Paul confessed to me as we gathered for lift off that he was getting a bit desperate as to where to go to find some different birds. He’d spoken to the other parties and they’d seen less than we had, and to make matters worse this was a Greek bank holiday when all the locals headed for the beaches and forests and lit large fires and cooked hot meals, in the baking heat. The early walkers around the pond reported more bird watchers than birds, so things really were going quiet.
We headed for the East River flood bank in the hope of seeing the previous days mystery Harrier, but no luck.
The bank was very quiet, with only COMMON TERN, SQUACCO HERON, BLACK HEADED BUNTING, YELLOW WAGTAIL, OLIVACEOUS WARBLER and BLACK WINGED STILT seen. Although as we turned towards the saltpans we had another good view of SOMBRE TIT. Paul confessed that we had seen many more of this species than was usual, and generally when they were did turn up they were normally very elusive and difficult to see.
A drive along the saltpans to the main road was likewise very quiet, and only produced several AVOCET, and one or two GREENSHANK, WOOD SANDPIPER, LITTLE EGRET, COMMON SANDPIPER and GOLDFINCH.
As we approached the main road the bank holiday became evident with every form of motor transport ever made, travelling at maximum speed for the north. One motor cyclist stood out from the rest with two small children sitting on the tank, and a woman on the pillion holding a small baby and of course not a crash helmet between them.
The standard of driving really was appalling on Lesvos, nothing was barred,
which accounts for the large numbers of roadside shrines to the fallen.
An awkward walk avoiding the traffic was made along the mud on the inner end of the saltpans, but barely a bird was to be seen.
We eventually parked on a bypassed section of road near the turn off for Derbyshire among sundry bank holiday travellers enjoying snacks, cooling vehicles down etc., and headed inland along a rough rocky track among olive groves and scrub., with a marshy area to the south and rising ground to the north. Despite desperate efforts on the part of the leaders, birds were few, all that could be found was yet another SOMBRE TIT, two SHORT TOED EAGLES, two RED BACKED SHRIKE, male and female MASKED SHRIKE, four WHINCHATS, and needless to add our old faithfuls BLACK HEADED BUNTING, and BLACK EARED WHEATEAR. Butterflies however were prolific, and due to the lack of birds everyone took up butterfly hunting. After being bored to death by me for a week, they were now joining in with a will. The vast majority were COMMON BLUE, BATON BLUE, and SMALL HEATH, but we managed to identify a number of RUSSIAN HEATH, and very bright ADONIS BLUE and SOUTHERN SWALLOWTAIL, as well as one or two fast moving EASTERN FESTOONS.
Upon arrival back at the bus Capt. Phil spotted a fritillary basking on a slab of concrete. Field Guides at the ready, it was identified as a QUEEN OF SPAIN FRITILLARY, quickly joined by a HEATH FRITILLARY a few seconds later. The parked locals were needless to add highly amused by our antics. At the same time our resident botanist; Paul, identified LOOSE FLOWERED ORCHID and TONGUE ORCHID close by.
Our drivers then headed southeast to try to find somewhere for lunch, bearing in mind the bank holiday “crowds”. We headed over the hills on to the southern plain at the inland end of the Bay of Geras. We turned southwest off the main road and shortly halted at a taverna near the hamlet of Ntipi. As we sat enjoying the usual excellent meal outside we kept an eye on a nearby two hundred foot rock face, which contained breeding PEREGRINE and CRAG MARTIN. A NIGHTINGALE perched singing in a nearby bush, and everyone had excellent views of CETTIS WARBLER chattering on a reed in an adjacent ditch. A LONG LEGGED BUZZARD did a low pass giving everyone the usual full identification features that this species seems keen to promote. It’s strange that we always seem to get excellent views of this colourful raptor, I wonder if it has a natural curiosity about bird watchers.
And it got hotter and hotter, so after taking photographs of some spectacular GIANT FENNEL at the roadside, we drove a little way up the road to the edge of a marsh overlooking the end of the bay.
At this point jet-black clouds appeared overhead and within minutes two ear splitting cracks of thunder introduced a torrential downpour of rain. Although it only lasted for some five minutes it didn’t half come down.
The rain stopped, the sun came out again and the road positively steamed in the heat and within ten minutes you wouldn’t have known it had rained. The sun beat down once again but some surrounding areas had obviously had much more rain than us judging from the surrounding clouds. It did not take long for the storm clouds to totally disappear, and the day got hotter and hotter.
Meanwhile on a nearby sandbar at the inland end of the bay was a flock of some hundred or so YELLOW LEGGED GULL, accompanied by a new bird for the week, a solitary BLACK HEADED GULL. On the adjacent marsh a GREAT REED WARBLER was chattering and we all had a good look at a most obliging REED WARBLER perched on the top of a reed.
We then headed for the forested foothills of the three thousand foot Mount Olympus; a highly spectacular looking mountain with a very steep rocky dome rising from out of the forest, crowned I may add by the usual mass of aerials and radar domes which usually seems to be the case in much of mainland Europe.
As we ground up and down the steep hills and around the hairpins everyone kept an eye open for raptors. At one point where the forest opened out slightly we stopped for a scan around, seeing two COMMON SPARROWHAWK, and three very low flying HONEY BUZZARDS, which provided us with unusually close views. Another new bird for the week was a WREN, providing an agreeable form of noise pollution from a nearby bush, whilst a couple of ALPINE SWIFTS conducted aerial manoeuvers overhead. This point seemed to be a favourite spot for CLOUDED YELLOW butterflies as I saw several here during our short stay, as well as SMALL HEATH, COMMON BLUE, SWALLOWTAIL, and EASTERN FESTOON.
En route again we glimpsed COMMON BUZZARD and SHORT TOED EAGLE, from the bus.
We eventually disembarked below the village of Agiasos, at a hairpin bend in the road, where it crossed a deeply cut ravine, and set out to walk steeply uphill along a rough rocky track some twenty feet above the stream, through the forest. Lillian decided to have a rest and sit in the bus, which nearly proved fatal, as you will see.
Ed almost immediately called everyone’s attention to a GREY WAGTAIL flirting about on the rocks in the stream. Whilst the rest of us disturbed a flock of SERIN, which continued feeding in the adjacent trees. Then, like pulling a rabbit from a hat our leader triumphantly pointed out KRUPERS NUTHATCH at its nest hole in a nearby tree. This was; it appeared afterwards, the main reason for our visit. This time we all had excellent ‘scope views of the birds flying in and out with food. The other specialty of this area; Robin, we never did see, but we were not too upset. A singing CHAFFINCH provoked some discussion on the slightly different song performed by this species on Lesvos compared to English birds.
A large pinkish looking raptor, suggesting Levant Sparrow Hawk flew across a gap in the trees, but it never reappeared. Butterflies were prolific with large numbers of both EASTERN FESTOON and SCARCE SWALLOWTAIL extremely abundant amongst the more common species. A strange occurrence was an OLIVACEOUS WARBLER, in a bush, in this somewhat unsuitable habitat.
No one was inclined to hurry as the track was very steep and rocky, and it was pleasantly shaded from the blazing sun. We stopped for a scan around at a bend in the track noting WREN, GREAT TIT, and a distantly calling CUCKOO. We returned down the hill with Monica pestering me with obscure questions on Butterfly identification, whence I had to resort to waffle, a lot of the time since I didn’t know the answers.
Lillian in the meantime had decided to clamber up the rocks above the bus to look at some flowers. Paul became very excited when he saw them since they turned out to be the very rare and little known COMPERS ORCHID, which has a totally unknown range. Whilst we examined them Lillian encouraged by her success climbed out on to a precarious rock face overhanging a sheer drop of some twenty feet, studded with jagged rocks jutting out from the face and ending in a boulder strewn flat area against the stream. Capt. Phil seeing this called for her to come back, which she did; or at least she nearly did, since as she reached for Phil’s outstretched hand; she slipped and went crashing down through the rocks on to the flat area below, a drop of fully twenty feet. . Phil and I were in fact the only ones who saw what happened, and were down to her in seconds expecting to find a dead, or at least badly injured old lady lying below. She had in fact missed all the rocks on the way down, and landed on a small area of thick pine needles surrounded by rocks, and she hadn’t even broken her glasses. Her only comment was, in a broad Glaswegian accent; “Bloody stupid old woman, I ought to know better” Her “friend” Nancy had no sympathy saying “She’ll do something like that once too often one of these days”. Lillian refused to sit and recover, and with our assistance made her way back up the rocks. Capt Phil on the other hand was extremely shaken and had to sit down for a few minutes to recover, but Lillian was more embarrassed than shaken and swore at anyone who enquired after her health. God was certainly with both Lillian and us on this day.
Whilst all this was going on, the KRUPERS NUTHATCH continued to perform above the scene of the drama, whilst SOMBRE TIT and NIGHTINGALE were recorded, as was a distantly seen HOOPOE, which of course I missed.
With everyone saying silent prayers and promising to be kind to all old ladies in the future, we set off north west. A police car followed us for some distance to see what we were up to, and even parked when we parked. They lost interest however when we offered to show them the WHITE STORK through the scopes which we had stopped to see. We eventually arrived back on the coastal road on the south side of the Bay of Kallonis, close to Achladeri where we had our first sighting of Krupers Nuthatch. We didn’t stop since the whole area was heaving with local Greek holidaymakers still lighting enormous fires, in many cases to dry their clothes. It had obviously rained very long and heavily in this area.
A short halt at Derbyshire produced nothing but distant SHORT TOED EAGLE, all else having taken to hiding from the holidaymakers and the heat.
Back along the saltpan moat there was little to be seen except for BLACK STORK, LITTLE TERN and a solitary LITTLE GREBE, which made a change.
Capt. Phil in the lead bus which contained Lillian decide to drive along a track over to the East River which we hadn’t tried before. There were a number of marshy pools along the way, which contained WHITE STORK, COMMON SANDPIPER, WOOD SANDPIPER, and LITTLE RINGED PLOVER.
I was gazing into the middle distance looking for birds, when we suddenly performed an emergency stop, throwing us forwards in our seats. Looking ahead, I was amazed to see Capt. Phil’s bus, which incidentally contained all the elderly ladies leaning over at an angle of forty five degrees. Phil had driven the left hand wheels into a soft mud filled rut of indeterminate depth, whilst doing what he was paid for: looking for birds.
We piled out of our bus to assess the situation, and found that the left hand wheels were hanging in space and the bus was resting on the bodywork on that side. Escape was difficult since the left hand doors could not be opened, and the right hand doors were pointing forty-five degrees upwards, and to exacerbate matters were buried in a thorn hedge. We approached the matter scientifically, discovering that the rear of the bus was nearest to solid ground, and fortuitously the vehicle was rear wheel drive. Whilst some of us looked for solid matter to stuff under the wheels the other formed a human chain to rescue the passengers by leaning on the thorn hedge and guiding them out to safety. All this time Richard was having one of his wobblers screaming about tow trucks, and how we’d never get one on a bank holiday, we’d be here for hours etc, until someone told him to shut up and help.
Paul stayed buried in the hedge so that he could push on an open window, and the remaining able bodied personnel gathered at the front in order to push it backwards. Ed only took up his position after he made quite sure that he wouldn’t get splashed with mud. I stood back to take a photograph as Phil revved the bus in reverse gear. It was probably coincidence but it never moved until I took up a position on the low side pushing the bus upright so that the wheels could grip. Once it started to move it came out with a rush, needless to add splashing me with mud. Paul emerged from the hedge looking as though he’d been fighting with a big cat. As the bus emerged onto solid ground; Richard the s** said, “There you are, I knew we could push it out”. Everyone ignored him for some time after that.
We eventually gained the river, and Phil shunted the bus in and out of the ford to clean some of the mud off. Paul commented, “The next thing, he’ll drive off the ford into deep water since he’s got Lillian on board. She’s accident prone and it could be third time unlucky”. As we drove for home we saw, or some of us saw a MIDDLE SPOTTED WOODPECKER, fly across the track. Another of those highly elusive and rarely seen SOMBRE TITS sat up happily posing on a bush.
The buses were left at the hotel for us to clean up and change ready for the farewell meal in the village.
I had a dip in the pool and a couple of beers with Ed, and we all set off to walk into the village. It was still extremely hot although it was by now seven o’ clock.
Paul had arranged the meal at a different taverna to usual, but it was as usual, excellent.
Half of us had a meat-based meal whilst the others including myself, had a fish based meal, and the retsina was really superb. Afterwards we all spilled outside into the twilight, and it wasn’t until Ed and I arrived back at the hotel that we realised that the others weren’t with us. It appears that they decided to go around the pond the long way , but they didn’t see anything in the darkness, and we were well into our second beer when they arrived. Following several more beers and a swig of ouzo, I did some preliminary packing and went to bed.
SUNDAY 2 MAY Last day DAY 8
Arose around six and finished my packing, afterwards going for a last walk around the pool. Most of our party was out and about, and an addition to the pool’s usual residents was three TEMMINCKS STINT and a couple of RUFF, but there was nothing else unusual. We said our last goodbye to the extremely tame OLIVACIOUS WARBLER, which seemed to greet all pre breakfast birders as they arrived at the pond. Upon my return I contrived to lock myself out of my room and had to go to reception to borrow the master key to get in.
I had my last magnificent hotel breakfast, with lashings of Greek yoghurt and honey, and we piled onto the buses for a last round of the East River and Salt Pans before lunch.
The weather was very hot, and the East River was extremely quiet, little was seen other than a LITTLE EGRET, a SQUACCO HERON, plus the inevitable BLACK EARED WHEATEAR, and BLACK HEADED BUNTING, but everything else seemed to be hiding from the heat even at this early hour.
There were some birds on the saltpans, but I was convinced that they were the same ones as yesterday, and even earlier in the week. On the pans themselves were single SPOTTED REDSHANK and COMMON SANDPIPER and small numbers of GREENSHANK, AVOCET, LITTLE EGRET, TEMMINCKS STINT, and LITTLE STINT with two circling MARSH HARRIERS. As we alighted and crossed the infamous cattle grid, we saw two RED THROATED PIPITS and a small party of SHORT TOED LARKS, on the little marsh, with LITTLE TERN and OLIVACIOUS WARBLER hanging around the seaward end of the moat., although the familiar solitary BEE EATER which we had seen on every previous visit had gone.
We set off to walk around the end of the saltpans, but it was getting very hot, and birds were very sparse. Butterflies were however in good numbers although the only one of note was an unusually bright looking blue, which although allowing a good examination, I could not definitely identify. I had to assume it was a Common Blue, since these can be very variable.
As we crossed the scrub along the coastal strip, a party of four BEE EATERS flew low overhead.
Someone commented that the solitary Bee Eater had been waiting for his mates who had now arrived. The far saltpan boundary produced seventeen GREY HERON, sixteen RUDDY SHELDUCK plus small numbers of WHITE WINGED BLACK TERN, ten or twelve WHINCHAT, as well as two more new birds for the week in the shape of a SANDWICH TERN, and a party of three MALLARD.
As we returned, we paused at the outlet channel bridge for a rest, and to watch hawking SAND MARTINS, BARN SWALLOW, and RED RUMPED SWALLOW skimming beneath us. The channel seemed to contain a lot of thick strands of grass, or so we thought, until Phil H said” Hey, one of these pieces of grass has just eaten a small fish”. Capt. Phil clambered down the bank for a closer look, and told us that they were in fact PIPE FISH.
Along the coastal shrub Capt. Phil discovered a pair of mating fritillaries, which with the aid of the field guide we identified as SPOTTED FRITILLARY, then a little further along the track we came across another member of the family, which turned out to be another QUEEN OF SPAIN FRITILLARY. Back at the cattle grid, Monica and myself pursued an unfamiliar looking blue, which eventually settled and proved to be a CHAPMANS BLUE. The rest of the party took great delight in telling us that we had missed a HOOPOE flying across the field. Incidentally, the solitary BEE EATER was back on his post again, so they couldn’t have been his mates after all. The last piece of new wildlife was a BLOODY NOSE BEETLE, which Capt. Phil discovered scuttling along the track. We then witnessed a spectacular avalanche. on the nearby salt mountain.
A totally uneventful return to the hotel was followed by the usual excellent meal, and we boarded the buses for the last time to travel to the airport, all of the luggage as usual going by taxi. As we gathered to leave, Paul told me how worried they were about the lack of birds, since another party was due in later in the evening, and they didn’t know how they were going to fill the week. So it was goodbye to the innumerable CORN BUNTINGS and CRESTED LARKS with which we had shared virtually every possible habitat.
As we set off for the southeast the weather was still very hot but was beginning to cloud over a little. We saw little or nothing in the way of birds on the way but seeing Mytilini in daylight was a salutary experience. What a dump. Half made roads, constant building work, none of which seemed to be progressing, closed off roads, which Phil told us had not progressed in three years.
As we ran alongside the beach to the airport, we saw our last Lesbian bird, a WHITE WAGTAIL. Upon arrival, there was a minor panic when the taxi containing the luggage could not be found, but it eventually showed up. In the queue for check in I pushed my case with my bad leg, and nearly passed out with the pain, it did not subside for half an hour or so, and still hurt the following week. Shaking hands and saying our goodbyes to our two excellent leaders we went to board the plane, which was a Macedonian Airways Boeing 727 named “Menalon”. It was quite noticeable when we took off how quiet the aircraft was. Apparently all the noise gets left behind to deafen those on the ground. As we headed sky wards a hugh flock of Hoopoe appeared from the airport perimeter chirping “Missed us, missed us”. Only kidding!
Visibility was not very good, but we managed to glimpse the Salt Pans and the salt mountain as we passed close by, as well as a lot of BOTTLE NOSED DOLPHINS on the sea.
Athens was both hot and cloudy, and my knee hurt so much that I spent the entire three hour wait in the bar opposite the terminal building, with Ed and Elaine, drinking expensive beer and eating Spanish salad, all laced with the occasional swig of ouzo from out of my plastic bottle.
As we passed into the departure area, I bought some rather classy Greek tat for presents. We boarded the plane, which rather disappointingly was a Boeing 737-400 named, can you believe it “Virginia”. The plane was only half full, but I had an aisle seat and plenty of room, but there was very little to be seen anyway due to the poor visibility, whilst the Hodgsons stopped talking only in order to sleep.
The meal was again magnificent with excellent red wine, and we landed a few minutes late at Heath Row in bright sunshine. Having said our goodbyes, I wandered over to catch the bus, and after an uneventful journey arrived home at twelve thirty a.m.
............................................
Impressions of Lesvos * Wild flowers and still more wildflowers everywhere.
* Mountains, hairpin bends and steep hills
* White houses with red roofs and really superb food.
* Olive trees and thickly wooded mountain valleys
* Idiot drivers, with no sense of danger
* Motorbikes ridden by three or four people at a time
* Donkeys ridden sidesaddle. A common sight in the hills.
* Magnificent scenery, and the wonderful scent of Tamarisk
* Crested Larks under your feet and Corn Buntings on every
perch, so common that they did not register after a while.
AFTERNOTE ref. page 21 and the HARRIER controversy. When Paul’s report was eventually published, he confirmed that the controversial bird was indeed a PALLID HARRIER, and Capt. Phil agreed. This was based on further textbook research and the fact that three more identical birds were sighted the following week giving somewhat better views.
LESVOS 1999
List of birds noted
# Common in most suitable habitats
## Common in all suitable habitats
Little grebe Moorhen Woodlark
Great crested grebe Common coot Sand martin
Corys shearwater # Black-winged stilt Crag martin
Shag Avocet Barn swallow
Little bittern Stone curlew Red rumped swallow Night heron Common Pratincole ## House martin
# Squacco heron Little ringed plover Tawny pipit
Little egret Kentish plover Tree pipit
Great egret Little stint Red throated pipit
Grey heron Temminck’s stint Black-headed wagtail
Black stork Ruff Yellow wagtail
White stork Common snipe Grey wagtail
Glossy ibis Spotted redshank White wagtail
Greater flamingo Common greenshank Citrine wagtail
Ruddy Shelduck ## Wood sandpiper Rufous nightingale
Mallard Common sandpiper Whinchat
Mute swan Black headed gull Common stonechat
Garganey ## Yellow legged gull Isabelline wheatear
Honey buzzard Gull billed tern Northern wheatear
# Short toed eagle Sandwich tern # Black eared wheatear
Marsh harrier Common tern Rock thrush
Montagu’s harrier Little tern Blue rock thrush
Sparrow hawk Whiskered tern Blackbird
# Common buzzard White winged black tern Mistle thrush
Long legged buzzard Rock dove
Bonelli’s eagle Collared dove
Osprey Turtle dove
Lesser kestrel Common cuckoo
Common kestrel Little owl
Red-footed falcon Common swift
Hobby Alpine swift
Eleanora’s falcon European bee-eater
Peregrine falcon Hoopoe
Water rail Middle spotted woodpecker
Spotted crake Short toed lark
Pallid Harrier # Crested lark
Cetti’s warbler Kruper’s nuthatch
Fan tailed warbler (Zitting Cisticola) Rock nuthatch
Sedge warbler Wren
Reed warbler Golden oriole
Great reed warbler Red backed shrike
## Olivaceous warbler Lesser grey shrike
Subalpine warbler Woodchat shrike
Ruppel’s warbler Masked shrike
Orphean warbler Eurasian jay
Lesser whitethroat ## Hooded crow
Common whitethroat Common raven
Blackcap Jackdaw
Wood warbler Common starling
Chiffchaff ## House sparrow
Willow warbler # Spanish sparrow
Spotted flycatcher Rock sparrow
Collared flycatcher # Chaffinch
Pied flycatcher # Greenfinch
# Blue tit European Serin
# Great tit # Goldfinch
Sombre tit Linnet
Cirl bunting
Ortolan bunting
Cretzschmar’s bunting
Cinereous bunting
## Black headed bunting
## Corn bunting
LEPIDOPTERA
Hungarian Skipper (Spialia orbifer) Queen of Spain Fritillary (Issoria lathonia)
# Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) Twin Spot Fritillary (Brenthis hecate)
Southern Swallowtail (P.alexanor) Spotted Fritillary (Melitaea didyma)
# Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius) Heath fritillary (Mellicta athalia)
Eastern Festoon (Zerynthia cerisyi) Grayling (Hipparchia Semele)
Large White (Pieris brassicae) Southern Gatekeeper (Pyronia cecilia)
## Small White (Artogeia rapae) ## Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus)
Southern Small White (A. manei) Russian Heath (C. leander)
Mountain Small White (A. ergane) Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
Green Veined White (A. napi) ## Wall Brown (Lasiommata maera)
Kruper’s Small White (A. Kueperi) ## Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas)
Bath White (Pontia daplidice) Sooty Copper (Heodes tityrus)
Small Bath White (P.chloridice) Baton Blue (Pseudophilotes baton)
Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines) Green Underside Blue (Glaucopsyche alexis)
Clouded Yellow (Colias crocea) Nettle Tree Butterfly (Libythea celtis)
Small Tortoishell (Aglais urticae) Brown Argus (Aricia agestis)
Painted Lady (Cynthia cardui) Chapmans Blue (Agrodiaetus thersites)
Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) Adonis Blue (Lysandra bellargus)
Zephyr Blue (Plebejus pylaon ## Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) Iola’s Blue (Iolana iolas)
## Common in all habitats
# Common in most habitats TOTAL 39 SPECIES
# Persian Squirrel Montpellier’s snake
Spur thighed tortoise Dice snake
# European pond terrapin
Stripe necked terrapin Atlantic bottle nosed dolphin
# Balkan wall lizard
# Balkan Green lizard Valania jellyfish
Agama lizard
Turkish Gecko # Red mullet
# Grey mullet
Colin Barker 29th May 1999 |
