Sites
1. Sani Resort
Sani sits on the West coast, near the Northern end of the Kassandra peninsular in Halkidiki. The resort area is large, comprising a number of hotels, villas, pools, a small marina, church, tennis & football training areas, manicured lawns and gardens, dotted with a few trees, silver-sand beaches, a small rocky headland with ancient watch-tower. The resort looks out onto the shallow waters of the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, with Mount Olympos visible at times in the distance, it is backed by the largely dry southern end of Sani Wetlands, and flanked to the North by the coastal Bousoulas pine woods, and South by steep cliffs and mixed pine/oak woodland. It is very pretty indeed.
The sea: Short spells of sea-watching each morning and some late evenings were reasonably productive. The commonest offshore and coastal bird was by far Yellow-legged Gull. Occasionally I picked out one or two Mediterranean Gulls following small fishing boats, and one morning there was a huge flock of c.280 Little Gulls feeding at distance offshore. These were accompanied by seven Black Terns, though more frequently I saw Sandwich Terns, and a few Common Terns. Although not previously reported on e-bird for the area Scopoli’s Shearwaters were reasonably common offshore at the time of my visit, marginally outnumbering Yelkouan Shearwaters, both species generally just loafing around.
A few Great and Pygmy Cormorant were sometimes present on or over the sea to the North of the resort, and some migration was evident with small numbers of Little Egrets and a single flock of Glossy Ibis passing North. A few Mallard and Shelduck were sometimes seen along the shoreline, these seemed like local birds rather than migrants. One morning I saw a single large dark Eleanora’s Falcon flying North low over the sea about a kilometre offshore.
Beaches and marina: Largely bird-less, a Common Sandpiper early one morning on the beach, a couple of Common Terns in the marina once were about it. We did take a 30 minute sunset cruise one evening, but this didn’t go far enough to see anything that couldn’t be seen better from shore. One evening shortly after sunset I saw a Black-crowned Night Heron flying over the marina towards the wetlands, and one afternoon I saw a Short-toed Eagle following the coastline North.
Resort grounds: Yellow-legged Gull, Hooded Crow, Blackbird, Starling, Great Tit, Sardinian Warbler, Barn Swallow, House Martin, Common Swift, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and House Sparrow were all common in and around the resort grounds. Chiffchaff & Willow Warbler were both heard a few times, and one evening I heard Scops Owl near the Sani Beach reception entrance. I suspect an early morning circuit might produce a few passerine migrants, but that these swiftly move into the adjacent woodland and wetlands.
Stavronikitas headland and tower: Some potential for early morning migrants, with single Woodchat Shrike, Whitethroat, Northern Wheatear & White Wagtail during my stay. I also saw a Little Owl a couple of times (very early and very late) on the tower, and a Common Kestrel was often present in the area too.
2. Bousoulas Woods
Access to Bousoulas woods and the adjacent Sani Wetlands: On reaching the main resort entrance area, turn right along a paved road signed towards Sani Beach, after c500m the paved road bends to the left towards the Sani Beach hotel, at this point veer right to continue straight on, along a gravel road signed ‘Bousoulas Bar Parking’. Park here alongside the road, or if short of time continue along the gravel road to the old pump house (second building you reach), and park there.
To the left of the start of the gravel road is an area of rough grass, a raised mound of rubble and scrub, maintenance area and water treatment plant. This area is worth a check, it held Yellow Wagtail, Crested Lark, Northern Wheatear, Spanish Sparrow and Red-rumped Swallow during my visits.
The main pine woods, interspersed with a few heath clearings, and a scrubby understory extend some 2.5km and 300-500m wide, North from the resort, covering low sand dunes between the shoreline and Sani wetlands. This is really nice habitat, beautiful flowers & butterflies during my visit, and good birding, albeit at low densities. There are a couple of well-marked broad sandy trails that meander through the woods, these join with beach and also the main gravel track along the Western edge of the wetlands at a couple of points.
In addition to species seen more generally around the resort, the woods held good numbers of Nightingale, plus a few recently arrived Collared, Pied and Spotted Flycatcher, Wood Warbler, Red-backed and Woodchat Shrike, Turtle Dove, overhead Alpine Swift, and resident Collared Dove, Syrian Woodpecker, Kestrel and Eurasian Sparrowhawk.
3. Sani Wetlands
There are two parts to the Sani wetlands; the main marsh and Stavronikitas lake(s) and Yerani lake(s), slightly separately further North. The Stavronikitas section is a freshwater marsh, extending some 5km North from the main entrance road to the Sani Resort, and reaching up to 1km in width. Yerani lakes, 4-500m North of Stavronikitas are saline, and occupy an area of c.1km by 500m.
At first sight, coming from the resort/parking area the Stavronikitas section of the wetlands is quite daunting; during my visit water levels were high, but despite this for the first kilometre or so no open water is visible, just thick and often tall reed-beds. Some birds were visible in flight over this section (Pygmy Cormorant, Purple Heron, Marsh Harrier & Steppe Buzzard), and alongside the track (Hoopoe, Whinchat, Woodchat & Red-backed Shrike), but birding was generally more rewarding in the adjacent pine woods.
Once you reach the old pump house, which is an obvious building, and the second building you come to, things improve markedly. Some open water is visible from here, and there is a path which cuts across the wetlands, and the full length of this should be walked as it provides views of open water and reed-bed edges to the North & South. The far end is blocked/fenced where it reaches farmland. I saw a few migrants in the small bushes along the path (Blackcap, Lesser Whitethroat, Eastern Orphean Warbler), and had decent views of both Common and Great Reed Warbler in the adjacent reed-beds.
Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Great Crested & Little Grebe, and Mute Swan were all reasonably obvious on the open water, and with perseverance the odd Pochard and Ferruginous Duck could be seen too. Good numbers of Pygmy Cormorant and a few Great Cormorant were starting to nest and could be seen around the fringes of the lakes, with Purple and Squacco Heron occasionally emerging from the reeds on short flights. Birds overhead included two Collared Pratincole and a single Hobby.
On returning to the main gravel road it is well worth continuing North along it beyond the old pumphouse, the road rises through an area in which I saw Syrian Woodpecker, and provides a more elevated albeit distant view of the Northern sections of the Stavronikitas section of marsh and lakes. From here it was possible to view distant nesting Little Egrets, and Squacco Herons perched amongst the nesting and roosting Pygmy Cormorants. The Northernmost part of the lake seemed to hold a few more ducks (including Ferruginous and a lingering Wigeon).
Continuing on you reach a point at which the main gravel road turns sharply left and heads downhill past a few private properties, through a narrow section of pines and on down to the beach (I saw my only Kentish Plover here). However, the better route is to continue straight on where the gravel road turns left, along a dirt farm track. Then after about 400m take the next obvious dirt farm track heading left, which will bring you down to the saline Yerani lakes (I returned this way).
At the time of my visit the Yerani lakes were too deep to hold any Flamingo or waders, with just a few Shelduck and Mallard floating about.
The one time I completed the full walk, initially through Bousoulas woods to the old pumphouse, then across and along the Stavronikitas lake and along to Yerani and back was just over 10km long, and took me just over 4 ½ hours at a birdwatching pace. At times I was rushed and walking quite fast on my return, one could easily spend six hours birding this route to do it justice.
4. Agios Mamas
This comprises an extensive shallow saline lake with surrounding marshes, scrub, beach and farmland. In decent weather it is probable best viewed from a farm track along its Western edge, or unsurfaced roads inshore of the beach along its Eastern edge.
I viewed the area initially from parking alongside the Agios Mamas Greek Orthodox Church, having used google maps to get me to this site. This spot is a reasonable starting point, providing a good overview of the area, and in poor weather, a surfaced road. I then drove c.1km south along this surfaced road, parking beyond the ‘Flamingo View Suites’ and walking down a farm track closer to the lake.
Highlights from these spots included nice views of European Bee-eaters, Whinchats, a few larger waders, including a Stone Curlew and reasonable numbers of Black-winged Stilts, many distant Greater Flamingo and a single Gull-billed Tern. I only had a 30-40 minute visit in driving rain to this site, which is a shame as it looked fantastic, and is probably a bit more accessible/easier birding than Sani wetlands. With more time and better weather I reckon I would have seen a lot more here.
