A Pile Of Old Stuff

Still no birding for me as I try to acclimatise to zero temperatures whilst clearing 10 days of ice off the car, catching up with children and grandchildren, not to mention 80 e-mails or attacking the mountain of post behind the front door, 50% of which I immediately junked; this despite being on a mailing preference list. Oh well, I suppose it keeps the postman in a job plus the paper recyclers, the leaflet writers, designers, printers and packagers, envelope manufacturers and the local authority waste collection crews.

So as Sue gets on with 2 weeks’ worth of washing I’ll be just as productive and post a few pictures and tales from Cyprus until I hit the local patch tomorrow.

Almost everyone who visits Cyprus tours the glorious Roman remains situated on the Pafos headland. It’s a must. The preserved mosaics alone are stunning, but if piles of old stones don’t turn you on, the birding is pretty interesting even in November but out of the busy migration of spring and autumn. The ruins provide lots of perches for birds, with nooks and crannies where insects abound and where between the sloppy Roman pointing and the fallen stonework, plants take root and sparse vegetation flourishes in the dry climate.

The predominant species here were larks, finches, White Wagtails, Stonechats, equal numbers of Black Redstarts and House Sparrows, plus Hooded Crows with smaller numbers of Sardinian Warblers, Blackcaps and Collared Doves; and of course Blue Rock Thrushes, a species designed just for here.

Blue Rock Thrush
Black Redstart
A Pile Of Old Stones
Collared Dove
Linnet
House Sparrow
Stonechat

I sat at the top of the amphitheatre ruin and wondered whether Birdius Caesar was familiar with the birds I now watched? Bored with watching lions kill Christians every weekend, sick of the running gladiator battles and the endless chariot races, did he slink out of the back row then set off over the headland to watch the Crested Larks and Skylarks or seek out the Blue Rock Thrushes? And did he secretly admire the kites, Kestrels and Hooded Crows that mopped up after the carnage in the arena; and homesick for Italy, did he yearn for the spring migration that would bring Swallows, Hoopoes and even more raptors heading for Europe?

Crested Lark
Skylark
Hooded Crow
Kestrel
Lizards were all around, and I’ll wait for DM to point me in the right direction with names, but they are certainly hard to photograph, scuttling off back into the dark shadows at the hint of a toga, a sandaled foot or a waiting Kestrel.

"I'm Just Hanging Out"
Hey Good Lookin’

After a hard morning’s slog over the red hot tourist trail there’s nothing better than a cold beer, but as every good birder knows, you don’t go anywhere without bins and camera. And taking a few pictures while propped up in the sun isn’t too taxing especially when a Black Red stops by to share your sunbed.

Black Redstart
Pafos, Cyprus
I hope to get out tomorrow but the overnight forecast is snow falling on top of already treacherous ungritted roads so I think I should play that one by ear.

Back To Normal?

Regular readers of Another Bird Blog will have noticed the lack of new posts recently. That’s because Sue and I have been on holiday, in sunny Cyprus; so sunny in fact that for two weeks we didn’t see a single cloud, the daytime temperature climbed to a steady 27 C and I wore a T-shirt and shorts for 14 days – not the same ones every day I hasten to add. Whilst it wasn’t a birding holiday there are bird pictures to post in the next few days and weeks until I get back to normal with local birding and adjusting to the zero or below temperatures we returned to.

In Cyprus we stayed at the XX Hotel as recommended by good friends Alan and Jane, who appreciate a fine hotel when they find one. Knowing of a special hotel is a bit like finding a scarce bird - you don’t mind sharing the details with a few like-minded friends but don’t necessarily wish to post information on the World Wide Web and have every Tom, Dick and Harry come along and spoil it. But for those who really want to know, send me an email and I'll think about it.

So until tomorrow and the next time here are a few pictures to be going on with - birds, blue sky and lizards. And apologies to my blogging friends, I will catch up with you all soon.

Pafos, Cyprus
Crested Lark
Gekko?
White Wagtail
Agama Lizard
Black Redstart
Just When You Thought It Safe To Go In The Water

See You Soon.

Start at the End

As usual it was just a dash out after lunch when the clouds looked a little brighter to the west and by 1330 I was walking from Fluke Hall towards Knott End hoping to pick up a Snow Bunting. Or if I got really lucky and the sun came out, perhaps grab one or two pictures of the Black Redstart if it was still around. We used to get more Snow Buntings, a party of 7 or 8 or maybe more, but thanks to whatever, now we get singles if we are lucky, but if there’s one around surely there are others to find?

I’d judged the sky well by beating the crowds out as I walked the sea wall alone. Ridge Farm was well flooded, but at least the puddles held some birds to look at with 5 Pied Wagtails and a dozen Meadow Pipits making the most of the damp ground. Further back, out of harms way I counted 750 Pink-footed Geese on the old potato field and on the field behind the gorse hedge 40 Curlew picked through the edge of a flood where it was their moving about that may have flushed a couple of Snipe from the mud.





When I got closer to Knott End a group of 9 Whooper Swans came from inland then over Preesall Sands but two broke off to head towards Fluke leaving seven on the shore. I recently discovered that Whooper Swan is the Finnish national bird, not many people know that. Good choice.



By now I had counted 6 Little Egrets at various spots on the way, then at Cocker’s Dyke 2 Mistle Thrush perched in an obvious manner on the trackside wires where I guess they hold winter territory, but in what doesn’t look an obvious spot for this species. Just down from here I came across the Black Redstart darting around the rocks where there were lots of insects in the shelter of the sea wall. With the grey skies, getting a picture was out of the question so I will post another one of Paul’s excellent pictures from Friday when he skipped work to go birding. Some things just don’t change.



No sign of the Snow Bunting from Friday nor any other Snow Bunt.

Nice!

Paul sent me some pictures of both the Black Redstart and the Snow Bunting that were at Pilling yesterday, apparently at one stage hundreds of yards apart.

Just my luck of course on one of the few mornings I’m not out but choose to go for a good healthy swim rather than a walk.

Anyway, nice pictures Paul. Looks like all those trips paid off, when as knee high to a Grasshopper Warbler he swore he’d done his homework and cadged a lift from his dad to the mere or Leighton Moss.

The third picture is courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Let's hope we dont get weather like that.