Date: Tue, 30 May 1995 11:00:19

Chaine

From: Alastair Rae (arae at uk.mdis.com)


Subject: Lesvos Trip Report
Verte
Trip Report: LESVOS, 18th - 25th May 1995 Alastair Rae and Ann Feltham

"Lesbos is a one of the larger Greek islands, tucked away in the north-eastern corner of the Aegean, close to Turkey," to quote Marjorie Williams' "Birdwatching in Lesbos" booklet. Other information we had in advance of our visit was the "Lesvos Compilation" of trip reports from Steve Whitehouse. We also had help on the island from some of the other birders. We kept bumping into Richard Brooks who was on the island for a month researching a book on birding in Lesvos. I suspect that this is an up-and-coming destination.

The main spring wave was early this year so we missed many of the passage species but the residents and summer visitors more than made up for it. The key species on our hit list were Kruper's Nuthatch, Masked Shrike, Cretzschmar's and Cinereous Buntings.

We hired a car for the week. It seemed that nearly every birder on the island was driving a little Seat Marbella. While these are adequate to most of the dirt tracks, I would warn against taking one on the hill road between Eresos and Sigri. This is a really beautiful area but we nearly got stuck on two different parts of the road.

We stayed in Skala Kallonis. I'd reckon that if you didn't want to hire a car, you could cover many of the sites from there by bicycle. The only difficulty would be Kruper's; you would have to scrounge a lift for that.

Lesvos is definitely good, hassle-free birding. There is very little problem with access and the natives are friendly. Take some mosquito repellent, an alarm clock and a sun hat and you're on for some excellent birding.

Site abbreviations (the names used mostly come from the Williams' booklet): 

        SK      Skala Kallonis area     SE      Skala Eresou
        ER      SK East River           SP      Salt Pans
        WR      SK West River           DY      "Derbyshire"
        HP      SK Hotel Pool           PM      Parakila Marsh
        UER     Upper ER                PH      Parakila Hills
        PV      Potomia Valley          ES      Eresos - Sigri track
        MO      Molivos

Abundance abbreviations (assume single birds unless otherwise stated):

        a       abundant
        f       frequent
        o       occasional
Alastair Rae (ARae at mdis.com)