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

Well three days back home and well into the swing of things. The first job was to make the long awaited door for the information shelter, with the aim of reducing some of the rain being blown in on a South Westerly! I'm quite pleased with the result considering I can't draw a straight line let alone saw one, built, painted and installed. Quite quiet on the bird front breeding well under way and in the stiff North Easterly/ Easterly of the past few days not surprising that the best birds were two SWIFTS Common Swift (photo from Wikipedia ) But male Emperor Moth was a nice find, notice the "feather like" antenna, used to detect the pheromone emitted by the female moth Emperor Moth ♂ (note the large feathery antenna)

The long awaited trip to Lesvos ended on a bit of a high, see last post, and now its time to summarize the week. We stayed at the PELA hotel in Skala Kallonis, and I hired a car from Tsalis, a local on island business. We drove around 800km,(540ish miles), the weather was, in the main, unbroken sunshine for the whole week with temperatures ranging up to 27'c and the wind from the North or North East. In total we saw/heard 152 species plus a wagtail sub species, giving 153 in total; the highlights were. Teal, Scopoli's Shearwater, Black-crowned Night Heron, Glossy Ibis, Montagu's Harrier,  Honey Buzzard, Long-legged Buzzard, Goshawk, Eleonora's Falcon, Spotted Crake, Little Crake, Collared Pratincole, Temmincks Stint, Marsh Sandpiper, White-winged Tern, Whiskered Tern, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Scops Owl, Bee-Eater, Middle-Spotted Woodpecker, Short-toed Lark, Crag Martin, Red-rumped Swallow, Tawny Pipit, Red-throated Pipit,   Blue-headed Wagtail, Black-headed Wag

Today was intended to be a "mop up day", with Eastern Bonellis Warbler, Audouins Gull and Scopolis Shearwater, the target species. We stopped off at a well known Bonellis site, but to no sightings only the contact call, so off to Persama for Audouins and a possible Pochard, 100's of Y L GUll and a few Ruddy Shelduck 😞, a little inland 2 HONEY BUZZARDS were compensation. Honey Buzzard (Wikipedia) So off to Eftalou and a quick drink in a lovely Taverna where a few Yelkouan Shearwaters and a distant but identifiable SCOPOLIS SHEARWATER skimmed by! Scopolis Shearwater (Wikipedia) A drive up on to the coast road yielded a briefly perched, flyby, ORTOLAN BUNTING. Ortolan Bunting (library photo) A return to Persama reservoir and still no  Audoiuns Gull. Packing to be done before the return to WALES...................... A 2 hour pre dinner visit to the Kalloni Salt Pans was well worth it with, perhaps the star bird of the trip, an E

After a very quiet pre breakfast walk, we set off for Mount Olympus, there are quite a few "mount Olympus" in Greece so the Gods were not at home.... On the way we did some botanising, identification of some plants will need to wait for a rainy day at home. Ophrys minutula, a near island endemic Crown Anemone Fritillaria pontica Eventually we made for the mountain; the track I choose to take was, to say the least, a bit hairy loose gravel and boulders in a 4x4 it would have been fine in out Mervia it was interesting. The new road to Mount Olympus After forty minutes of mostly vertical climbing we arrived on the top, which hosts an unmanned military post (all done by electronics) we had amazing views of CRAG MARTIN, ALPINE SWIFT AND SERIN. After an easy drive down the new concrete road!!! we made our way back to the hotel for a refresh before heading out to the Kalloni Salt Pans where COLLARED PRATINCOLE (1), GLOSSY IBIS (

A prompt 9am departure gave opportunity for several stops on our way back to Ipsilou one of the highest points on the island at 684m, a result of un-erupted lava forcing its way to the surface and the resultant erosion of the overlying materials. As one of the dominant features on a migration route there are times when it can be literally dripping with migrant birds... but not today. The first stop was at the Kalloni Salt Pans, where GULL BILLED TERN was added to the trip list Gull-billed Tern . Before reaching Ipsilou we stopped off at a known location of MIDDLE SPOTTED WOODPECKER nest site, from a very safe distance we enjoyed great views. Middle-spotted Woodpecker Ipsilou had very few birds but SOMBRE TIT was new for the trip. I also found a single MEDITERRANEAN CHEQUERED SCORPION. Mediterranean Chequered Scorpion We set off towards Vatousa where we found ROCK SPARROW and a single CRAG MARTIN. Rock Sparrow A look for Easte

A lie in this morning, I'm sure the gang can manage to do their own thing without me, the birding is easy around the hotel and really suits a pre-breakfast walk. So before another busy day a catch up with a few photographs,

Another mammoth day, (17 hrs yesterday) and ten today...... Demanding gang ........so  much to show them so many great places to go and impressive birds and other wildlife to experience. Some of us started with a pre-breakfast bird watch at the Kalloni Salt Pans with DUNLIN, CURLEW SANDPIPER, WHISKERED TERN, being the highlights. Over breakfast of ham, cheese, homemade baked beans, bread and boiled eggs, out of the corner of my eye I saw a dark long tailed bird land in the poplar trees outside the patio, immediately I could see it was one of the most prized birds to find on the island a GREAT SPOTTED CUCKOO; I shouted a bit squeakily at the other guests who didn't pay any attention then I shouted louder and ran to find the rest of the group and the hotel owner, to say everyone was delighted with seeing this great bird would be an understatement. GREAT SPOTTED CUCKOO Post breakfast we all set off towards Polchinotos, another set of salt pans, along the way