Showing posts with label Skiathos birds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Skiathos birds. Show all posts

Sunday, October 1, 2017

This And That - Sunday October 1st

A run around the block on Saturday before the rains came didn’t produce too much in the way of birds. Sunday and it's still raining. 

I checked out the Linnet flock at Gulf Lane in the hope of a ringing session soon but a glance at the weather for the coming week doesn’t hold out much hope. While I was away in Greece Andy added another 25 Linnets and a handful of Goldfinch to the totals. Looking today most of the Goldfinch seemed to have moved on with the flock of 100+ birds almost exclusively Linnet. October is the peak migration time for Linnets so we expect the flock to increase again soon and also that those birds will include Linnets from further afield. 

Of course in Greece I’d missed the mid-September first arrivals of Pink-footed Geese to Lancashire but rather made up for it with many skeins flying off the marsh and over my head towards an inland destination. I’d counted more than 1700 in dozens of flocks before the movement died off and I too moved on. 

Pink-footed Geese

There was a Wheatear on the gateposts at Braides Farm with approximately 90 Lapwing and 100 Curlew scattered across the long grassy fields. 

Wheatear

A good find on a flooded field at Pilling/Rawcliffe Moss was a single Ruff feeding amongst a flock of 95 Lapwing but little else with a Saturday shoot with its accompanying noise and disturbance about to begin. 

Ruff

So in the absence of local news, and not much prospect for the coming week against the tail ends of two hurricanes, here’s more from Greece, 14-28 September 2017. 

A friendly horse - Platanias, Skiathos
 
Alonisos, Skiathos

The Yellow-legged Gulls of Skiathos are quite unlike our large UK gulls in exploiting the process of rubbish disposal and the British love of feeding birds. The Yellow-legged Gulls of Skiathos rarely come ashore but spend their time feeding offshore and sitting on the mostly flat sea, apart from on windy days. It was along the shore here at Alonisos that we had super views of an Eleonora's Falcon as one dashed left to right and quickly out of sight after being chased off by a Kestrel. 

Yellow-legged Gulls, Alonisos, Skiathos

I didn’t get any new birds this year but had a butterfly “tick” by way of a White Admiral Limenitis arthemis, a woodland species that we found along the margins of an olive grove near Alonisos. It took me a while to find this on Google because perhaps naturally enough, I searched for “black butterfly”. Doh! Seemingly, this species occurs in the UK and is increasing. 

White Admiral

We saw many, many Swallowtails this year, probably hundreds - a very beautiful butterfly that we also see during May in Menorca. “Papilio demoleus is an aggressive and very common butterfly. It is perhaps the most widely distributed swallowtail in the world.” – Wiki. 

Swallowtail

Below is yet another Red-backed Shrike and then a Whinchat. We saw very few Whinchats this year due to the lack of migrant birds as a whole. Also, not a single Wheatear and very few Yellow Wagtails. 

Red-backed Shrike

Red-backed Shrike

Whinchat

I knew that Spotted Flycatchers occasionally eat fruit but never witnessed it until this year in Skiathos. In the dry summer of Greece blackberries aren’t nearly as plump as those from a UK hedgerow but clearly good enough for a Spotted Flycatcher. 

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Skiathos

The Boat Yard, Skiathos

Stay tuned for more news, views and photos soon.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesdasy.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Kalispera

Good Afternoon. Sorry I haven’t been posting much but Sue and I are not at home. We are still in Greece, staying on the island of Skiathos to be precise. 

This is mainly a sun holiday for Sue and I although regular readers of this blog will know that binoculars and camera always go on holiday with us. 

Skopelos

I’m home in a day or two and will post news and pictures of our trip, birds and views of the beautiful Sporades islands of Skiathos and Skopelos. In the meantime here are a few photographs from the same place in 2014 and 2015. It’s so good we decided to return. 

Flying Cat at Alonissos 

One of the highlights of our stay is day exploring Kastro in the north of Skiathos where Eleanora’s Falcons are guaranteed during the month of September, a time when the falcons feed on the millions of small birds migrating through the Greek islands. It’s a fair old bumpy journey to get to Kastro and then a trek over the rocks to reach the Greek flagged promontory. It’s well worth the effort to watch the magical and acrobatic Eleanoras in action. 

Eleanora's Falcon

Jimny
  
Kastro, Skiathos

There are lots of Alpine Swifts here and in fact all over the island where they tear across the sky at breakneck speed. There’s a good number of Bee Eaters around too and they often feed up high in amongst swifts, swallows and martins.

Alpine Swift

Bee Eater

Skiathos

We’re staying on the south coast where there’s often scrubby habitat, reeds and remnants of pine forest just yards from the tourist beaches. They make good spots for shrikes, wagtails, pipits and chats.

Red-backed Shrike

Woodchat Shrike

That's all for now, it's time to head off for our evening meal.

Taverna - Skiathos

I'm not blogging for a day or two so apologies if I don't catch up with everyone.  We are back home soon and I promise to do so then. 

Log in later for more news, views and photographs from Another Bird Blog in Greece.



Monday, October 12, 2015

A Little Fluke And Greek Delight

I managed an hour two exploring Fluke Hall today. Whooper Swans are back from Iceland with four adults and a single juvenile below the sea wall. There was a Green Sandpiper along the landward ditch, a single Snipe, a couple of hunting Kestrels plus 2 Little Egrets and a Grey Heron.

Best I could find around the woodland turned out to be 45+ Woodpigeon, 3 Stock Dove and a Nuthatch.

Whooper Swans

That snippet of local news rather short changes regular readers so for the rest of this post there are some final pictures from our Skiathos holiday of 16th to 30th September.

We chose a sunny day to make the annual pilgrimage to the ancient abandoned fortress of Kastro where we could watch the exploits of the island’s Eleonora’s Falcons. For a more detailed insight into both Kastro and its Eleonora's Falcons, see my post of last year Fantastic Falcon.

The colony of breeding Eleonora’s live on a rocky outcrop in the far north of the island, the opposite coast to both our hotel and to Skiathos Town. Luckily we made the tortuous overland journey before the historic storms of 22/23rd September as otherwise I think the route via secondary roads and rough tracks would have been blocked by rivers of mud and rocks. 

Kastro, Skiathos

Kastro, Skiathos

The parking spot leaves a foot-slog over rocky paths towards the Greek flag with chance to see Yellow-legged Gulls, Blue Rock Thrush, Kestrel, Alpine Swifts, Common Swifts and swallows of both the common and red-rumped variety. In the vegetation skulked Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Sardinian Warblers and Blackcaps. 

Yellow-legged Gull

The falcons live below the flag along the furthermost point of the rocky promontory where they remain fairly distant until one or two fly directly over. The Eleonora’s performed to their usual incredible and spectacular level, hurtling through the skies at breakneck speed to the rocks and the sea below. With approximately 20 birds present, both adults and youngsters, it was obvious there was lots of family interplay to get through before they fly to Africa for the coming winter. 

Eleonora's Falcon

Eleonora's Falcon

Eleonora's Falcon

Eleonora's Falcon

On a couple of occasion we drove to Koukounaries to visit the famous beach and the lake of Strofilia which lies between a line of pine trees and the road to Koukounaries. 

Strofilia

Strofilia, Skiathos

Strofilia from above, Skiathos

A couple of leisurely walks around the lake taking in the mix of habitats produced a good selection of species with Yellow Wagtails and Whinchats in abundance, on one day in particular 50+ Yellow Wagtails and 20+ Whinchats.

There was also Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Hoopoe, Red-backed Shrike, Hobby, Grey Heron, Honey Buzzard, Spotted Flycatcher, Wryneck, Kingfisher, Little Egret, Kestrel and Sardinian Warbler. That’s a worthy list by any standards, especially considering that by mid to late September many species are absent having set off for Africa. 

Spotted Flycatcher

Hoopoe

A Hoopoe is a striking bird but they can be difficult to spot when they choose to stay quiet and sit motionless in a tree. 

Hoopoe

Red-backed Shrike

Yellow Wagtail

Hooded Crow

Yellow Wagtail

I hope blog readers enjoyed the recent posts from Skiathos, Greece. It’s a peaceful, stress-free place for a holiday and there's always a spot of leisurely birding available for those who choose not to sun bathe. 

Skiathos

Stay tuned to Another Bird Blog for more birds and more pictures very soon.

Linking this post to Run-a-roundranch blog and  World Bird Wednesday.


Monday, October 5, 2015

An Ill Wind In Skiathos

The weather is not too good for birding or ringing for a day or two so for today’s blog post there’s a tale from recent Skiathos. "Click the pics" for a clearer view of Greece.

Our first week in Skiathos saw glorious weather, constant temperatures between 28 and 30⁰ and endless clear blue skies. The photograph below shows part of Skiathos and in the right-hand background the neighbouring and larger island of Skopelos as viewed from the Kanapitsa peninsula of Skiathos. 

View from Kanapitsa, Skiathos

The scorching weather broke on 22nd and 23rd September with thunderstorms of historic proportions. The Greek mainland and the island of Skopelos bore the brunt of the storms with at times wind and rain reaching tornado strength. In Skopelos the torrential rain created flash floods which poured through the narrow streets and alleys into the harbour below the town. Reports at the time suggested that 10.5 inches of rain fell in the first 24 hours and that 70 or 80 vehicles had been washed into the harbour. Many businesses were destroyed by the ferocity of storm. Thankfully we heard that there was no loss of life and that both islanders and tourists managed to stay safe. 

Skopelos

While all this was going on we spent a day and more in our hotel in Agia Paraskevi listening to the thunder, watching the lightening and hearing the rain beat on our patio roof. When we once ventured out during what seemed a lull we found ourselves stuck for an hour or more in a stationary line of traffic at Kolios when a tree crashed across the road ahead of us and brought down power lines. 

The mornings after the storm saw huge numbers of birds on the move, displaced by the bad weather systems which stretched across many hundreds of miles. Sitting with my pre-breakfast cup of tea I watched thousands of Barn Swallows, Red-rumped Swallows, House Martins, Common Swifts, Pallid Swifts and Alpine Swifts circling in the grey clouds above. Two parties of Bee Eaters flew over as did a group of 8 Hobbies, several Lesser Kestrels, a couple of Eleonora’s Falcon, at least 3 Marsh Harriers and a number of Ravens. The grey skies allowed time to test the theory that the Hobby has a silhouette like a large swift - it does. Eleonora’s Falcon has a call remarkably similar to Ring-necked Parakeet, a fact which I remembered when searching the sky for a green parrot with a long tail but instead seeing a medium sized falcon! 

 Hobby

On the third day Sue took the bus to the delights of shopping in Skiathos Town. I made off in the Jimny for Aselinos where the cool of the morning meant that no one wanted to sunbathe. Pools newly created by the recent storms held many Yellow Wagtails as well as Whinchats, Wheatears, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and the ever present shrikes. 

Aselinos Beach

Aselinos

Whinchat

Red-backed Shrike

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Wheatear

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

I found a couple of Richard’s Pipits too, a species which according to various sources, may or may not be scarce in Greece but is one that I’ve seen in the same place two years running. There are no Magpies or Jackdaws on Skiathos where apart from the scarce Raven, the representative of the crow family is the ubiquitous Hooded Crow. 

 Richard's Pipit
 
Hooded Crow

 The Road From Aselinos

As that old proverb goes - “It’s an ill wind that blows no good.” That certainly applies in Skiathos where the normally quiet bird watching of September becomes rather different when bad weather drops migrant birds onto the island. 

I just looked at the latest forecast and it looks like there will be a ringing or birding day soon. Log in then for more news, views and photos.

Linking today to Anni's Birding Blog and Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

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