Lesvos - Day 12- 13th September 2021

A genuinely early start saw myself, Peter and John down at the Eastern Pans in the dark for a quiet walk down to get level with the looming shapes of the Dalmatian Pelicans and although the sunset never materialised (getting swallowed by the low cloud) it was still a productive couple of hours with 30 slowly waking grey white icebergs, stretching and somehow preening with those outsized bills and a good selection of other stuff including, 19 Spoonbills, Great White Egrets, Flamingos, four Teal and a better array of waders than in previous days. There were four delicate Marsh Sandpipers feeding with Redshanks and a Spotted Redshank and a couple of Ringed Plovers were heard. We found four Grey Plovers, nine Little Stints and eight clockwork Kentish Plovers and four Dunlin and hopefully more will arrive in the next few days. A female Marsh Harrier was perched on one of the bunds and a Fox was hunting the same area causing consternation amongst the Red and Greenshanks.

Dalmatian Pelicans and friends

The not quite sunrise

Corn Buntings, flava Wagtails and Crested Larks left their roost and one almost fell foul of a lightening attack from a juvenile male Goshawk that was so preoccupied that it only jinked away from us at the last moment. A proper close encounter.

A late breakfast (with a bonus Short-toed Lark flying over) and then up through Agia Paraskevi passing a female Sparrowhawk and Osprey in quick succession before dropping down to Skala Sykaminias for a drive along the North Track. Retrospectively I should have stayed up top and gone to the raptor viewpoint but hey ho. However, there were lots of small birds along the coast with Spotted Flycatchers, Lesser Whitethroats and Willow Warblers in good numbers and the odd Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Blackcap and Red-backed Shrike and I saw two incoming Honey Buzzards with one right in over my head. The sea was once again devoid of any birds whatsoever.

Incoming Honey Buzzard

Middle Spotted Woodpecker

Yellow-legged Gull

Turkish fishing boats and the Mosque I still can't identify

The boast first seen in 2016 is slowly being consumed

Lunch was taken in Molyvos at Octopus and it was good to see the harbour front tavernas busier than it was this time last year. The cloud and pleasant conditions had now been replaced by some serious heat so it was time to head back home over the top.  We bought some herbs from the same shop as last year and then had a nice chat with Louise and Gabriel in their local craft shop where some impromptu bird photo id occurred before moving on.  It was now exceptionally hot. 

Oriental Hornet - ACV

Having missed out on some good raptor passage earlier I decided to drop in on the Kalloni Raptor Watchpoint on the way back in the hope of picking up a few birds that had come over the island but it was just too hot to stay long but I was happy with a calling Chukar, three Short-toed Eagles, Ravens, a huge female Goshawk and a spiralling flock of about 50 stratospheric Bee-eaters.

Siesta time and then out onto Lotzaria under heavy grey skies. The light was poor but it was just nice that someone to have tuned the temperature back down again! Two Snipe and the Black Stork were in the Tsiknias but the Little Crake requires more than a few minutes of my time so I quickly moved on. 

A 1st winter Blackbird at the Pela

Black Stork

Common Snipe

Mixed hirundines on the wires

The fields were still fairly quiet but I had a great encounter with a Weasel hunting along the track. I still find these Mustilids a little odd here. They are apparently the same species that I get at home but each time I see one I think 'Stoat' as they appear bigger and more rubust and with an obvious tail that is in between the two species in length. There is even a hint of darkness at the tip which Least Weasel never has. It feels like some specification work may be in order? 

Least Weasel

Anyway, it was being followed by two Whitethroats and an equally vocal Red-backed Shrike but seemed un-phased by the attention. Two Hoopoes fed in the adjacent stubble field with 30 Crested Lark and a few Wheatears and 70 Hooded Crows came up to perch on the wires in a vaguely sinister fashion. 

Spotted Flycatcher

Common Buzzard

Hoopoe

Hooded Crows

I took the track back through to Kerami passing a big flock of low hunting Bee-eaters on the way and three Common Kestrels headed purposefully South along with the Black Stork from the Tsiknias that came my way.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

Vestal

Bee-eaters

Black Stork

Time for dinner with quite possibly the most glorious sunset I have ever seen here and a few spots of rain to give me hope of some overnight fresh arrivals...

No manipulation...

Lesvos - Day 11 - 12th September 2021

After a late return from Anaxos last night, the plan to get to the Eastern Salt Pans went a bit squiffy. Breakfast was somewhat more relaxed and interrupted by two immature type Marsh Harriers high and south and a swirl of mainly young House Martins suddenly around the hotel that even came in to check out old nests.

House Martin

I decided to visit the Turpentine trees at Parakila again and had a pleasant couple of hours pottering up and down the lane to the harbour. It was a little quieter but one of the Eastern Subalpine Warblers was still gorging on ripe figs with a couple of Lesser Whitethroats and once again there were both Wheatears, Spotted Flycatchers and several Whitethroats.

Eastern Subalpine Warbler

Eastern Subalpine Warbler - a different bird to the 1w male imaged before

All Eastern Black-eared Wheatears

Three Common Redstarts were new arrivals though and each was defending a patch in one of the Turpentine trees. Middle Spotted Woodpeckers bounded around and Cirl Buntings were coming down to the pond to drink and a scaly Masked Shrike sat under an olive tree. There were no Bee-eaters around the hives but I could hear invisible flocks very high up.

Common Redstarts

Huge Oak Apple Galls 

Valonia Oak - Quercus macrolepis

Turpentine Tree

Masked Shrike

Spotted Flycatcher - also Berryeater

Eyes to the skies did reveal a Short-toed Eagle and Common Buzzard over the ridge and another large raptor circling slowly South. My first thoughts were Black Kite as it looked very square tailed and I could see paler carpal bars on the upperwing but as it came closer I could a white belly and underwing contrasting with dark remiges. It was a pale Booted Eagle... I watched it out of sight. A French group on the island had a dark phase bird at about the same time high through Metochi so birds were obviously on the move and just difficult to pick up in the unblemished blue sky.

Back for a coffee via five sleepy-eyed Stone Curlews on the Christou by the two Tamerisks and then I went out and had a good look up and down the Tsiknias during the middle of the day. 

Stone Curlew

The Pela Pool was inviting but...

but I got distracted by a close Cicada which I eventually found

The Spur-winged Plover was still at the Ford and up river I had a male Cretzschmar's and the first winter Black-headed Bunting again come up from the river bed. It feels like there should be more Crakes lurking in the still lush central channel but I only found a Little Egrets and some Terrapins. 

Spur-winged Plover

At the junction where you come off the Tsiknias river track and into the Lotzaria Triangle there is a burnt stump. Even now I still think it is the back end of a black and white cow as I approach and thus it is now known as 'Cow Corner'...

Two Short-toed Eagles and a Raven circled high and South along with a flock of 31 Bee-eaters and I spent some time watching Long-tailed and Lang's Short-tailed Blues and a couple of Millet and Mallow Skippers nectaring on the Brambles and Chaste Trees before the heat got too much and I headed down to the Salt Pans where a quick scan revealed dropping water levels but still very few waders with just a Green Sandpiper, five Redshank, Greenshank, Kentish Plover, four Little Stints and a lone long billed Dunlin. 

Knackered Small Copper

Meadow Brown sp

Millet Skipper

Long-tailed Blue - they seem to like feeding upside down

Red-veined Darter

Essence of Lesser Emperor

Common Digging Grasshopper  -Acrotylus insubricus - it has red wings when it flies

The Mottled Bee Fly - what a beast - Thyridanthrax fenestratus

Lesser Caltrop - Tribulus terrestris

Whinchat

The Lesser Grey Shrike was still on the wires as I bumped my way back. A proper chill out afternoon before a final Saltpan circuit which added a solitary juvenile Curlew Sandpiper to the list and an ever increasing flotilla of Dalmatian Pelicans which reached at least 26 but I was viewing from the Sheepfields and there could have been more. 

Salt Pan Channel Mouth

Distant Big Birds...

I counted 19 Spoonbills and five Black Storks and along the beach there were four Curlews and a few Gulls and ‘Mingos. The day had one last bonus with a croaking adult Night Heron circling the hotel at 7.50pm.