Greece, Day 7 - birding galore at Aegina Island! 11th April 2018

All 40 of us left the hotel in Athens bright and early at around 07:30am in order to arrive with time to spare before getting the ferry across to Aegina Island. We left at 9am, and once we left the harbour myself and my friends went up to the top of the ferry. Unfortunately the weather was disappointing, and for most of the day it was cloudy and grey. However, I must say that the birds did not disappoint. After we'd left the harbour, about 20 minutes after leaving, with the harbour still in sight, I spotted the first birds on the water (that weren't gulls.) As I scrambled to get the camera out I was delighted to find that they were Yelkouan Shearwater - the same species I'd spotted from the coach the day before. This time much closer, though the ferry disturbed them a lot, as they flew off when we got within 30m of them. However, there were so many of them that I got some decent pictures as well as the awful ones obviously. Also spotted on the sea was a distant Cory's Shearwater.

When we arrived at Aegina, we boarded the ferry so we could visit the first site, which was the Temple of the Aphaea. Seconds after getting out of the coach I heard Cretzschmar's Bunting and Redstart. 

We explored the temple further and in preparation for visiting the massive Acropolis on the final day learnt about the structures and why it was so significant for the ancient islanders. 

Soon after, we headed off to another part of the island to have lunch. The journey there was stunning, and looking across a bay I spotted a Pygmy Cormorant flying across. 2 Stonechat and a stonking m Whinchat perched on fenceposts near what seemed to be a nature reserve. We ate at a small restaurant on the coast and it was probably the best meal of the week. Though I couldn't eat the calamari or prawn I enhaled 26 Whitebait and could've eaten a whole pile more. 

My piscis massacre was peacefully enjoyed except when I spotted a group of birds out of the corner of my eye, with further inspection revealing them to be 9 Purple Heron. A nice lunchtime tick!

We left for a walk around the coastal port of Egina, where we bought ice creams and chilled. 45 minutes later it was time to board the ferry again, and after getting permission from the group leader to stay outside and do some birding for the next hour or so. It started very well, and almost immediately a Cory's Shearwater flew by rapidly, so I got some usual crap shots. I then decided to take a video, which worked slightly better. Only 2 Yelkouan Shearwater were seen, so it seemed as if most of them had moved on. Further on there were lots of gull families, and some cormorants on a large rocky outcrop. Then everything calmed down and only the occasional gull was seen, so I headed back inside.

Overall an extremely successful day - considering I was on a school trip seeing so many birds was fortunate!

Yelkouan Shearwater

Yelkouan Shearwater

Yelk Shear 

Gull sp. - was a lot smaller than others but too hard to tell from crap photos

Cory's Shearwater

Gull sp.

No clue

Purple Heron

Greece, Day 6 - a quiet day with an exciting finish! 10th April 2018

Today was going to be another day with much more travelling. After leaving the hotel at the stunning Tolo at around 8:30ish we set off for our only site for the day which was Epidaurus. This was an ancient theatre site with fantastic surrounding scenery and other buildings.

On the whole the birds were pretty quiet, other than Hooded Crows, the odd warbler and Jays. But the insects were very loud and showy in the heat, with tons of butterflies especially. 

I was fascinated more by the history so took fewer pics, but here they are. 

After a few hours we left in order to return to Athens, where we were staying in the dodgy part of town again. We stopped on the way back at Corinth Canal, where we had lunch. 

We then departed again leaving us plenty of time to chill when we got back. While on the coach passing the coast I spotted a large group of birds, probably near 50, feeding quite a distance offshore. I got a few crap pictures from the moving coach and they were just good enough to ID them as Yelkouan Shearwater - thanks to D Campbell and P Alfrey for help on this. It was a bird that I was very pleased to see especially as I hadn't expected seeing them at all. I'll say it now but it wasn't the last i saw of them...

We then had a very calm evening ready for our early start the following day.

Jay

Grasshopper

Greek Clouded Yellow

Hooded Crow

ad Yellow-legged Gull

Corinth Canal

Yelkouan Shearwaters

Greece, Day 5 - investigating the local Classics, and wildlife! 9th April 2018

After a cracking first 4 days in Greece, today we visited more sites in close proximity to Tolo, which were largely quieter but still produced some goods. We left for Site 1 out of 3 at around 08:30am and arrived at 9ish - Site 1 was the Fortress of Palamidi. This epic castle looked over Nafplion, which we visited the day before, and had some spectacular views. Here are just a few pics from the fortress, with the best birds including singing Calandra Lark and Alpine Swifts. 

Nafplion from the Fortress of Palamidi

Alpine Swift

The next site was Tiryns, a Hill fort made of huge boulders. It was part of the Mycenaean's work, as we saw later on. Other than the Lizards - which I didn't get pictures of - I saw very few birds other than finding a Great Tit nest and a Lesser Kestrel nest.

Tiryns

We soon moved on to the last site of the day before having the afternoon to relax and enjoy Tolo, and this was Mycenae. We arrived at around 12:30 and gradually made our way into the site. Whilst discussing the structures and some of their purposes - I bet nobody can get why there was this hole right by the entrance - I did notice a few birds present. Rock Bunting was added to the list and a Rock Nuthatch revealed itself singing from what seemed like a nest-site. It showed well whilst singing and I got some decent pictures. Further up a warbler species dashed off, and butterflies were flying around. This Scarce Swallowtail perched momentarily as well. Once we'd completed our tour and walked around the museum, we had lunch at a local restaurant and transferred back to Tolo.

Anyone know why this was by the entrance? 

Mycenea

Collared Dove looking cold in 32C. Clearly disappointed

Rock Nuthatch

Rock Nuthatch - full optical zoom on the Canon Powershot SX60 HS

view around from Mycenea

Scarce Swallowtail

The afternoon was mostly spent on the beach playing cricket x rounders with others, and I didn't do too much birding. I got another good nights sleep ready for our trip back to Athens the following day!

Greece, Day 4 - the stunning Greek coast! 8th April 2018

(Apologies for late posts again - I have an exciting RE GCSE next week so have been doing much more revision.)

After a few long, tiring days we were given a day which was slightly more relaxing. After a fairly late start where we left Olympia at 09:30am ish, we had another long journey back towards Athens to the coastal town of Tolo. The journey itself was enjoyable - a Honey Buzzard was the first bird to make the list, and Sedge Warblers, Cuckoos and more were all heard from the coach within the first hour. The 2 hours afterwards were dull actually - this might have been because it was absolutely boiling and the temperature loitered just beyond the 30C mark due to the heat intensity from the sun. 

When we eventually arrived at the hotel after a pleasant lunch in a different nearby village, we were amazed at the view we got of the sea and bay of Tolo from the balcony of the entrance area. Though quiet birdwise it really was stunning, and we were pleased that this was the hotel we'd be staying in for 2 nights. 

After relaxing for a good while and taking some pictures - other than the odd Yellow-legged Gull and House Martin - we got ready for an evening visit to explore a local seaside town called Nafplion. 

We arrived at approximately 17:00 at Nafplion, and walked to a significant landmark - a place known to be the best place for ice creams in the Mediterranean. En route I had one of the moments of the trip. 

As we walked I heard a solitary Swift cry and looked up to be made to stop in awe at an absolute spectacle of nearly 300 Swifts swirling, en masse, above the edge of the sea. Swifts have always been one of my favourite birds and I was really ecstatic to be able to watch them - all 3 Species (Common, Pallid and Alpine) - swirling above the town. I then, once again, found myself feeling jealous of the locals - and dragged on by my friends.

We then had our ice creams, and blimey the Mango was good!

After enjoying this myself and my friends opted to walk along the coastal front and buy any bits and pieces, and additional drinks, as well as have some group photos (which I won't publish for personal reasons.) 

As we walked I was checking out the local birds and found some goodies amongst the tons of Yellow-legged Gulls and Caspian Gulls: 3 Med Gulls, including 2 1st winters, were flying distantly as were 2 ad Sandwich Terns. These have been long time coming - I'd never seen Sandwich Terns before and I don't really know how I managed that. Also was another seabird I was unsure about - possibly another gull sp. 

Shortly after we gathered in the square behind the seafront and prepared to return to our coach. However ironically the responsible 6 formers got lost, giving me time to return to my Swifts. It was another brilliant 10 minutes, and I really got a chance to watch them closely. 

It was another superb day in Greece - not visiting a major place was quite pleasant and the rest of the trip didn't disappoint!

Hotel Tolo - view

Just a tiny portion of the Swifts

Pallid Swift

1w Yellow-legged Gull

1w Med Gull

ad Sandwich Tern

? - Med Gull??

Fortress of Palamidi