Southwest Cyprus - 21st April to 4th May 2008

by Chris Wormwell

Keren and I booked the self-catering accommodation at the Hilltop Gardens (just north of the main Paphos tourist area) through Flightline for £210.99.
Flights were booked from Manchester to Paphos through Dial A Flight for £159.00pp. Both were a considerable saving on a package deal.
We had read several comments about the state of some of the hire cars, but decided to book in advance through Economy Car Rentals and collect our vehicle on arrival at Paphos Airport.

The 4½ hour flight (with easyJet) was as you'd expect - basic, but comfortable enough. Unfortunately, I had the misfortune to sit in front of a child who spent the first 3 hours kicking the back of my seat and jumping up and down between mine and his. A timely (and sudden) reclining of my chair soon put a stop to that, followed by listening to my MP3 player to drown out the subsequent wailing.
We landed at Paphos at 23:00, collected our luggage (always a tense time waiting for it to appear on the carousel) and proceeded to the exit where we were met by the rep' from Auto Union. Paperwork and payment was all settled quickly and pleasantly and we were taken out to the car park to be 'introduced' to our vehicle for the fortnight. We were pleasantly surprised to be given the keys to a near-new Chevrolet Lacetti (of Top Gear's "Reasonably Priced Car" fame).
The next task was to negotiate our way to the hotel with the aid of some written instructions courtesy of the hotel owner. The route took us through a sleeping Paphos - something of a pleasant surprise as I'd expected the streets to be teeming with drunken Brits. Unfortunately the directions didn't mention the roadworks we encountered or the diversion that dumped us in the middle of an unfamiliar town with no further signage!
Eventually we pulled up outside our hotel at just after midnight, checked-in and hit the sack ready for an early start.

Monday 21st April
I woke at first light (circa 05:30) to the sound of House Sparrows chirping at their top of their voices, got dressed and decided to give the patch of waste and scrubland next to the hotel a bit of a grilling before heading off for the day.
The most obvious sound, once away from the noisy sparrows, was an unidentified gamebird calling from the depth of a small corn field. Despite extensive scanning I couldn't get a view of the bird at all and assumed, wrongly as it turned out, that it was probably a Chukar. But God, it was annoying!
Other birds, of note, in this first half hour were Crested Lark (singing from atop a cement mixer!), Zitting Cisticola, Cetti's Warbler (heard only!) and a fine male Spectacled Warbler.
We had decided before arriving on Cyprus that we didn't want to follow the sheep and automatically 'do' Paphos Headland every morning so, for our first morning, we headed 15Km north to Cape Drepanum.
The area looked ideal for migrants, being right on the coast with scattered scrub, cornfields, citrus grove, set-aside field, rocky outcrops and mature trees.
The first birds of note were the Yellow-legged Gulls nesting on the offshore island of Geronisos. Everywhere we looked there seemed to be Crested Larks but, to be honest, other than them, the area seemed a little devoid of birdlife. We carried on wandering about the area and picked-up a couple of Hoopoes, a small group of Spanish Sparrows and finally our first evidence of vis-mig (visible migration) - a flock of circa 30 flava Wagtails (including at least 2 Black-headeds). Working through the flock we confirmed the presence of at least 3 different races, but the best bit, for me, was locating 2 summer-plumaged Red-throated Pipits amongst them.
Down on the shoreline a Common Sandpiper was calling but the most obvious noise in the area was another of those bloody gamebirds I'd encountered by the hotel earlier that morning.
Again, despite expensive scanning, we couldn't locate the individual.
I mentioned to Keren that it could well be a Black Francolin, but as we had yet to see it...
I presumed because of the lateness of the hour (it was now 08:45) that we had missed the morning passage so we headed off to Mavrokolympus Dam. We stopped at the side of the winding road that leads up there at a patch of habitat that "looked good". Immediately on stepping out of the car I got onto a singing male Cyprus Pied Wheatear but the bird was too distant to get
a worthwhile photo. Still, at least it was my first lifer!
The only other bird of note all morning was a Kestrel! Obviously I needed to buck my ideas up and work a bit harder.
Keren suggested heading off toward Asprokemmas Dam (Aspro' Dam) as it has the reputation of being an unmissable site for birders. We decided to take a circuitous route just to familiarise ourselves with the area. On overhead wires outside Nata I got brief views of my second lifer - a Cyprus Warbler but again didn't manage to get any photos.
A brief mooch around the 'water splash' at Nata added Nightingale, Sardinian Warbler, Corn Bunting and Reed Warbler. Hardly 'heady' stuff.
Aspro Dam itself provided us with Grey Heron, Cuckoo and a Northern Wheatear. God this was a desperately poor first day, what on earth was going on?

Tuesday 22nd April
Right, no more arsing about. Time to get serious and work for my birds and if we were to get them one at a time, then so be it.
We started at Paphos Headland.
Now, I should explain that what a lot of birders apparently do is sneak into the archaeological site, before it opens, via one of several holes in the fence. Then, if they get caught, they just leave looking suitably chastised. I'm sorry but that's just wrong. Yes, I realise that starting at 08:00 is very 'dude' and probably a bit pointless but I'm not prepared to go birding somewhere and be constantly looking over my shoulder for security guards.
Anyway, the area itself looks fabulous and Keren tells me the mosaics were spectacular.
Almost the first bird I got onto was a Woodchat Shrike, closely followed by a fly-over Tawny Pipit and the inevitable Crested Larks and Zitting Cisticolas. At the first substantial patch of bushes another Woodchat showed briefly and a flycatcher flew out and circled back in but out of sight. I realised immediately it was one of the ficedulas, but which one? Sneaking round the bushes I finally got onto it but it was against the sun and in silhouette, aaagggh! The bird took a brief flight and landed in a more helpful position and immediately revealed itself to be a male Collared Flycatcher. Fabulous, this was more like it!
Overhead Yellow Wags were passing in small numbers along with hirundines and a few Common Swifts. Further beyond the lighthouse we located the two Rollers which had apparently been in the area for a couple of days but they were very flighty and didn't allow close enough approach for satisfactory photos to be taken.
More aimless wanderings around the site produced a Pied Flycatcher and a Lesser Whitethroat but nothing else of note.
As it was starting to get a bit warm by this time (Ca 10:00) we decided to head off up into the Troodos mountains and the promise of some cooler air!
On our way, we stopped off at Aspro' Dam (the 'juniper trail' as we called it). Yesterday's Cuckoo was still present and we finally got great views of a singing male Cyprus Warbler. There also appeared to be a minor passage of Turtle Doves going on overhead.
The journey up into the Troodos Mountains passed with little of note being added to our list - certainly no raptors, had the Cypriots shot them all? Then as we started to get into the higher elevations, birdsong became more obvious, bizarrely our first Chaffinches among them!
Then, on overhead wires, the unmistakeable outline of a shrike which immediately dived into roadside a shrub. I pulled up alongside and got close, but brief, views of a superb Masked Shrike before the bird dived away and down into the adjacent valley.
A short walk along the Caledonia Nature Trail produced Jay, Wren and unsatisfactory views of the Cyprus race of Coal Tit. By the way, don't be fooled by the "Nature Trail" signs - they're all basically just paths through pinewoods with no discernible nature worthy of note!
Up in the village of Troodos itself we took ourselves along the "Civic Bar" Nature Trail and got great views of "the special Coal Tit" (they didn't look particular special to me!). However, of greater interest were the Masked Shrikes, Cyprus Pied Wheatears, Short-toed Treecreepers (another "special" Cyprus race - apparently), Serins and the Alpine Swifts twittering overhead.
At least now we had started to rack up the species, I'd been a little worried after yesterday's poor performance!
Rather than retrace our steps, Keren directed us on one of her "more interesting" routes back to the lowlands of the coast. I must say this road, and it's scenery, were spectacular and we saw many Cyprus Pied Wheatears and Masked Shrikes along it's length. The driving was also great fun but I found myself longing for a vehicle with a bit more 'oomph' than the asthmatic (but reasonably priced) Lacetti. That said, I reckon I could pee all-over Simon Cowell's Top Gear lap time now!!

Wednesday 23rd April
An early start (first light) found us back at Cape Drepanum.
A small party of Pintail flew north just offshore closely followed by a flock of 20+ Little Egrets. Good, more vis-mig!
At the first little scrubby bush we came across a drab warbler that was giving intermittently brief views. I thought it was probably an acro' but the views were wholly unsatisfactory.
Eventually, I got views of the bird's undersides and it's undertail coverts were slightly barred (or mottled). This left me with either River Warbler (unlikely) or Savi's Warbler. Fortunately, and right on cue, the bird started to sing and confirmed it as a Savi's.
Every bush around here seemed to hold at least one Sardinian Warbler and, in the large trees surrounding the garden of the isolated villa, a Great Reed Warbler was looking incongruously out of habitat.
Again, the overriding background noise was that damned unidentified gamebird.
A little further along the track and 3 Spectacled Warblers were seen, but my attention was diverted by a bird landing out of sight in an adjacent corn field. Almost immediately a male Kestrel flew in and hovered briefly above the spot where the bird had disappeared. Seconds later the distinctive shape of a Quail 'erupted' from cover and blasted off into a nearby
'building site'. The Kestrel made a pitiful attempt at pursuit but was clearly not up to the task of catching it - I sometimes wonder if raptors harrie birds just for laughs as this was obviously not a serious attempt at hunting!
As we headed back towards the car and passed the field where our mystery gamebird was calling from, I noticed a shape moving through a stunted section of the crop. Raising my bins revealed the upperbreast, neck and head of a male Black Francolin! Superb. All three expected lifers UTB and a conundrum solved.
A small group of larks flew in and landed out of sight but fortunately one bird stayed out in the open in a ploughed area and was immediately identified as a Short-toed Lark. Unfortunately the party of birds continued north within a few seconds and we never managed to get photos.
Amongst the bushes we started to see a lot of Blackcaps which hadn't been there an hour before and another party of flava wags put in a brief stop-over. Back near the car another bird landed out of site behind a small boulder and, expecting it to be just another Crested Lark, I approached the area with "less than field craft". I scanned the area for about 10 seconds when right up at my feet another Quail (or perhaps the same one?) took flight. DOHH, that would have made a great photo.
We jumped in the car and headed towards Avakas Gorge but stopped just north of Agios Georgios harbour to have a look at another area of great migrant potential. Although the bushes here were pretty quiet a male Orphean Warbler was clattering about but giving 'un-photographable views'. A Peregrine here doubled our raptor count.
'Geed-up' by what had been an excellent morning so far, we continued north onto the base of the Akamas penninsula and the beautiful, secluded Avakas Gorge. This is a fabulous area to where we returned again and again during our 2 weeks.
The trees bordering the citrus grove by the entrance to the gorge were 'bouncing' with Goldfinches amongst which were at least a dozen Blackcaps and a couple of Redstarts. Overhead our first Red-rumped Swallows hawked for insects. On entering the gorge the scratchy song of an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler was the dominant sound, interspersed with yet more Blackcaps 'chacking' away and a single Wood Warbler put on a brief display of colour amongst the drabber sylvias.
Up on the sides of the gorge a Hoopoe was 'hooping' and a (genuine this time) Chukar was also calling. Further up the gorge we added a singing Reed Warbler, a distant Blue Rock Thrush and a Tree Pipit.
Leaving Avakas Gorge via Agios Georgios a huge Blunt-nosed Viper crossed the road and allowed a couple of photos to be taken courtesy of some extravagant car manoeuvring - I wasn't about to approach this thing on foot!
Continuing up the Akamas peninsula we added a couple of Rollers on roadside wires to the day's migrant tally.
Once we eventually reached the 'Baths of Aphrodite', we decided to separate and whilst Keren went to do the tourist thing, I checked out the 'abandoned' caravan park area.
Again more Blackcaps and Wood Warblers were 'streaming through' along with lots of hirundines of 4 species and another Peregrine chased the local Rock Doves unsuccesfully. Whilst I was sitting in the shade of an olive tree a Thrush Nightingale put in a brief enough show to entice me to get off my arse and try for a photograph. No sooner had I stood up than a Wryneck got up of the ground not 5 feet in front of me and dived into thick cover! I never managed a photo of either bird.
We had lunch on the outskirts of Latchi village on some waste ground by the harbour and noted several more flava wags moving through. Today was definitely proving a busy one for the migrants!
After lunch we headed up to the church beyond Neo Chorio known as Agios Minos (aka Smyies picnic site).
Here we got yet more Blackcaps, and a couple of Redstarts whilst a Cretzschmar's Bunting bathed in a roadside stream (sorry about the awful photos, but it never once came out into the open!).
Back at the car, but way in the distance, a soaring raptor looked for all the world like a Long-legged Buzzard but it was so far off and so far out of it's known range (allegedly), that confirmation was impossible.

Thursday 24th April
After yesterday's excellent morning up at Cape Drepanum we decided another early start was a must-do. Also it gave us the opportunity to feel self-righteous (if not pioneering) by avoiding the bleating rabble that no doubt were heading blindly to Paphos headland (presumably whilst whingeing about "Cyprus not being as good as it used to be").
As soon as we got out of the car it was immediately obvious that more migration was under way.
The sky was full of hundreds of hirundines, mostly Barn (yeeuch) Swallows and Sand Martins but there were at least ½ dozen fabulous Red-rumped Swallows amongst them. Yesterday's Great Reed Warbler was still present and looking lost and a newly-arrived Whinchat perched on top of an isolated bush. A very late Chiffchaff was located singing at the edge of the small citrus grove and, ofcourse, the now familiar background sound of a calling Black Francolin did it's best to drown out the Swallows.
During a lull in this 'dawn chorus' I picked up the distant call of a bird we had hitherto noted as conspicuous by their absence - the distinctive sound of a flock of European Bee-eaters. 2 minutes later, 8 birds flew in-off the sea and started to hawk insects over the corn fields before moving on within 5 minutes. Over the next 45 minutes we noted a further 4 small parties, all of which followed the same routine of: make 1st landfall, quickly feed and move on. Great stuff.
As things started to slow down we headed up into Avakas Gorge where more Bee-eaters and hirundines were passing overhead but all of yesterday's Blackcaps and Redstarts had moved on.
A calling, but invisible, Wryneck frustrated us for a while and several hirundines were coming down to a small water splash to drink.
A brief visit up to Mavrokolympus dam added a pair of Lesser Kestrels to the list but little else of note.

Friday 25th April
A change of routine this morning saw us on the Akrotiri penninsula and at Akrotiri reedbeds for first light.
To be honest, I didn't really like this place - I felt almost claustrophobic, being stuck between the dense eucalpyt woodland on one side of the narrow track and tall, impenetrable phragmites beds on the other. All the usual suspects were calling and flitting frustratingly out of view and I think the only new bird for the trip was a Spotted Flycatcher!
This being the case, we headed down to a site that I was quite looking forward to - Lady's Mile.
Having read many trip reports that mention this site and the birds it had produced over the years, did not prepare us for the reality of the place. Be under no illusion, this is one of the most Godforsaken places I have ever visited. It's on the edge of a salt flats (not a great start) and is overlooked on one side by a lorry-trailer park, on another by Limassol dockyards and on a third by the communication masts of the airbase. There are no bushes to speak of and all but a couple of small pools had completely dried-up. To top this scene off and to detract in no way whatsoever from it's bleakness, there are two or three roadside 'resturants' (I use the word under advisement as they didn't look in the least bit enticing). Imagine one of those American movies that takes place in some backwater desert hick-town, remove the houses but include the tumble-weed and you're nearly there!
Anyway, back to the birds we saw on the shallow, roadside pools - 8 Little Stints and a Kentish Plover.
Further down the road at Zakaki Pool, however, there were lots of birds. By comparison at least! We added 8 species to the trip list in just 20 minutes, the highlights of which were 6 fly- over Purple Herons, 4 Ferruginous Ducks and a couple of Squacco Herons.
Leaving here, we headed for Phassouri reedbeds. Now this place was much more like it.
Open grazing land bordered by citrus groves and a large reedbed with areas of open, shallow water. Here we added Black-winged Stilt, Ruff, Wood Sandpiper and Cattle Egret amongst all the other previously seen species. After Lady's Mile this place was a positive oasis.
After an hour so, we left to head back west towards Paphos and to take in a couple of sites on the way. The first of which was Kensington Cliffs where we got stunning views of 2 Eleonora's Falcons, several Alpine Swifts and the ever-present Cyprus Pied Wheatears. If you intend visiting this site, we suggest you follow the directions in 'Stagg' rather than 'Gosney'.
The last site of the day was a return visit to Aspro Dam but this time to the pools below the dam wall. I say "pools", one of them was completely bone dry and didn't look like it had seen water for several months and the other only contained water at it's very edge. However, this second pool held an array of great species - none of which enabled us to get photos!
A Baillon's Crake skulked along the edge of the far shore (30 yards appx) as did a couple of Spotted Crakes. Down in the reeds, just below the bank where we stood, a female Little Crake dashed between gaps in the reeds and frustrated our attempts to get a clear photo.
Out on the dried centre of the pool a Squacco Heron at least had the decency to hang around long enough for some acceptable
photos to be taken whilst 2 Night Herons remained typically well-hidden in the poolside trees.

Saturday 26th April
A 'lazy day' was in the offing today.
That doesn't mean we had a lie-in though. Another first-light start at Cape Drepanum quickly showed us that 'nothing' was on the move so we opted for a return visit to Aspro' Pools in the hope of getting shots, in better light, of the crakes we saw the previous evening.
We arrived on site to be confronted by several car loads of birders all of whom, presumably, had had the same idea!
Now, I gave up twitching in the UK mainly because I couldn't stand being amongst groups of birders who were too busy chatting
about everything other than the bird they had actually gone to see and yes, you guessed it! This lot were the same - with only a
few exceptions.
By now we had met several other birders during our travels around the island and nearly all of them were saying the same things - "it was better when I first came several years ago" or "I've been coming for 20 years and it's not as good as it was". FFS!!!
Anyway, avoiding getting drawn into an argument by biting my tongue, I concentrated on trying to get photos of the crakes. All three species were now spending large amounts of time in the reeds not 20 feet away from where the birders were stood and all three species were giving the most tantalising views. After a short while, Keren grew less happy with the group birding scenario and wandered off to see what else she could find, leaving me to persevere with the crakes. Fortunately, ½ hour or so later several people had started to run out of things to chat about and they started to drift away to see who else they could bore with their tales of "Cyprus - The Glory Years". But I still hadn't managed a shot of a crake that didn't have reeds across the head or body of the bird.
I did, however, get a record shot of the male Citrine Wagtail that paid a brief visit to the dried area of the pool.
Then Keren returned, stepped onto the bank 10 feet away from me and rattled-off three quick shots at a Baillon's Crake the resulting image almost being grounds for divorce in my book!
On the way back to the hotel (in silence) we called-in at Mandria beach and saw nothing. Apart from a ½ mile distant Osprey over the sea.

Sunday 27th April
A return visit to the Akrotiri penninsula this morning and straight to Phassouri reedbeds - no particular reason other than it was the site we had preferred on the previous visit.
The pool(s) contained the same selection of waders - Black-winged Stilt, Little Stint, Ruff and Wood Sandpiper. Also ½ dozen Dabchicks and several Squacco Herons.
A small group of wagtails and pipits flew in and contained Black-headed Wagtail and a Red-throated Pipit which ran around the grazing field amongst the cows. Several small parties of Turtle Doves were passing overhead and in just over an hour we counted over 200 birds.
As we were leaving here we met a couple of birders that were staying at the same hotel as us and they told us that they'd just had a pratincole on Lady's Mile but weren't certain which species. So that's where we headed - although it could prove to be something of a needle-in-a-haystack!
Fortunately as we arrived at the first shallow pool, I located the bird at rest about 50 yards out on the mud flats. It looked knackered and had obviously just arrived so I set about taking what notes I could - tail shorter than closed primaries, restricted red on the base of the bill, darker feathering on the forehead and possibly lores. It was looking good for Black-winged but without seeing it fly I wasn't confident of a 100% ID. There was no way I was going to flush the bird but, as it turned out, I didn't need to as a jogger ran past and put the bird up. The wing-pattern confirmed it - Black-winged Pratincole. Sweet.
Meanwhile on the small 'pool', there were more birds than our previous visit making me feel better about the place - Curlew Sands, Little Stint, Kentish Plover and Sanderling.
Across at Zakaki Pool, a Moustached Warbler put in a brief performance but the stars of this visit were undoubtedly the 3 Spur-winged Plovers that were wandering around the lorry- trailer park and allowing stunning views. A slightly humorous aside to this, as I refer to Keren's notes to aid my memory in writing this report, I see that these 3 birds are listed as Spare- winged Plovers....
One of the sites, which is apparently good for migrants, that we had read about in trip reports, is called Melanda Beach so we headed there next - more to suss the site out rather than see any migrants as it was now nearly mid.day and getting quite hot. As expected we saw very little but the place definitely had potential. As we were leaving the site, a Little Owl flew across the road and landed in a roadside olive tree.
Next stop was the Nata Water Splash where we noted a couple of Citrine Wags and our first Black-headed Buntings of the trip. Heading east out of Nata and at the junction with the Troodos road I got onto a stunning male Red-footed Falcon which closely followed by a second male and then a female. For the next half hour birds kept appearing from the east to hover in the winds above a rocky outcrop. All told we estimated at least 15 Red-foots, 20+ Lesser Kestrels and couple of Common Kestrels - a stunning sight although, somehow, both Keren and I
failed to even try to photograph the Lesser Kestrels. DOHH! Just as we thought the numbers had started to tail off an immature Pallid Harrid put in a brief fly-by.
We then headed back to Aspro' pools to see if the crakes were still performing but nearly all the visible water had evaporated leaving very little to see apart from a single Spotted Crake.
However, a very large flock of over 200 Alpine Swifts and a single Lesser Kestrel moved slowly down the valley - a spectacular sight.
Another site we had been told about, which doesn't appear in the site guides, was near to Paphos sewerage works. Apparently it was just a small corner of a field that had been flooded by irigation water and had been attracting waders and giving amazing views, so it was to here we headed next.
On arrival we couldn't believe we had found the right place - the flooded area was no more than 20 yds sq, but within just a few minutes a Common Snipe flew in and started feeding out in the open and right next to the car. This was closely followed by a Wood Sandpiper seen down to 20 feet, a couple of Squacco Herons strolled around at a similar range and a small party of passage Purple Herons flew overhead. After about 20 minutes a party of 30+ flava wagtails flew in and started to bathe right in front of us. This flock contained at least 4 different races including several Black-headeds - the cameras got a real workout and it was difficult to know which bird to photograph next!

Monday 28th April
As the wind finally seemed to have swung round to the south (or southwest at least), having been northwesterly all our previous days, we figured an early start at Cape Drepanum was in order.
It took very little time at all to realise that there was no migration taking place whatsoever and due to a minor medical emergency (the gross details of which I won't bore you with), we had to go in search of a chemist's. On a Bank Holiday...
Once this problem had eventually been sorted it was way too late to go looking for migrants so we headed back down to the flooded field at Paphos sewerage works.
The place was buzzing with birds - Common and Wood Sandpipers, Ruff, Common Snipe and Little Stint all performed in the most exemplory fashion on the flood waters and at it's edges , we also got Red-throated Pipit, Common Quail, lots of flava wags and also a stunning Citrine Wagtail. Turtles Doves were coming down to drink in their droves and overhead Bee-eaters and Little Egrets were passing in numerous small groups. Even the local Black Francolin put on a bit of a show as he strutted up and down an adjacent track!
After a couple of hours nothing new was happening (and we were getting plagued by flies), so we headed up into the Dhiarizos Valley in the hope of increasing our raptor tally. Once again we were to be disappointed with only a few Common Kestrels on show. However at one point a pair of Magpies appeared to be agitated by the presence of something in a small roadside shrub.
Slowing down to investigate, we heard the distinctive call of a Great-spotted Cuckoo which almost immediately flew over the car and up into a small side valley. Just at that moment a group of 'birders' pulled up asking "what on earth was that?" - fortunately I was able to put them onto the bird as it sat on a tree about ½km away and it gave them decent scope views. Unfortunately due to the presence of these other birders I was unable to get into stealth mode and approach the bird for photographs. Still, it was a great bird to get and one that we'd
almost given up on.
Circling back round towards Nata Water Splash, we called in at the same road junction where we got the large flock of falcons the previous day. Unfortunately nearly all of them had moved on but there were still a few Red-footed Falcons hanging around.
Back at the hotel a female Golden Oriole put in a brief fly-by through the poolside trees and, that evening, our one and only Scop's Owl was heard calling from nearby scrubland.

Tuesday 29th April
An early morning start at the sewerage works flood field to see what shots we could get when the light was coming in from a different angle.
The first bird we got onto was a Wood Sandpiper that came closer and closer until it was less than 10 feet away in a small 'bay' bordered by dense grassy vegetation. As I was giving this fabulous bird a good grilling through my bins I was almost subliminally aware of a bird taking to flight from the dense grass and landing out of site about 10 yards to my right.
All I got was an impression of a chunky bird and perhaps a flash of white somewhere in the plumage. In a moment of pure, uninformed, guesswork I mentioned to Keren that it "could have been a Great Snipe" but from my angle I couldn't see where it had landed. Keren scanned the area and almost immediately got onto a bird she described as "looking like a Snipe". Cool, at least I'd got the family right! After an agonising 20 minutes during which I was telling Keren what features to look for (with no success due to it being mostly hidden) the bird moved forward a couple of feet from behind the clump of mud that had been obscuring it from my view. The bird was clearly a snipe and something about it had an air of the Woodcock. It's supercillium was very broad and appeared much paler than a Common Snipe's. Unfortunately I couldn't see the bird's flanks but could just make out the hint of some pale tips to the wing
coverts creating a couple of horizontal wing bars. Surely this was a Great Snipe?
We waited for what seemed like an age - during which time a couple of ex-pat birders turned up. But instead of trying to view from their car they got out and walked up and down trying to see the bird (we'd make the mistake of telling them about it!). Almost immediately the bird scurried back into deep cover. A proper birder then arrived and sat watching the area patiently from his car during which time a very dark Honey Buzzard came in off the sea and spiralled off toward Paphos.
Eventually, after at least an hour, the two 'local birders' got back in their car and left. Within 10 minutes the bird appeared back where he had originally been flushed from but was now only showing his head and a bit of his mantle. I rattled off a couple of shots just for record purposes.
A further ½ hour and something disturbed the bird again, but this time instead of taking to flight it walked right out into the open. Cue the machine-gun fire of two Canon DSLRs rattling away at full chat!! Great Snipe - what a cracker. The bird stayed on view for less than a minute but gave the best views anyone has ever had of this elusive species! We put the news out amongst all other birders we came across and we understand that by that same afternoon the news had reached Troodos (and that is without pagers or birdlines - ahh, the good old days...).
Still buzzing from such a wonderful event I almost overlooked the Golden Oriole that was singing from some distant pines and the several parties of Bee-eaters passing overhead!

Wednesday 30th April
A return visit to the Latchi area of the Akamas penninsula.
I again concentrated my efforts around the area of the caravan park and finally got some photos of Cyprus Pied Wheatear which I was happy with - previously they had been very unapproachable only allowing distant record shots to be taken. Offshore I noted what appeared to be a small school of Pilot Whales.
The scattered olive trees (?) each seemed to have their own Spotted Flycatcher in amongst which were the odd Pied and a briefly seen Collared. The Golden Orioles had also reached this part of the peninsula with at least ½ dozen being seen as well as the now very common fly-over Bee-eaters.
Back up at Agios Minas church, beyond Neo Chorio, we added our first Willow Warbler of the trip and got much better views of a male Black-headed Bunting and several Serin.
Even though we never really saw anything of any great drama, this area of the island remains one of our favourites.
On the way back to the hotel we once again called-in at the flood field by Paphos sewerage works and noted how rapidly they were drying up. Regardless, all the usual waders were on show with the exception of the Great Snipe - we learned subsequently of a second small area of flooding further along the road which is where our Great Snipe was apparently relocated (note how it's been promoted to "our" Great Snipe!).
Anyway, in a recently cut field on the opposite side of the road a huge flock of wagtails was moving through and, again, there were several races and at least 2 Citrine Wagtails and a couple of Red-throated Pipits. Only our 3rd Woodchat of the holiday came in from the direction of the nearby coast and landed on roadside telegraph wire before continuing in a northerly direction less than a minute later.

Thursday 1st May
Having sussed-out Melanda Beach a couple of days earlier we decided to "give it a go" at first light and see what was on the move.
The most obvious thing was the huge flock of Common Swifts that just descended from yet another clear blue sky. This flock must have been pushing 2,000 strong and despite the mesmerising effect of looking through so many fast moving birds, I managed to locate at least 6 Pallid Swifts amongst them. Bizarrely, 20 minutes later there wasn't a single swift to be seen! The bushes around the car park and neighbouring fields were a different story - there was obviously a movement of Spotted Flycatchers taking place with an estimate of 100+ birds being on the conservative side. Dotted in amongst the flycatchers were several phylloscopus warblers - mainly Willow Warblers - but there was also at least 5 Wood Warblers and a single Bonelli's. Again nearly all these birds moved through very quickly, emphasising just how important an early start is for passerine migration.
Once things quietened down we headed further east and back to the Akrotiri penninsula where a short and guilt-laden visit to Bishop's Pool (I'm not convinced we were supposed to be in there!) revealed yet more flycatchers and phylloscs on the move, together with several Golden Oriole and Bee-eaters.
Lady's Mile was back on form with just a couple of Little Stints and a Kentish Plover!
Over at Zakaki Pool the same stuff as last time was on show - Squacco, Dabchick, Moorhen, Coot and a few Fudge Ducks. Newbies came in the form of a briefly seen female Marsh Harrier and an adult Little Bittern that flew across the pool before disappearing deep into the reeds.
Over at Phassouri I created a bit of a stir by locating 3 Penduline Tits but they didn't stay long enough for more than a couple of other birders to get onto them. Nothing else new offered itself up so we headed off to Kensington Cliffs for a second bite at the Griffon cherry.
Almost immediately on arrival, a couple of Eleonora's Falcons whizzed passed as we sat in the car and ate our lunch out of the sun's glare.
Stepping out into the heat of the day - thankfully relieved by a slight offshore breeze - we started to scan the acres of glaring white cliffs looking for the vultures. After about 20 minutes and a couple more brief appearances by the falcons, Keren chirped up with "what are those two birds over the village?" I should explain that the village was at least 2 miles away and covered most of the visible hillside above the cliffs! Fortunately there was a single small cloud drifting by which Keren used to direct me onto what she had picked-up.
2 Griffons and they were heading our way! Less than a minute later they were right above us, allbeit at quite a height, allowing us to see they were an adult and immature. Nice.


Friday 2nd May
To be honest, we were getting a little jaded by this stage and running out of ideas for sites to visit.
There was still the Larnaca area - including Cape Greco - we could go to but, to be honest, I really couldn't be arsed driving all that way just to boost the list!
So we decided to do our 'local' patch again and cover Cape Drepanum and Avakas Gorge.
All the usual suspects were at Cape Drepanum with no real vis-mig taking place. However the last few flycatchers (all Spotted) were still drifting through and a Sedge Warbler made it's way onto the list.
Over at Avakas there were more spot flys hanging around the now dried up 'water splash' but most of the activity was coming from the large numbers of Goldfinches and a couple of Olivaceous and Sardinian Warblers. Out above the gorge, a Roller was dropping off roadside wires into a recently harvested field but the area was definitely showing the signs that spring migration was pretty much over (such as it had been).

Saturday 3rd May
Only our second visit to Paphos headland (again using the official entry point) produced a Common Whitethroat, yet more Spotted Flycatchers and a Whinchat. A small party of wagatails flew over and amongst them we located 2 Short-toed Larks and a Red-throated Pipit. After a couple of hours wandering aimlessly, we took a short 'shopping break' around Paphos old town before we headed back up to the 'Juniper Trail' by Aspro Dam.
Here a Garden Warbler was singing from deep within the scrub and several Golden Orioles were flitting from tree to tree but never stopping long enough for photos to be taken. Turtle Dove numbers also appeared to be at saturation point.
The usual Cyprus Warblers were in full song from atop the Juniper trees and then, a bird we had given up on seeing appeared on top of a hedge by the arial mast, a Lesser Grey Shrike. Slipping into stealth mode I managed a couple of half-decent shots before the bird just seemed to vanish. I hadn't flushed it!

Sunday 4th May
Our last full day as we were flying back to Manchester at 20:40 that evening.
We headed straight back up to Aspro juniper trail in the hope of relocating the shrike but with no joy. However we did manage some pleasing shots of a Cyprus Warbler that was allowing close approach as he sang from an exposed perch.
More Golden Orioles (or perhaps the same ones) we calling from the depth of the foliage and twittering overhead a couple of dozen Alpine Swifts. Yesterday's Garden Warbler was still in full song but not on show.
Deciding on a last ditch effort to get a few more raptors under our belts we headed up into the Dhiarizos Valley but the only bird of note was a male Red-footed Falcon.
However, between Falousa and Arminou we enjoyed fabulous views of a Long-legged Buzzard as it patrolled the rocky sides of a narrow valley.
With only a few hours left we decided to go down to Nata water splash and see if we could find any dragonflies to photograph.
We located at least 4 different species right by the roadside - a Lesser Emperor patrolled the river bed but never landed, a stunning Scarlet Darter and two we couldn't identify (one may have been a Southern Skimmer?). Whilst 'doing' the dragonflies, Keren noticed that several hirundines (including Red-rumped Swallow) were visiting the muddy edges of a small pool just downstream from the water splash.
Setting up camp in the shade of a large clump of reeds we set about getting photos of the Red-rumped Swallows (studiously ignoring their more familiar cousins!).

And that was it.

Conclusions:

Hotel
The Hilltop Gardens was more than adequate for our needs, which were basically; somewhere clean and secure to dump our stuff and sleep! I think, if we'd paid 'package tour prices', we might have felt a little aggrieved as the place could definitely do with a bit of a make-over. The staff were very good.

Eating Out
As a result of Cyprus going over to the Euro back in January this year and the favourable fixed rate they were getting against their original currency, we found it a little expensive eating out. Prices were almost on a par with the UK - circa 30 Euros for the two of us (including a couple of beers).

Getting Around
Our hire car proved very reliable, if a little underpowered (especially climbing up hill with the air-conditioning on). Fuel prices weren't particularly cheap either - circa 1.10 euros per litre is on a par with the UK.
We covered over 1700 Km during the two weeks and were amazed by the quality of the roads in some of the more remote areas. Driving standards were generally very good - certainly when compared to some of the other countries we have visited! It just goes to show that driving on the left is best!

The Birding
Well what can I say? It wasn't what we had expected and the numbers of migrants were certainly down - I'm sure this wasn't helped by the unfavourable wind direction. However, with a bit of a work we managed a respectable list of 120+ species. The biggest disappointment were the raptors. All that said, we saw some fabulous stuff.

On the whole we really enjoyed our time in Cyprus, especially the people who were always friendly and helpful. In fact, the only people that gave us cause for complaint were those whinging Brit birders mentioned earlier.
So, would we recommend a birding visit to Cyprus? If you're desperate to see the 2 breeding endemics and Black Francolin then, yes - you could probably get them easily in a weekend - otherwise I'd say "no". The birding in somewhere like Bulgaria is far superior and available for a lot less money.



The Bird Thumbnails

The Scenes Thumbnails

The Bugs and Beasts Thumbnails

Trip List