Prior to today I've never really rated Asprkremnos dam. I mean it's a very
deep reservoir with bird life limited to a couple of great crested grebes and
a few cormorants, perhaps some yellow-legged gulls if you're lucky. Yeah there
can be a few other water birds present, earlier in the year there were about
six Russian white-fronted geese and apparently it gets a small number of
ducks, but they're miles away at the other end of the reservoir. The deserted
village of Finikas has been good to me in the past, with Finsch's wheatear,
Bonellis eagle and blue rock thrush in winter, but that's at the far end of
the reservoir and unless you have a 4x4 and nerves of steal it's a six mile
round walk from the village of Nata. My opinion changed today though as the
dam provided not just my first lifer of the holiday, but also my second!
There's a small car park near the dam surrounded by mixed woodland which is
said to be good for warblers and flycatchers in spring, and so it proved
today. I managed to find two eastern Bonelli's warblers and an eastern orphean
warbler, both new for me. Also here a common redstart, several hoopoes and
lots of chiffchaffs.
I as delighted to get these photos of the eastern Bonelli's and though the
eastern orphean was not so obliging, I had a great view of it drinking from a
trough for a few seconds.
Another lifer today was a butterfly, Paphos blue which is endemic to Cyprus. I'll definitely be coming back here again!
Wild fennel.
It's been a wet winter in Cyprus and water levels are very high compared to the last time was here, but still nowhere near the top as you can see.
The deserted Finikas village in the distance on the left of the photo.
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