2300 years old

We headed back to pick up Max and after seeing the Great Spotted Cuckoos and papping some obliging Hoopoes we made our way up to Varvara Pools for the golden hour.  

A furry, floofy ginger Hoopoe

Hoopoes

Twenty Moorhens were counted (no small yellow billed ones) along with six Coot, three male Little Crakes and a rather splendid Baillon’s Crake.

Baillon’s Crake

Baillon’s Crake

Coots & Moorhen

Little Grebes popped in and out of the reeds and Great Spotted Cuckoos noisily flew back and forth across the pools.  Red-rumped Swallows and a couple of Sand Martins were with the other hirundines and as the light dropped the Cyprus Water Frogs got going and the buzzing whine of the endemic Cyprus Green Toads could be heard from the hidden river.

Cyprus Water Frogs

Cyprus Water Frogs and Green Toads - volume up

Disturbingly mobile local sausages thrashing in the pan rounded up the day!