POTAMIA VALLEY - TSIKNIAS RIVER – LOTZARIA TRACK TO KALLONI SALT PANS – AGIASOS SWEET CHESTNUT WOODS – KALLONI SALT PANS AND TSIKNIAS RIVER TRACK
WEATHER: cloudy with sunny spells, very chilly wind. Max temp 11C but felt like 3C
Yes it was a cold one today, we wrapped up warm and headed out at 6:30am to look for Olive Tree Warblers in the Potamia Valley. We got to the right spot and waited and listened, nothing! The wind was howling along the valley and that didn’t help much. We saw Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Blue & Great Tits and not much else. On the way back we stopped at the bridge over the River Christou to look for Stone Curlews – we dipped again.
Just before we pulled into the car park we saw a large crowd of birders on the beach gazing into the bay. We soon found out that a Monk Seal was there, we saw it well.
After breakfast we set off on a mission to see at least 6 species in order to get our list up to a respectable 150. We tried the fields surrounding the Lotzaria track in the hope of seeing any of the three Spur-winged Lapwings that had been seen last night. We dipped on those.
However, we really enjoyed watching all the waders out in the marshes. Dozens of Wood Sandpipers were feeding with Ruff, Little Stints, Wood Sandpipers and a large flock of Curlew Sandpipers. We scanned the Alykes Marsh and found many species, an impressive 7 Black Storks were present, along with Eurasian Spoonbills, Purple Herons, Great egret and lots of Grey Herons.
On the salt pans we searched the dividing banks for Stone Curlew but we couldn’t see any. It was at this point that my group decided that they had had enough of chasing birds and asked me to take to Agiasos to look for orchids and to visit this wonderful ‘ancient’ town.
It took us forty minutes to get there, it was even colder there, because we were at a much higher elevation. We searched for orchids and found four species as well as wild Tulips and a vast range of wild flowers. We also saw Subalpine Warblers, we heard a Mistle Thrush and we saw Chaffinch, Blue and Great Tits.
In the village the group walked around the main streets and enjoyed a lovely coffee stop. I stayed by the bus and saw Serin, Alpine Swift, Common Swift, Barn Swallow, Common Buzzard and heard Blackcap and Common Nightingale.
We left the area at 3pm and drove back to the Kalloni Salt Pans, taking the west track, we stopped at hide No.3 where we saw the Lesser Flamingo again, found by Anne. We also searched the sheep fields behind the hide for a Cattle Egret which did not appear.
Driving through the Lotzaria track we reached the Tsiknias River where we saw virtually nothing. We made our third attempt to see the Rufous Bush Robin, it was very windy again and once again we dipped. So our last full day provided very few new species but we enjoyed what we did see and the orchids of course were special.