Vultures at Kensington Cliffs

Cyprus has a dwindling population of griffon vultures and the biggest colony is at Kensington Cliffs which is out of bounds due to the British military base on the top of the cliff. However following some local advice I Managed to find a track down to Zapallo beach at the base of the cliffs and saw several of these magnificent birds soaring overhead. Three vultures came really close and circled over me hoping the exertions of the walk might lead to a meal for them no doubt☠️

Serenaded by Cyprus scops owl at Aphrodite's hills.

This afternoon I had a walk along the Aphrodites hills trail hoping to find a few orchids, since March is the best time for them in Cyprus. In that respect it wasn't a very successful visit although I did find a couple of species. More of that later, but the highlight was undoubtably being serenaded by at least four Cyprus scops owls as I searched. I had a look to see if I could find one, but there were a lot of potential trees and they are only very small birds. 

Also here, two Cyprus wheatears, presumably on territory.

This magnificent Bonelli's eagle flew over.

Those of a sensitive disposition should brace themselves now....

Orchid lovers may be aware that in the UK we have man orchid and lady orchid, so named because their flowers look like a man or a lady. Have a guess what this one is called........ yes it's true. It's naked man orchid! It could have been worse I suppose.

I'm not sure what species this is, it'll give me something to do when I get home!

No problem finding poppy anemones, they're everywhere.

Two lifers at Asprokremnos dam

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. Asprokremnos dam has produced relatively lean pickings in the past for me.

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 wall, 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. In the fields just above the reservoir a quail sang, while raptors included Bonelli's eagle, long-legged buzzard and marsh harrier.

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.

Caspian stonechats still at Mandria as migrants flood in

This morning the Caspian stonechats were still present and true to form the eastern subalpine warbler was still playing gooseberry. There is definitely an association with these birds because it's too co-incidental, the stonechats had moved 100m west and they still couldn't shake off the warbler! 

Meanwhile, I watched a short-eared owl fly in off the sea and fly along the coast briefly before heading off out to sea again, gradually getting higher and higher until it was just a dot. It's great to see migration in action.

One of the highlights of the morning was the large arrival of wagtails and pipits, with around 100 each of white and yellow wagtails, with most of the latter being the black-headed race feldegg.

Ancient Kourion and then a dash back to Mandria

Another great day in Cyprus, highlight was at Ancient Kourion where a breathtaking adult male pallid harrier suddenly appeared right alongside me from nowhere and then soared up high with several alpine swifts.  Also at Kourion, a male Cretzschmar's bunting and lots of warblers and wheatears of various varieties. There's been an arrival of Ruppell's warblers over the past few days, they're everywhere and really showy. Then it was a dash back to Mandria to see a pair of Caspian stonechats in the company of an eastern subalpine warbler, yet more Ruppell's and a male desert wheatear.

I really wanted to see this bird, a male Caspian stonechat. I've seen one previously in Kuwait but only had a brief look at it. Today there was a pair behind the picnic area at Mandria and though they were a little distant they were really wonderful.

A day of quality at Mandria and Paphos

A very different day with yesterdays torrential rain and gale force winds replaced by warm sunshine. If anything bird numbers were down today, but it was all about quality with some stunning birds seen. Pride of place goes to this Cretzschmar's bunting, one of at least two seen. I've only ever seen one previously and that was on Bardsey Island a few years ago. 

This happy chappy is a male Ruppell's warbler. There has clearly been a fall of these over the past few days, with several seen. Also today a male subalpine warbler, a couple of blackcaps and a few lesser whitethroats.

Bedraggled and perplexing wagtails, larks and wheatears at Mandria

Nowt's easy as they say. At first glance it would appear that the bird in the photo above is clearly a Finsch's wheatear. That's how I called it in the field. Except that I don't think that it is a Finsch's wheatear. Look at the tail, it's not a clear cut inverted T, it has black sides making it more like a W. I think this makes it an eastern black-eared wheatear. Except that the black of the throat appears to meet the wing which would rule out that species. Unfortunately though, I don't have any photos that conclusively show this. Of course eastern black-eared should be yellowish orange and black, this bird appears to be mainly white and black. So who knows? I'm calling it eastern black-eared for now. It was that kind of day.

The reason that the bird looks so bedraggled is that the weather was awful today, dull, with long periods of torrential rain between 9am and 2pm, accompanied by gale force winds all day. A bedraggled and windswept bird is never the easiest to identify, it makes plumage look darker and identification features are hidden. Also photographs are all but impossible.

This photo appears to show the black on the throat meeting the black on the wing, a key feature of Finsch's, but it also shows the black sides to the tail.

Arrival in Cyprus - Timi Beach

I touched down in Paphos at 15:45 today and by 16:30 I had cleared security, picked up my suitcase, picked up the hire car and had started birding at Timi beach, a location that I had never been to before. Migration is just getting going here and it has a very different feel to the place than my previous winter visits. Almost the first bird I saw was a stunning eastern black-eared wheatear, a really fabulous bird. Also on the beach, several northern wheatears and a female rufous-tailed rock thrush, while on the fields there were many white wagtails and a hoopoe. A really promising start.

Marshside

I spent most of my day at Marshside, Southport where there were plenty of highlights with perhaps the most unexpected being three spoonbills which flew over, an adult and two juveniles. They headed north and don't appear to have been picked up elsewhere, though they will probably be seen again somewhere on the Ribble in the next day or two.

The long staying 1st winter male smew which was on the marine lake for ages over the winter has recently relocated to Marshside and today was on the saltmarsh pool just north of the sand washing plant. Great to see it in the company of pink-footed geese! On the other side of the road around Polly's pool there was a water pipit and at least 60 avocets.

There were geese all over the saltmarsh but the best place to view is the wildfowlers pull in at the northern end of Marine Drive. From here today I counted approximately 15 Russian white-fronts, two Greenland white-fronts, 55 barnacles and a few thousand pink-footed geese. A ringtail hen harrier quartered the distant marsh and came a little closer on one occasion. Two sand martins flew over.

Early sand martins and a drake greater scaup at Pennington Flash

A drake greater scaup was found by John Tymon at lunch time off the main car park at Pennington Flash and showed very well. Earlier there had been eight sand martins off the eastern reedbed, my second earliest ever following the bird at Cors Ddyga on Anglesey last Wednesday. 

Great Orme

Another glorious day, this time on the Great Orme again. There has been a large increase in the number of auks on the sea since last week and many are now on the cliff ledges, but kittiwakes don't seem to have arrived yet. Meanwhile two gannets passed by out at sea, my first of the year.

Auks on the ledges.

Choughs have become a great addition to the bird life of the Great Orme in recent years, since my first here in 2007. Prior to that I used to have to go to Anglesey to see them, especially South Stack.