Back in Scotland! Fife Ness

 We managed a day out last week to Fife Ness, Lobster Rolls were on the menu from the Lobster Hut at Crail, which we took down to the hide at Fife Ness for Lunch. Lovely it was too!

We did also pop into Kilminning NR and had a coffee there, where this Yellowhammer sang distantly:

there were some lovely Orchids about,

and a lovely Whitethroat added to the chorus,

Down at the hide, we had a lovely time eating our Lobster and watching the Gannets wheel by over the waves:

Other than the Gannet, there were plenty of Eider and Cormorant about. With a few Sandwich Terns, Guillemot and very distant Razorbill putting in an appearance.

Our next trip will be a double, Orkney and Shetland. So lets hope all the migrants that are popping up there at the moment stay put!

Birding in Lesvos 2024 - Part 3

 In part 3 I'm just going to post a few of my favourites from the 2nd week.......

Black-headed Bunting in full voice..

Nightingale,

Goshawk have a bit of a problem with a Raven,

Shelduck on Tsikinias River,

Caspian Gull,

Red-throated Pipit,

more Greater Flamingo,

Pygmy Cormorant,

Laughing Dove in Loutra Village,

Collared Dove,

Spur-winged Lapwing (Plover),

Purple Heron,

European Bee-eater,

ready for it's close up!

Krüpers Nuthatch,

Long-eared Owl (Again, no apologies!),

Masked Shrike,

Female Montagues Harrier,

Black Stork,

Squacco Heron,

Lesser Grey Shrike,

Stone Curlew,

Corn Bunting,

Persian Squirrel,

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler,

Black-headed Bunting yet again,

Spotted Flycatcher,

Stonechat (with lunch),

Find the Rock Sparrow,

Spotted Redshank,

Short-toed Treecreeper,

Krüpers Nuthatch,

Butterfly!

Marsh Sandpiper,

Bar-tailed Godwit & Marsh Sandpiper

and finally setting up the bonfire in Skala Kallonis Square for the Greek Orthodox Easter Celebrations.

I did say I would do a list of all the birds we came across in the two weeks, so here it is:

Alpine Swift  ("Apus melba")

Avocet  ("Recurvirostra avosetta")

Barn Owl  ("Tyto alba")

Bar-tailed Godwit  ("Limosa lapponica")

Bee-eater  ("Merops apiaster")

Black Stork  ("Ciconia nigra")

Black Tern  ("Chlidonias niger")

Blackbird  ("Turdus merula")

Black-eared Wheatear  ("Oenanthe hispanica")

Black-headed Bunting  ("Emberiza melanocephala")

Black-tailed Godwit  ("Limosa limosa")

Black-winged Stilt  ("Himantopus himantopus")

Blue Rock Thrush  ("Monticola solitarius")

Blue Tit  ("Cyanistes caeruleus")

Buzzard  ("Buteo buteo")

Caspian Gull  ("Larus cachinnans")

Cetti's Warbler  ("Cettia cetti")

Chaffinch  ("Fringilla coelebs")

Cinereous Bunting  ("Emberiza cineracea")

Cirl Bunting  ("Emberiza cirlus")

Citrine Wagtail  ("Motacilla citreola")

Coal Tit  ("Periparus ater")

Collared Dove  ("Streptopelia decaocto")

Common Sandpiper  ("Actitis hypoleucos")

Common Tern  ("Sterna hirundo")

Coot  ("Fulica atra")

Cormorant  ("Phalacrocorax carbo")

Corn Bunting  ("Emberiza calandra")

Crag Martin  ("Ptyonoprogne rupestris")

Crested Lark  ("Galerida cristata")

Cretzschmar's Bunting  ("Emberiza caesia")

Curlew Sandpiper  ("Calidris ferruginea")

Dalmatian Pelican  ("Pelecanus crispus")

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler  ("Iduna pallida")

Fan-tailed Warbler  ("Cisticola juncidis")

Glossy Ibis  ("Plegadis falcinellus")

Golden Oriole  ("Oriolus oriolus")

Goldfinch  ("Carduelis carduelis")

Goshawk  ("Accipiter gentilis")

Great Reed Warbler  ("Acrocephalus arundinaceus")

Great Tit  ("Parus major")

Great White Egret  ("Ardea alba")

Greater Flamingo  ("Phoenicopterus roseus")

Green Sandpiper  ("Tringa ochropus")

Greenfinch  ("Chloris chloris")

Greenshank  ("Tringa nebularia")

Grey Heron  ("Ardea cinerea")

Gull-billed Tern  ("Gelochelidon nilotica")

Hen Harrier  ("Circus cyaneus")

Hooded Crow  ("Corvus cornix")

Hoopoe  ("Upupa epops")

House Martin  ("Delichon urbicum")

House Sparrow  ("Passer domesticus")

Icterine Warbler  ("Hippolais icterina")

Isabelline Wheatear  ("Oenanthe isabellina")

Jackdaw  ("Corvus monedula")

Jay  ("Garrulus glandarius")

Kentish Plover  ("Charadrius alexandrinus")

Krüper's Nuthatch  ("Sitta krueperi")

Laughing Dove  ("spilopelia senegalensis")

Lesser Grey Shrike  ("Lanius minor")

Lesser Kestrel  ("Falco naumanni")

Levant Sparrowhawk  ("Accipiter brevipes")

Linnet  ("Carduelis cannabina")

Little Bittern  ("Ixobrychus minutus")

Little Crake  ("Porzana parva")

Little Egret  ("Egretta garzetta")

Little Grebe  ("Tachybaptus ruficollis")

Little Owl  ("Athene noctua")

Little Ringed Plover  ("Charadrius dubius")

Little Stint  ("Calidris minuta")

Little Tern  ("Sternula albifrons")

Long-eared Owl  ("Asio otus")

Long-legged Buzzard  ("Buteo rufinus")

Mallard  ("Anas platyrhynchos")

Marsh Harrier  ("Circus aeruginosus")

Marsh Sandpiper  ("Tringa stagnatilis")

Masked Shrike  ("Lanius nubicus")

Middle Spotted Woodpecker  ("Dendrocopos medius")

Montagu's Harrier  ("Circus pygargus")

Moorhen  ("Gallinula chloropus")

Night-heron  ("Nycticorax nycticorax")

Nightingale  ("Luscinia megarhynchos")

Ortolan Bunting  ("Emberiza hortulana")

Pied Wheatear  ("Oenanthe pleschanka")

Purple Heron  ("Ardea purpurea")

Pygmy Cormorant  ("microcarbo pygmeus")

Raven  ("Corvus corax")

Red-backed Shrike  ("Lanius collurio")

Red-breasted Flycatcher  ("Ficedula parva")

Red-footed Falcon  ("Falco vespertinus")

Red-rumped Swallow  ("Cecropis daurica")

Red-throated Pipit  ("Anthus cervinus")

Reed Bunting  ("Emberiza schoeniclus")

Reed Warbler  ("Acrocephalus scirpaceus")

Ringed Plover  ("Charadrius hiaticula")

Robin  ("Erithacus rubecula")

Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon  ("Columba livia")

Rock Sparrow  ("Petronia petronia")

Roller  ("Coracias garrulus")

Rough-legged Buzzard  ("Buteo lagopus")

Ruddy Shelduck  ("Tadorna ferruginea")

Ruff  ("Philomachus pugnax")

Sardinian Warbler  ("Sylvia melanocephala")

Scops Owl  ("Otus scops")

Sedge Warbler  ("Acrocephalus schoenobaenus")

Serin  ("Serinus serinus")

Shelduck  ("Tadorna tadorna")

Short-toed Eagle  ("Circaetus gallicus")

Short-toed Lark  ("Calandrella brachydactyla")

Short-toed Treecreeper  ("Certhia brachydactyla")

Skylark  ("Alauda arvensis")

Spanish Sparrow  ("Passer hispaniolensis")

Spotted Crake  ("Porzana porzana")

Spotted Flycatcher  ("Muscicapa striata")

Spotted Redshank  ("Tringa erythropus")

Spur-winged Lapwing  ("Vanellus spinosus")

Squacco Heron  ("Ardeola ralloides")

Stonechat (rubicola)  ("Saxicola torquatus rubicola")

Stone-curlew  ("Burhinus oedicnemus")

Subalpine Warbler  ("Sylvia cantillans")

Swallow  ("Hirundo rustica")

Swift  ("Apus apus")

Tawny Pipit  ("Anthus campestris")

Temminck's Stint  ("Calidris temminckii")

Turtle Dove  ("Streptopelia turtur")

Western Rock Nuthatch  ("Sitta neumayer")

Wheatear  ("Oenanthe oenanthe")

Whinchat  ("Saxicola rubetra")

White Stork  ("Ciconia ciconia")

Whitethroat  ("Sylvia communis")

White-winged Black Tern  ("Chlidonias leucopterus")

Wood Sandpiper  ("Tringa glareola")

Woodchat Shrike  ("Lanius senator")

Yellow Wagtail  ("Motacilla flava")

Yellowhammer  ("Emberiza citrinella")

Yellow-legged Gull  ("Larus michahellis")

Birding in Lesvos 2024 - Part 2

 So where were we? Just been to Makara, so next up....

On the way back from Makara we pass some pools where a few Greater Flamingos go to get away from the crowds at the Salt Pans and usually give a closer view, so here are a couple of photos from there.

Next day we went on a Scops Owl hunt, there is a usually reliable location just outside Kalloni Town, so we popped in our travels and were lucky to find one hiding in the Eucalyptus trees.

We did pop in the following week with Jo, but there was no sign. So here you are Jo, this is what you should have seen!

After a long day out yesterday we stayed fairly local today and explored the Potamia Valley only 15 minutes from our hotel. We went via the Christou River, where the were lots of Little Stint and Plovers

At the valley we took a walk around the reservoir, there are never many birds about, but the insect life is fantastic, trying to get a photo can be a problem though, they are nippy little b*ggers!!

Photographing is a bit easier when they have stopped to 'do the business' though. 😂

Some birds did put in an appearance:

Long-legged Buzzard,

and Black-headed Bunting.

Then back at the Salt Pans a few Greater Flamingo pics:

with a Black-winged Stilt

On the outskirts of Skala Kallonis we had been told about some Long-eared Owls, it took us three goes, but finally with a map drawn by our Hotel Manager George we found one!

We then continued onto to Sigri via a couple of other good birding spots. Then after Ice Cream we took the long track (4x4 recommended!) back to Eressos, then back to Skala Kallonis.

Finding Blue Rock Thrush,

Cireneous Bunting,

Terrapins,

Ruff and Plover,

Red-backed Shrike,

Red-breasted Flycatcher,

Golden Oriole,

Little Egret,

and a Butterfly laying eggs.

We of course saw loads more species, can't post all of that, it would be a bit dull, so here endeth part 2.