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Lesvos 8th-15th May 2008
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<blockquote data-quote="Penny Clarke" data-source="post: 1238135" data-attributes="member: 40022"><p><span style="color: Red"><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>Friday 9th May</strong></span></span></p><p></p><p><strong><em>Kalloni Pool/harbour/east and west river/Kalloni salt pans</em></strong></p><p></p><p>I felt like crap after no sleep whatsoever, but we had to get up as the car was arriving from Billy’s Rentals at 8am (based in Anaxos). After breakfast of bread and jam for me as the supermarket we had gone to last night did not sell rice milk (I hadn’t expected to find it anyway, but did find some soya milk in a bigger supermarket in Kalloni a couple of days later). Pete had gone outside for a cigarette while I was in the shower and had seen a <strong>red rumped swallow</strong>. The car arrived on time and Pete and Glyn who were driving for the week, were taken for a spin round to get used to the car etc.</p><p></p><p>Much warmer this morning, which made a pleasant change after last night! After putting our birding gear etc in the car we left at 9am and made our way around hairpin bends towards the west river area. On route we stopped to check the map and saw a <strong>cormorant</strong>, a brief view of a <strong>masked shrike</strong>, a <strong>house martin</strong>, <strong>greenfinch</strong>, <strong>goldfinch</strong>, <strong>collared dove</strong> and a <strong>yellow leg gull</strong>. We parked the car by the bridge at Lower West River where there were several other birders. We saw <strong>black headed wagtails</strong>, <strong>crested larks</strong>, <strong>hooded crows</strong>, <strong>corn buntings</strong>, <strong>cetti’s warblers</strong>, a <strong>small copper</strong> and lots of other butterflies. Pete and I both had SLR’s with us and neither of us was quick enough for a <strong>black stork</strong> that got up from the river bed and flew immediately in front of us!!! <strong>4 grey herons</strong>, <strong>black headed buntings</strong> everywhere. We walked out to the hide area and Pete quickly spotted a <strong>stone curlew</strong> flying over us and we saw <strong>common terns</strong>, <strong>kentish plovers</strong>, <strong>one great white egret</strong> (only one on island we were told). <strong>Possible night heron</strong> sitting on a far scrape in a heat haze, we thought it was but couldn’t really count it. There was a <strong>terrapin</strong> sitting in a dyke close to the path along with some what looked like water boatmen. We also watched a <strong>long legged buzzard</strong>!!! We filled up the car with petrol which cost 56 euros. </p><p></p><p>We then went into Skala Kalloni to find somewhere for lunch - it was extremely pretty and the road followed the shoreline. We had lunch in the Kalloni II hotel, it was very pretty here, the gardens were very colourful with roses and other colourful flowers which attracted in turn lots of insects and butterflies too. I got some fantastic shots of a <strong>spanish sparrow</strong> which had a nest in the roof of the patio area outside as did the <strong>swallows</strong>. We all had a greek omelette (6 euros each) and a cup of lemon tea (2.50 euros). We looked at the bird log book at Kalloni II at the amazing birds everyone had been seeing in past weeks! We then walked outside the hotel across the road to look at the Kalloni Pool where we saw a <strong>little bittern</strong>, <strong>cattle egret</strong>, <strong>black headed bunting</strong>, a <strong>reed warbler</strong> and a <strong>nightingale</strong> in the trees next to the hotel.</p><p></p><p>We then went to East River (2.40pm). It was absolutely beautiful here and we had stunning views of at least <strong>20 bee eaters</strong> in their magnificient colours, swirling around in the glorious sunny blue skies and catching bees - they seemed to have a favourite tree for sitting in and I could have sat and watched them all day. The whole scene here of turquoise sea and beautiful flowers, trees and a sea of dark blood red poppies was just simply like heaven. There seemed to be so many birds in this particular spot as well. We had a <strong>great reed warbler</strong> both heard and seen, <strong>1 hobby</strong>, <strong>2 little egrets</strong>, <strong>5 whiskered terns</strong> flew past (3.10pm), <strong>common terns</strong> and also <strong>1 wood sandpiper</strong>.</p><p></p><p>Kalloni Saltpans (4pm) We drove through the ford where we passed several more <strong>wood sandpipers</strong> and followed a track until we came to an a T junction where lots of birders were viewing <strong>black winged stilts</strong>, including one on a nest etc etc etc!!! We turned left and parked along the road. <strong>1 female red footed falcon</strong> was sitting on the telegraph wires along with <strong>bee eaters</strong>. <strong>4 white winged black terns</strong> which were stunning to watch flew around all the time we were there, along with <strong>17 black winged stilts</strong>, a massive selection of waders including <strong>wood sandpipers</strong>, <strong>curlew sandpipers</strong>, <strong>little stints</strong>, <strong>ruff</strong>, at least <strong>124 greater flamingoes</strong> - I was so excited to see all these flamingoes in one pink mass!!! A <strong>black stork</strong> and a <strong>white stork</strong> spiralled round together above us!!! <strong>Bee eaters</strong> where whizzing about in all directions, I didn’t know which way to look first! <strong>Black headed buntings</strong>, <strong>little tern</strong>, <strong>blue headed wagtails</strong>, <strong>squacco heron</strong> in drainage ditch and on the opposite side of the path <strong>2 spur winged plovers</strong> (WOW!) WITH <strong>2 collared pratincoles</strong> a few yards away! <strong>Olivaceous warbler</strong> in the trees close to road and a <strong>little owl</strong> distantly by a farm building, a <strong>corn bunting</strong> sat singing in a pretty bush close to track, <strong>sand martins, house martins, swifts</strong> and <strong>blackbird</strong>. A <strong>woodpecker sp. </strong>bounded across a field distantly and <strong>crested larks</strong> and <strong>hooded crows</strong> were everywhere. It was very difficult to go home early - we arrived back at 7.50pm.</p><p></p><p>My first quest was to find the Manos Rep to get extra bedding, which I did and the owner’s daughter who spoke excellent english found us lots more blankets - in fact I now had 1 sheet, 1 cover, 2 very thick blankets and a big fat old fashioned feather eiderdown and I needed those every night I was there! The lads all had extra blankets too, we had all been cold. We all had a quick shower and walked to the sea front and had a delicious meal at Tropicana (as recommended by someone) I had eggplant (aubergine) with rice and salad and Saganaki (feta cheese) and an Ouzoo to guarantee my sleep that night!!! The service and food was excellent and we went back to this restaurant twice more in our stay. The ouzoo also had me giggling uncontrollably like a silly 16 year old all the way back to the apartments!!!!! (I don’t normally drink!) much to the amusements of the others who had never seen me in that state - I could walk but it was a in a zig zaggy pattern!!! People were looking for frogs with torches as we walked back, I hope that was for viewing and not for catching to eat! There were huge bamboos growing next the river and ditches, it just all looked fascinating, especially after the ouzoo! I spotted a <strong>preying mantis</strong> clung to a street lantern which I took a record, fuzzy shot of with my coolpix.</p><p></p><p>What a fantastic first day! Slept like a log!!!!</p><p></p><p><em>Pic 1. View from apartments at Anaxos Gardens. Pic 2. View from apartments. Pic 3. Skala Kalloni main beach taken while Pete was driving! Pic 4. Skala Kalloni Harbour. Pic 5. Skala Kalloni beach.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>More to come.....</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Penny Clarke, post: 1238135, member: 40022"] [COLOR="Red"][SIZE="4"][B]Friday 9th May[/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] [B][I]Kalloni Pool/harbour/east and west river/Kalloni salt pans[/I][/B] I felt like crap after no sleep whatsoever, but we had to get up as the car was arriving from Billy’s Rentals at 8am (based in Anaxos). After breakfast of bread and jam for me as the supermarket we had gone to last night did not sell rice milk (I hadn’t expected to find it anyway, but did find some soya milk in a bigger supermarket in Kalloni a couple of days later). Pete had gone outside for a cigarette while I was in the shower and had seen a [B]red rumped swallow[/B]. The car arrived on time and Pete and Glyn who were driving for the week, were taken for a spin round to get used to the car etc. Much warmer this morning, which made a pleasant change after last night! After putting our birding gear etc in the car we left at 9am and made our way around hairpin bends towards the west river area. On route we stopped to check the map and saw a [B]cormorant[/B], a brief view of a [B]masked shrike[/B], a [B]house martin[/B], [B]greenfinch[/B], [B]goldfinch[/B], [B]collared dove[/B] and a [B]yellow leg gull[/B]. We parked the car by the bridge at Lower West River where there were several other birders. We saw [B]black headed wagtails[/B], [B]crested larks[/B], [B]hooded crows[/B], [B]corn buntings[/B], [B]cetti’s warblers[/B], a [B]small copper[/B] and lots of other butterflies. Pete and I both had SLR’s with us and neither of us was quick enough for a [B]black stork[/B] that got up from the river bed and flew immediately in front of us!!! [B]4 grey herons[/B], [B]black headed buntings[/B] everywhere. We walked out to the hide area and Pete quickly spotted a [B]stone curlew[/B] flying over us and we saw [B]common terns[/B], [B]kentish plovers[/B], [B]one great white egret[/B] (only one on island we were told). [B]Possible night heron[/B] sitting on a far scrape in a heat haze, we thought it was but couldn’t really count it. There was a [B]terrapin[/B] sitting in a dyke close to the path along with some what looked like water boatmen. We also watched a [B]long legged buzzard[/B]!!! We filled up the car with petrol which cost 56 euros. We then went into Skala Kalloni to find somewhere for lunch - it was extremely pretty and the road followed the shoreline. We had lunch in the Kalloni II hotel, it was very pretty here, the gardens were very colourful with roses and other colourful flowers which attracted in turn lots of insects and butterflies too. I got some fantastic shots of a [B]spanish sparrow[/B] which had a nest in the roof of the patio area outside as did the [B]swallows[/B]. We all had a greek omelette (6 euros each) and a cup of lemon tea (2.50 euros). We looked at the bird log book at Kalloni II at the amazing birds everyone had been seeing in past weeks! We then walked outside the hotel across the road to look at the Kalloni Pool where we saw a [B]little bittern[/B], [B]cattle egret[/B], [B]black headed bunting[/B], a [B]reed warbler[/B] and a [B]nightingale[/B] in the trees next to the hotel. We then went to East River (2.40pm). It was absolutely beautiful here and we had stunning views of at least [B]20 bee eaters[/B] in their magnificient colours, swirling around in the glorious sunny blue skies and catching bees - they seemed to have a favourite tree for sitting in and I could have sat and watched them all day. The whole scene here of turquoise sea and beautiful flowers, trees and a sea of dark blood red poppies was just simply like heaven. There seemed to be so many birds in this particular spot as well. We had a [B]great reed warbler[/B] both heard and seen, [B]1 hobby[/B], [B]2 little egrets[/B], [B]5 whiskered terns[/B] flew past (3.10pm), [B]common terns[/B] and also [B]1 wood sandpiper[/B]. Kalloni Saltpans (4pm) We drove through the ford where we passed several more [B]wood sandpipers[/B] and followed a track until we came to an a T junction where lots of birders were viewing [B]black winged stilts[/B], including one on a nest etc etc etc!!! We turned left and parked along the road. [B]1 female red footed falcon[/B] was sitting on the telegraph wires along with [B]bee eaters[/B]. [B]4 white winged black terns[/B] which were stunning to watch flew around all the time we were there, along with [B]17 black winged stilts[/B], a massive selection of waders including [B]wood sandpipers[/B], [B]curlew sandpipers[/B], [B]little stints[/B], [B]ruff[/B], at least [B]124 greater flamingoes[/B] - I was so excited to see all these flamingoes in one pink mass!!! A [B]black stork[/B] and a [B]white stork[/B] spiralled round together above us!!! [B]Bee eaters[/B] where whizzing about in all directions, I didn’t know which way to look first! [B]Black headed buntings[/B], [B]little tern[/B], [B]blue headed wagtails[/B], [B]squacco heron[/B] in drainage ditch and on the opposite side of the path [B]2 spur winged plovers[/B] (WOW!) WITH [B]2 collared pratincoles[/B] a few yards away! [B]Olivaceous warbler[/B] in the trees close to road and a [B]little owl[/B] distantly by a farm building, a [B]corn bunting[/B] sat singing in a pretty bush close to track, [B]sand martins, house martins, swifts[/B] and [B]blackbird[/B]. A [B]woodpecker sp. [/B]bounded across a field distantly and [B]crested larks[/B] and [B]hooded crows[/B] were everywhere. It was very difficult to go home early - we arrived back at 7.50pm. My first quest was to find the Manos Rep to get extra bedding, which I did and the owner’s daughter who spoke excellent english found us lots more blankets - in fact I now had 1 sheet, 1 cover, 2 very thick blankets and a big fat old fashioned feather eiderdown and I needed those every night I was there! The lads all had extra blankets too, we had all been cold. We all had a quick shower and walked to the sea front and had a delicious meal at Tropicana (as recommended by someone) I had eggplant (aubergine) with rice and salad and Saganaki (feta cheese) and an Ouzoo to guarantee my sleep that night!!! The service and food was excellent and we went back to this restaurant twice more in our stay. The ouzoo also had me giggling uncontrollably like a silly 16 year old all the way back to the apartments!!!!! (I don’t normally drink!) much to the amusements of the others who had never seen me in that state - I could walk but it was a in a zig zaggy pattern!!! People were looking for frogs with torches as we walked back, I hope that was for viewing and not for catching to eat! There were huge bamboos growing next the river and ditches, it just all looked fascinating, especially after the ouzoo! I spotted a [B]preying mantis[/B] clung to a street lantern which I took a record, fuzzy shot of with my coolpix. What a fantastic first day! Slept like a log!!!! [I]Pic 1. View from apartments at Anaxos Gardens. Pic 2. View from apartments. Pic 3. Skala Kalloni main beach taken while Pete was driving! Pic 4. Skala Kalloni Harbour. Pic 5. Skala Kalloni beach. More to come.....[/I] [/QUOTE]
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Lesvos 8th-15th May 2008
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