Paul's Blog - All comments and views are my own,

Another early start this morning saw us at Metochi lake again, what a contrast with yesterday, there were hardly any birds about, the best we could manage were: one Purple Heron, one Wood Sandpiper, two Spoonbill, two Black Stork, and a Lesser Whitethroat. After breakfast we drove along the Tsiknias river to the salt pans and picked up Kingfisher and lots of Willow Warbler including a "northern" type bird. The pans gave us Marsh Sandpiper, three Yellow  Wagtail spp, and two Tawny Pipits, a good adult and a 1st year. I wanted to count the flamingos today so after a lot of clicking I got to 1535, with a good proportion of immature birds,  a minimum of 18 Great White Egrets, there were many more than this I'm sure. the duo od pelicans and the singleton were still present. A dodgy shot of some of the 1535 Greater Flamingos We drove South East,picking up Sparrowhawk and nine Med Gulls to do a bit of raptor watching on a hillside over looking Vatera, in the compan

some more pics from yesterday Red Veined Darter, female Bedriagas marsh frog Hornet drinking from reservoir edge Head on attack from red Veined Darter   At the Potamia valley reservoir there were hundreds of Violet Dropwings, mostly displaying males, a mass of Hornets sp and an immature Bedriagas Marsh Frog.   

After a safe and decent flight from the UK to Mytilene, we did very little yesterday as it was very warm. Today saw a 06:30 start with a visit to Metochi lake, which surprisingly, was almost at spring levels. Present of note were three Spoonbill, 15 Grey Heron, three Purple Heron, three Wood Sandpiper and a green Sandpiper. High and flying southg were four raptors probably long-Legged Buzzard. After breakfast we visited the Kalloni Saltpans where we were treated to the following selection of wildlife: thee Zitting cisticola, Five Great White Egret, Greenshank, Redshank, 100's of Avocet, c1500 Greater Flamingo, Two Dalmation Pelicans, 1 Great White Pelican and a Black Tern. Some photos from this morning Kalloni Salt Pans, in the picture are Greater Flamingos, Slender-billed Gulls, and Little Egret Juvenile Red-backed Shrike  

Just been finalizing the packing?, the books alone must weigh 5kg that's without the bins', scope', and tripod. The hold luggage is borderline at 19kg and the hand luggage is close to the limit at 6.1kg opps. Speaks for itself!!! I've packed some old but useable clothes to hand in at the refugee centre in Molyvos, its just a gesture but... I've also been doing some planning, and will aim to visit areas of the island that I have never been too before, and there are quite a few locations to be explored, Steve Dudley's guide to Lesvos has been, as ever, invaluable in the planning process, so it looks like the south west will get explored more this time. planning in progress........., maybe we won't get lost this time Nick!

I gave ringing the garden a go for a few hours this morning, very few (3) birds caught, if I wanted to catch a lot of tits I could have moved the feeders!!1 The best was a juvenile Starling, the plumage is amazing on these young birds as they transition from their juvenile plumage into their first adult plumage. Juvenile Starling Juvenile Starling, note the staining on this birds face, Blackberries for breakfast I think? As I am off to Lesbos on Saturday, subject to internet connections/charges, the BLOG may be updated daily or on my return.

Following on from the rough weather this morning dawned cool, bright and calm(ish), so a visit to WWT was on the cards. I popped into Sandy Water Park first where the gulls were at their high tide roost, this particular individual caught my eye and I'm waiting for 100% confirmation of its id. Immature gull? Herring Gull or Yellow Legged Gull At WWT the tide had peaked and there were around 2500 waders on the scrapes an amazing sight. some of the 2500 birds present So what did we have? 669 Knot, 354 Curlew, 63 Greenshank, 209 Redshank,40 Lapwing,  20 Dunlin, 2 Spotted redshank (maybe 3), 2 Juv Ruff, 1 CURLEW SANDPIPER, 1 GREY PLOVER, as well as 100 Greylag geese, 23 Shelduck and 1 Kingfisher along with Grey Heron and Little Egrets. heavy photo crop of Grey Plover another heavy photo crop, Curlew Sandpiper A really good morning Knot

After the first real gale of the autumn and with high tide at 08:15hrs I thought it would be perfect for a quick seawatch at Pembrey Harbour. The small marsh to the West of the old harbour It proved interesting, with the following sightings betwwen 07:30hrs and 08:30hrs seemed longer? cropped pic of GBB Gull cropped pic of Sandwich tern Three GBB Gulls, 11 Common Scoter, 2 "Auk" sp, 2 adult Gannet, 12 Turnstone, five Dunlin, c150 Ringed Plover, c 600 Oystercatchers, 29 Knot, 22 Sandeling, four Sandwich terns, 11 Pintail, three Stonechat, five Skylark, 2 Northern Wheater ♀ type, . Oystercatchers, count them if you want Northern Wheater ♀ /immaturetype All in all a pretty busy hour.