Lesvos, autumn '22 - part three

(This is the penultimate Lesvos post, covering Days Five and Six (2nd and 3rd October) of our trip; for previous posts, click on the 'older posts' link at the foot of this bulletin. For the final part, watch this space!).

Red-footed Falcon - one of five we clocked elegantly negotiating the strait between Turkey and us

Our fifth day on the island began with relaxed morning sessions nearby at Tsiknias river, Lotzaria Track and Kalloni saltpans (all just east of our base), which produced another satisfying diversity and abundance of migrants before we headed through the hills toward the north coast, in the hope of some raptor passage on potentially favourable winds.....

One of 20 Marsh Harriers for the session....

One of 79 Honey-buzzards.....

Stops en route in farmland near Petra and at Molinos Reservoir were entertaining enough, but not entertaining enough to stop us sticking to plan A, and a session at the idyllic Lepetimnos watchpoint. With the wind in the north-west (after persistent southerlies), we were hoping there may be raptors heading over from the Turkish coast, just six or so kilometres over the water...

.... and another....

.... and another Red-foot.....

For the next four and a half hours, we tipped our sun hats to the mainland, kicked back and enjoyed the view - which, happily, included many incoming raptors. There were many highlights, common and scarce, and those distant dots over the water often happily became close-up, spine-tingling fly-bys, and included:

... and another two Honey-buzzards....

... one of 33 Sparrowhawks... 

24 (!) Eleonora's Falcons, two Booted Eagles, four Red-footed Falcons, 79 Honey-buzzards, 10 Hobbys, 14 falcon sp., an Osprey, six Short-toed Eagles, 20 Marsh Harriers, one harrier sp., 33 Sparrowhawks, five Common Buzzards, 30 (Common) Kestrels, two Kestrel sp, a Bee-eater, many hirundines, five Spoonbills and more.....

Raptor-watching from our favourite cafe balcony

A close-up fly-by Goshawk

The following morning, we decided to explore an area we'd driven by previously - an open, arid, rocky area with areas of scrub - on the way to the north of the island again, known as Napi Valley; plenty of migrants here, including a good cast of Sylvias, the requisite band of Willow Warblers, scattered Western Rock Nuthatches, a few Redstarts, pipits, buntings, finches and Spot Flys.

One of, well, many Red-backed Shrikes 

After the previous day's bounty, we couldn't resist another roll of the dice at the raptor watchpoint, and while it didn't hit the same heights, there was still plenty of passage - 13 Honey-buzzards, Short-toed and Booted Eagles, 26 Sparrowhawks, a Goshawk, a Red-footed Falcon (from the cafe veranda), a couple of Hobbys, a few Kestrels....

....and lots of passerine vismig, including five Crag Martins, 80 Barn Swallows, Spotted Flycatchers, Blackbirds, wagtails, Tree Pipits and more. For the remainder of the afternoon? A buzz around the saltpans and nearby farmland, then a run, a swim, dinner and beers on the beach, as with most days. Tough times.

Western Rock Nuthatches

Tree Pipit

Lesvos, autumn '22 - part two

Long-tailed Tit - looking and sounding very different, but equally charismatic and rad 

Eleonora's Falcons - just divine

Days Three and Four

Day three was - like pretty much every day - sunny, warm, bird-filled and hugely enjoyable, and involved local sites in the morning and a drive out to Ipsilou Monastery (via various stops) for the afternoon session.

Sombre Tit playing Celebrity Squares 

We started with a few hours birding on our doorstep. The western side of Kalloni saltpans - and just as importantly, the messy, fertile, diverse and bird-rich farmland on our side of them, known as the Lotzaria Track - were just ten minutes away (via the greatest secret bakery in Europe), and we enjoyed an excellent abundance of grounded migrants here (as always, it turned out).

Ipsilou Monastery 

 

Birding here involved rolling slowly along the tracks, stopping every few minutes and enjoying what was on offer, which included at least 30 Red-backed Shrikes, a Woodchat Shrike, five Red-throated Pipits, two Tawny Pipits, 20 Whinchats, 65 Willow Warblers, 30 Yellow Wagtails (including thunbergi), Wheatears, Stonechats, lots of finches and Corn Buntings, Spotted Flycatchers, hirundines and more....

Often otherwise elusive, Sombre Tits were easily viewed from the monastery walls as they picked seeds from thistles in rocky, open terrain

... while a not-too-intense check of the saltpans produced various waders (Grey Plovers, Greenshanks, Green Sand, Sanderling, Little Stint, Dunlins, Curlew Sands, Redshank etc) plus Black Storks, Dalmatian Pelicans and 500+ Greater Flamingos; overhead, raptors included several Eleonora's Falcons, six Honey-buzzards, Osprey, Marsh Harriers, (the semi-resident?) Steppe Buzzard, Common Buzzards, Sparrowhawks and more.

Western Rock Nuthatches - cracking views of cracking birds

Then on to Ispilou Monastery over on the far western side of the island, where we'd a few target species in mind as well as looking forward to the views and landscapes (thanks again, Howard, for all your spot-on gen!). The drive involved hair-pinning up and down wooded mountain slopes, through small settlements and eventually up to the monastery itself, teetering atop a rocky peak overlooking, well, everything (I offered to drive, but Rich wouldn't be swayed, instead relishing the rallying opportunities).

Starred Agama

En route, we made stops where we bumped into roaming passerine flocks, which included various species, none more attractive and fascinating than the local Long-tailed Tits (which look, and sound, completely different), as well as our first Sombre Tits, local race Wood Nuthatches and more.

Juvenile Woodchat

Up at the monastery, meanwhile, and it was fish-in-a-barrel style birding for close-up Sombre Tits and Western Rock Nuthatches, as well as the effortlessly Godzilla-cool Starred Agamas; a wonderful place, which we had to ourselves (but for a young monk and his visiting family).

Day Four, and we hit the Kalloni saltpans early, with the rising sun behind us and a panorama full of birds before us. A long list of species here included great views of Dalmatian Pelicans and lots of waders, but we were soon on our way to another network of saltpans which we'd enjoyed with Eleni a couple of days previously, at Polichnitos (over the bay to the south-east).

Short-toed Eagle at the monastery

What a place - by an easily accessed, undisturbed track, with the birds pretty much on a plate - which included five Marsh Sandpipers, 35 Little Stints, 100+ Flamingos, 50 Avocets, 20 Curlew Sandpipers, 15 Kentish Plovers, lots of Slender-billed and Med Gulls, and lots of passerine migration around us - including a wonderful 100+ Willow Warblers moving through in determined waves.

Dalmatian Pelican and friends

Lunch stop in the hills

The meandering, rocky track back to the main road took us through wonderfully fertile, mixed farmland habitat with lots of scrub, olive groves and trees - and lots more migrants, which included over a hundred Blackcaps, another 50 Willow Warblers, 40 Garden Warblers, lots of both Whitethroat sp., Sardinian Warblers, 20 Spotted Flycatchers and plenty more. Wonderful stuff - and we'd be back here for more soon enough....

Female and male Sardinian Warblers

The plague, a.k.a. Willow Warblers

An evening session at Ennia Kamares - an area of open grassland and saline marsh near the hotel - produced plenty, not least 150 Corn Buntings (as well as Red-throated pipits, various Yellow Wags, waders and more). With the winds swinging round to the north-west (after being fixed in the south for some days), it was up to the north coast for day five, in the hope of a few raptors.....

Whinchat - pleasingly abundant

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