gus guthrie
gus guthrie
Turkey trip 2018. Calis Beach Resort, Fethiye. Sept. 21st to Oct. 5th
We arrived at Dalaman Airport at around 11.30pm and after a bit of a wait finally picked our Rental car up and headed towards Fethiye . After getting completely lost we eventually found our Hotel at Calis Beach and headed off to bed. I had a wander around the beachfront and local area early the next morning and to be honest I wasn’t very impressed, outside the Hotel grounds there was a lot of rubbish everywhere and little sign of any birdlife apart from House Sparrows, Collared Doves and Hooded Crows. After breakfast we had a wander around the Hotel grounds, which had an artificial lagoon as a centrepiece, complete with reeds, water-lillies etc. Kingfishers were here everyday and easy to watch as were Moorhen, Little Grebe and Reed Warblers. At the back of our room we had a patio area which overlooked an area of scrub , this was a great place to watch both Red-backed Shrike and woodchat Shrikes from, one Red-backed Shrike came and perched less than 15ft away on a regular basis throughout the holiday. I often saw Fan-tailed warblers, Crested Larks, Chiffchaffs and lots of Pied Wagtails from here.
One noticeable thing was how few Gulls were going around, the beaches had very few on them. I did see Yellow-legged Gulls fly past occasionally.
I tended to get up early to go birding as it became hot very quickly, as it was an all-inclusive resort I could get breakfast later without any problem. On the second day I wandered along to where the marshes were supposed to be, sadly they were almost all filled in and built on now, only a couple of small remnants remained.
On the first one I found a couple of Gull-billed Terns, Great White Egrets, Grey Herons, Snipe and a Squacco Heron. The second pool was beside some derelict houses and here I had Pochard, Pintail, Water Rail, Kingfishers, Reed warbler, Cetti’s Warbler and Little Egrets.
Later that day I walked from the Hotel to the rivermouth at Calis where there is a small protected area which is fenced off and difficult to see into. I found a decent viewing area eventually and from where I could see a fair bit of this remaining saltmarsh. This had quite a few waders on it . Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Dunlin, several Marsh Sandpipers and best of all were 3 Broad-billed Sandpipers.
This area also has a couple of reedy lagoons which can be accessed from the other side of the river, though it took a bit of finding. Here I had Little Bittern, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper and more Kingfishers.
On the Monday I plucked up the courage to venture out in the car, heading inland to Kadyanda, an ancient ruined settlement in a pine forested area high up in the hills. The roads turned out to be very good and driving in Turkey turned out to be much easier than I expected. On reaching this site, we couldn’t believe how quiet it was, not another soul around apart from two elderly local gents who looked after the site. We headed off up the track through the trees and immediately found Krupper’s Nuthatches, another new bird for me. They were quite plentiful up here as were common Nuthatch, Middle-spotted Woodpecker, Olivaceous Warbler, Treecreeper, Spotted Flycatcher, Jays and Ravens. This was well worth visiting for the ruins alone, a fantastic place.
Next morning I headed west along the coast to a small reserve called Ak Gol near Yaniklar. This was a really nice place, very quiet during the week with a beach, reedbeds, orchards, arable fields and the lake surrounded by woodland. I visited this area a lot during my holiday and picked up a lot of birds here including Masked Shrike, Penduline Tit, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Spoonbill, Purple Heron, Yellow Wagtail, Tawny Pipit, Hobby, Corn Bunting and Bonelli’s Warbler.
We arrived at Dalaman Airport at around 11.30pm and after a bit of a wait finally picked our Rental car up and headed towards Fethiye . After getting completely lost we eventually found our Hotel at Calis Beach and headed off to bed. I had a wander around the beachfront and local area early the next morning and to be honest I wasn’t very impressed, outside the Hotel grounds there was a lot of rubbish everywhere and little sign of any birdlife apart from House Sparrows, Collared Doves and Hooded Crows. After breakfast we had a wander around the Hotel grounds, which had an artificial lagoon as a centrepiece, complete with reeds, water-lillies etc. Kingfishers were here everyday and easy to watch as were Moorhen, Little Grebe and Reed Warblers. At the back of our room we had a patio area which overlooked an area of scrub , this was a great place to watch both Red-backed Shrike and woodchat Shrikes from, one Red-backed Shrike came and perched less than 15ft away on a regular basis throughout the holiday. I often saw Fan-tailed warblers, Crested Larks, Chiffchaffs and lots of Pied Wagtails from here.
One noticeable thing was how few Gulls were going around, the beaches had very few on them. I did see Yellow-legged Gulls fly past occasionally.
I tended to get up early to go birding as it became hot very quickly, as it was an all-inclusive resort I could get breakfast later without any problem. On the second day I wandered along to where the marshes were supposed to be, sadly they were almost all filled in and built on now, only a couple of small remnants remained.
On the first one I found a couple of Gull-billed Terns, Great White Egrets, Grey Herons, Snipe and a Squacco Heron. The second pool was beside some derelict houses and here I had Pochard, Pintail, Water Rail, Kingfishers, Reed warbler, Cetti’s Warbler and Little Egrets.
Later that day I walked from the Hotel to the rivermouth at Calis where there is a small protected area which is fenced off and difficult to see into. I found a decent viewing area eventually and from where I could see a fair bit of this remaining saltmarsh. This had quite a few waders on it . Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Dunlin, several Marsh Sandpipers and best of all were 3 Broad-billed Sandpipers.
This area also has a couple of reedy lagoons which can be accessed from the other side of the river, though it took a bit of finding. Here I had Little Bittern, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper and more Kingfishers.
On the Monday I plucked up the courage to venture out in the car, heading inland to Kadyanda, an ancient ruined settlement in a pine forested area high up in the hills. The roads turned out to be very good and driving in Turkey turned out to be much easier than I expected. On reaching this site, we couldn’t believe how quiet it was, not another soul around apart from two elderly local gents who looked after the site. We headed off up the track through the trees and immediately found Krupper’s Nuthatches, another new bird for me. They were quite plentiful up here as were common Nuthatch, Middle-spotted Woodpecker, Olivaceous Warbler, Treecreeper, Spotted Flycatcher, Jays and Ravens. This was well worth visiting for the ruins alone, a fantastic place.
Next morning I headed west along the coast to a small reserve called Ak Gol near Yaniklar. This was a really nice place, very quiet during the week with a beach, reedbeds, orchards, arable fields and the lake surrounded by woodland. I visited this area a lot during my holiday and picked up a lot of birds here including Masked Shrike, Penduline Tit, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Spoonbill, Purple Heron, Yellow Wagtail, Tawny Pipit, Hobby, Corn Bunting and Bonelli’s Warbler.
