Trip Reports

Lesvos May 2009

The group of eight from Oxford RSPB Members Group became ‘ wing-spanners’ for seven days as they 
arrived in bright sunshine on the beautiful island of Lesvos to join me, Bob Buckler of Wingspan Bird Tours 
for a fabulous week-long bird-watching holiday. We packed the luggage onto the bus with the minimum of 
fuss and set off for Skala Kalloni in the centre of the island, we arrived within the hour and checked into the 
Pasiphae Hotel which was to be our base for the next seven nights. After a short settling in period we set off 
for our first birding excursion, which was to be the salt pans adjacent to Kalloni. 
The late afternoon light was superb and so were the birds, within minutes we were watching a good selection 
of waders; Kentish Plovers, Wood Sandpiper, Ruff, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Avocet, Greenshank, 
Spotted Redshank and a single Marsh Sandpiper, most of which were passing migrants. A pair of Stone 
Curlews appeared, they looked as if they changed places on a nest located on a grassy embankment, and next 
a stunning Black-headed Bunting distracted us as it perched on a nearby fence-post.