TRANSFER FROM MYTILINE AIRPORT TO SKALA KALLONI WITH STOPS AT KARAMI MARSH AND MESA WETLANDS
WEATHER: bright sunshine but windy. Temp 22C
The group arrived on time and were through the airport security fairly quickly, Dancho, my second guide and driver had arrived earlier, we were ready and waiting for our group of 13 from the Bracknell and Woking RSPB members group.
Due to time restraints we made only one stop en-route to the hotel and that was at the Marshes of Karami and the wetlands of Mesa which are adjacent to one another. Once out of the minibuses we quickly found a few species of birds, dragonflies and flowers.
a view of Mesa Wetlands from the roadside - all pictures on today's blog were taken by Dancho
The Pygmy Cormorant is an uncommon visitor to Lesvos and this year there have been up to 5! We saw one of them flying from its roost in the main channel of Karami marsh, it later returned as we were leaving.
Greater Flamingos
The most common species went onto the list: my ‘favourite’ went on first, the Corn Bunting, followed by Crested Lark, Squacco Heron, Black-winged Stilts, Ruddy Shelduck, Coot, Moorhen and Olivaceous Warbler. Scoping the hedgerows and bushes we found both Red-backed and Woodchat Shrikes, both were quite distant.
Squacco Heron
At Mesa wetlands we added Greater Flamingo, Little Ringed Plover, Wood Sandpiper, Yellow-legged Gull and Stonechat. Other wildlife seen in the area included: Common Toad, Tongue and Holy Orchids, Dark Spreadwing Damselfly and an Emerald species of Dragonfly. A Painted Lady was our only butterfly.
Holy Orchid
Tongue Orchid
Back at the buses we added Zitting Cisticola and a Sardinian Warbler called from the olive grove on the bank.
Common Toad
We arrived at the hotel at 6:45 and after settling into our rooms we ate dinner at 7:30pm, by 9:30pm we were all tucked up into our beds, it had been a long day for all of us.