Apologies to regular readers who perhaps realised I had gone AWOL without leaving a forwarding address. I promise to get back to you all very soon. Yes, it was holiday time in Greece.
This was our eleventh time in Skiathos and our first visit to the island in spring. Sue and I missed out in both May 2020 and May 2021 due to Covid but at last we made it, despite the best efforts of TUI and Manchester Airport.
Spring was only slightly different from late September trips when the landscape is parched following a typical Greek summer and when many summer birds have gone south. In early May the weather was initially cooler but by the second week scorching sun and a familiar twenty five degrees. Once again I was the only birder on the island, birding as much as possible, if you get the drift. When is a birder not birding is the question?
Our usual hotel The Ostria at Agia Paraskevi opens in late May so this year we stayed within a stone’s throw at Spiti Oneiro, a Greek title that translates as ‘Dream House’. It’s an apt name for so many homes in faraway, relaxing Skiathos.
We know Dream House well as one of our welcoming watering holes and places to eat during September stays. It’s a little off the beaten track so very quiet, a friendly, laid-back sort of place with just nine apartments, bed & breakfast if required or room only. Proprietors are Dad Kostas and daughter Efie, two wonderful, helpful and kind people who go out of their way to make guests feel at home.
Kostas Stergiopoulos
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We
reserved a room via Efie and book flights directly. This makes for a more personal experience as well as ensuring our money goes into the
local economy rather than a percentage into commission to third
parties.
Courtesy
of Magda of Mustang Motors https://www.skiathosrent.com
we picked up the Jimny jeep at the airport and filled it with
expensive petrol, fuel
that
lasts
a while on quite tiny Skiathos Island. At Euros 25 a day the
jeep works
out as both convenient and cost effective when a couple of trips to
other parts of the island by local bus costs about Euros 8 each time,
e.g into Skiathos Town or the opposite ends of the island
Koukounaries, or Troulos.
The furthermost north part of the island
is
in any case accessible mostly by car, sometimes a 4x4, more so after
a wet winter. It was in January and into March
this year that Skiathos had several bouts of snow followed by a legacy of soggy roads and tracks.
Skiathos Life - Facebook January 2022
Two weeks of uninterrupted sun and zero rain made for lots of photos of Skiathos if not too many bird photos as early May proved a little late for heavy migration and in any case Skiathos has a quite small bird list.
The "best" and most unexpected bird proved to be a Little Bittern which I saw on and off for two weeks in a reedy ditch where stream frogs Rana gracea were probably the reason for the bittern's presence. Most of the time I glimpsed the thing climbing through the thick reeds and only once did I get a decent photo. My sighting may be the first recorded sighting of this small bittern species on Skiathos where birders are rare even non-existent but I imagine the Little Bittern is pretty common in Greece as a whole.
Rana gracea
Little Bittern
The first week included Bee Eaters, Black-headed Buntings, Red-throated Pipits, Richard's Pipits, Yellow Wagtails, Red-backed Shrikes, Woodchat Shrikes, Whinchats, Red-rumped Swallows, Barn Swallows, Marsh Warblers & Reed Warblers, Hobbies, Buzzard, Olivaceous Warblers, Scops Owl and a good number of daytime singing Nightingales. Sea birds consisted of the ever-present Yellow-legged Gulls, European Shag and numbers of Cory's/Scopoli's Shearwaters searching the mill pond Aegean Sea.
Barn Swallow
Black-headed Bunting
Red-rumped Swallow
Woodchat Shrike
Yellow Wagtail
Red-throated Pipit
Red-backed Shrike
Red-backed Shrike
Yellow Wagtail feldegg
By the second week the birds dried up with the increased temperatures and we were left to enjoy the sunshine, deserted beaches and the company of Hooded Crows and Yellow-legged Gulls.
Hooded Crow
Yellow-legged Gull
There are lots of photos of Sunny Skiathos below. Enjoy and don't forget to "click the pic" for a better view.
Skiathos Town
Skiathos Town
The Bourtzi
Skiathos Town
The Bourtzi
Rural Skiathos
Above Skiathos
Essential Shopping in Skiathos
Skiathos Town
Skiathos Boatyard
Skiathos Boatyard
In the Boatyard
View from Mylos Taverna
Ligaries
Ligaries
Ligaries
Back soon with local news and views.
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