Lesvos, autumn '22 - part one

We - Rich, Will and I - have just returned from a wonderful trip to Lesvos, where we had eight full days on the ground to enjoy birds, wildlife and plenty more besides.

Krüper's Nuthatches, wonderful host, shiny happy birders - not a bad start to the trip

The latter included perfect weather (high 20's in the day, mid teens at night, usually sunny - we kept forgetting it was October...), delicious food - home-cooked evening meals at the hotel, mouth-watering savoury pastries from our nearby favourite back street bakery, and the fresh, free natural bounty: pomegranates and figs in particular (oh, the figs) ......

Greater Flamingos - a feature of saltpans and shorelines 

..... stunning scenery (shocking, in a very good way, to discover how unspoilt the island is), daily swims (in the Aegean and the pool), plenty of runs (gotta keep up my #ASwift1K targets....), evening drinks at our favourite on-the-beach bar, and great company (a lot of laughs, adventures and that rare commodity, genuine relaxation). Sounds excellent, eh? It was...

For want of a better way I'm dividing the trip photos up into a few posts, chronologically - a couple of days per post or thereabouts - and we were very fortunate to spend the first two with Eleni of the Natural History Museum of the Petrified Forest, home-grown ornithologist, guide and all-round Lesvos super-birder. She met us at our digs in Skalla Kalloni, shortly after we'd experienced a crazy, post-deluge swarm of hirundines, Eleonora's Falcons, Bee-eaters and bats (yep, bats) feasting on a mass flying ant emergence around the hotel.

Red-rumped Swallows, and the storms that brought them (and many other insectivores) to us before breakfast on day one

Our next stop - via the roadside Messa wetland (Kentish Plovers, the long-staying Northern Lapwing, Wood Sandpiper, Osprey etc) - was Achladeri forest, an area of old, open coniferous/mixed woodland on the other side of the bay. We were here, ideally, for Krüper's Nuthatches; happily, we connected quickly and easily, and were able to enjoy their behaviour, calls and sharp looks over a lengthy period, alongside Short-toed Treecreepers, Phylloscs, finches and tits.

Eleonora's (more of those to come) and a Marsh Sandpiper at Polichnitos saltpans....

From there, a route we would savour several times in the coming days, through the forests and hills before looping back along the coast, via the always productive (and always birderless, like everywhere else) Polichnitos saltpans. Hundreds of Flamingos, lots of Avocets, plus Little Stints, Curlew Sandpipers, Greenshanks, Marsh Sandpipers, Black Storks, egrets etc, as well as a pulse of flyover raptors that included a Booted Eagle, a Honey-buzzard and five more Eleonora's (yep, they were already becoming a contender for bird of the trip).

... with a pulse of raptors above us, including Honey-buzzard and Booted Eagle

The following day (our second) and Eleni again chaperoned us, this time to the northern coastal areas of the island. A lazy seawatch over the ridiculously picturesque panorama at Kavaki in the hope of Yelkouan Shearwaters produced not only great views of a tight, showy flock, but a pair of Scopoli's feeding lazily with gulls a little way offshore. Result!

Looking out towards Petra (above) and cleaning up on Shearwaters (below)

From there, to Molivos Reservoir, which held lots of Yellow Wagtails, Little Grebes, a lone Greenshank, our only Peregrines of the trip, an Eleonora's, a Short-toed Eagle and a scattering of passerine migrants, before familiarising ourselves with a couple of key raptor watchpoints, looking out across the water towards Turkey.

A rush of activity (despite the unfavourable winds) followed, with hundreds of hirundines, five Short-toed Eagles, three Honey-buzzards, 16 Alpine Swifts, a Marsh Harrier, a Black Kite and more incoming over the next couple of hours, boding well for when the winds were due to change....

Quality habitat along the north coast track.... 

From height to sea level, and along the coastal track that runs along the very northern edge of Lesvos terra firma, with Turkey looming closely across the glittering Aegean; too much to resist as it happened, and while the team continued birding, I had to jump in the warm, clear waters...

... and quality swimming / birding (take your pick) in the same area

More Eleonora's on the mountain drive back towards Kalloni, where the extensive, bird-rich saltpans were our next stop. Being so close to our base, we were to spend plenty more time here (see next posts), but familiarisation sessions both here and around the neigbouring agricultural fields (even closer to base) were ideal. Thanks again, Eleni, it really was a blast to hang out with you :-)

Red-backed Shrikes were soon to become another staple star bird of the trip (these are for you Howard ;-)

Below - our view as we approached Lesvos

Part two to follow shortly

A Swift 1k - half-time update!

A running photo per month (or thereabouts): the beach here at Filey, my local 'track'....

So I'm (more than) six months into my A Swift 1K challenge: to run (and cycle) 1K - i.e. 1000 kilometres - in 12 months, raising money for the wonderful folk who make up the Sheffield Swift Network. (To find out why I'm raising money for them and what they do, have a quick read here).

The riverside track along my bird survey site at Killingholme, Lincolnshire - a regular and peaceful (and much appreciated) place to run between wader counts.....

So, how's it going? Well, the fundraising - which I only kicked off a few weeks ago - has been amazing. The reaction has been humbling and I can only thank all you good people who have generously coughed up so far. My initial target of £1k was surpassed in no time, and I'm now not too far shy of £2k! So, I'm feeling positive and hopeful enough to have just raised my overall target to £3000.....

Lerwick, Shetland - a great place to run last month

A frosty morning run in Masham out in the Yorkshire Dales in late April (my last run of my 40's....)

I was a little concerned that, off the back of raising money for Turtle Doves last year and several other projects just previously, that there might be signs of 'giving fatigue' - apparently not, which is kind of wonderful. But then I do still have a few months to really up the annoyance ante.....

Cold, hard runs in the woods of Western Massachusetts back in early spring.....

So how about the actual physical challenge? Good and bad. Thanks in no small part to motivation provided by so many lovely people giving so much brass thus far, the running - the hardest part, for me at least - is on course. To date I've managed just over 300km in six and a half months; i.e. not far off being on schedule for my overall running target of 600km in the 12-month period. The other 400km+, though, is another matter, and it looks like a I'm going to have a lot more time on the bike through the winter if I'm going to reach my target....

.... and hot, hard runs in the same place in midsummer

Since I began the challenge back on the 1st March, I've run anywhere and everywhere I possibly could; while this is most often the beach here in Filey, I've clocked up the miles on my Humber surveys at Killingholme, Lincolnshire (many times), in Greenfield, Massachusetts, at the family homestead in the woods of Warren, Massachusetts, at Spurn Bird Observatory, East Yorks, in and around Lerwick, Shetland....

A particularly enjoyable run in the drizzle on the north coast of Yell, Shetland in the summer

.... at Masham in the Yorkshire Dales, in the countryside of Dordogne, France, in the wilds of Aberdeenshire, on the north coast of Yell, Shetland, and in Saxton's River, Vermont. With a few more trips planned in the next few months, I'll be adding to the list further as the second half rolls on....

In the wilds of Aberdeenshire, against many a swaying carpet of vibrant Rosebay Willowherb

As an aside, the timing of this post is perfect - after several years actively running, I ran my first ever sub-25 minute 5K yesterday. For many fitter, healthier types reading this, it's hardly a big deal - but it's all about context, and to this 50 year-old asthmatic with osteoarthritis, (genetic) high cholesterol and a life history pointedly lacking any meaningful exercise, it's a very big deal.... when I started running, bringing in a 5K in under half an hour was a lofty but realistic target. We've come a long way since then :-)

... and back here on the beach, where I get to jump straight into the sea after running on warm days. Bliss! 

So that's where I'm at as we welcome in the autumn proper. I'm generally happy with my progress so far, but the tough part is very much still to come. I've hundreds of kilometres to eat up over the next few months, and it'll only get colder, darker and wetter from here. So, any guilt/motivation/inspiration - in the form of hard cash! - is very welcome at this point :-) Help save our Swifts here, and thank you!

Killingholme, Lincs - mid-Sep '22

Spotted Redshank, suddenly materialising from the masses of Black-tailed Godwits

From my last couple of days surveying at Killingholme, my long term study site for Wold Ecology on the south bank of the Humber, nestled innocuously amidst heavy industry on three sides and the big river on the fourth. As regular readers will know it's a special place for me, despite - and partly because of - its bleak and post-apocalyptic backdrop; there are always birds, big skies, and ironically, there is always peace there.

Pintail heading upriver

It's a time of year when there's lots of changeover happening, and waders - particularly Black-tailed Godwits - are hitting their peak; I had a high count of over 5,000 this week, which were wonderful to see (and a pain in the arse to count, trust me).

Common Buzzard on the river wall

There's also lots of Redshanks and Avocets, I had my first skeins of Pink-footed Geese through yesterday, and plenty of other visible migration; I also had both Little Stint and Spotted Redshank, the former gunning upriver and the latter in with the Blackwits on the reserve, and there's always plenty of other interest.

(Sound up!) The crossover sounds of the autumn here on the #Lincs bank of the Humber right now - several flocks of excitable Pink-feet fresh from Iceland, twittering Swallows bound for Africa, restless Meadow Pipits and a Chiffchaff on the banks. All in an industrial wasteland 😍 pic.twitter.com/kmW2hGQQzI

— Mark James Pearson (@Markthebirder) September 15, 2022

Black-tailed Godwits communting between the reserve and the river

Little Egret - a common bird in the area

Spotted Redshank and Blackwits (a lot of)

An accommodating Kingfisher

New England, USA, July '22 - Mass

Male Chestnut-sided Warbler

After the lovely five days in Vermont, it was back to the family homestead in the wilds of Western Massachusetts - hardly the worst of environments - and much of our time was spent with our family, travelling to all corners of the state; lots of get-togethers and quality time. As mentioned in the last post, birding was effectively off the agenda, and - like our last trip in late winter/early spring - it was during a particularly quiet time of year anyway.

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk

But, there's always the garden. Effectively a lawn-mowed clearing in the woods, it's always a pleasure to observe what's happening there, and it's been a long time since I've been there in the height of the breeding season - so it was fascinating to see which species were actively rearing families in the (often overwhelming heat of midsummer.

Of those doing so, perhaps the most surprising were the Eastern Bluebirds cleverly utilising the netting on the underside of the solar panels in the backyard - no hole necessary, and a pretty much predator-proof choice, as evidenced by their young fledging while I was out there.

Garden friends

Another constant and very welcome presence were just-fledged Cooper Hawks, which were remarkably tame, noisy and clumsy - to the point where other birds in the area effectively ignored them; that'll have changed before long, though....

Breeding Eastern Bluebirds

Red-tailed Hawk, American Red Squirrel

Male Northern Cardinal