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For a week in late August, I had a holiday on the island of Lesvos in Greece. It was far from a birding holiday, but I was able to get in some birding each day, as can be found in the diary notes below! We were staying in the small village of Anaxos in the north of the island, which turned out to be a pretty good base for turning up many of the resident species of the island, as well as a host of migrants.
22nd August - Arriving at our apartment in the early hours, a Whimbrel was noted calling in the early morning darkness. I decided to spend my pre-breakfast wander around the olive groves and overgrown gardens to the west of the village. Large numbers of Eastern Subalpine Warblers were noted, along with several Blackcaps, a Lesser Whitethroat, four Whitethroats, three Spotted Flycatchers and a couple of Nightingales. A sharp ‘tack-ing’ from a nearby hillside produced my first Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, whilst in the same area a juvenile Masked Shrike and a smart male Black-eared Wheatear were noted. One of the greatest surprises of the first morning was to be found in the number of Middle Spotted Woodpeckers present, with birds calling constantly along the road. Visible migration was practically non-existent in the valley bottom with clear skies, although a couple of Red-throated Pipits were heard calling, whilst more surprising was a superb male Levant Sparrowhawk that cruised up the valley.
Back to the village and a Peregrine cruised over, much to the consternation of the many hundreds of hundreds of hirundines, including many Red-rumped Swallows. Several Shags were noted offshore, along with many Yellow-legged Gulls.
The rest of the day was spent chilling out, although the small paddock adjacent to the apartments produced a juvenile Cuckoo, Turtle Dove, three Yellow Wagtails and a juvenile Woodchat Shrike which lingered all week.
23rd August - Another dawn start, and again I concentrated on the gardens and olive groves west of the village. The variety was much the same as the previous day, with Eastern Subalpine Warblers and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers dominating proceedings! Overhead, an Ortolan Bunting was seen and heard along with seven Yellow Wagtails. Back in the scrub, and a couple of buzzing Sombre Tits were found in the olive groves further along the road by the ’turn-off’ to Ampelia Beach. Further on and some more open cultivations held three Turtle Doves and several family parties of Cirl Buntings. Back towards the village and several Nightingales played hide-and-seek in an overgrow garden, whilst an Orphean Warbler appeared briefly.
Walking eastwards and into the town of Petra, I found an excellent area of cultivated fields on the cliff tops just West of Anaxos, which would warrant much greater scrutiny later on! In Petra, a number of Willow Warblers were the highlight of the walk up to the monastery above the town, although later on a fine adult Audouin’s Gull cruised along the seafront. Managing to escape for an hour or so later in the afternoon, and despite the heat of the day, my newly found migrant area came up trumps. The fields slightly inland held at least 35 Yellow Wagtails of various subspecies, including several Black-headed Wagtails, whilst a couple of Tawny Pipits and several Red-throated Pipits shared the same fields. A quick lesson for migrants here seemed to be to concentrate on the leading lines, and to check the prominent bushes and fences. This paid off pretty rapidly with 11 Black-eared Wheatears, single Wheatear and Whinchat, four juvenile Red-backed Shrikes, three Woodchat Shrikes, three Lesser Grey Shrikes and a Spotted Flycatcher all found in a couple of scans. A couple of Turtle Doves flew through, whilst a scan of the offshore isles produced a loafing party of six Little Egrets and a single Great White Egret.
24th August - Changing tactics for the morning, I immediately headed east and checked the fields first things. A party of 40 Yellow Wagtails buzzed around with four White Wagtails, six Black-eared Wheatears, a Wheatear and a Whinchat sharing the same fields. Checking the paddocks and hotel gardens on the cliff-edge produced stonking views of a tail-pumping Eastern Olivaceous Warbler and a Kingfisher was noted at the hotel pool! Having heard many over the previous couple of days, it was pleasing to finally clap eyes of a Western Rock Nuthatch singing from boulders on the cliff top.
The day was spent around the town of Molivos, where little was noted other than a pair of Western Rock Nuthatches showing well on the Castle Walls.
25th August - A quiet morning around the headland and cliff top fields with much the same selection of Wagtails, Warblers, Chats and Shrikes of the previous day or two, with an arrival of phylloscs including a surprise Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler giving a ‘chipping’ call very much unlike it’s Western counterpart. A couple of Tawny Pipits were new, as were two Masked Shrikes on the lower slopes, and a second Eastern Olivaceous Warbler was in the hotel garden.
Checking out the olive groves along the road to Ampelia produced excellent views of several family parties of Middle Spotted Woodpeckers, Sombre Tits and Western Rock Nuthatches, whilst a party of 30 European Bee-eaters drifted westwards overhead.
26th August - A cracking day with an intense arrival of migrants in the cliff-top fields. I managed to spend a couple of hours before breakfast, and again managed to get out in the afternoon. The fences were alive with birds, and in the relatively compact area, I managed to find 24 Whinchats, 40 Black-eared Wheatears, 20 Red-backed and five Woodchat Shrikes. Overhead passage was also prominent today and included 169 Yellow Wagtails, large numbers of hirundines (including c150 Red-rumped Swallows), six Tree Pipits, single Red-throated & Tawny Pipits, seven Turtle Doves and a couple of Ortolans. The gardens of the hotel produced seven Whitethroats, a few Chiffchaffs and a lone Eastern Olivaceous Warbler. Offshore, a juvenile Marsh Harrier ploughed in off the sea, whilst a distant party of four Buzzard sp. flew through in the afternoon. A flock of 25 Garganey passing offshore had be perplexed for a while, whilst an obvious heron movement included several Grey Herons, 18 Little Egrets and a superb though restless flock of 37 Squacco Herons.
The highlights of the day involved a nervous party of five Cretzchmar’s Buntings feeding on the sandy track on the headland early morning, whilst in the afternoon a couple of Isabelline Wheatears were found on the cliff-tops feeding alongside the many Black-eared!
27th August - Today we had a car hired, so we explored the west of the island. Large numbers of common migrants were noted everywhere, with totals of c.65 Black-eared Wheatears and c.25 Red-backed Shrikes noted during the day. Selected highlights of our whistle stop ‘sightseeing’ trip involved a juvenile Black Stork feeding in a marshy ditch at Gavanthas Beach with a flock of ten European Bee-eaters nearby; several Short-toed Larks near Eressos, with a Rufous Bush Chat feeding in a garden on the outskirts of the town of Sigri nearby; a Pied Flycatcher near Molivos, and my personal highlight - a superb Cinerous Bunting on the road up to the monastery at Ipsilou, with a number of Isabelline Wheatears in the same area and a smart Levant Sparrowhawk circling the monastery and passing overhead.
28th August - The last morning and a final bashing of the headland, produced little new-in! A Peregrine offshore and a Kestrel over the cliffs were both new, whilst a total of 16 Red-backed Shrikes probably involved new birds, although just a single Whinchat and Black-eared Wheatear were noted. Three Tree Pipits and six White Wagtails overhead, and a couple of Spanish Sparrows on the cliffs were the best of the undoubted new arrivals.
The rest of the day was largely spent relaxing, although a juvenile Honey Buzzard passed overhead early afternoon. The bus journey to the airport early evening passed the saltpans at Kalloni, and c.150 Greater Flamingos and a party of eight Glossy Ibises were noted.
A total of 85 species were recorded during the week, which considering the lack of visits to any real wetland habitat and especially considering that the majority of birding involved just an hour or two each day, was pretty good in my opinion.
In addition to the birds, there was the usual range of other wildlife seen during the trip, the most notable mammal being several Persian Squirrels. Lots of Butterflies and Dragonflies were noted, but most remained unidentified! Highlights of those butterflies identified were Large Wall Brown, Scarce Swallowtail, Eastern Rock Grayling and Southern Comma.
