Lesvos 8th-15th May 2008 (2 Viewers)

[Penny Clarke]

Pic 1. Our apartment.
Pic 2. Pete, Glyn and Graham.
Pic 3. Glyn, Penny and Graham.
Pic 4. Pete.
Pic 5. Thistle.

A BIG THANKYOU TO PETE WHO BOOKED AND ORGANISED THE TRIP
AND TO ALL THE LADS FOR PUTTING UP WITH ME!​

​

Best Wishes Penny​

X X X​

:girl:​

 

[Penny Clarke]

SPECIES LIST


BIRDS

There were 126 species of birds seen by the group.

I saw 122 species.

The ones I missed are listed at the end of the bird list!



Little Grebe
Mediterranean Shearwater
Cormorant
Shag
Little Bittern
Squacco Heron
Cattle Egret
Little Egret
Great White Egret
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
Black Stork
White Stork
Greater Flamingo
Ruddy Shelduck
Shelduck

Short-toed Eagle
Sparrowhawk
Common Buzzard
Long-legged Buzzard
Lesser Kestrel
Red-footed Falcon
Hobby
Marsh Harrier
Kestrel

Moorhen
Coot
Black-winged Stilt
Avocet
Stone Curlew
Collared Pratincole

Little Ringed Plover
Ringed Plover
Kentish Plover
Grey Plover
Spur-winged Plover

Little Stint
Temminck’s Stint

Ruff
Bar-tailed Godwit
Greenshank
Curlew Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Turnstone
Mediterranean Gull
Audouin’s Gull
Yellow Legged Gull

Common Tern
Little Tern
Whiskered Tern
White-winged Black Tern

Collared Dove
Turtle Dove

Cuckoo

Scops Owl
Little Owl
Long-eared Owl

Nightjar
Swift
Alpine Swift

Bee-eater
Hoopoe

Middle Spotted Woodpecker

Crested Lark

Sand Martin
Crag Martin

Swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
House Martin

Yellow Wagtail

Rufous Bush Robin

Nightingale

Whinchat

Isabelline Wheatear
Northern Wheatear
Black-eared Wheatear

Rock Thrush
Blue Rock Thrush

Blackbird

Cetti’s Warbler
Sedge Warbler
Reed Warbler
Great Reed Warbler
Olivaceous Warbler
Olive-tree Warbler
Subalpine Warbler
Ruppell’s Warbler
Orphean Warbler
Garden Warbler

Common Whitethroat

Blackcap

Spotted Flycatcher

Sombre Tit
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Coal Tit

Kruper’s Nuthatch
Western Rock Nuthatch

Red-backed Shrike
Lesser Grey Shrike
Woodchat Shrike
Masked Shrike

Jackdaw
Eurasian Jay
Hooded Crow
Raven

Starling
Rose-coloured Starling

House Sparrow
Spanish Sparrow
Rock Sparrow

Serin
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Chaffinch
Linnet

Cirl Bunting
Cinereous Bunting
Ortolan Bunting
Cretzschmar’s Bunting
Black-headed Bunting
Corn Bunting


BIRDS THAT I MISSED!

Barn Owl
Golden Oriole
White Wagtail
Stonechat



INSECTS

Preying Mantis
Great Green Bush Cricket (Sago Pedo)
Poecilimon mytelenensis
(Endemic grasshopper from Lesbos)
Thread-winged Lacewing
Small Copper
Small Skipper
Gatekeeper
Balkan Marbled White
Painted Lady
Small Heath
Red Admiral
Ilex Hairstreak
Berger’s Clouded Yellow
Silver Washed Fritiliary
Spotted Fritillary
Scarce Swallowtail
Red-veined Darter
Emperor Dragonfly


REPTILES

Spur-thighed Tortoise (baby)
European Pond Terrapin
Striped Necked Terrapin
Balkan Wall Lizard
Agama Lizard
Green Balkan Lizard
Snake Eyed Lizard
Glass Lizard
Large Whip Snake
Dice Snake
Marsh Frogs



MAMMALS

Persian Squirrel

 

[Penny Clarke]

If anyone can tell me what the purply tall flower is in post 38 - Pic 3 I would be very grateful please or/and the dragonfly in post 33?

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

 

[Penny Clarke]

Nice pics, Penny. The colours on the Bee Eater are stunning.

Sorry I didn't reply earlier Andy. Thank you. Bee eaters are just stunning to watch, I can't wait to go back next year.

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

 

[Selsey Birder]

Wow Penny, great report - looking forward to going there myself next May, hope to see you there!

 

[Penny Clarke]

Wow Penny, great report - looking forward to going there myself next May, hope to see you there!

Thank you Ian.

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

 

[busyb]

Hi Penny,

Sounds like a great trip, thanks for the report.

I think the Dragonfly in post 33 is a female Red-veined Darter "Sympetrum fonscolombii"
Based on the blue/grey lower half of the eyes. However I`m not familiar with other European species so could be wrong.

 

[wolfbirder]

Excellent read and a superb informative piece of reading that i will use if I ever go!

 

[Steve Dudley]

Hi Penny.

Nice report. Striking for those who go earlier will be the number of snakes referred to! As May hots up snake sightings increase rapidly.

Some help with your pics -
Post 24, pic 5 = Spotted Fritillary
Post 29, Pic 1 = Agama (not Balkan) Lizard
Post 29, pic 2 = Emperor dragonfly
Post 29, pic 3 = Saga pedo - one of the largest insects in Europe!
Post 32, pic 5 = Balkan Wall Lizard
Post 33, pic 5 = Red-veined darter (female)
Post 40, pic 1 = Mesa as view NW from the Laspi track (not saltpans)
Post 40, pic 5 = Small Skipper (not large)

The ford along the country track between Sigri and Eressos is the Meladia River Ford - one of my favourite places on the island. I can easily spend a whole day here on a fall day! Details on this and other sites, including the Lesvos names for most areas, on my website.

 

[Connor Rand]

Sounds like an amazing trip Penny, with amazing birds and some very good photos to boot! Had a good laugh at some of the comments as well!

See you out and about soon,

Connor

 

[Penny Clarke]

Hi Penny,

Sounds like a great trip, thanks for the report.

I think the Dragonfly in post 33 is a female Red-veined Darter "Sympetrum fonscolombii"
Based on the blue/grey lower half of the eyes. However I`m not familiar with other European species so could be wrong.

Hi there busyb

Thank you very much and also thank you for your ID for red-veined darter!

I do wish I was better at ID'ing dragonflies!

Best Wishes Penny:girl::girl:

 

[Penny Clarke]

Hi Penny.

Nice report. Striking for those who go earlier will be the number of snakes referred to! As May hots up snake sightings increase rapidly.

Some help with your pics -
Post 24, pic 5 = Spotted Fritillary
Post 29, Pic 1 = Agama (not Balkan) Lizard
Post 29, pic 2 = Emperor dragonfly
Post 29, pic 3 = Saga pedo - one of the largest insects in Europe!
Post 32, pic 5 = Balkan Wall Lizard
Post 33, pic 5 = Red-veined darter (female)
Post 40, pic 1 = Mesa as view NW from the Laspi track (not saltpans)
Post 40, pic 5 = Small Skipper (not large)

The ford along the country track between Sigri and Eressos is the Meladia River Ford - one of my favourite places on the island. I can easily spend a whole day here on a fall day! Details on this and other sites, including the Lesvos names for most areas, on my website.

Hi Steve

Thank you enormously for correctly IDing some of my pictures - it is much appreciated. On the note of the 'Saga pedo' - is it the only name please as when I spent time 'googling' I could only find Great Green Bush Cricket - is this the other name for it?

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

 

[Penny Clarke]

Sounds like an amazing trip Penny, with amazing birds and some very good photos to boot! Had a good laugh at some of the comments as well!

See you out and about soon,

Connor

Thanks Connor!

Looking forward to going back next year.

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

 

[Penny Clarke]

Other amends to my report

Marsh Harrier and Coot on Friday 9th May.

Chaffinch and Coal Tit on Saturday 10th May

Kestrel on Monday 12th May

Northern Wheatear on Tuesday 13th May

Also 2 Temminck's Stints which were with the 30 Little Stints on Wednesday 14th May (but Moderator Delia has kindly added this for me along with some other bird spelling mistakes that really irritated me after I had posted! THANK YOU DELIA:t:

Jackdaw on Thursday 15th May.

ALSO PLEASE NOTE POST 49 STEVE DUDLEY'S AMENDS/CORRECTIONS TO SOME OF MY PIC CAPTIONS.

Some lovely BF members have ID'd my flower on post 38 Pic 3 as Lysimachia atropurpurea, which is apparently also known as Purple Gooseneck Loosestrife.

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

Also forget to add my picture of Faneromeni Beach on Monday 12th May.

Also one of the lads when we were watching short toed eagle being mobbed by a raven on the last morning, Thursday 15th May.

 

[cheshirebirder]

Thanks for sharing your trip and photos ,Penny. I was also there this year with my wife from 8th May to 22nd. We stayed very near the Anaxos Gardens at the Plaza Palace Hotel , which is tucked away off your road up to the top (main) road in Anaxos.
It was our 3rd visit - the place seems to be full of folk who return year-on-year ! I think we bumped into you on your last day at that gazebo viewing point above Skala Skimmea. We were taking an older couple out for the day at the time.
Anyway, you seem to have seen a few birds that we missed on this trip - but we did see the Gt spotted cuckoo at the yellow house !
I've still not seen lesser grey shrike there in 3 holidays !
thanks again , Bill Turner

 

[Steve Dudley]

Hi Penny

Sorry, I should have made it clearer, Sago pedo is the scientific name. This insect, like many others, doesn't have a common English name. I've only ever seen it once myself - an absolute belter!

Great Green Bush-cricket Tettigonia viridissima is a completely different insect which I havent seen (or heard - they have a very distinctive call) on Lesvos.

 

[Penny Clarke]

Thanks for sharing your trip and photos ,Penny. I was also there this year with my wife from 8th May to 22nd. We stayed very near the Anaxos Gardens at the Plaza Palace Hotel , which is tucked away off your road up to the top (main) road in Anaxos.
It was our 3rd visit - the place seems to be full of folk who return year-on-year ! I think we bumped into you on your last day at that gazebo viewing point above Skala Skimmea. We were taking an older couple out for the day at the time.
Anyway, you seem to have seen a few birds that we missed on this trip - but we did see the Gt spotted cuckoo at the yellow house !
I've still not seen lesser grey shrike there in 3 holidays !
thanks again , Bill Turner

Hi Bill

Ahhhh yes I do remember seeing you all at the viewing point. Nice to meet you!

Seeing 3 lesser grey shrike together was lovely don't get me wrong, but I have seen them before in Norfolk - however I have NEVER seen a Great Spotted Cuckoo ANYWHERE!!!!!!!! So well done.:t:

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

 

[Penny Clarke]

Hi Penny

Sorry, I should have made it clearer, Sago pedo is the scientific name. This insect, like many others, doesn't have a common English name. I've only ever seen it once myself - an absolute belter!

Great Green Bush-cricket Tettigonia viridissima is a completely different insect which I havent seen (or heard - they have a very distinctive call) on Lesvos.

Hi Steve

I thought that might be the case. It certainly made us screech to a stop, if we hadn't, it probably wouldn't have survived, as it was bang in the middle of the track!

Thank you for putting a link on your website - I love the caption re: energetic!!! - next year it will be more so, as I will be out from dawn til dusk!!!!!! http://www.lesvosbirding.com/

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

 

[Penny Clarke]

Excellent read and a superb informative piece of reading that i will use if I ever go!

Hi Wolfbirder - thank you very much.:t:

Best Wishes Penny:girl:

 

[Penny Clarke]

A few more pics......Pic 1. Balkan Whip Snake. Pic 2. Spider ID please? Pic 4. Hooded Crow. Pic 4. Hooded Crow.