Little wind, few birds, great view

 Highlights - Tuesday 12th April

A gorgeous day with lights winds, blue skies and stunning visibility - from up the mountain it was possible to see all the way to Crete an amazing 135km away.

There were however very few birds present, although the variety of species present was the best yet this spring. Tree Pipit (74) were again comparatively abundant and there was also an increase in Woodchat Shrike (20) and Whitethroat (21). Other species were mostly in low single figures.

Grounded Migrants: not many ………. The best we could do was 4 Hoopoe, 4 Wryneck, 11 Whinchat, 12 Redstart, 17 Nightingale, 1 Collared Flycatcher, 6 Pied Flycatcher, 4 Willow Warbler, 1 Great Reed Warbler. 4 Ortolan Bunting. The totals for the other common migrants are comparable.

Visible Passage: 72 Tree Pipit, 48 flava wagtails, 6 Common Swift, 3 Pallid Swift (the.first of the year)

Raptors: 2 Kestrel sp and 1 Lesser Kestrel

Bird Ringing: just 7 birds of 6 species: 2 Rüppell's Warbler, 1 Savi's Warbler, 1 Robin,1 Tree Pipit, 1 Nightingale, 1 Subalpine Warbler. 

Weather: wind E 3-4 all day, clear skies and excellent visibility. Crete visible from the mountain.

The first Savi's Warbler of the spring

Woodchat Shrike at Kokinoghia

A view of the headland from the north side of Porto Kagio bay