The Paphos Sewage Works is a well known birding destination in Cyprus particularly for spur-winged plover. I almost didn't do the trip as I could not find any definite information about the site's location on the internet, and surprisingly, our holiday rep had no idea where it was! Hopefully this guide will help anyone else planning to pay it a visit.
The sewage Works was walkable from our hotel (Louis Phaethon) and the local buses which were excellent would get you fairly close if you were staying further away along the coast.
The Paphos Sewage Works is located here:
https://goo.gl/maps/xa8asAXqHY32
and I got to it from the hotel by walking along the coast and then cutting inland as shown on the attached route. (I've numbered where I saw all the interesting stuff but you might have to zoom in!)
There were some good birds along the way including a flock of around 12 stone curlew in a field just off the beach (1) which also contained a few crested larks. There were a few fan tailed warblers as I crossed the dry Ezousa riverbed (2) and a black redstart fly catching from some farm machinery (3).
I flushed a jack snipe from a small puddle along the side of the road (4) and saw a few red-throated pipit around the same puddle on the way back.
At the sewage works (5) the spur-winged plover were around the works themselves and also kept flying to and from the grass fields opposite the works. There were around 30 birds there. A sardininan warbler also put in an appearance and I thought it was a black-cap until I got back and looked through my photos! A few hummingbird hawk moths were feeding from the flowers too.
It's probably worth noting that you are not allowed access to the sewage works and have to stay on the road. Most of the pools are visible from the road though.
I believe that the Acheleia reedbed is close by this site but I could not find exactly where it is on the internet. If anyone knows where it is, please let me know as I may well be going back to this place again in the future.
The sewage Works was walkable from our hotel (Louis Phaethon) and the local buses which were excellent would get you fairly close if you were staying further away along the coast.
The Paphos Sewage Works is located here:
https://goo.gl/maps/xa8asAXqHY32
and I got to it from the hotel by walking along the coast and then cutting inland as shown on the attached route. (I've numbered where I saw all the interesting stuff but you might have to zoom in!)
There were some good birds along the way including a flock of around 12 stone curlew in a field just off the beach (1) which also contained a few crested larks. There were a few fan tailed warblers as I crossed the dry Ezousa riverbed (2) and a black redstart fly catching from some farm machinery (3).
I flushed a jack snipe from a small puddle along the side of the road (4) and saw a few red-throated pipit around the same puddle on the way back.
At the sewage works (5) the spur-winged plover were around the works themselves and also kept flying to and from the grass fields opposite the works. There were around 30 birds there. A sardininan warbler also put in an appearance and I thought it was a black-cap until I got back and looked through my photos! A few hummingbird hawk moths were feeding from the flowers too.
It's probably worth noting that you are not allowed access to the sewage works and have to stay on the road. Most of the pools are visible from the road though.
I believe that the Acheleia reedbed is close by this site but I could not find exactly where it is on the internet. If anyone knows where it is, please let me know as I may well be going back to this place again in the future.