Day 1 :- Our main guide (Steve Dudley) will already be on the island, so on arriving in Mytilini he will either meet you personally or arrange for a transfer for you to the Hotel Pasiphae in Skala Kallonis.
The hotel is one of the best on the island and is situated just inland of the coast of the northern edge of the Gulf of Kalloni. Its established itself as the hotel of choice for birdwatchers in Spring as it hosts breeding Spanish Sparrows and the endless song of Nightingale. Long-eared & Scops Owls are occasionally seen near the accommodation and there's even been a male Collared Flycatcher and Wryneck in the garden!.
Days 2-7 :- During our week we will be enjoying the delights of the island by visiting the areas and sites highlighted below.
The Skalla Kallonis Pool lies just a few hundred yards from the hotel and provides pre-breakfast , birding for the early risers. Here you can look for the more secretive wetland species in the long grass around the small open water areas - Garganey, Little Bittern, Purple Heron and crakes are all regular. Hirundines also use the tall reeds as a roost and the incoming swirls of Barn Swallows and Sand Martins is a real spectacle. The beach and saltmarsh also attract many waders and herons including Kentish Plover, Stone-curlew, Great White Egret and Black Stork.
One of our main target species is Krüper’s Nuthatch and we’ll spend a morning searching the pinewoods on the edge of the Gulf of Kalloni looking for this diminutive little bird which behaves more like a Blue Tit than a nuthatch as it bounces around the pines.
Ipsilou Monastery has perched high on its mountain top and has seen more than its fair share of sackings. From its top you can view the island in all directions whilst searching the skies for raptors and swifts which are just as likely to appear below you as they are above you! Honey Buzzard, Lesser Kestrel and Eleanora’s Falcon, Levant Sprrowhawk, Alpine & Pallid Swifts, Crag Martins and other hirundiens should all be hoped for. The tree-clad slopes may look quiet, but during a good fall the trees and bushes can be dripping with migrant warblers, flycatchers, chats, shrikes and Golden Oriole. The rocky parts of the mountain slopes should be checked for Rock Sparrow, Blue Rock Thrush, Cinereous & Cretzschmar's Buntings, Isabelline & Black-eared Wheatears. The meadow areas are packed with flowers and if you see a moving boulder it will be either a Chukar or Spur-thighed Tortoise! The monastery itself should be visited - the chapel is simply stunning and Persian Squirrels scurry around the monastery walls.
The small lake at Metochi is a real draw and we will visit it several times during the week. Here we will search the reed-fringed lake for all things secretive – crakes (possibly three species) herons and egrets. Whiskered & White winged Terns frequently pass through and the air is often thick with hirundines and swifts. The surrounding mountains provide not only a spectacular backdrop but also the chance of a raptor – Short toed Eagle, Long legged Buzzard, or maybe even a fly-through Eleanora’s Falcon. The lake itself boasts an enormous population of Stripe necked Terrapins plus the chance of the much scarcer European Pond Terrapin.
The Tsiknias River is one of the ‘wet’ rivers at this time of year. Even after the wettest of winters, many rivers soon run underground, but this river, running north from the top of the Gulf, provides a real migration corridor for many species. The river mouth is best checked early morning and late evening as its often the resting place for newly arrived migrants. Gulls, terns and waders all rub shoulders on the small spits of sand here including scarcer species such as Gull-billed Tern, waders and Slender-billed Gull. The river itself is now just a trickle through a pebble and sand river bed now exposed. Waders dot the water edges – numerous Wood Sandpipers, Ruff, Temminck’s & Little Stints as well as breeding Little Ringed Plover, plus ‘yellow’ wagtails, often in their hundreds, in a variety of flavours! The tamarisk-lined banks provide refuge for Eastern Olivaceous & Great Reed Warblers, whilst the shadowy overhangs should be checked carefully for skulking crakes and Little Bitterns. The small fields and groves either side of the river are great for Woodchat, Red backed, Masked & Lesser Grey Shrikes, Whinchat, buntings and raptors such as Red footed Falcon and Montagu’s Harrier. Newly arrived Black-headed Buntings and Bee-eaters will perched up on fences, wires and trees adding a blaze of colour to proceedings.
The island boasts two areas of saltpans at Kalloni and Polichnitos. The Kalloni pans lie at the northern edge of the Gulf of Kalloni and its salt mound can be seen from all coastal parts of the Gulf for over 30kms! These pans are one of the largest in Greece and cover a huge area. During spring the saltpan company is obliged to maintain water levels for the breeding and migrant species which use the area. Many of the outlying pans are easily viewed from the access road or tracks. In recent years observation hides have been erected which helps viewing in to more distant pans. The pans themselves can be alive with migrant and breeding waders – Avocet, Wood Sandpiper, Ruff, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, plus Greater Flamingo, White & Black Storks, Grey, Purple, Squacco & Night Herons, Spoonbill and Little & Great White Egrets can all be expected either feeding or resting up on the bunds between the pans – the latter also providing breeding sites for Stone-curlew. White winged, Whiskered & Black Terns all grace the area, sometimes in flocks of over 100 birds, plus Gull-billed Tern and Mediterranean & Slender-billed Gulls. The chance of a real rarity is always on the card here, and those wader flocks, bunds and pan edges should be checked very carefully!
The Napi Valley runs north from the Kalloni Saltpans. It provides a natural corridor for birds heading straight through or leaving the pans after a pit stop. We’ll search this softly-undulating valley with its tree-peppered slopes, and its surrounds, for resident and migrating raptors, Hoopoe, Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Rock Nuthatch, Sombre Tit, Black-eared Wheatear, Subalpine & Orphean Warblers and much more! Platania lies at the top of the valley and is one of the most beautiful walks on the island, and from late April plays host to Olive Tree Warbler, another major prize. We will search the nooks and crannies of the north coast for migrants refuelling for the hop over to Turkey which is almost touchable here across the narrow straights. The skies are always worth checking for raptors as the hills provide the perfect thermal updrafts for northerly-heading migrants as well as thermal fun rides for breeding species such as Long legged Buzzard and Short toed Eagle (both on the look out Montpellier Snakes or Balkan Wall & Agama Lizards). Breeding birds include Blue Rock Thrush, Black eared Wheatear, Masked Shrikes, Sombre Tit, Eastern Orphean Warbler, Black-headed & Cretzschmar’s Buntings, whilst offshore we’ll look for Yelkouan & Scolpoli’s (the eastern Med race of Cory’s) Shearwaters and possibly Audouin’s Gull. This coastline is also great for butterflies Scarce Swallowtail and Cleopatra. The villages and towns of this northern area are both picture postcard and varied - the beautiful fishing harbour village of Skala Sikaminias, overlooked by its inland cousin Sikaminia clinging to its hillside perch, whilst the castle-capped town of Molivos can be seen for many miles in most directions boasts a beautiful harbour and steep and narrow streets. Between Petra and Molivos we will search the headland areas for migrants and the scarce breeding Rüppell’s Warbler.
At the far western end of the island lies Sigri. Here the coastal fields provide a lush green oasis to tempt down hungry migrants. These fields lead to the sheltered Faneromeni River, flanked on either side by tall stands of bamboo which can provide refuge for tired migrants. If the river holds water Little Bittern and Great Snipe might be found out in the open. Lesser Kestrels and migrant harriers hunt over the surrounding hills, meadows and beaches where we also stand a change of finding such scarcities such as Roller and Collared Flycatcher.
Time permitting, in Sigri we might visit the newly opened Petrified Forest Museum (entry €5). Outside the museum lie huge stumps of a petrified trees, redwoods and pines that were covered in volcanic ash and turned to stone millions of years ago. The museum itself explains the process brilliantly and contains numerous other petrified items and geological finds from both Lesvos and further a field.
Along the 13km rough track which serves as a road connecting the towns of Sigri and Eresos, lies the Meladia River Valley. This forms a wide, flat plain at its mouth, narrowing quickly to the north pointing directly up to the mount of Ipsilou. This flat plain is one of the magnets for newly arriving migrants. The small ford pools offer shelter, food and water for Great Reed Warbler, crakes and herons. The open scrubby plain itself can swarm with ‘flava’ wagtails, pipits and buntings, whilst the nearby fig grove can be dripping with warblers, flycatchers, Bee-eaters and Golden Orioles. Rufous Bushchats should be on territory from early May. It’s a rare day you don’t get something interesting here.
Day 8 :- We must bid farewell to this Aegean jewel and head home – but many of us will return!
*As the focus is on migrant birds the schedule may change due to weather conditions at the time, your guide will determine the sites with the best likelihood of seeing the target species each day but all of the sites named will be visited during the trip.
Lesvos’ main attractions are several breeding species which are very difficult to see elsewhere in Europe, and its amazing migration. Lesvos is one of the eastern Aegean Islands and nestles just five miles off the coast of Turkey. It feels distinctly ‘middle eastern’ in many respects and the island offers unrivalled birding in the European part of the Mediterranean basin. Lesvos remains unspoilt by mass tourism, and most visitors find that they soon fall in love with the fantactic scenery, friendly people and the fabulous birdwatching. Because of its close proximity to the Turkish mainland, Lesvos enjoys a terrific migration that isolated islands fail to achieve. The week's itinerary covers most of this idyllic island, searching for it's resident and breeding species plus the huge number of passage migrants moving north to breed in Eastern Europe.