Cyprus break

Over the Easter break we had a very enjoyable family holiday to Cyprus. I think this was my fourth visit, and I had taken one of my kids on one of them, but for the other two kids and Mrs L this was their first visit and I was keen to show them some of the places I like to spend time. In common with all of my previous visits we flew to Larnaca and then went further east to Agia Napa. Our hotel at Nissi Beach was one of those large multi-pool affairs, which was exactly what we all required. It had been a long term and some quality time doing absolutely nothing was sorely required for all five of us. Normally my trips are absolutely exhausting, trying to pack in as much as possible, but for family holidays I rein it in. Thus for five days I read a lot of books, listened to a lot of music, and turned most bits of my body bright pink as I flopped on airbeds and loungers. Mrs L and the kids did exactly the same and we all enjoyed it a lot as we had not done a med sun break for a while.

Nissi Beach is however really quite close to the aforementioned Cape Greco. You would almost think I had booked the hotel on purpose. So even though the holiday was a relaxed affair, it would have been rude not to pay it a visit. I went every day.

Whilst the family slumbered, each morning I was up out and watching the sun rise over the eastern Mediterranean in solitary splendour. I never tire of it. And with a little bit of warmth then in the air, and in glorious golden light and surrounded by fragrant foliage and spring flowers, I went off in search of birds to photograph as I had just happened to find a 500mm lens in our luggage when I was unpacking the towels. Ideal frankly. My time was extremely limited, this was after all a family holiday, but provided I got back for breakfast and then spent the rest of the day by the pool then those morning hours were all mine and I would like to think I made the most of them. As the old adage goes if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, so I spent almost all the time at the Cape, only abandoning it once to twitch a Demoiselle Crane at Paralimni on the way back to breakfast. My targets were the resident passerines of Cape Greco as well as migrants passing through. Warblers, Larks and Wheatears. Could I improve on the images I had taken in 2017 and 2014, and could I add anything new? Here are a few of what I ended up with – many of them taken out of the car window down by the Sea Caves.

Northern Wheatear

Cyprus Wheatear

I had half an eye on actual birding of course, and whilst I was crawling along the ground and creeping around bushes, as well as driving along the various tracks that criss-cross Cape Greco, I racked up what I thought was a nice little list in just 8 hours away from the hotel. I was also allowed a quick fifteen minutes at Oroklini Marsh on the way back to the airport which did not result in any photographs but did add a few more birds to the list. 

Alpine Swifts live under the cliff edge

One afternoon I managed to convince soporific family members to forgo a couple of hours by the pool and to come and see what all the fuss was about. I am pleased to say that all members of my family have now seen Cyprus Pied Wheatear at close quarters. Were they impressed? No, not really, it is just a bird apparently. Losers. The Alpine Swifts zooming around at eye-level probably made more of an impression, but basically birds are Dad’s [sad, boring] hobby, and could we go back to the hotel now please? Fine.

Cyprus Warbler

Ruppell's Warbler

Spectacled Warbler

Crested Lark

Chukar Partridge

House Sparrow

Cape Greco migrant patrol looking guilty.....

Cyprus Trip Report, April 2017

Logistics

• A 3 day trip to Cyprus in mid April in order to give both child and parent a nice break in some warm sunshine, and to improve upon photographs of Cyprus Pied Wheatear by applying what is known as the “rock principle”
• Flights with good old tired old British Airways to Larnaca, £50 each return and a handful of air miles. Left on Saturday lunchtime but arrives in the evening due to a two hour time difference and a 4 hour flight. Return flight departed at 7pm on Bank Holiday Monday which gave very nearly two full days of relaxation plus two opportunities to photograph birds in the early morning light.
• Adams Beach Hotel in Agia Napa booked in advance via “Kaligo”, a booking service that throws air miles at you, and that was £60 per night for a fancy twin room including breakfast. Very pleasant and exactly the type of kid-friendly place my daughter wanted. Excellent location and very good swimming pools.
• Car hire with Europecar, £71 for the whole trip. Spent a mere €15 on fuel over the two days as spent most of the time flopped by the aforementioned swimming pools as opposed to actually going anywhere and doing anything.

Day 0

Half the day was spent travelling, but having only hand luggage (in my case a camera and pair of swimming trunks) we exited the airport very quickly and were able to bird for half an hour at Oriklini before sunset, which is a great time to be there with so many birds coming into roost. Hundreds of Cattle Egrets covering the bushes like weird white and orange blooms, mixed hirundines flying low over the central lake, and BW Stilts and Wood Sandpipers feeding in the margins. My daughter spotted the 2 Flamingos first, predictably doing nothing. Possibly this is why I assumed they were Spoonbills, whose primary ID feature is being asleep. Just kidding, the pink gave them away. Child pretended to be interested. 

Hotel check-in was a complicated affair as it turned out we had been upgraded into the deluxe wing of the hotel that is for adults only, hence the receptionist was slightly horrified to discover that one of the Lethbridges was a Ms and only 11. Hushed conversations with various other staff members ensued, but I got the impression that a reverse move would have required booting out some other guests, so in the end permission was sought and granted for us to stay in the nice bit. And very nice it was too actually, although we did get accosted at the special lifts by security the following day for clearly not both being grown-ups. I referred the guy to 'management' and we never saw him again. So dinner slightly later than expected as all these shenanigans took far too long, but there are innumerable places to eat along the strip and they are open quite late. Child is currently undergoing some kind of growth spurt, albeit not quick enough for hotel security's liking, and is mainlining on protein so the cypriot diet of lamb and pork was much appreciated.

Day 1

We were up at 6am for the short drive to Cape Greco, probably less than ten miles down the coast to the east. You can either climb out though the town, or pretend to go back to Larnaca and then turn right and bypass it. At 6am it makes no difference. Using the map above we headed straight for site number 3, the area just above the sea caves, and on a beautifully clear morning we found our (my) target of Cyprus Pied Wheatear straight away. As I describe here, these first birds did not play ball one little bit, and so I wasted a lot of time not getting the photographs I wanted. There was still a lot to hold a birders interest however, with Kestrels, Jackdaws, passing Gulls, and the pretty ubiquitous Spectacled Warblers. Crested Lark were all over the place, along with migrant Whinchat, Tree Pipit, and an unidentified ringtail Harrier. The bushes near the road (just below the number 6) had Great Tit, Hoopoe, all sorts of finches and a bonus Collared Flycatcher. A five minute stop at the picnic site, number 7, provided a Cyprus Warbler tick for my daughter which delighted her no end as you can imagine. 

We dropped in at site number 1 on the way back at around 9am and hit the jackpot immediately, a friendly singing male Wheatear. X literally marks the spot. This bird was a total gem and showed almost no fear. I grabbed a few photos and prayed fervently it would be there the following day, as with the harsher light and more importantly free breakfast about to expire (7-10am at the chosen hotel) we needed to make a move.

The rest of the day was spent doing very little. Topping up the tan, going down water slides, being comatose on a lilo, and sleeping. There was a brief spurt of activity in the early evening as I needed to be online to nab a Yosemite camping slot for a future trip, but post around 10am it was a day of low achievement. You need that occasionally. We had dinner at the hotel, a sumptious buffet that once again saw child eat obscene quantities of everything. She remains a rake, I on the other hand.....

Day 2

Up even earlier and back to site 1. Thankfully the bird was still there, singing from one of the signs warning of danger from the nearby cliffs. As per the photo post I had an absolute blast whilst progeny read her kindle in the car. Some Alpine Swifts provided some variety, but I was only really interested in the Oenanthe. I took far too many photos of this single bird using the rock technique, and then as per the previous day scooted back to the hotel for a large and lengthy breakfast.

We lounged by the pool until check-out, quickly packed up into the car, and then resumed lounging until about four in the afternoon. The hotel has showers and changing rooms so we availed ourselves of those to get ready for travel, and at 5pm were back at Oroklini where this time we found some Spur-winged Plovers in the fields opposite the reserve (behind petrol station). Filled the car up here and then high-tailed it to the airport for a flight back, arriving in the UK at around 10pm. Many G&Ts polished off.

So a very short trip as per usual, but all aims fulfilled. I think I did improve on the photos of the Wheatear, and kiddo got a short break from SATS in some sunshine albeit that she had to endure a few hours of birds. Talking of which here is the list, around 50. Dedicated birders on a birding trip would likely see loads more - as the paragraphs above I hope make clear I didn't try very hard, but in the few minutes I wasn't fixated on the Wheatear I also saw the following:

Trip List

Mallard

Teal

Shoveler

Garganey

Red-crested Pochard

Greater Flamingo

Cattle Egret

Little Egret

Grey Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-winged Stilt

Wood Sandpiper

Dunlin

Spur-winged Plover

Yellow-legged Gull

Marsh Harrier

Harrier sp

Kestrel

Coot

Moorhen

Chukar

Collared Dove

Pigeon

Hoopoe

Swift

Alpine Swift

Swallow

House Martin

Wren

Cetti's Warbler

Chiffchaff

Blackcap

Cyprus Warbler

Spectacled Warbler

Wood Warbler

Pied Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Tree Pipit

Crested Lark

Cyprus Pied Wheatear

Northern Wheatear

Whinchat

Collared Flycatcher

Great Tit

Greenfinch

Goldfinch

Linnet

House Sparrow

Magpie

Jackdaw

Hooded Crow

Cyprus Weekender

Little did I know when I booked a trip to Cyprus for my daughter and I quite how desperate I would be for a Wheatear fix come April 2017. It had been in the diary for months, but by late April I assumed I would have had quite a few birds on the patch. I have had one. One solitary Wheatear on the 11th March, and I have somehow missed every single other one. There have not been overly many, but still, that's a poor reflection - and I've been working the patch quite hard!

So to Cyprus then, which by the time it came around was sorely needed. The aim was twofold. Show my daughter part of this lovely island (I'm not into the boycotting thing), and point a very large lens at Cyprus Pied Wheatear. This was a great success, and whilst we were only there for a couple of days, I surprised myself with quite how productive I was. The plan was straightforward enough - get up early and spend the best part of the day wandering around Cape Greco and environs, return for breakfast and then do whatever kiddo wanted to do, which was basically swim. Fair enough. We also popped in to Oroklini both to and from the airport.

I've been to Cape Greco on each of my birding trips to Cyprus, it is a wonderful spot and whilst I am sure there are many wonderful spots, if you find a site that you enjoy so much every time, why bother looking for others. On our first morning there we saw no other people for three hours. On our second there were three ladies out for a jog. There were no dog walkers, no motorbikes, no cars, no sirens. Just crystal clear air, a sparkling sea, and birds everywhere. Crested Larks were abundant, Spectacled Warblers nearly so, and Alpine Swifts screamed overhead. And of course there were Cyprus Wheatears.

The first birds we saw were paired up, and no amount of stealth could get us anywhere near them. Being two people probably didn't help, but one bird would always alert the other and as soon as one flew so did the other. Thus the first morning passed relatively fruitlessly, although we had a nice walk and Kate had a nice explore (we took the Shetland radios so that we could keep in touch). After taking almost no photos and instead walking around the headland, we ended up at the picnic site (all sites marked on this map). We didn't go to all the numbered sites, just the ones below.

1. Although the dump seems to have been capped since my last visit, the tracks below it are still great for birds and this is where the friendly Wheatear was.

3. Main area of scrub, lots of Warblers and some unfriendly Wheatears!

4. Cliffs underneath main promontary, with two profitable paths. A lower one at sea-level (red), and another about half way up (orange). There is a link between the two but it's not recommended, instead swap between them at the western end.

7. Picnic area which is clearly signposted. Cyprus Warbler exactly where I was expecting it.

The scrub between areas 3 and 6 was very birdy indeed, with a what I think was a Collared Flycatcher on the first morning, as well as the obligatory Hoopoes and various other maquis-type birds. On our way back from the abortive photo mission we drove down to the dump tracks. Before we even got to the end of the road in we found two Cyprus Wheatears actually in front of the car, one displaying to the other with some kind of wing flaps. By the time we got out they had done a runner, but possibly one of the birds was now down by the sea caves right on the coast, singing from one of the danger signs. This bird seemed to allow a very close approach indeed, but unfortunately the light was bordering on harsh now, plus the hotel breakfast was not far away from closing up. Reluctantly we went back to Nissi, only about ten minutes by car, and had a huge feast at the Adam's Beach resort. Bloated, all we could then do was flop by the pool for the rest of the day.....

The following morning we were up even earlier, the child less than convinced. She gamely got ready but this time stayed in the car with her kindle and the radio. This left me free to pap the Wheatear which thankfully was still exactly where we had left it - singing from the same sign in fact. Now on my last visit I had been armed with a 500mm lens. This time I opted for the 800mm, as after all Wheatears are small birds. I am glad I did (for one thing the other lens has a few issues at the moment as I discovered on more recent trip) as it performed amazingly, including with a 1.1x teleconverter mounted, which took it up to a staggering 1120mm, and that's without my camera's 1.3x crop. Monopod all the way in these circumstances, but many of the images below are with this combination - remember that the light in Cyprus is first rate, none of the rubbish you get here! First up was the need to transform the perches, so I spent a good ten minutes gathering a number of rocks and placing them atop each of the signs that I had seen the bird singing from (I removed them afterwards) before retreating to see what happened. You can probably guess what happened can't you? This:

And then this:

And this:

And then this:

Get the idea?

No? OK. Then this, and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and....

The rest of the day was again spent dallying at the pool, and at 4pm we had to leave to fly home. You could say it is pointless going somewhere for so little time. I might agree, but I also might show you 300 photos of Cyprus Pied Wheatear! We stopped at Oroklini again, and this time managed to find the Spur-winged Plovers in a field opposite the marsh. Loads of Stilts, Garganey, several tonnes of Cattle Egret, and masses of hirundines.

Cyprus in Winter - trip report

Logistics

• A 3 day trip in early January with Andrew M, Saturday to Monday, targeting wintering Finsch's Wheatear.
• BA flight from Heathrow at around midday Saturday takes just over 4 hours and gets in to Larnaca at about 6pm local time, so the whole of day one is a write off. Return flight at 7.30pm on Monday however means that the final day is a full day given the sun sets at 5pm. A bargain at £89 return, booked well in advance.
• Stayed at Nissi Beach Hotel in Agia Napa on Saturday night, and the Almyra in Paphos on Sunday night.
• Hotel came with breakfast, so spent only 35 euros each on food all weekend.
• Car hire from Europecar was an excellent Subaru 4x4 which proved its worth getting to the Wheatear. However £26 from the UK turned into a further 140 euros once various taxes, fuel, waivers and so on were added. Somewhat of a con, but the car was good and the price was split between two.
• Birded Cape Greco, Oroklini and Larnaca on Saturday, and Anarita, Phinikas and Germasogeia Reservoir on Sunday.
• Extensive research involving Gosney, Stagg and Hearl, and recent sighting as detailed on the web to pin down sites for the Wheatear.

Day 1 - Saturday

A non-day, but a leisurely one as the flight did not leave until roughly midday. Hand baggage only and a long flight on a clapped-out 767, but bagged the exit seats which helped a great deal. Only an hour or so from Larnaca to Agia Napa on good roads, and an early night to be on tip-top form for Wheatear finding the next day.

Day 2 - Sunday

An early start from Nissi Beach and Andrew and I were at the top of Cape Greco cliffs just after sunrise. This is where I had spent a lot of time back in 2013 and I knew the area well, so we took the middle path west back towards the dump. For a map of the area please see this old blog post. We spent a little time with an engaging pair of Blue Rock Thrush before carrying on round, with Stonechat, Sardinian and Spectacled Warblers omnipresent. A fly-by male Pallid Harrier was a bit of a shock, but not totally unheard of - we reported this to the Cyprus recorder upon our return. Once back off the cliffs and more at sea level, Andrew's keen eyes picked out a flash of white rump and the Finsch's Wheatear was in the bag. Although this female bird had not been reported for several weeks, at this time of year they're more than settled onto their winter territories and won't be moving, so you can be pretty sure that any birds mentioned in December are still going to be present at the same locations in January - this proved to be the case elsewhere too. The bird was with a Stonechat, and extremely wary, vanishing whilst we were still some distance away and not reappearing until we were well back-up the slope, silouetted against the sea. We left it there, the visit was all about the male really!

Blue Rocck Thrush

Sardinian Warbler

Whilst winter in Cyprus clearly isn't as good a time to be birding as the spring, it still beats the UK - we were in shirt sleeves, birding and taking pictures under a clear sky with temperatures approaching 20 degrees. It's also the only time to guarantee seeing Finsch's Wheatear, which only arrive in October and depart by March which is before the spring migration starts. By the time Cyprus Pied Wheatear starts to arrive on territory, the Finsch's are back in eastern Turkey

After an unproductive attempt at Stonechat and various Warblers we returned to the car before zooming back to the hotel for an enormous breakfast and then checked out. I was amazed the hotel was even open, we seemed to be almost the only guests. Next stop Achna Reservoir, but this was still a litter-strewn dump, complete with a dead Cattle Egret, frequent gunfire, and water-skiing - not very conducive to birding so we did not linger and headed instead for Oroklini Marsh. This was excellent, with loads of Teal, Shoveler, a couple Greater Flamingo, and as a special world lifer bonus, three female White-headed Ducks. These had arrived in late 2015 and I was not expecting to see them, so a bit of a result. A few Spur-winged Plover skipped across the marsh, and in the far corner which is the only muddy area a handful of Black-winged Stilts.

The rest of the day was spent around Larnaca airport, with the salt lake hosting thousands of Flamingos. We birded the area between the runway and the sea, which is a network of pools and fields, and includes the sewage works. These two man-made pools held massive numbers of duck, mostly Teal and Shoveler again, but also Mallard, a few Shelduck, and seven White-fronted Geese. Marsh Harrier hunted over the water with predictable results, and my third lifer of the day came with some distant views of Black Francolin in the fields behind the hide. We both wished that we had a scope! At dusk we headed west for Paphos.

Day 3 - Monday

An even earlier start saw us in Anarita Park following a route that I had researched two years ago and had been waiting to do since then. Whilst we got this difficult to find spot bang on, there were no wintering Wheatears that we could see, so we moved on towards Phinikas, a ruined village on the side of Asprokremmos reservoir, presumably abandoned when the dam was constructed. The access track here is not passable unless in a 4x4, and after heavy rain may be even more challenging or simply not possible. It would be a half-hour walk to the village from the end of the paved road. A few Cormorants were on the reservoir, as well as a Little Egret on the beach area and two Black-necked Grebes further out. The ruins got all of our attention however, with a Black Redstart spotted on a decrepit building, and then the main target - a male Finsch's Wheatear on the beach slightly outside the village. We spent the rest of time here following this bird around and attempting to get photos of it, but whilst it did gradually seem to become accustomed to our presence, in no way would I describe it as confiding, and only my 800mm lens with a converter on it kept me vaguely in the game. Had we stayed longer we may have done better, however the promised rain started up at about half nine and sent us on our way. By the time we got back down to the coast it was torrential and any thoughts of birding west of Limassol had to be abandoned.

After another monster breakfast in order to avoid the need for lunch we drove west to try and escape the rain. We noted a few depressed-looking damp Griffon Vultures on Kensington Cliffs, but the rain started coming down even heavier, and it wasn't until mid-afternoon at Germasogeia Reservoir which is further east again that it started to ease. Here we spent a long time trying and mostly failing to get views of Moustached Warbler in the immense reed beds, but picked up Grey Wagtail, Snipe, Jack Snipe and various other birds around the margins. Our final stop of the day was Oroklini again - the White-headed Ducks were still present, and a trip highlight was thousands of White Wagtails coming in to roost at sunset, along with our first living Cattle Egrets, which numbered several hundred as they decorated various parts of the marsh. A bit of mucking about being arty with the sun setting behind the reeds, and then it was time to go back to the airport which is only 20 minutes or so away.

Trip List

Little Grebe

Black-necked Grebe

White-fronted Goose

Mallard

Shoveler

Teal

Pintail

White-headed Duck

Pochard

Shelduck

Chukar

Black Francolin

Little Egret

Cattle Egret

Grey Heron

Greater Flamingo

Cormorant

Griffon Vulture

Marsh Harrier
Pallid Harrier

Common Buzzard

Kestrel

Moorhen

Coot

Water Rail

Black-winged Stilt

Spur-winged Plover

Lapwing

Golden Plover

Redshank

Snipe

Jack Snipe

Black-headed Gull

Yellow-legged Gull
Med Gull

Pigeon

Collared Dove

Little Owl

Crested Lark

Meadow Pipit

White Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Blue Rock Thrush

Blackbird

Robin

Song Thrush

Black Redstart

Finsch's Wheatear

Stonechat

Spectacled Warbler

Sardinian Warbler

Cetti's Warbler

Moustached Warbler

Chiffchaff

Great Tit

Wren

Magpie

Jackdaw

Hooded Crow

House Sparrow

Greenfinch

Goldfinch

Chaffinch

Linnet

Serin

Corn Bunting