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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Hairy Highlander" data-source="post: 1668025" data-attributes="member: 73907">Sunday 30th Aug.AKROTIRI - BISHOP’S POOLOur holiday was fast nearing its end, I only had today and Tuesday the 1st to cram in the last drop of birding and I had made the conscious decision to spend that time at Akrotiri. I was keen to see some more Raptors, this was intensified by the near miss of the previous days Honey Buzzard dip. I arrived at Sylvanas by 07:30 and had the whole place to myself. A quick scan of the salt lake with my Bins showed that there was no Demoiselle Cranes so I began a more intensive search through the scope, focusing on the outer edges of the lake in the hope of picking up some ground roosting Raptors. It wasn’t long before I found my first bird, a Harrier, far on the eastern edge but the distance proved too great to positively identify. Then 20 yards or so further along a falcon sp. flew in and landed. This was put down as a possible Peregrine Falcon but again the distance made it hard to confirm. A common Kestrel was the next Raptor to be seen and a pale phase Elenora’s shortly after that. Then, from out of nowhere, a second harrier came into view flying south at a reasonable distance, a nice male Montague’s Harrier. I tracked it through the scope as it skirted the edge of the scrub for a minute or so before being diverted by yet another Harrier that was flying directly towards me, this time it was a female Marsh Harrier – the all dark colouration and pale head being a giveaway. Things looked promising, 5 species of Raptor in a short space of time, there was bound to be some Honey Buzzards about today....For a change of scene I drove back to the small pool that held the Grey Plover to see if there was anything new on offer. A single Grey Plover remained, with 2 Ringed Plover and 2 Kingfisher, but 4 presumed Pallid Swift were noted hunting insects not too far to the north of the pool. A return to Bishop’s pool revealed nothing new, in fact there were much less birds  to be seen as the level of the pool had risen by some 4ft and the muddy edges of the pool had been covered.It was getting on for 09:30. According to Doug Radford this was the time to look for the Honey Buzzards lifting from their roost so to find Doug setting up his scope in anticipation of a mid-morning movement as I returned to Sylvanas was encouraging. As we sat, eyes pinned on the horizon just above the eucalyptus plantation on the north edge of the salt lake, a Hoopoe bounded past at close range, a Roller was spotted sitting on a telegraph wire next to a Lesser Grey Shrike, a Common Kestrel circled to the south and then a dark phase Elenora’s Falcon flew past. By 10:00 there had been no sign of any Honey Buzzard but then, distantly, a bird was spotted wheeling high over the eucalypts, closely followed by 3 more. We watched as the 4 birds circled higher and closer until we could see that they were Honey’s, not the great numbers I had hoped for but Honey Buzzards nonetheless!These were to be the only Honey Buzzards seen but I was just happy to see any at all, the huge numbers that could be seen here at times would just have to wait until another visit.Later that evening as I reflected on the day’s events and the sightings (and dips!) made throughout the two weeks, a large flock of Alpine Swift drifted overhead, Silent at first, but when 3 Elenora’s Falcons decided to show up the sound of 200+ Swifts alarm calling was quite spectacular!</blockquote>

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